{"id":12673,"date":"2011-08-23T02:18:31","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T07:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=12673"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:15:12","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:15:12","slug":"weinstein-targets-jewish-parents-over-defense-of-usafa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/23\/weinstein-targets-jewish-parents-over-defense-of-usafa\/","title":{"rendered":"Weinstein Targets Jewish Parents over Defense of USAFA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Weinstein seems to revel in excoriating those with whom he disagrees. His attacks are filled with ellipses and alliterative assaults questioning everything from <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/11\/weinstein-calls-on-military-to-ban-christian-group\/\">people&#8217;s character<\/a> to <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/02\/weinstein-blasts-commandants-assignment\/\">their patriotism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He has equated officers in the US Army with <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/07\/michael-weinstein-equates-us-army-with-racists-rapists\/\">rapists and racists<\/a>.\u00a0 He&#8217;s stooped to gradeschool name-calling.\u00a0 He has even implied the threat of violence upon critics as varied as <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/06\/weinstein-sues-chaplain-over-prayers\/\">Rush Limbaugh and Gordon Klingenschmitt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Another favored Weinstein tactic, though, is the somber and vaguely-worded legal threat.\u00a0 While it seems Weinstein threatens to sue someone virtually <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/02\/michael-weinstein-threatens-to-sue-usafa-again\/\">every time he opens his mouth<\/a>, some have had the privilege of actually getting a letter from one set or another of Weinstein&#8217;s lawyers.\u00a0 One\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/03\/mrff-threatens-trijicon-with-legal-action\/\">sent a letter to Trijicon<\/a> for saying Trijicon&#8217;s critics were\u00a0&#8220;not Christian.&#8221;\u00a0 Another <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/11\/weinstein-threatens-legal-action-against-gazette\/\">Weinstein legal threat<\/a> went out against the publishers of the <em>Colorado Springs Gazette<\/em> after it criticized his &#8220;[opposition] to the free exercise of religion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As previously noted, Weinstein&#8217;s lawyers also directed a threat of a lawsuit <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/weinstein-fails-to-intimidate-with-lawsuit-military-complaint\/\">at ChristianFighterPilot.com<\/a>\u00a0after this site\u00a0pointed out\u00a0Weinstein&#8217;s substantial personal compensation from his self-founded &#8220;charity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is readily apparent Michael Weinstein, the man who employs vitriolic criticism\u00a0as naturally as others breathe, <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/weinstein-fails-to-intimidate-with-lawsuit-military-complaint\/\">can&#8217;t stand a whit of criticism<\/a> himself.<\/p>\n<p>Even from a Jewish soccer mom.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Weinstein&#8217;s attorneys at Mathis and Donheiser recently sent a letter advising parents of two Jewish USAFA cadets to &#8220;be careful.&#8221;\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They posted &#8212; gasp &#8212; a comment critical of Weinstein\u00a0on the internet.\u00a0 From the MRFF lawyer&#8217;s\u00a0letter:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Expression of opinion is one thing; insinuating falsehood is sometimes quite another.<\/p>\n<p>The statement &#8220;&#8230;he currently is using the media to implicate a negative image of the Academy&#8230;&#8221; seems to us calculated to imply falsehood by way of misleading innuendo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Does Weinstein seriously think the opinion of him creating a &#8220;negative image of the Academy&#8221; is <em>misleading<\/em>?\u00a0 Does he think demanding the <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/02\/michael-weinstein-threatens-to-sue-usafa-again\/\">removal of all senior leadership<\/a> at the Academy gives them a &#8220;positive&#8221; image?<\/p>\n<p>The lack of explicit expression and constant qualification in the letter &#8212; &#8220;insinuating,&#8221; &#8220;sometimes,&#8221; &#8220;seems,&#8221;\u00a0&#8220;might,&#8221; &#8220;imply,&#8221; etc. &#8212; is likely carefully calculated.