As not wanting to be accused of exploiting the tragedy in Arizona I decided to wait a little while before I published this diary. Many people have been justifiably outraged at the traditional media's insistence that "both sides" use violent rhetoric. But since 1980 the numbers of deaths by right-wing terrorist numbers over 200, versus 7 by the left. In the interest of keeping this list indisputable I left off hate crime victims who were slain for their sexual orientation or race and ethnicity. If I had included them the numbers would have swelled. These are purely politically motivated or ideological based killings.
The media loves to bring up the lefts militancy in the 1960's and 1970's. But during these decades the right was equally violent in the form of racial violence. But since the 1980's the right was unquestionably been more violent than the left. I used these images to "win" an online argument with a right-winger who of course quoted the traditional media false equivalence canard. Below 30 years of right-wing violence.
Timothy McVeigh
In April 1993, McVeigh headed for a farm where co-conspirator Terry Nichols lived. According to McVeigh, he had a two-week affair with Marife Nichols, although she denies that it happened. In between watching coverage of the Waco siege on TV, Nichols and his brother began teaching McVeigh how to make explosives out of readily available materials; specifically, they combined household chemicals in plastic jugs. The destruction of the Waco compound enraged McVeigh and convinced him that it was time to take action. The government's use of CS gas on women and children angered McVeigh; he had been exposed to the gas as part of his military training and thus was familiar with its effects. The disappearance of certain evidence, such as the bullet-riddled steel-reinforced front door to the complex, led him to suspect a cover-up. He believed that even if David Koresh had committed crimes, his followers did not deserve to be executed.
McVeigh's anti-government rhetoric became more radical. He began to sell ATF hats riddled with bullet holes and a flare gun, which, he said, could shoot down an "ATF helicopter." He produced videos detailing the government's actions at Waco and handed out pamphlets with titles like "U.S. Government Initiates Open Warfare Against American People" and "Waco Shootout Evokes Memory of Warsaw '43." He began changing his answering machine greeting every couple of weeks to various quotes by Patrick Henry such as "Give me liberty or give me death." He began experimenting with pipe bombs and other small explosive devices for the first time. The government also imposed new firearms restrictions in 1994 that McVeigh believed threatened his livelihood.
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The Body Of A Victim Lies On The Scene Of The Olympic Park Bombing In Atlanta July 1996.
Eric Rudolph is most well known as the perpetrator of Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta which occurred on July 27, 1996, during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. Melih Uzunyol, a Turkish cameraman who ran to the scene following the blast, died of a heart attack. Rudolph's motive for the bombings, according to his April 13, 2005 statement, was political:
In the summer of 1996, the world converged upon Atlanta for the Olympic Games. Multinational corporations spent billions of dollars, and Washington organized an army of security to protect these best of all games. The plan was to force the cancellation of the Games, or at least create a state of insecurity to empty the streets around the venues and thereby eat into the vast amounts of money invested.
Rudolph's statement authoritatively cleared Richard Jewell, a Centennial Olympic Park security guard, of any involvement in the bombing. Jewell fell under suspicion of participating in the bombing a few days after the incident, after having been initially hailed as a hero for being the first one to spot Rudolph's explosive device and helping to clear the area. When he came under FBI suspicion for involvement in the crime, Jewell became the prime suspect, and an international news story.
Rudolph has also confessed to the bombings of an abortion clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs on January 16, 1997; the Otherside Lounge of Atlanta lesbian bar in Atlanta on February 21, 1997, injuring five; and an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama on January 29, 1998, killing Birmingham Police Officer and part-time clinic security guard Robert Sanderson, and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons.
It is thought that Rudolph had the assistance of sympathizers while evading capture. Some in the area were vocal in support of him. Two country music songs were written about him and a locally top-selling T-shirt read: "Run Rudolph Run." The Anti-Defamation League noted that "extremist chatter on the Internet has praised Rudolph as 'a hero' and some followers of hate groups are calling for further acts of violence to be modeled after the bombings he is accused of committing."
