Jared Taylor, Special to AR News, January 9, 2011

We have all heard by now of the attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly issued a memo claiming that the shooter, Jared Loughner, has some connection with American Renaissance. We have received a copy of the memo, the relevant portion of which we reproduce here:

<< But no criminal record? Intervention by someone?* no direct connection - but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his myspace and YouTube account.). The group's ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic. Gabrielle Gifford [sic] is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group's ideology when it came to immigration debate.* >>

This is so hopelessly wrong that it is hard to believe it is a genuine government document. No one by the name of Loughner has ever been a subscriber to American Renaissance or has ever registered for an American Renaissance conference. We have no evidence that he has even visited the AR website.

American Renaissance condemns violence in the strongest possible terms, and nothing that has ever appeared in it pages could be interpreted as countenancing it.

AR is not anti-government, anti-Semitic, or anti-ZOG, as is clear from the 20 years of back issues that are posted on our website. The expression “ZOG” has never appeared in the pages of AR, and we have has always welcomed Jewish participation in our work. Many of the speakers at American Renaissance conferences have been Jewish.

Although the name Gabrielle Giffords has appeared in news articles we have excerpted on our website, AR itself has never mentioned her and has certainly never criticized her policies.

Finally, Gabrielle Giffords is not the “first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government.” Barbara Boxer has represented California in the Senate from 1993, and Diane Feinstein has done so since 1992. There are at least six Jewish congresswomen listed by Wikipedia as currently serving in the House.

If this memo is typical of the research done by the Department of Homeland Security, our country is in serious danger.

I telephoned DHS today to try to get the bottom of this nonsense, but apparently there is no homeland security on Sundays. The person who answered the phone said no one is there and that I should call back on Monday morning.

Fortunately, some of the media organizations that have been reporting this story have contacted me, and have reported my assertion that American Renaissance knows nothing at all about Jared Loughner, that we condemn all violence, and that we cannot possibly be described as anti-Semitic.

Even Mark Potok of the SPLC was quoted today as saying, “Jared Taylor is not an anti-Semite.”

We will report any further developments.

Update: Fox News is now saying that the memo is not actually from DHS but from a local law enforcement organization that probably received information from DHS. It now seems possible that the memo came from Arizona’s Counter Terrorism Information Center (AcTIC)

Whatever the case, it is very sloppy, irresponsible “crime fighting.”