Meet Brittany Crocker, Department of Energy Reporter at the Knoxville News Sentinel. She says of herself:
"I cover Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration and civilian energy sector activities in East Tennessee. I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Skilled in Geographic Information Systems, video production, SQL and Excel."
University of Missouri-Columbia
Master's degree, Journalism 2015 – 2016
--Studying computer-assisted and
investigative reporting
--Conducting master's research on Mexican press freedom.
Bachelor's degree, Journalism
2012 – 2014
--Multimedia and international journalism
--
Minor in political science
--
Undergraduate certificates in Multicultural and Digital Global studies
Ace journalist Brittany "Smiley" Crocker
So, Miss Brittany has recent batchelor's and a master's degrees in journalism, a minor in political science, and special training as an investigative reporter. Here's a sample of Brittany's investigative reporting on her beat covering Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration and civilian energy sector activities in East Tennessee:
---
White supremacist groups to head to Knoxville to protest, then to Smokies for summit
Brittany Crocker, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Published 9:00 a.m. ET Aug. 20, 2017
Note:
Corrections & Amplifications: This story has been updated to clarify Indivisible East Tennessee's statement.
In the midst of heated debate over the fate of a Fort Sanders monument honoring Confederate soldiers, white supremacists have made plans to come to East Tennessee.
Confederate 28, a newly reformed white supremacist group, has made plans to rally at the Fort Sanders monument at 1 p.m. on Aug. 26, to protest its possible removal.
Petitions to save, get rid of monument
The monument, which has been both defaced and cleaned in the time since the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, has been the subject of dueling local petitions.
A change.org petition by Knoxville resident Ben Allen, asking Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero to remove the monument, has reached nearly 2,500 signatures. A petition to save the monument, created by resident David Hicks, has reached nearly 5,000 signatures.
On Thursday, some members of the Knoxville City Council said they would prefer to keep the monument where it is, although it's not entirely within their control.
A new state law disallows the city from moving it without a waiver from the State Historical Commission.
Confederate 28 affiliates itself with the United Kingdom-based skinhead gang Blood and Honour. The stateside group marked its return from a five-year hiatus in June by passing out stickers at a soccer game in Indiana and protesting a gay pride parade in Tennessee, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The local chapter of Confederate 28 is also affiliated with the mostly-defunct white supremacist group the South Knox Ten Milers, which is headed by former Knox County Commission candidate Tom Pierce. The group reposted Hicks' petition to save the monument.
Confederate 28 may be joined by members of the white supremacist forum Stormfront, according to posts within the forum.
Jesse Mayshark, a spokesman for Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero's office, said in a statement, "We're aware of the planned rally, and we are making plans to ensure public safety."
Mayshark referred to a Facebook post from Rogero, which says, in part, "We will continue to stand together against hatred and prejudices of all kinds."
Stormfront plans Sept. 30 summit
White supremacists from Stormfront, an online forum of over 330,000 members from four continents, are planning a clandestine meeting in the Great Smoky Mountains over the last weekend in September, according to an announcement from the website's founder, Don Black.
"White Pride Worldwide" is listed on Stormfront's web home page.
It also says: "We are a community of racial realists and idealists. We are White Nationalists who support true diversity and a homeland for all peoples. Thousands of organizations promote the interests, values and heritage of non-White minorities. We promote ours."
Klan members salute during a KKK rally in Justice Park Saturday, July 8, 2017,
in Charlottesville, Va. (Photo: Steve Helber, AP)
[snip]
Southern Poverty Law Center reports 38 hate groups are currently operating in Tennessee.
[snip]
A two-year study by the SPLC tied more than 100 murders to members of Stormfront over the five-year period after Barack Obama was elected president.
Dylan Roof, who murdered nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, was a member of the website. Later, in his confession, he admitted his intent was to "start a race war."
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2017 ... 583816001/
Wow! Brittany is well on her way to her first Pulitzer Prize for "investigative reporting," with this piece, quoting the Southern Poverty Law Center statistics.
Three of those alleged 38 hate groups the SPLC claims are in Tennessee are here in relative tiny Johnson County up in the NE corner. One is some defunct Klucker group headed by an ex-Aryan Brotherhood convict that was in Butler, another is a one man operation, Sacred Truth Ministries, that publishes and sells books, and the third is the National Alliance because we have a POB here in Laurel Bloomery. There are 95 counties in Tennessee, and Johnson County, with its mere 18,000 people, 97.5% White, has nearly 10% of all those scary "hate groups."
If I'm not mistaken, the Stormfront seminar was announced to followers nearly a year ago. Could Miss Brittany be trying to incite the Black Lives Matter and antifa crowd to disrupt that private Stormfront gathering? I believe she and her editors are doing just that.