Victim of Eric Rudolf woman's health clinic bombings Nurse Emily Lyons
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On March 10, 1993, Michael Frederick Griffin murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida in the United States. This was the first documented assassination of an OB-GYN to prevent abortions.
Griffin (at the time 31 years old) waited outside Gunn's clinic and shot him three times in the back. He is reported to have yelled "Don't kill any more babies," just before the shooting. Griffin did not attempt to hide his commission of the murder, telling police, "We need an ambulance."
A jury deliberated three hours before finding him guilty on March 4, 1994. He was sentenced to life in prison. He is currently serving in Okaloosa Correctional Institution in Crestview, Florida. The murder was one of the motivating factors in the creation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Michael Griffin
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Dr. John Bayard Britton photographed in November 1993 at the Pensacola Ladies Center
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Britton graduated in 1949 from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, then served in the army in Korea and taught at the Medical College of Georgia. He then became a family physician in Fernandina Beach, Florida, spending much of his time delivering babies. When Gunn was murdered, Britton began flying across the state to Pensacola weekly in order to perform abortions at the Pensacola Ladies' Center. Because he had received harassment and death threats, he wore a homemade bulletproof vest, carried a .357 Magnum, and enlisted volunteer bodyguards.
Britton was notably ambivalent about abortion: he was vocal about his personal opposition to the procedure, and would sometimes turn away women seeking it, telling them to think about the decision and come back in a week if they still wanted an abortion. However, he described anti-abortion protesters as "fanatics."
As Britton arrived at the clinic on July 29, 1994, Hill approached and fired on him with a twelve-gauge shotgun, hitting him in the head. Paul Hill later stated that he aimed for Britton's head because he suspected the doctor was wearing a bulletproof vest. Hill also killed Britton's bodyguard, retired Air Force lieutenant James Barrett, 74, and wounded Barrett's wife June, a retired nurse, 68. Anti-abortion groups published wanted posted with his home address on it before his assassination like these.
Paul Hill
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Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols
John C. Salvi III was an anti-abortion terrorist and a convicted murderer. He carried out two fatal terrorist attacks on two abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, on December 30, 1994. These were the subject of intense media coverage. Two receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, were killed in two clinic attacks in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the second attack security guard Richard Seron returned fire. Salvi then dropped a bag containing a second gun and 700 rounds of ammunition and fled. Police were able to identify him from a gun shop receipt in the abandoned bag.
John Salvi was captured in Norfolk Virginia, after another abortion clinic shooting. On March 19, 1996, he was found guilty of murdering receptionists Lee Ann Nichols and Shannon Lowney. Despite claims of schizophrenia, he was convicted in both killings. The shooting at the Hillcrest abortion clinic, in Norfolk Virginia, was also an abortion clinic picketed by Donald Spitz, a known supporter of anti-abortion terrorism. It was reported by the Boston Globe that Salvi had Spitz's name and unlisted phone number on his person at the time of his arrest. Salvi was seen as a hero by some anti-abortionists in Norfolk, Virginia. Spitz was never charged in connection with Salvi's activities.
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Brisenia Flores was shot dead alongside her father in her home in Flores, Arizona
'Please don't shoot me:' Girl, nine, begged for her life before she and her father were shot dead by 'anti-immigrant vigilantes'
A nine-year-old girl begged for her life before being shot dead along with her father by an anti-immigrant vigilante group, a court heard.
Brisenia Flores was gunned down at point-blank range in her own home in Flores, Arizona, as her terrified mother Gina Gonzalez, who had also been hit, played dead on the floor.
She sobbed as the court was told how she had heard Brisenia's desperate pleas as her killer stood over her.
'I can hear it happening,' Mrs Flores told the court describing how her daughter said: 'Why did you shoot my dad? Why did you shoot my mum?'
'I can hear her telling him to "please don't shoot me."'
The prosecution alleges that the child and her father Raul Flores Jr were murdered in May 30, 2009 by a group of vigilantes set up to tackle Mexican immigrants.
