No More Kid Gloves For Domestic Terrorists - It's Time To Treat Them Like Al Qaeda & ISIS Vermin

Right Wing terrorist Robert Dear blurts out his guilt in court, in December, 2015. 


It was back in November, 2015 that domestic terrorist Robert Lewis Dear, 57, had been arrested and charged with shooting three people to death and wounding nine others,  including five police officers.  This was at a Planned Parenthood clinic here  in Colorado Springs, in which he took aim using an AK-47, the same type of weapon used by the White Nationalist terrorist Patrick Crusius in the El Paso butchery.

At the time I recall going at it with my (now deceased) brother Mike, a strong NRA guy, e.g.

who himself owned an AR, and leaned toward Rightist ideology, though to my knowledge he never entertained ideations of retribution against Jews, undocumented immigrants or LGBT people.  Nonetheless, he did feel Dear was getting a raw deal - and like other right wingers-  had come out strongly against a 2009  Dept. Of Homeland Security report by domestic terror specialist Darryl Johnson.  Johnson at the time headed up a 6-person team at DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis which had focused on right wing extremism and terrorism   The paper produced at the time exposed a linkage between Christian fundie religious terrorists (like Dear) who kill abortion providers, as well as anti-immigration and other anti-Semitic extremists.

Alas, the report was pilloried by conservatives and GOP groups as picking on their lot while leaving the left alone, and ignoring the Islamic terrorists.   In the words of Johnson - a self-described conservative Republican: "I didn't think the whole Republican party would basically throw a hissy fit."

Well, they sure did and the effect grew as conservative media's usual whiners (like O'Reilly et al on FOX) painted it as a political hit job by the Obama administration.  My brother Mike (in his blog postings), also depicted it this way, to the point of suggesting Obama had "ordered it".  Ultimately - following the "squeaky wheel"  model -    funding and oversight for domestic terrorism was pulled back in reaction to right wing squeals.  In its wake, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano issued an apology to the American Legion (since one report section concerned returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets) and the number of domestic terror analysts fell to zero by 2010. It was literally a gold-engraved invitation for the rats and roaches to crawl out of the rotting, racist national woodwork.

No one, certainly in the wider media, was able to see how the spread of domestic right wing terror was to metastasize like a cancer gone wild.     Indeed, Johnson's report and the energy devoted to the right wing terrorists proved prescient  given  that since 9/11 far right extremists (including white nationalists) have been responsible for 3 times as many attacks in the U.S. as Islamic extremists.  That stat alone speaks with force to the idea that the full power of the national security state now needs to be brought to bear on the domestic terror elements - including surveillance of all their web cesspools and hiding places. Not necessarily to shut them down but to surveil them for information much as the national security apparatus now does for Isis and al Qaeda bad actors.

This follows the advice of former FBI special agent Cliff Watts in his recent WSJ Review piece, 'Our New Terrorism Problem' (Aug. 10-11, p. C1)  wherein he writes:

"Today's white supremacist terrorists band together online, further radicalize themselves and fire one another up in much the same manner as their jihadist counterparts."

For example, to give an idea of this "firing up" we learned (WSJ, 'Suspect Got Ideas Online', Aug. 6, p. A9):

"In the hours after the attack a discussion broke out on 8chan about his place in the history of mass shooters. One commenter offered:  ' The new guy deserves some praise, he reached almost a third of the high score."

This referred to the fact these cockroaches actually keep score by using the published death counts. Hence, at the time the largest such toll was due to the Orlando Pulse nightclub killer (59) and at the time of the comment Crusius had slaughtered 20. (The death toll has since climbed to 22).   Still other roaches in the vile den of losers were unimpressed and mocked Crusius for failing to kill more people, or for targeting Hispanics instead of Jews.

 Others spewed out praise of the New Zealand mass murderer with this drivel: "Hail St. Tarrant!"  referring to Brenton Tarrant, the slime  who killed 51 Muslims in two Christchurch mosques.

Crusius himself, appeared to lose nerve when first posting on this roach den, writing (ibid.):

"I have to do this before I lose my nerve.  I figured that an underprepared attack and a meh manifesto is better than no attack and no manifesto."

And of course, the most outspoken in the 8chan  roach nest urged him on to action. But stop for a moment: If the FBI had been monitoring the site they'd have been alerted to his plans, put a GPS or other tracking on his vehicle, then taken him out before he even got to the outskirts of El Paso  Then 22 lives could have been saved.  As Cliff Watts aptly noted (ibid.):

"The overall goal is clear and urgent: detect violent white supremacists online and intercept them on the ground by increasing the volume of intelligence and the speed with which it is shared among federal, state and local law enforcement officers."

Adding:

"As white supremacists have been pushed from more mainstream social media platforms, they have descended on less policed, more anonymous platforms such as Gab.com and 8chan."