\u00a0 While saying very little explicitly, the letter is thick with implicit threat, like this somber line:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If the Academy Parents club there carries insurance and\/or if you do, which has a notice of circumstance clause, we would appreciate your placing them on notice of our concern.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, if a law firm sent <em>you <\/em>a letter and advised you to inform not only your own insurance company, but also\u00a0that of a\u00a0group with whom you associate, how would you react?\u00a0 Does anybody really wonder why a lawyer&#8217;s letter would ask for personal (and organizational) insurance information, while simultaneously noting they&#8217;re\u00a0currently seeking\u00a0as much as $600,000 or more from the people they&#8217;re <em>currently <\/em>suing (a copy of which they were kind enough to enclose)?<\/p>\n<p>(In correspondence over the threatened lawsuit against ChristianFighterPilot.com, Mathis and Donheiser included firm and insistent demands for insurance information in every letter.\u00a0 Their demands for financial information didn&#8217;t stop until a <em>lawyer <\/em>responded to their letters, <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/weinstein-fails-to-intimidate-with-lawsuit-military-complaint\/\">William Becker<\/a> in association with the Rutherford Institute.)<\/p>\n<p>As with the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/06\/weinstein-v-ammerman-continued\/\">Weinstein v Ammerman<\/a> <\/em>lawsuit, the legal letter expresses a concern that criticisms of Weinstein &#8220;might incite&#8221; people against him.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For security and safety reasons, Mr. Weinstein must, of necessity, be mindful of statements which by implication imply [<em>sic<\/em>] things which might incite unstable people who might read them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Why Weinstein doesn&#8217;t think <em>his<\/em> words incite others against <em>his<\/em> targets is unclear.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting that Weinstein&#8217;s legal letter appeared to have the intended effect:\u00a0 the internet comment has been removed.\u00a0 But if Weinstein is so concerned about &#8220;unstable people&#8221; that he has his lawyers target people who put up innocuous criticisms, <em>why does he then re-publish those statements<\/em>?\u00a0 The &#8216;dangerous&#8217; comment is still on the internet &#8212; on Weinstein&#8217;s <em>own website<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Why?\u00a0 Weinstein is\u00a0actually <em>reveling <\/em>in the incident.\u00a0 He&#8217;s acting like a bully who texts all his friends after he pushes a kid down on the playground (&#8220;LOL&#8221;).\u00a0 His actions indicate that, contrary to the claims of his lawyer&#8217;s letter &#8212; he&#8217;s <em>not <\/em>&#8220;mindful&#8221; (in a concerned way) of that comment being on the internet.\u00a0 In fact, he apparently <em>wants<\/em> people to see how &#8216;powerful&#8217; he is in his ability to shut down a critic.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true of the very next sentence in the letter:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>These are not imagined concerns.\u00a0 Mr. Weinstein&#8217;s property in the past has been damaged, his residence shot at, and he is the subject of numerous threats of violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are two problems with that statement.\u00a0 First, the concerns <em>are <\/em>&#8220;imagined&#8221; in that no one has <em>ever <\/em>publicly connected those incidents with other peoples&#8217; words criticizing Weinstein.\u00a0 That is, there is no proof that Weinstein&#8217;s house wasn&#8217;t vandalized because his <em>own<\/em> words &#8216;incited unstable people,&#8217; rather than the words of others.\u00a0 Attacks and vandalism are reprehensible under any circumstances, but the &#8220;concern&#8221; over <em>critics <\/em>inciting people to physically attack Weinstein is unsupported by any public fact.<\/p>\n<p>The second problem is that, again, Weinstein <em>relishes <\/em>his status as a sometimes-martyr.\u00a0 An article once noted <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foreignpolicy.com\/articles\/2010\/05\/25\/mikey_weinsteins_crusade\">Weinstein shows off his\u00a0hate mail<\/a> like some people do pictures of their grandkids.\u00a0 In that vein, the same\u00a0&#8220;concerns&#8221; quoted above have been cited repeatedly for more than 3 years.