The shootings took place 200 miles from Tucson, the scene of the gun massacre earlier this month in which another nine-year-old girl died.
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Dr. Barnett Slepian
James Charles Kopp is an American citizen who was convicted in 2003 for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an American physician from Amherst, New York who performed abortions. Prior to his capture, Kopp was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 7, 1999 he had become the 455th fugitive placed on the list by the FBI. He was affiliated with militant anti-abortion group "The Lambs of Christ".
James Charles Kopp
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Oregon State Police Senior Trooper William Hakim
Bruce Turnidge was so fervent about protecting his right to have guns that he once sought to build and supply his own private militia, prosecutors said. His son, Joshua Turnidge, disdained police officers, calling them thieves and believing them all to be corrupt.
The two talked of bank robbery plots over the years no less than 50 times, a friend told prosecutors. The father had tried years before to raise money to arm a militia, but the men he approached turned him down, prosecutors said.
But it was Barack Obama's presidential win in November 2008 that finally drove the father and son to put one of their ideas into motion, Marion County Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver said Wednesday. They feared Obama's election would mean more gun restrictions, she said.
An employee at the Turnidges' biodiesel business recalled that Joshua Turnidge was "practically frantic" after the election about getting cash to reclaim his pawned guns as soon as he could, Suver said.
Then on Dec. 12, 2008, she said, the Turnidges planted a bomb outside the West Coast Bank in Woodburn. It ended up exploding inside the bank, killing two police officers, critically injuring a third and wounding a bank employee.
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George Richard Tiller
George Richard Tiller, MD (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He was the medical director of a clinic in Wichita, Women's Health Care Services, one of only three nationwide which provided abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy (known as late-term abortion).
Pro-life group Operation Rescue kept a daily vigil outside Tiller's clinic for many years: first the national group, then later a branch that moved from California to Kansas specifically to focus on Tiller. On August 19, 1993, outside of the Wichita clinic, Tiller was shot in both arms by Shelley Shannon, who received an 11-year prison sentence for the crime of attempted murder. On May 31, 2009, Tiller was shot through the eye and killed, by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, as Tiller served as an usher during the Sunday morning service at his church in Wichita. Jurors deliberated 40 minutes before convicting Roeder of murder on January 29, 2010.
The mug shot of Scott Roeder
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October 28, 1997: Dr. David Gandell of Rochester, New York was injured by flying glass when a shot was fired through the window of his home.
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According to NAF, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, property crimes committed against abortion providers have included 41 bombings, 173 arsons, 91 attempted bombings or arsons, 619 bomb threats, 1630 incidents of trespassing, 1264 incidents of vandalism, and 100 attacks with butyric acid ("stink bombs").
The New York Times also cites over one hundred clinic bombings and incidents of arson, over three hundred invasions, and over four hundred incidents of vandalism between 1978 and 1993. The first clinic arson occurred in Oregon in March 1976 and the first bombing occurred in February 1978 in Ohio.
Incidents have included:
December 25, 1984: An abortion clinic and two physicians' offices in Pensacola, Florida were bombed in the early morning of Christmas Day by a quartet of young people (Matt Goldsby, Jimmy Simmons, Kathy Simmons, Kaye Wiggins) who later called the bombings "a gift to Jesus on his birthday."
May 21, 1998: Three people were injured when acid was poured at the entrances of five abortion clinics in Miami, Florida.
October 1999: Martin Uphoff set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, causing US$100 worth of damage. He was later sentenced to 60 months in prison.
May 28, 2000: An arson at a clinic in Concord, New Hampshire resulted in several thousand dollars' worth of damage. The case remains unsolved. This was the second arson at the clinic.
September 30, 2000: John Earl, a Catholic priest, drove his car into the Northern Illinois Health Clinic after learning that the FDA had approved the drug RU-486. He pulled out an ax before being forced to the ground by the owner of the building who fired two warning shots from a shotgun.
