Anonymous Outs GOP Politicians as KKK Members

TX Sen John Cornyn - Majority Whip & KKK member? 

Now I'm not sure how many of you heard about the recent announcement by the global hactivst collective known as Anonymous of their intent to post the identities of thousands of members of the Ku Klux Klan online in a massive data dump intended to out racists - which went under the Twitter hashtags #OpKKK and #HoodsOff.

Well as this group of progressive political hactivists have proved before, they're highly proficient with computers and they don't make idle threats.

They released a portion of a list of what is said to be over 1,000 individuals - the full list will supposedly be released on Thursday.

The revelation that some of the people who were hiding their white supremacist beliefs under a hood are not only members of law enforcement and corrections officers, but mayors of major American cities and even four members of the United States Senate is sure to have political repercussions for the Republican Party.

The senior U.S. Senator from Texas, John Cornyn, III (pictured above) currently serves as the Majority Whip and is one of the highest-ranking Senators on Capitol Hill.

But according to a list posted on UsUncut.com of high-profile political figures outed as Klan members that was originally posted on the document-dumping site pastebin, Cornyn is listed as a member of the United White Knights of the KKK.

The implications of his being a member of the klan are pretty staggering, and not just because of the potential for his racist beliefs to affect the kinds of laws he supports or opposes in the Senate and the huge influence he wields over that process.

According to information on his Wikipedia page, Cornyn served as a district judge in San Antonio, Texas for six years before being elected to the Texas State Supreme Court where served for seven years; then he ran for Texas attorney general and won.

It's actually frightening to think of the impact his personal beliefs have had on the lives of hundreds of African-American and Latino suspects who saw the inside of his court room over the years.

Like the widespread criticism he received as Texas Attorney General for dragging his heels on investigating the convictions of 43 African-Americans from the town of Tulia, Texas on drug conspiracy charges based on the testimony of a single narcotics agent.

As the Austin Chronicle reported back in 2002, the 43 blacks arrested represented 16% of the town's African-American population.

Rep Joe Wilson of South Carolina

Remember South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson? (pictured left)

Same right-wing nutbag who rudely shouted out "You lie!" to President Obama in front of both houses of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and invited guests during a nationally televised State of the Union address in 2009?

Yeah, that guy. He's listed as a member of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the KKK.

So was North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, the former Speaker of the NC legislature, an ally of current NC Governor Pat McCrory, and a major architect of the states draconian voter suppression laws.

As of right now when I'm writing this, the major news media outlets seem to be holding back on reporting the story until more information about the list itself can be verified.

But a number of the politicians outed on the list have released public denial statements already; including Jim Gray the Mayor of Lexington, Kentucky.

According to an article posted on Newsweek.com, Anonymous seems to be playing coy about the the information that appeared on pastebin, claiming that they will release the full list on November 5th when they will observe a global protest event against corporate and political corruption known as the Million Mask March.

English Catholic activist Guy Fawkes

November 5th is when people in England have traditionally observed Guy Fawkes Night which commemorates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when a group of Catholic activists attempted to blow up the Palace of Westminster during the opening of Parliament in response to anger over oppression of Catholics by the Protestant King James I.

Guy Fawkes (pictured left), the English explosives expert who was preparing to set the fuse on 36 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, was discovered before the explosion took place and he was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where he was tortured until he gave up the names of the co-conspirators in the plot.

His exploits became familiar to many Americans after the 2006 film 'V for Vendetta' in which the title character, a charming but violent anti-hero terrorist named V attempts to repeat the attempt to blow up Parliament in a future dystopian England ruled by an oppressive conservative government.

Will the release of the list on Thursday be as explosive as the original plot?

There are a lot of people waiting to find out, in the meantime there are some sitting U.S Senators and mayors in America who are going to be sitting in the media hot seat tomorrow. 

And if it's true they are, or have been members of violent white supremacist organization the impact on their political careers, reputations, and the image Republican party, could be significant.