It is true Crusius' manifesto on 8chan didn't include specific plans to carry out the shooting and as the WSJ piece notes "it isn't clear law enforcement would have taken action even if they had known about it."

This is because "there are many vague threats of hate-filled violence" including 2,730 in a single hour two days following the shooting. Fair enough, but we've since learned Crusius purchased an AK-style weapon and his mother Lori had alerted local authorities. That ought to have been a major red flag in tandem with his 8chan post, especially on the "fear of losing his nerve".  Which I would always take 100 times more seriously than an ordinary threat, i.e. minus any expression of fear.  And as Cliff Watts points out, this is all the more urgent given "violent white supremacism in the U.S. has grown from the bottom up, not the top down."

Basically then, we are dealing with a leaderless,  paranoid pseudo resistance to "elite" democratic norms and laws. This means other (peer) extremists, like on 8chan, or the Daily Stormer, will generally be the immediate stimulus for any attacks, not some distant authority - such as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,  who directs the Isis rats.    Thus we have a spontaneously emergent  - but malignant -- social media entity that irrationally glorifies the worst solo mass killers while extolling their monstrous deeds  - and challenging others to surpass them.  In many ways, as bio-ethnologist Jacques Monod would put it, we are confronting one of the most malignant mind viruses.  And just like smallpox or the Ebola virus it needs to be eradicated but there are right and wrong ways to do it.

Current 8chan operator Jim Watkins describes his site in preposterously vanilla terms as "just an open piece of paper for writing on" (Sunday Denver Post, p. 7 A)..  Hardly! It's more akin to an open cyber cesspit inviting every passing hater and miscreant misogynist (incel) or white supremacist to spout his venom and violence and add to the existing, overflowing effluent.

Fortunately, Cliff Watts in his WSJ piece,  offers ways to neutralize this effluent and its more violent, would be terror perpetrators   Many of his proposals also ought to be acceptable in terms of the First Amendment. My brother Mike always would say 'Show me a decent way to temper online speech - say to prevent mass murders- and I'll accept it!"  Well, I believe Mr. Watts has found a way and I suspect Mike might concur if he was still alive.

For example, Watts bids us to honestly acknowledge that "U.S. counterterrorism is behind the times".  This also references Director Chris Wray's recent testimony that "the Bureau has recorded roughly as many domestic terrorism arrests as international terror ones in 2019": and yet the FBI still dedicates more investigators to the latter.  The question is 'Why?'   The answer provided is simply that the "FBI has more resources to tackle the jihadist problem and more legal authority to pursue its adherents."

But this needs to change if the statistics for victims keep accumulating as they are. The most direct way to resolve this issue, which even Mr. Watts has advocated for (in a recent appearance on 'All In' ) is by  using human intelligence in conjunction with extending surveillance of social media sites where these dregs of society congregate   As he also writes:

"Law enforcement and social media companies must also work more transparently together. to detect likely attackers and stem the flood of terrorist and violent content."

This is already being done in the case of child pornography and federal and local authorities can now profile the creators, traffickers, traders and related offenders, as well as track them across the web - to the point of arrest and then prosecution. So why not a similar method to ferret out the mass killers hiding out in assorted rat warrens?   Well, it's largely a matter of will, political and legal.  One answer for Watts is to create a "joint center for social media intelligence where investigators and personnel at the tech companies share information about extremists."   This could work, assuming the social media outfits cooperate, but an even better solution would be to do what is already done for surveillance of child porn creators and purveyors: assign specific task force units to monitor activity 24/7  on supremacist- incel sites - and then drop the hammer when the line is crossed and a transaction or attack is evident.. This can be done with or without social media companies' cooperation. Above all, it ought to be done in the name of national security just as was invoked to monitor Islamic radical attacks.  Watt also adds that: "Investigators must know what to look for. That means a comprehensive study of domestic extremist ideologies, however confused or vitriolic."

We can no longer afford to keep separating the two forms of terror, and then claim we are advocating for the general welfare, and protecting the most vulnerable.  But when more people were murdered last year by  right wing extremists than any year since 1995 (Oklahoma City bombing) and the result is to defund the FBI's counterterrorism domestic task force- well, it's not getting done. No way in hell.  Begging the question that if Islamic terrorists were responsible for committing 75% of all extremist -related fatalities (from 2009-18) would such a blind eye similarly be evident? I doubt it.

Watts' other suggestion of conducting online interventions to match right wing extremists with counselors (to provide an "off ramp")  could also work.  But as my psychology post doc niece Shayl put it: "Yeah, but only if the choice offered is between seeing a counselor or getting ten years in the slammer!"

She has a point.  No intervention toward matching a miscreant with a case worker is likely to be of any use if it's purely voluntary.