June 11, 2001: An unsolved bombing at a clinic in Tacoma, Washington destroyed a wall, resulting in US$6000 in damages.
July 4, 2005: A clinic Palm Beach, Florida was the target of an arson. The case remains open.
December 12, 2005: Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe threw a Molotov cocktail at a clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana. The device missed the building and no damage was caused. In August 2006, Hughes was sentenced to six years in prison, and Dunahoe to one year. Hughes claimed the bomb was a “memorial lamp” for an abortion she had had there.
September 13, 2006 David McMenemy of Rochester Hills, Michigan crashed his car into the Edgerton Women's Care Center in Davenport, Iowa. He then doused the lobby in gasoline and then started a fire. McMenemy committed these acts in the belief that the center was performing abortions, however Edgerton is not an abortion clinic.
April 25, 2007: A package left at a women's health clinic in Austin, Texas contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death. A bomb squad detonated the device after evacuating the building. Paul Ross Evans (who had a criminal record for armed robbery and theft) was found guilty of the crime.
May 9, 2007: An unidentified person deliberately set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
December 6, 2007: Chad Altman and Sergio Baca were arrested for the arson of Dr. Curtis Boyd's clinic in Albuquerque. Altman’s girlfriend had scheduled an appointment for an abortion at the clinic.
January 22, 2009 Matthew L. Derosia, 32, who was reported to have had a history of mental illness rammed a SUV into the front entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Alan Berg
The Order was founded by Robert Jay Mathews in late September 1983 at Mathews' farm near Metaline Falls, Washington. Matthews was baptized by the Mormon faith as a high schooler. He formed the "Sons of Liberty", an anti-communist militia mostly made up of Mormon survivalists. A fundamental goal of The Order was revolution against the American government, which its members, and those of other white supremacist groups, believed to be controlled by a cabal of prominent Jews. The Order was named after, and partly modeled on, a fictional group in William Luther Pierce's novel The Turner Diaries. The Order's goals included the establishment of a homeland (now the Northwest Territorial Imperative) from which Jews and non-whites would be barred. They often referred to the United States federal government as ZOG, an acronym for Zionist Occupied Government.
To fund their goals, the Order committed a series of violent crimes. First the robbery of a sex shop, which netted them less than USD $400. Afterwards, the Order's attacks were more effective, committing several lucrative bank robberies, as well as bombing a theater and a synagogue. The Order ran a large counterfeiting operation, and executed a series of armored car robberies, including one near Ukiah, California that netted $3.8 million.
The Order drew up a hit list of enemies, and on June 18, 1984 radio talk show host Alan Berg was murdered in front of his home by Bruce Pierce, assisted by other members of The Order. Berg was number two on The Order's list. Berg's murder and the subsequent trial formed the basis of Steven Dietz's 1988 play God's Country, and also loosely inspired Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio (later adapted into a film by Oliver Stone) and the film Betrayed. A fictional version of the story was also the subject of the movie Brotherhood of Murder.
In December 1984, authorities were able to track Mathews down to a house on Whidbey Island where he refused to surrender. During a shootout, the house was ignited by incendiary flares, became engulfed in flames and Mathews was killed. Mathews is held in high esteem by some within the white nationalist subculture.
Bob Matthews
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22-year-old Richard Poplawski opened fire on two Pittsburgh Police officers responding to a 911 call from Poplawski's mother, who was attempting to get the police officers to remove her son from the home. Three police officers were ultimately confirmed dead, and another two were seriously injured.
Edward Perkovic, a friend of Poplawski, said the gunman feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon". Perkovic also stated that Poplawski "didn't like the Zionists controlling the media and controlling, you know, our freedom of speech" and that "He didn't like the control of the guns that was about to happen. He believed everything our forefathers put before us and thought that it was being distorted." Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said that Poplawski feared President Obama was going to take away his rights.
