I'll make this brief. The FBI has arrested wingnut White Supremacist BFF of Shawn Hannity, Hal Turner. This is is second heaping helping batch o'legal trouble since he recently turned himself into Connecticut authorities after having a warrant out for his arrest.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, especially in light of the uptick in domestic terrorism attributed to right wing extremists.
From ThinkProgress: FBI Arrests White Supremacist Blogger Hal Turner For Threatening To Kill Federal Judges
Today, FBI agents went to the New Jersey home of white supremacist blogger/radio host Hal Turner and arrested him "on a federal complaint filed in Chicago alleging that he made internet postings threatening to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their recent ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb," according to a statement released by the Justice Department. A summary of Turner’s dangerous tirade against the judges:
Story continues at link. For anyone who doesn't know who Shawn Hannity's BFF is, Hal Turner is:
Harold Charles "Hal" Turner is an American white nationalist and white supremacist from North Bergen, New Jersey. He runs his program, The Hal Turner Show, as a webcast from his home once a week, and depends on donations from his listeners. He quit the show in July 2008 and resumed in April 2009. In August 2008 his website also closed down, though he retains a blog, though currently that presence was shut down by his host, Google's Blogger, for violations of terms of service.
Turner promotes antisemitism (including the rounding up and killing of Jews)[1] and opposes the existence of the state of Israel.[2] He also denies the Holocaust.[3] In 2005, Turner organized what he billed as a "rally against violence" after a white student was beaten by a black student at a high school. In 2006, he got into a fight with Jaime Vazquez, a former Jersey City deputy mayor, after Vazquez called him a "racist coward". Turner has made numerous threats against political figures on his website and in other forums.
No doubt Hal poo-pooed the maligned by the right DHS report that was released in April and will claim victimization status and persecution. Well Hal, prosecution isn't persecution.
Specifically, the FBI paid Hal a visit for this:
Internet postings on June 2 and 3 proclaimed "outrage" over the June 2, 2009, handgun decision by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, further stating, among other things: "Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed." The postings included photographs, phone numbers, work address and room numbers of these judges, along with a photo of the building in which they work and a map of its location.
In other right wing whacko but equally disturbing news, Michael the Savage Weiner is coming dangerously close to putting out a bounty on the employees of Media Matters. Ed Schultz covered this today on his show:
Savage vows to post "full pictures and other pertinent information about" Media Matters employees on his website
I hope that Savage takes heed of Turner's current situation. I also hope that his house is next on the FBI's list of doors to knock on.
UPDATE: h/t to SheLawyer (comment here) , here is the link to the FBI's Press Release http://chicago.fbi.gov/...
"We take threats to federal judges very seriously. Period," said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who announced the charges with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
UPDATE 2: Thank you for putting this on the Rec List. I thought it was important information to share.
UPDATE 3:
Criminal Complaint h/t dmhlt 66 comment here