What about the availability of military -style weapons like the AR-15, or AK-47?  Cliff Watts pulls no punches in his take that these don't belong on American streets - or in the hands of any respectable citizen. As he writes (ibid.):

"Reducing the impact of domestic terrorism requires restricting the weaponry available to radicals. America should treat guns much the same way it does cars.  Few Americans would want to share the road with unlicensed, untrained and uninsured motorists, but with guns we don't require even one of these elements to protect the public."

Which, of course, is pure, unadulterated insanity, as I often told Mike, including in responding to his then blog posts.  Most salient is Watts next point:

"Weapons of  war, like the assault rifles used by white supremacists in recent weeks....have no place on American streets. Today's terrorists have cops outgunned."

And as I repeatedly told Mike even after he got his own AR-15, one doesn't need such a weapon to protect home and hearth - OR for hunting.  That is bare foolishness.  Nor is there some 2nd amendment right to own such weapons, as I previously posted, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2018/02/sorry-you-have-no-constitutional-right.html

As blogger David Lindorff put it soon after the Parkland massacre:
"An AR-15 is not a hunting weapon. In fact there’s a reason it’s called an “assault rifle.” As a hunter, unless you’re an atrocious shot and are hunting random flocks of small birds, you certainly don’t need to be able to fire powerful ammunition of two bullets per second — the rate at which experts say an ordinary person could be able to pull the trigger."

By contrast, the knife  -- no matter how sharp or large- must usually be wielded by an assailant in an up close and personal manner. It isn't like taking aim from 20 or more feet away and dispatching victims with the touch of a trigger.  To kill seventeen people  even in the same room - the assailant would have to work demonically, stabbing from one to the other, and there is no assurance any given slash would be a fatal one  say like an  AR-15 bullet fired into a chest.  Even if it took only 3 seconds per stab, this  is much longer than firing 2 rounds per second. And you can't assume the people will just stand there like tackling dummies and let you do them in, oh no. They will react and more than likely several will gang up to take the assailant down. 

This is the first point that the assault rifle lovers must be forced to admit, that it is far more difficult to kill with a knife than an assault weapon.

Cliff Watts has admirably addressed the menace of domestic terrorism with a multi-pronged approach that ought to be taken seriously and implemented with due dispatch.  If it isn't we will see many more of these slaughters -   and the extremists behind them will become ever more emboldened.   The time is now to act and for the sane and rational to cease making excuses.  As Watts noted,the targeted minorities - whether Jews, Hispanics or LGBT people - "still haven't been properly heard or supported by their political leaders."  That needs to change and pronto. Either we're serious about all forms of terrorism- and that includes the use of assault weapons-  or we are merely play- acting when we profess outrage at mass shootings such as occurred in El Paso. 

See also:

• Barr, Trump DoJ hid 2018 report on white supremacy and domestic terrorism 

And:

The QAnon Phenom

P.M. Carpenter

Conservatives and the Right

by P.M. Carpenter | August 9, 2019 - 6:42am  

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/p-m-carpenter/85995/the-qanon-phenom

And:

Guns

Of Course Guns Have Nothing To Do With It

by Pierre Tristam | August 12, 2019 - 7:14am | 

Don't Be Misled By "ISIS" Jabber - Orlando Was A HATE Crime

Omar Mateen, the sick homophobic nut who butchered 49 in Orlando.

Some of the assault weapons depicted in a WJS piece from December 15, all of which need to be banned.

Another merciless slaughter, this time by a hateful psycho named Omar Mateen taking out 49 lives at an Orlando nightclub called "the Pulse" according to the NY Times. But you can bet your sweet bippy most 'Murican gun lubbers won't do diddly or squat about controlling the proliferation of military assault rifles. Oh no! They will likely  invoke the recycled excuse that "guns don't kill people, radical Muslim extremists do". A neat cop out but even if they expand the "Muslim extremists" to "people" it still doesn't work because they conveniently ignore the corollary:

"People wouldn't kill as many people if killing with high -powered guns wasn't so easy"

 That's the core of it: the ease of killing another with a weapon that doesn't even require you get up close and personal, like using a machete or knife.  If gun sales and distributions were as limited in this country as they are in others, Mateen might not have been able to carry out his foul deed to the extent of 49 dead -  - say if he only had access to a knife. Yes, he'd likely have inflicted damage - maybe killed even a dozen -  but there would at least have been time for others to react - to dodge the knife thrusts and take him down. Especially if people swarmed him en masse. 

We know from Pete Williams' (MSNBC) report yesterday this AMERICAN  thug (American citizen, born in Queens, NY like 'the Donald') modified his AR-15 to enhance his capacity and thereby kill more people. As the WSJ piece  from which the top image was culled observed:

"The AR-15 re-cocks itself immediately after firing. The only thing keeping the gun from firing again on its own is a sear, a piece inserted in the gun that stops the cycle from continuing. By replacing the sear and a few other key components, an AR-15 can be made fully automatic."