Poplawski posted that he believed that "the federal government, mainstream media, and banking system in these United States are strongly under the influence of -- if not completely controlled by -- Zionist interest. An economic collapse of the financial system is inevitable, bringing with it some degree of civil unrest if not outright balkanization of the continental US, civil/revolutionary/racial war . . . This collapse is likely engineered by the elite Jewish powers that be in order to make for a power and asset grab."
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I-580 shootout suspect mad at left-wing politics
A 45-year-old parolee, described by his mother as angry at left-wing politicians, opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers on an Oakland freeway early Sunday and was hit by return fire while wearing body armor, authorities said.
Byron Williams of Groveland (Tuolumne County) was taken to the emergency room at Highland Hospital, where he was in stable condition. Police did not describe his injuries. Two officers suffered minor cuts from flying glass.
Williams was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting at the CHP officers and Oakland police said he may face other charges.
They did not release his name, but reporters identified him from the license plate of the vehicle, which was registered to his mother.
The incident started around midnight when two CHP officers tried to stop a white Toyota Tundra pickup that had been speeding and weaving in and out of traffic on westbound Interstate 580, said CHP Officer Sam Morgan.
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Greg McKendry, the first fatality of the gunman who entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN Sunday 072708 and opened fire, injuring several of the congregation. Witnesses say that McKendry stepped in front of the gunman to protect others in the church.
On July 27, 2008, a politically motivated fatal shooting took place at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Motivated by a desire to kill liberals and Democrats, gunman Jim David Adkisson fired a shotgun at members of the congregation during a youth performance of a musical, killing two people and wounding seven others.
Adkisson, a former private in the United States Army from 1974 to 1977, says that he was motivated by hatred of Democrats, liberals, African Americans and homosexuals. According to a sworn affidavit by one of the officers who interviewed Adkisson on July 27, 2008:
“ During the interview Adkisson stated that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them into office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years. ”
Additionally, one of Adkisson's former wives had been a member (in the 1990s) of the church where the attack occurred. Adkisson's manifesto also cited the inability to find a job, and that his food stamps were being cut. His manifesto stated that he intended to keep shooting until police arrived and expected to be killed by police. Adkisson had a waist satchel with more ammunition, totaling 76 shells of #4 shot.
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Todd & Sarah Palin secessionist Alaska Independence Party friends..
John Vogler by the way blew himself up in 1993, after trying to buy plastic explosives, because all peaceful political movements need plastic explosives. was killed by a burgler in 1993, he was under investigation by the ATF at the time for trying to but C4.
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A final notes as I stated above I left off a number of hate crimes. Although in many (if not most) cases the perpetrators were motivated by right-wing ideology towards racial of religious minorities, or those with a different sexual orientation, drawing a direct POLITICAL motivation would be more tenuous.
Secondly, I left off a number of incidents were the right-wing militias didn't initiate a terrorist act, but were engaged in a fire fight with law enforcement. Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Republic of Texas incidents fall into this category. Although violent, this list is intended to be a listing of TERRORIST ACTS, were the individuals and groups involved conceived and perpetrated the violence, rather than reacted to them. This also excludes incidents like the police bombing in Philadelphia of MOVE. For those who feel differently please feel free to included these conflicts.
Finally, I only included domestic terrorist groups. A number of incidents have occurred on US soil involving the US arms of foreign groups. One controversial exclusion (in my online argument) was the exclusion of the FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña) the Puerto Rican independence militia. I feel this is justified as no death or injuries have been attributed to this group since 1979 (outside my 30 year time frame). In any event the last armed incident from this goup occurred in March 1980 were armed members of FALN raided the campaign headquarters of Carter-Mondale in Chicago and the campaign headquarters of George H. W. Bush in New York City. Seven people in Chicago and ten people in New York were tied up as the offices were vandalized before the FALN members fled. A few days later, Carter delegates in Chicago received threatening letters from FALN. On April 5, 11 members of FALN were arrested for attempting to rob an armored truck at Northwestern University; three were linked to the raid on the Carter-Mondale campaign headquarters.
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THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA LOVES FALSE EQUIVALENCES MORE THAN THEY DO THE FACTS
