Cliff Kincaid
The radio host behind drugs and guns case
By Cliff Kincaid
Articles about a search of the Virginia home of "gun rights activist" Adam Kokesh fail to note that he is a former program host for Russia Today (RT) television, a controversial channel funded by Moscow. Kokesh, who is sometimes even mistakenly labeled as a "conservative," admitted he was a paid Russian agent in an interview that I conducted and posted on YouTube.
Russia Today gave Kokesh a show on its English-language channel, and treated him like a rock star.
Kokesh's arrest on weapons and drug charges, which has been receiving national media attention, provides an opportunity for the media to examine a paranoid and potentially dangerous political movement which embraces marijuana legalization and gun rights, and also finds a voice in Alex Jones, one of the nation's top 100 radio talk-show hosts. Jones, a favorite of the Drudge Report website for his claims about various conspiracies and plots, is syndicated by Genesis Communications and has interviewed and promoted Kokesh on several occasions, including when he threatened to lead an armed "Revolutionary Army" against the U.S. Government.
The raid followed Kokesh's recording of a YouTube video in which, in violation of the law, he brandished a shotgun in Washington, D.C. on July 4 and loaded shells into it. This apparently led to the raid and police confiscating a weapon, as well as some hallucinogenic, or psychedelic, mushrooms.
Alex Jones associate Paul Joseph Watson insists that the raid on Kokesh's residence was carried out by "storm trooper" cops from the U.S. Park Police and local Herndon, Virginia, police. Kokesh defenders claim the drugs were "obviously planted by the cops."
Kokesh came to our attention in 2011 when he staged a provocation at the Jefferson Memorial, along with Marxist groups such as Code Pink. They disrupted tourism and Kokesh got himself arrested. Two months ago he was arrested in Philadelphia at a marijuana rally.
An Iraq war veteran who ran for Congress with the support of Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty, Kokesh is one of the leaders of a movement that believes in provoking the government they say is oppressing them. Their strategy has consistently been to break the law and provoke a confrontation with police so that officers would then be accused of brutality or using excessive force. But as we warned in the piece, "Drugs, Guns and Madness in the Ron Paul Revolution," the dangerous mixture of drugs and guns, with an extreme anti-government philosophy that borders on paranoia, can have disastrous consequences.
He lost his job as host of the RT "Adam Vs. The Man" show after he raised money for Ron Paul's presidential campaign on the air. Federal law prohibits foreign corporations such as RT from influencing U.S. elections.
Nevertheless, the show's archives are still on the RT website, where it is said that Kokesh revealed "the reality of a government based not on protecting the freedoms of the American people, but exploiting them for the sake of the real power brokers and banksters who work behind the scenes." Kokesh continued his show on the Internet.
One of Kokesh's key allies is Alex Jones, the Texas-based radio host whose articles and pronouncements are frequently highlighted by Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report. On April 23, Drudge tweeted that Jones provides "one hell of a broadcast," and that 2013 would be the "year of Alex Jones." However, conservative activists such as Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center have warned that Jones' habit of weaving outlandish claims and conspiracy theories with more serious commentaries on real and legitimate issues has the effect of discrediting the legitimate conservatives who appear on his show and voice similar themes.
Jones maintains that groups like the Bilderbergers and other "globalists" are a much greater threat to America and the West than the Islamists or U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China. He believes that 9/11 was a U.S. government plot and "inside job" conspiracy, and that the Boston Marathon bombings were carried out by federal agents.
In this context, the Associated Press reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston bombers, was a fan of Jones' Infowars radio show while becoming "an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda."
Like Jones, Kokesh is a 9/11 "truther" who insists that people who believe Islamists carried out the terrorist attacks are "suckers" and "sheeple" for the official U.S. Government line.
His website advertises a "9/11 Truth Rally" in New York City this September.
In regard to a current controversy, the Alex Jones website claims that NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to China and Russia after leaking classified counter-terrorism information, is either a legitimate whistleblower or a double agent.
But like Kokesh, Snowden was a Ron Paul supporter who actually contributed to the former Texas congressman's presidential campaign.
It wouldn't be surprising if it turns out that Snowden was also a fan of the Alex Jones radio show.
Jones himself appears regularly on the Russia Today television propaganda channel, where he has defended Russian foreign policy. One of his themes is that the U.S. is the greatest instigator of terrorism in the world today.
Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from the former USSR, says Russia Today features Jones because "his message is not very different from that which the Soviets were hearing from their government in the days of the Cold War: 'the United States is a dark, dangerous place, where citizens have no rights and are suffering under the oppression of an international cabal of bankers...'"
Through his various confrontations with law enforcement authorities, Kokesh apparently wants people here and abroad to believe he is a victim of this oppressive system of U.S. and global government.
But proceedings in the case of his arrest on weapons and drug charges may help demonstrate whether this view stems from the possible use of mind-altering substances.