 Evidently then, the twisted SOB adjusted his weapon to become a mass slaughter machine.  (We also know from the WSJ piece one of the rifles used by the San Bernardino CA duo had been "changed to more easily accommodate a large capacity magazine". This was according to Meredith Davis, a special agent with ATF quoted in the article.)  Although dedicated gunnies insisted the San Bernardino pair accomplished their foul deed even with "strict" California gun laws, the truth is they aren't that strict. As the WSJ piece continues:

"There are ways to get around the state's background check gun laws. A person can lend another person a gun for as long as 30 days without having to run a background check."

Also:

"Many transfers between family members are also exempt from background checks>

So the laws are not as tough as believed with those loopholes, another of which is that "once a gun is sold it becomes difficult to keep track of it". And let's also bear in mind while the wacko Right screams its collective lungs out over the government "eliminating the right to bear arms", they keep their mouths totally shut over all the freaks on the terror watch lists who are still enabled - by current gun laws- to purchase any weapon they want. Cognitive dissonance anyone?

We also know the hateful AMERICAN shit was in Miami a few weeks ago when he "saw two men kissing'" and immediately vowed retribution "from the ISIS kill book", which punishes such behavior with instant death.  I mean sheesh, gimme a break! While awaiting check-in for our Barbados apartment in April (and while Janice was in the restroom) I sat in the check-in lounge while barely five feet across from two young Brit millennial women deep kissing each other on a couch. Did I freak out and want to blow them away? Of course not! There is such a thing as "live and let live" but don't try to tell that to some of these hateful, religiously-motivated  peckerwoods  - whether the gay-hating Mateens of the world, or the Planned Parenthood hating likes of Robert Lewis Dear. .

So we can conclude it was both an act of terror and act of pure hate, but one suspects much more of hate - with an admixture of "Isis" baloney tossed in for good measure. That's because the PoS realized the very word "ISIS" stirs utmost fear into the hearts of millions of Americans - who are then forced to check for "radical Islamic extremists"  under their beds each night, like many 1950s 'Muricans used to do for wayward commies. . So why not invoke it to make the terrified segment believe it was "ISIS inspired"? Hey, don't disregard it!  The cynical use of this tactic (and bear in mind anyone can say anything, that doesn't prove it) provides an effective cover for the hate crime (directed exclusively at the LGBT community). As other commentators have pointed out, the use of this ideological identification instantly inflates the nut's self-importance. Much as the U.S. inflates ISIS' own self-important by branding them an opponent in a real war. Gimme a fuckin' break already! As former Col. Lawrence Wilkerson has noted ISIS are a band of rogue criminals and should not be inflated to the level of "warriors".  This asshole Mateen is also a criminal- not a fucking warrior- and a nut besides. In effect he's no different from Robert Lewis Dear (who fancied himself a "warrior for babies")  other than the religion professed..

An FBI investigator in Orlando yesterday morning also pointed out that a cell phone call was received from the culprit while inside the Pulse club, claiming allegiance to ISIS. This last minute "claim" - despite the fact the FBI did multiple prior background checks showing no threats - indicated to me the little fuck exploited Islamic terror as the cover to commit a hate crime (and an act of domestic terror). The foul little scumball probably knew he could get away with it because too many Americans will accentuate the "radical Islamic terror" aspect and neglect the hate beneath.  As I noted earlier, the irrational fears (by which I mean disproportionate) are already there. Trump will exploit this evil act to the hilt on that score, but no one else of sound mind ought to.

As President Obama said in his address on TV yesterday "The killer was filled with hatred". And this has been true of all the major mass shooters, whether James Eagen Holmes, Adam Lanza, or Robert Lewis Dear.  Each may have been wacked out to different degrees (especially Dear who was "fightin' for the babies") but we need to bear in mind one can be a fruitcake and still express hate and vitriol.

Underneath all these kinds of violent mass shootings is the easy availability of guns. Semi-automatic killing machines like the AR-15, to be specific.  Now after the most massive slaughter ever, what are we going to do about it as a nation? Are we still going to insist - as the NRA does - that those who wrote the 2nd amendment actually had modern military assault rifles in mind when they wrote it? I can tell you right now this is a damned fable! If one of the authors of the 2nd came forward in time to behold how his writing was twisted he'd likely scream: "You fucking idiots! THAT is NOT what we meant by the right to bear arms!"

In a worthwhile book entitled 'Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right To Bear Arms in America', a professor of constitutional law at UCLA - Adam Winkler- masterfully documented how guns were regulated from the earliest days of our Republic. As an example: laws that banned the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, in Indiana in 1820 and in Tennessee and Virginia in 1838. Similar laws were later also passed in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.

The then governor of Texas in 1893 was heard to proclaim:

"The mission of the concealed weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law abiding man".

WOW! How times have changed!