\u00a0 If more than three years of criticism haven&#8217;t generated anything about which Weinstein can boast, why is there a &#8220;concern&#8221; over <em>this <\/em>internet comment?<\/p>\n<p>Weinstein even once tried to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.talk2action.org\/story\/2007\/4\/26\/183216\/970\/\">connect a church arson to a talk he gave<\/a> in the same town.\u00a0 As recently as this year his allies have repeated that connection, though none have pointed out <a href=\"http:\/\/holyground.topeka.net\/content\/two-churches-after-flames\">fire investigators connected the incident<\/a> to a string of arsons completely unrelated to Weinstein.\u00a0 There has never been any public proof of motive in <em>any<\/em> of the attacks on Weinstein &#8212; yet his lawyers write letters <em>implying <\/em>such acts are motivated by those who publicly criticize Weinstein, and <em>implying\u00a0<\/em>those public criticizers will be held responsible.<\/p>\n<p>What is\u00a0Weinstein really concerned about?\u00a0 There are indications his &#8220;group&#8221; has been impacted by people finding out the truth about him and the conduct of his &#8220;religious freedom&#8221; &#8220;charity&#8221; &#8212; like finding out here\u00a0about Weinstein&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/01\/pre-millennial-reconstructionist-dominionist-evangelical-christians\/\">prior conspiracy claims<\/a> (&#8220;This country is going through &#8212; right now &#8212; a transition from [Plan] A to [Plan] B.&#8221;) or how he <a href=\"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/20\/mrff-chaplains-sermons-permissible-sort-of\/\">criticized and raised money off<\/a> the religious free exercise of US troops, rather than defending it as he claims.<\/p>\n<p>What was the truth he was trying to avoid people hearing this time?\u00a0 This was the line in the internet comment prior to the one quoted in the lawyer&#8217;s letter (as written):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If you are a jewish cadet or a parent of a jewish cadet who has had a positive experience while attending the academy please write a response to Mikey Weinstein&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Weinstein went after someone soliciting <em>positive <\/em>stories from Jewish cadets\/families associated with USAFA.\u00a0 How <em>dare <\/em>those parents have the gall to defend the Air Force Academy?\u00a0 Their attempt to provide an opposing picture to Weinstein obviously didn&#8217;t fit his conspiracy theory of Christian world domination.\u00a0 After all, how can he claim USAFA is under an evangelical Christian tyranny if Jewish cadets and parents <em>defend <\/em>it?\u00a0 He apparently had to shut them down.<\/p>\n<p>Note that the legal letter complains of a fairly benign statement, which Weinstein has no problem publicly repeating.\u00a0 However,\u00a0the second order (and perhaps intended) effect was to remove the call for a Jewish defense of USAFA.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, the legal threats from Weinstein are yet another form of his &#8220;litigation and agitation&#8221; &#8212; through intimidation.\u00a0 His actions are not those of one who defends religious freedom (in the military or anywhere else), despite the name of his charity.\u00a0 They are the actions of someone pushing a personal vendetta, and using every means they can think of to do it.<\/p>\n<p>A person who targets an innocuous internet post, and then hangs the legal letter on their refrigerator door of a website, doesn&#8217;t establish his credibility as\u00a0the leader of a\u00a0&#8220;civil rights&#8221; organization defending any kind of liberty.<\/p>\n<p>He shows himself to be nothing more than a playground bully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Weinstein seems to revel in excoriating those with whom he disagrees. His attacks are filled with ellipses and alliterative assaults questioning everything from people&#8217;s character to their patriotism. He has equated officers in the US Army with rapists and racists.\u00a0 He&#8217;s stooped to gradeschool name-calling.\u00a0 He has even implied the threat of violence upon critics as varied as Rush [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[88,96,1424,82,39,85,2,5218,7,10,171,152,65],"class_list":["post-12673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-army","tag-christian","tag-conspiracy","tag-constitution","tag-jewish","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-trijicon","tag-usafa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}