© Cliff Kincaid
July 12, 2013
Articles about a search of the Virginia home of "gun rights activist" Adam Kokesh fail to note that he is a former program host for Russia Today (RT) television, a controversial channel funded by Moscow. Kokesh, who is sometimes even mistakenly labeled as a "conservative," admitted he was a paid Russian agent in an interview that I conducted and posted on YouTube.
Russia Today gave Kokesh a show on its English-language channel, and treated him like a rock star.
Kokesh's arrest on weapons and drug charges, which has been receiving national media attention, provides an opportunity for the media to examine a paranoid and potentially dangerous political movement which embraces marijuana legalization and gun rights, and also finds a voice in Alex Jones, one of the nation's top 100 radio talk-show hosts. Jones, a favorite of the Drudge Report website for his claims about various conspiracies and plots, is syndicated by Genesis Communications and has interviewed and promoted Kokesh on several occasions, including when he threatened to lead an armed "Revolutionary Army" against the U.S. Government.
The raid followed Kokesh's recording of a YouTube video in which, in violation of the law, he brandished a shotgun in Washington, D.C. on July 4 and loaded shells into it. This apparently led to the raid and police confiscating a weapon, as well as some hallucinogenic, or psychedelic, mushrooms.
Alex Jones associate Paul Joseph Watson insists that the raid on Kokesh's residence was carried out by "storm trooper" cops from the U.S. Park Police and local Herndon, Virginia, police. Kokesh defenders claim the drugs were "obviously planted by the cops."
Kokesh came to our attention in 2011 when he staged a provocation at the Jefferson Memorial, along with Marxist groups such as Code Pink. They disrupted tourism and Kokesh got himself arrested. Two months ago he was arrested in Philadelphia at a marijuana rally.
An Iraq war veteran who ran for Congress with the support of Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty, Kokesh is one of the leaders of a movement that believes in provoking the government they say is oppressing them. Their strategy has consistently been to break the law and provoke a confrontation with police so that officers would then be accused of brutality or using excessive force. But as we warned in the piece, "Drugs, Guns and Madness in the Ron Paul Revolution," the dangerous mixture of drugs and guns, with an extreme anti-government philosophy that borders on paranoia, can have disastrous consequences.
He lost his job as host of the RT "Adam Vs. The Man" show after he raised money for Ron Paul's presidential campaign on the air. Federal law prohibits foreign corporations such as RT from influencing U.S. elections.
Nevertheless, the show's archives are still on the RT website, where it is said that Kokesh revealed "the reality of a government based not on protecting the freedoms of the American people, but exploiting them for the sake of the real power brokers and banksters who work behind the scenes." Kokesh continued his show on the Internet.
One of Kokesh's key allies is Alex Jones, the Texas-based radio host whose articles and pronouncements are frequently highlighted by Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report. On April 23, Drudge tweeted that Jones provides "one hell of a broadcast," and that 2013 would be the "year of Alex Jones." However, conservative activists such as Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center have warned that Jones' habit of weaving outlandish claims and conspiracy theories with more serious commentaries on real and legitimate issues has the effect of discrediting the legitimate conservatives who appear on his show and voice similar themes.
Jones maintains that groups like the Bilderbergers and other "globalists" are a much greater threat to America and the West than the Islamists or U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China. He believes that 9/11 was a U.S. government plot and "inside job" conspiracy, and that the Boston Marathon bombings were carried out by federal agents.
In this context, the Associated Press reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston bombers, was a fan of Jones' Infowars radio show while becoming "an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda."
Like Jones, Kokesh is a 9/11 "truther" who insists that people who believe Islamists carried out the terrorist attacks are "suckers" and "sheeple" for the official U.S. Government line.
His website advertises a "9/11 Truth Rally" in New York City this September.
In regard to a current controversy, the Alex Jones website claims that NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to China and Russia after leaking classified counter-terrorism information, is either a legitimate whistleblower or a double agent.
But like Kokesh, Snowden was a Ron Paul supporter who actually contributed to the former Texas congressman's presidential campaign.
It wouldn't be surprising if it turns out that Snowden was also a fan of the Alex Jones radio show.
Jones himself appears regularly on the Russia Today television propaganda channel, where he has defended Russian foreign policy. One of his themes is that the U.S. is the greatest instigator of terrorism in the world today.
Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from the former USSR, says Russia Today features Jones because "his message is not very different from that which the Soviets were hearing from their government in the days of the Cold War: 'the United States is a dark, dangerous place, where citizens have no rights and are suffering under the oppression of an international cabal of bankers...'"
Through his various confrontations with law enforcement authorities, Kokesh apparently wants people here and abroad to believe he is a victim of this oppressive system of U.S. and global government.
But proceedings in the case of his arrest on weapons and drug charges may help demonstrate whether this view stems from the possible use of mind-altering substances.
© Cliff Kincaid
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