Meanwhile, Winkler showed that congress passed the first set of laws regulating, licensing and taxing guns in 1934. Though the law was challenged and wound up in the Supreme Court, in 1939, the crazies lost. FDR's Solicitor General framed the argument correctly to the Court:
"The Second Amendment grants people a right that is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only exists where the arms are borne in a militia or some other military organization provided by law and intended for protection of the State."

The SC decision was unanimous.

While this sane and sober take prevailed for several more decades, it started to unravel by the 1970s as various Right wing (wouldn't you know?) groups coalesced to challenge gun control based on spurious "private gun ownership" interpretations, and successively overturned laws in state legislatures - much like the abortion opponents are doing now.

And let's not forget that Chief Justice Warren Burger once asserted that the alleged right to keep powerful weapons in one's own private possession was  "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Well, it's good Justice Burger didn't live long enough as to see the arrival of automatic weapons and the claim that the 2nd amendment provided for the ownership of those too!

Over twenty years ago Australia also suffered its worst mass shooting ever but opted to take action. There followed new gun laws that included having to get a license to own a gun just as you would a car. Each time a person makes a weapon transaction, even using a 30.06, the license number is taken down and entered in electronic records. The electronic data base for all of Australia then keeps track of a given gun's history and chain of ownership Why isn't that done here? I mean, it's no more an "invasion of privacy" than already occurs with internet use. So why not (certainly) for semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, or Bushmaster .223.

The fact is the only reason the gun lobby and its lackeys protests is that they see ANY incursion or limit on their insane ownership "rights" as an incentive to knock out the entire 2nd amendment. In other words, the classic slippery slope argument expanded and inflated to absurd exaggerative dimensions.

But in the wake of Orlando, it's now time for good men anywhere and everywhere to raise a hue and cry for our so-called reps to do something, and not just continue the status quo that's brought us hundreds of mass shootings since 2011. Worse, until our elected reps get off their asses nothing will change.

We now also know the most likely profile for a loser-hater as given by a psychoanalyst on CBS Early show in the wake of the Orlando massacre. The "cocktail" for lethality includes:

-History of personal failures

- Indications of hatred for others

- Pattern of blaming others

- Use of violence against others

- Fascination with firearms

The last was most important, and as she observed:

"When you add all these things together but you don't have access to lethal weapons you cannot act out as violently as we saw."

In other words, we need to keep the weapons away from these hater-loser psychos!

Follow-up 10:30 p.m. MDT:

New FBI leads have disclosed Mateen (born in Queens, NY NOT Afghanistan) expressed support for both Al Nusra and ISIS, which are diametrically opposed Islamic groups. Again, this discordance shows the guy was a hateful fruitcake as opposed to any kind of 'radical Islamist' - who one would think could keep his Islamic cults straight!

6:45 a.m.

A new Quinnipiac poll presented on MSNBC shows 6 of 10 Americans support a ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic assault weapons and 9 of 10 want background checks.

See also:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e900766a-3149-11e6-bda0-04585c31b153.html#axzz4BPNcN12z

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/p-m-carpenter/67648/a-psychotics-freedom

Right Wing Terrorist Robert Lewis Dear Admits Guilt In Court: He's A "Warrior For Babies"

Right Wing terrorist Robert Dear blurts out his guilt in court on Tuesday.

How stupid do you have to be to admit openly in court your guilt in shooting to death three Planned Parenthood clients? Pretty damned stupid! But that's exactly what Robert Lewis Dear did during his hearing on Tuesday at the court house  in Colorado Springs.

Less than four minutes into the hearing, Dear actually interrupted his public defender Daniel King. King, was part of the team that represented Aurora theater shooter James Holmes,  and cleverly did not acknowledge his current client's outbursts.  One can speculate why he didn't, but a good bet is he wanted to try to show his client was really a garden variety psycho and not a stone killer with full possession of his faculties. I ain't buying it, but that's me. If that is the strategy it might be a clever one, because as it turns out Dear will be checked for competency to stand  trial. And then, who knows?

"I am guilty, there's no trial. I am a warrior for the babies!" Dear shouted at King.

Looking again at his public defender, Dear screamed:

 "Do you know who this lawyer is? He's the lawyer for the Batman shooter that drugged him all up, and that's what they want to do to me."

Read that again. It may well be this character is not as stupid as he appears and there might be a method to his madness. What's next? Will he be spouting paranoid screeds about aliens from Tau Ceti implanting tiny transmitters in his teeth - what he has left?

Incredibly, as Chief District Court Judge Gilbert Martinez was issuing a gag order for law enforcement and attorneys, Dear accused defense attorneys of hiding the "truth." What is this "truth"?  Well, he bellowed loudly:

"The babies that were supposed to be aborted that day, could you add them to that list?"

In fact, this guy has a low I.Q. as well as nursing paranoid ideations. There are no "babies" that have had any harm come to them at the PP clinic.  Thus, it's clear his terrorist motive is bound up with the rhetoric used by assorted Reepos over the past two months regarding "baby parts"  - based on a bogus, edited video circulated by a bunch of minor Nazis.

