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News & ArtsTuesday, August 7, 2012
2012 Who Could Have Possibly Seen This Coming?
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Think Progress reminds us that the Obama administration warned of increased threats of violence among right-wing fringe extremists groups back in 2009. Republicans predictably went ballistic. Here's John "Orange Julius" Boehner complaining about the report soon after its release:
[T]he Secretary of Homeland Security owes the American people an explanation for why she has abandoned using the term ‘terrorist’ to describe those, such as al Qaeda, who are plotting overseas to kill innocent Americans, while her own Department is using the same term to describe American citizens who disagree with the direction Washington Democrats are taking our nation.
Wade Michael Page was a fringe conservative. He was a domestic terrorist. John Boehner was wrong, but he'll never apologize.
1
Is it even possible for windbags like Boehner to speak without peppering their sentences with deliberately antagonistic factional idiom like "Washington Democrats," or is that shit some kind of legitimate mental disability?
2
@1, pretty sure it isn't a legit disability - and even if it was, Republicans would have long since cut any funding for support on it. It is nice to see that he can't tell the difference between "disagreeing with the direction of Washington Democrats" and killing people.
3
i remember the phrase "American Taliban" getting traction after 9/11 as a descriptor for the Christian Right, and then poor old John Walker Lindh came along, and instantly it meant "Marin County Hot Tubber".
if the media don't want to consider it, it can't be true. hence the right wing can never be "terrorists", not even the Klan.
if the media don't want to consider it, it can't be true. hence the right wing can never be "terrorists", not even the Klan.
4
How about we make a deal? Boehner will apologize for Wade Micheal Page when Obama apologizes for Saul Alinsky.
5
Thanks for the link. Terms like Ballistic and Blasted are enjoyable. Adds a kind of comic book drama to it.
6
@4 Yes empowering the poor and disenfranchised is exactly the same as the cold-blooded murder of a group of Sihks.
7
Who could have seen this coming indeed: man caught in movie theater with backpack carrying weapons...
http://m.woio.com/autojuice?targetUrl=ht…
http://m.woio.com/autojuice?targetUrl=ht…
8
@6 to people of a certain mindset - not to say "American citizens who disagree" like our anonymous coward friend here - it is as bad if not worse, I think. They are Bad People, you see, those poor and disenfranchised, and helping them in allegedly illegal ways is an assault on our beloved America!
9
Let's see, there was the guy who shot up the Sikh temple. The guy who shot the democratic congresswoman and the other people in that grocery store. The guy who shot up the holocaust museum. The guys who tried to go on that cop killing spree. The guy who flew his plane into the IRS building. Abortion clinic bombers. They guys who keep burning down mosques. The guy who shot that abortion clinic doctor. That's just a few of the domestic conservative terrorists. I didn't even get into foreign conservatives like Osama bin Laden.
11
@9: See also: "The Sikh Temple Shooting & How We Regard Violence by Lone Gunmen," by Kevin Gosztola, August 6, 2012, http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/08…
Goztola writes, "Resources for addressing domestic terrorism are, for the most part, intended to be used to monitor Muslim or anarchist communities," and, "Geography, foreign policy and profit motives of US corporations still are the chief determination of what individuals or groups should and should not be addressed as posing threats of terrorism."
Goztola writes, "Resources for addressing domestic terrorism are, for the most part, intended to be used to monitor Muslim or anarchist communities," and, "Geography, foreign policy and profit motives of US corporations still are the chief determination of what individuals or groups should and should not be addressed as posing threats of terrorism."
12
What Boehner says doesn't actually matter in this case because typically the NCTC is pretty accurate in characterizing these attacks as terrorism. So people who actually have to do security concerns by the GSA / DOD standards see these for what they truly are (terrorism). Honestly, most people in the counter-terrorism field view the media with skepticism and regard it as bullshit.
14
On what side of the spectrum was that nutty lib professor in Alabama?
What about the Ft. Hood shooter or the Virginia Tech kid?
It always amazes me, though it shouldn't, how far leftists will go to tie any sort of act of violence to those whom they disagree.
What about the Ft. Hood shooter or the Virginia Tech kid?
It always amazes me, though it shouldn't, how far leftists will go to tie any sort of act of violence to those whom they disagree.
16
@14, the UAH shooter was apolitical. I know the RW is desperate to claim she was a liberal or a socialist. The only evidence they really have though is that she's originally from Massachusetts and went to Harvard. So pretty big stretch there. Though it does display a good amount of anti-intellectualism. Virginia tech shooter was likewise apolitical. Ft. Hood shooter was a conservative.
17
@11 Not to forget that Juggalos are reportedly considered a gang by the FBI. Makes me wonder what kind of geniuses are running the security forces these days.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/…
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/…
18
now i know with former KKK members taking office and such the line in the US can be a bit more blurred but still not sure if "hardcore neo-nazi" equals "fringe conservative" but i get your point i guess...
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