Hovindologist Reviews Kent Hovind's InfoWars Performance

Kent Hovind (Doc Dino) is one of the leading lights in the field of Young Earth Creationism, the notion that there is scientific evidence for a hyper-literal reading of the Book of Genesis. YEC implies that the world is roughly 6,000 years old and dinosaurs and humans must have co-existed. 

 Nearing the end of a long sentence for tax related crimes, Hovind was convicted on March 12, 2015 for contempt of court.  The more recent conviction arose out of filings that might have interfered with the government's sale of property seized in relation to the earlier conviction.  The jury hung on more serious fraud and conspiracy charges, which Hovind and his supporters view as a victory.

Dee Holmes has been following the case for some time.  She runs a site calls Hovindology and helps Bob Baty administer Kent Hovind and Jo Hovind v USA - IRS,  I asked for her reaction to the Alex Jones interview yesterday.  Here is what she wrote.

On Monday, March 16, Kent Hovind was finally interviewed by Alex Jones, the host of the radio show “Infowars.”  Jones is a guy who has not yet met a conspiracy theory that he’s not been willing to entertain—at least for a moment.  This can get fairly reprehensible rather quickly, as happened in April 2013 when Infowars stringer Dan Bidondi attempted to hijack a press conference headlined by then-Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick with questions about whether the Boston Marathon bombing was a “false flag” terrorism attack by the government.

The Hovindicators have something of a love-hate relationship with Jones. They love that he goes after The Evil Government and Dan Bidondi discussed Hovind on his own tiny Internet radio show “Truth Radio” in early February.  However, despite what would appear to be a match in conspiracy heaven, an “in” via Bidondi and a campaign of calling and emailing Infowars, the Hovindicators couldn’t seem to rustle up any interest in their man (at least if Rudy and Erin Davis’ YouTube videos were any indication).  

However, as Hovind’s trial ended on March 12, word went around that he would finally be interviewed by Jones on March 16.

Unfortunately, the run-up to the Hovind segment was painful to listen to, because it was larded with opinions, misleading information and outright falsehoods.  About the only truthful thing I heard Jones say was the throwaway line, “he [Hovind] failed to pay taxes.”  I particularly noticed how Jones gave the strong impression that Hovind had been running a 501(c)3 ministry, when in point of fact Kent stayed well away from that kind of government entanglement due to his sovereign citizen beliefs.  Jones then brought on conspiracy writer Mark Adams and they touched on the usual Hovindicator bugaboos, including Kent’s conviction for structuring, Judge M. Casey Rodgers’ alleged “worse than rape” comment, and Judge Rodgers’ alleged persecution of two teachers for praying among other adults at school. Of course, it wouldn’t have been Alex Jones without a “false flag” accusation, and that was present as well, as Adams and Jones seriously talked about court cases with mocked up evidence.

After the commercial break, Jones brought Hovind on and Kent proceeded to give the usual dog and pony show about his case. Hovind is a gifted speaker and easily glosses over some rather important facts in his case (such as the fact that he was convicted on 12 counts of failing to pay income and Social Security tax on his employees). An uninformed person could come away from the few minutes that Jones allowed Hovind to speak unimpeded believing he is being terribly persecuted for structuring.  However, after letting Hovind give his canned spiel for a few minutes, Jones interrupted him and began peppering him with questions. Hovind proceeded to opine on the structuring law (repeal it, make it retroactive and give compensation of a million dollars a year to those imprisoned),  his Bivens civil rights action and accompanying lis pendens filings, last week’s conviction for contempt of court, his belief  he should be out on home confinement as of last month and his book, “The Kennel.” Jones then let Hovind go on with a litany of the wrongs perpetrated upon him by the Bureau of Prisons, the IRS agents, and the judge.  Hovind wrapped up with an appeal to listeners to contact Congress and send letters on his behalf to Judge Rodgers.

For as much effort as the Hovindicators put into securing this interview, I’m not sure how successful it was in advancing Kent’s cause. While he may have been introduced to people who have never heard of him before, his delivery was blunted by Jones’ frequent interruptions and rapid-fire questioning to push the interview down yet another rabbit trail. Oddly, I came away wondering what a Hovind interview with public radio’s Diane Rehm would be like. I suspect that while Rehm would let Kent say his piece, it’s likely the interview would probably get a lot closer to the truth of Kent Hovind’s situation than occurred Monday on Infowars.

There should be more on the Infowars later today or perhaps tomorrow.  It's tax season you know.