At this juncture, two other assistant public defenders Kristen Nelson and Rosalie Roy,  leaned toward Dear during his outbursts. At one point, a sheriff's deputy had to place his hand on Dear's shoulder and calm him down.

It didn't do much good, as the fool resumed his outbursts:

"You'll never know what I saw in that clinic! The atrocities! That's what they want to seal! The babies!"

"Babies" again! Someone needs to educate him on the differences between fetal tissue and babies, but somehow I doubt it'd do any good.
 
Finally, King asked the judge to order prosecutors to promptly provide them with evidence so the defense team can "learn the depth of Mr. Dear's mental illness."

King told the judge, "I think the problem is obvious, Your Honor."

Because  Dear's trio of defense attorneys have "serious concerns about competency," King asked the judge to delay setting a preliminary hearing. During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors will present evidence they believe support the charges in the case.

Predictably, King said he was not confident that Dear was competent to make decisions about his rights. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys requested a competency evaluation on Wednesday.
But 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May asked Martinez to move forward and either require Dear to waive his right to have a preliminary hearing in 35 days or set the hearing.

Some of us believe this is just a contrived dog and pony show to distract attention from the central issue of Dear's right wing terror assault and playing the fool to get off.

Frankly, this is an escapade that should not be lost on those who,  on the one hand, assert Lee Oswald had this enormous ego and "arrogance" to catapult himself to 'giant killer' in the Kennedy assassination, but on the other hand never once made any admission he did it. He always insisted he was a "patsy". If he had this sense of grandiosity why didn't he admit to the crime of the century?  Hell, even brag about it. At least with Dear we have a true "lone nut" but one who is guilty as all hell of the brutal crime he committed! He was on a real ego trip to "gain fame" as a perennial loser,  and he didn't shy away from the open admission even in court.

Defining "Terrorism": Don't Assume You Know What It Means

Incredibly, amidst all the Republican babble in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre, it appears none of them even know what the term "terrorism" means. Of course, it's easy to bandy the word about to gain political leverage or exploit the ignorance of a population, and it serves a long standing interest for Rightists to take the public's eyes off gun control.

In point of fact, there is no single consensus definition of terrorism in federal law and regulation. USC Title 18 specifically defines "domestic terrorism" as:

"A violent act which is committed in the United States and attempts to intimidate or coerce".

The international definition is similar except it includes reference to the locales wherein  the perpetrators committed their fear - inspiring deeds or where they sought asylum.

Under the USC 18 definition, Robert Lewis Dear was definitely a terrorist because he committed his crime with the goal to instill fear or coerce the Colorado Springs community into no longer supporting Planned Parenthood. Conversely, the Newtown and the Aurora Theater massacres were not terrorism under the definition.

At the University of Leiden, two researchers found more than 200 definitions of terrorism scattered around the world. Most shared attributes of violence, political objectives, and causing outright fear. One historian, Walter Lacquer, summed up the differences this way:

"In the real world there is not one terrorism, but a variety of terrorisms. Any attempt to find a common denominator - a formula - say as suited to 19th century Irish terrorism as to narco-terror in Columbia, or Islamic terror in Pakistan is bound to fail"

This is because there will always be divergent emphases, as well as parameter and intenisty distinctions. Recall that in many quarters, the first reaction to the 9/11 attacks was to treat them as a major crime - not terror. It was only when the Bushies introduced the "war on terror" - which is a non sequitur - that terror became a ubiquitous dynamic. The problem is it holds too many in thrall who are prepared to cry 'Terror!' at the first suspicion.

This is misplaced because it makes us all subject to irrational political exploitation and reduces our power as citizens - collectively and individually. We certainly ought to be alert to recognize real actions of terrorists when they arise, but not to call 'Terror!' for everything we see.  As Chris Hayes put it three nights ago: "When everything is terror then the meaning is diluted to the point that we cease to recognize real terror.

That is useful to bear in mind as the calls for more 'wars on terror' heat up and the political Right, especially, attempts to use the word 'terror' as a cudgel to infringe on our civil liberties and misdirect our national priorities - as well as playing right into ISIS' fell hands by refusing Syrian refugees entry.

Colo. Springs Terrorist Identifies His Motive: "No more baby parts!"

Robert Lewis Dear, screamed 'No more baby parts!' after his 5 hour terror spree and arrest in Colorado Springs.

As I said in my previous post on the Colorado Springs right wing terrorist (Robert Lewis Dear) who shot up a Planned Parenthood clinic here, killing 3 and injuring 9: It doesn't take a genius or a crystal ball to figure out why this asshole did what he did. You only need look at: a) the invective of the Right's crazies, e.g. on right wing hate radio and from the Repuke presidential candidates that preceded it, b) the choice of the target - a Planned Parenthood clinic, and c) the weapons brought in to ensure he'd have a long stand off with our police and holding citizens hostage to his cause.

The aim is clearly to change the ideology of our community or to instill it with fear so PP will lose clientele, as specialist Jonathan Gilliam observed on CNN yesterday. He also referred to it as "terrorism" which only a deaf or blind man wouldn't see - or a person similarly imbued with Dear's malformed perceptions, but wishes to protect his right flank.

It is especially galling to think former cops could attribute ambiguity of motive to this slime when four cops were injured in the altercation and one (Garret Swasey) killed. Some of these obfuscationists believe they know all about it because they know how to Google but they don't know diddly or squat - not as much as those of us who live here (tuned in to local news stations almost continually). And it never fails that they trot out the same bogus bullshit every time a right winger goes on such a spree - like Andre Brevik in Norway some years ago. It's always "mental health issues" for the Right but it's always "terrorism" if Lefties or Muslims do it. How so? You cannot have it both ways, sorry!

Here's the skinny: We now know from current reports the first words out of this turd's mouth (despite being 'Mirandized')  on his arrest were:

"No more baby parts!"

See:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/29/suspect-in-planned-parenthood-attack-said-no-more-baby-parts-after-arrest



Why the fuck would this degenerate utter such words, the only ones thus far, if saving all those poor "babies" from PP's "butchers" wasn't the primary motive? (They aren't "babies" of course, since babies are already born, they are fetuses. But clearly, he had bought into the bogus videos circulated by a right wing group months before, purporting to show the parts of fetuses being offered for sale on the organs' market.


But this dingbat like most of the Right's loonytunes can't tell the difference between fetus' tissue and "baby parts" - which is why he became enraged enough to carry out a mass murder. See also:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2015/08/confusing-issues-again-reeptards-mix-up.html

Another aspect that points to a political motive was an encounter with Dear's neighbor (Zigmond Post) in the guy's mountain town of Hartsel. Mr. Post told of being handed anti-Obama pamphlets within minutes of first meeting Dear, then having to listen to a rant against the President. (Denver Post, today, p. 17A)

The fact is this PP center has been under siege from our local wingnuts for years. On some occasions they even drenched dolls in blood (likely from cow's blood or some other animal's) and tossed them in the path of terrorized patients trying to gain access - even to ordinary services like breast exams.

The PP leadership then decided to install a safe room where at least some of their clients could hide in the case of an all out attack - which is what this terrorist mounted.  Luckily it was in use Friday and saved lives, as The Denver Post reported yesterday (p. 13A).

As more details emerge during grilling, even more of this scurvy bastard's plans will come to light.

In the meantime those who don't live here and don't know dog shit need to button it up, especially with the fulsome horse pockey that "the Left never lets a good tragedy go to waste"

Uh, no, Sparky. We just recognize a right wing terrorist's work when we see it and if you were honest you would too! Time to call 'a spade a spade'  and cease the misdirection especially now we have the scum's own words to go by! But, of course, the Right's sophists will likely declare he burped out those words in a fit of anxiety and they can't be taken seriously.

If we don't take him at his word when he blurts out his motive at his arrest, when will we? Time to stop the obfuscation and recognize Dear's terrorism and hate crime for what it is!

Congrats to Rev. Nori Rost of the local Unitarian Universalist Chuch who conducted a prayer service for the victims yesterday and said: "We are here to pray for the victims of this domestic terrorist" (Denver Post, today, p. 18A)

Realizing full well that even if the guy was slightly deranged that does not mean there was no political motive. One can be "deranged" and still act politically and as a terrorist! Obviously, a lot of planning went into his act so he wasn't that fuckin' deranged!

Update:   11/30

Over the weekend more presidential candidates came out against this horrific act. Even Republican Christian candidate Mike Huckabee called it "an act of domestic terror".  And Martin O'Malley referred to an act of "intolerance and violence" perpetrated on victims. But evidently Mistress Carly (Fiorina) couldn't give a fig whether anything happened to the victims as she assumed the demeanor of a deluded nut and said: "This is typical left wing tactics".  She didn't clarify but one presumes she was referencing the acknowledgement by most sober and sane people in the wake of Dear's statement on arrest that he was virulently anti-abortion and a terrorist.

Meanwhile, Dear's wife in an interview with the NY Times admitted he was anti-abortion but wasn't "obsessive about it". But this only proves to us that Dear was nowhere as loopy and deranged as the Right wing fellow travelers and apologists make him out to be. He was able to keep his self-control until the time he chose to act.

As reported on CBS Early Show today "another estranged family member described Dear's political views as 'radical'".

Other news disclosed:

- He did have an AK -47 which he used to kill and injure (some know nothings were babbling it may have just been an ordinary "long rifle" like a .22)

- Law enforcement sources quoted in the same Early Show segment said Dear had positioned  propane tanks next to his vehicle and had every intention of "firing on them to set them off".

The right wing and racist defenders of this loon can squawk all they want but we can call him what he is: a radical right wing terrorist.

Five Hours Of Terror In Colorado Springs

The Right wing POS terrorist loser who targeted Planned Parenthood

It was just after 1 p.m. local time that I turned on MSNBC as I usually do after eating lunch. There on the screen were the words "Active Shooter in Colorado" and Colorado Springs identified at the top. For the next 4 hours wifey and I sat glued to our seats watching as events unfolded: a terrorist's attack on the Planned Parenthood Clinic at Fillmore St. and Centennial Blvd. in our city,

NO, it was not a Muslim that carried out this terror, but a right winger named Robert Lewis Dear, clearly pissed that women in our mostly Red (as in Republican-Right wing) county were able to get health care and abortions.  And no, it doesn't take a genius or crystal ball to figure that out even though all the facts aren't in yet. As law enforcement specialist Jonathan Gilliam put it, he didn't just wander into that particular spot and start a game of 'shoot em up'. He had a definite agenda and ideology by the very nature of the target chosen. In other words, don't let anyone hand you the malarkey it was a "coincidence" or this loser was just a random gun nut. As Gilliam put it, he clearly wanted to live to make known his agenda to others in our city.

One theory has it that his brain was filled with hate after months of invective spewed by the Repukes over the airwaves (after a bogus, edited video appeared of allegedly maimed fetuses sold for profit by PP)  including more twisted lies from slime like Limbaugh and most of the Reepo presidential field. In that sense, all those assholes bear some responsibility for fomenting the meme that infected this terrorist's brain and led to the slaughter - including three slain (one officer, Garret Swasey) and two civilians as well as nine injured (4 other officers and 5 civilians).

The bastard Reich wing terrorist entered the building with an AK -47 and bags containing what were presumed to be some kind of ordnance to be set off. Witnesses reported volleys of shots being fired, sometimes as many as twenty an hour. In the course of this cowardly rat's hostage- taking he took out three people, but at the end was too cowardly to take out himself. Maybe it happens that garbage can't dispose of garbage - if it's bad enough.

One hostage -crime specialist, Jim Cavanaugh,  reported in an MSNBC interview, that  the perp probably felt  like the still loose terrorist (Salah Abdeslam) in the Paris attacks. It was more important that he live to be able to dispense his agenda to the media, than to honorably off himself for the despicable turd he is.

Planned Parenthood itself, after weeks and months of rhetorical attack from the nutso Right, was wise enough to install a safe room where patients could go in case of emergency or attack. (Their alarms were likely already in place after a failed bombing of NAACP HQ some ten months earlier.) As soon as the first shots were fired most of the civilians-patients were able to gain entry and lock themselves in, while others were taken hostage by Dear.

For hours SWAT teams and Colorado Springs police tried to reason with this terrorist to little or no avail. Finally, a "Bearcat" - one of SWAT's best weapons- was brought in to plow down one side of the clinic and gain immediate access., As team members barked orders to surrender more shots were exchanged until finally the POS surrendered himself, skulking out in a white-t-shirt and dark pants.

As Cavanaugh and other terror specialists observed, this rat will be grilled for hours on his motives, or imagined grievances and then face stern justice - likely ending up spending decades in the same Supermax prison as one of the masterminds of 9/11 as well as one of the OK City bombers.  His act of "focused aggression" will bear a high price and he will pay it.

As we know, the aim of the terrorist - whether a Rightie like Dear, or Muslim like Abaaoud  - is to strike fear into ordinary people to make them less inclined to either use public facilities or gain access to special places that offer services not available elsewhere.  As Jonathan Gilliam put it in the context of this case with this loser, Robert Lewis Dear:

"The reality is terrorism is a tactic which uses fear to change the political ideology of a community or a group of people. And if his motivation is to do that, going in there and being very specific, you can call that terrorism."

Bingo!

While the Paris attack ISIS bunch sought to strike fear into Parisians and disrupt their normal lives, Dear clearly sought to strike fear into the hearts of women in our city - lest they even remotely consider going to the Planned Parenthood Clinic for any health care services, including abortion.

But Planned Parenthood's founder, Cecile Richards,  has declared no one will be intimidated nor will PP's mission be subverted.  This is important because otherwise offal like Dear win, and his terror meme triumphs. This we cannot allow. Women in our city must continue to feel safe enough to use PP's services, irrespective of the justice outcome.

Interestingly, while the Dem presidential candidates have publicly come out to declare they "stand with Planned Parenthood"  we have not heard one Reepo candidate comment up to now.

Which makes me believe the only conclusion is that they stand with this terrorist Dear,  who butchered three innocents and injured nine others in the worst massacre this city has seen in over ten years.