If his first name had been Rasheed, instead of Robert

[SoCalDem]

Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2015, 10:00 PM - Edit history (1)

the news would be covering the Co Springs story in a very different way.

Most of what I've heard so far is stuff like:

"We'll have to wait & see what his motive may have been"
"We cannot jump to the terrorist angle until we have details"
"He obviously has mental issues"

etc etc..

They are falling all over themselves to NOT call him what he is..
Some have even laid the path with comments like "he didn't even have electricity" (so he couldn't have been egged on by tv commentators/politicians)

He is a Right Wing terrorist , just the same as the KKKers, the Obama-haters who strap on guns to intimidate people

Richard Lui (on UP) did not even really cover this story on Saturday until the 2nd hour..after the weather.. and before they covered it much, he ended the discussion.

CNN delicately broached the terrorist angle..but then dropped it.

[ellenrr]

1. I agree completely, but would add this...

I think blame has to be shared by those a__holes who sought to destroy Planned Parenthood, (like they destroyed ACORN) with the doctored video and other means.

The shooter should be treated like the terrorist he is,
but at the same time,
he did not act alone

if it had not been for the demonization of PP, he might have lived out his sad existence in anonymity.
It is the plotters who put his finger on the trigger, and they are happy now -
and - burns me up --
they face no consequence.

[pipoman]

2. Maybe because terrorism is usually considered a team sport and

This is obviously a lone nutjob?

Why is it so important to you for this to be labeled "terrorism"?

[treestar]

3. This ^^^^^^^

As if it is not really all that bad unless it is terrorism.

[PeaceNikki]

4. That is not the definition of terrorism. It's not always a "team sport"

Terrorism is violence intended to intimidate or coerce society. You know, like shooting up a women's clinic because you think they're selling "baby parts" and you want them to stop.

[pipoman]

6. And why is it so critical it be called terrorism

before any actual facts are known? In addition to working as a group of like minded and motivated people, terrorists are generally not batshit crazy...

[PeaceNikki]

7. It's not "critical", it's in FACT terrorism. He shot up a clinic because of the services provided.

Also, "terrorists are generally not batshit crazy"??? I would argue that they are ALWAYS "batshit crazy". People of sound mind do not terrorize.

[daleanime]

9. +1

[bullwinkle428]

20. To some people, it's only "terrorism" if THEIR particular

demographic group is threatened.

[PeaceNikki]

21. Or if the terrorist is NOT one of them - a white Christian American man.

[7962]

13. "Equality".

There is a need by many to equate Islamic terrorists with ANY "christian" who does something like this. "See, they ALL do it"

[yeoman6987]

26. That is why the reporters wait until investigation takes place

Right now everyone is guessing. The responsible experts will find out all we need to know and more. Thank goodness the investigators are in charge and not anonymous posters who have zero idea what went on except hypothesis.

[PeaceNikki]

27. lol

[Rex]

30. I don't know how these folks can ignore the evidence we already know.

But I agree, it is funny watching them flop all over themselves with excuses. So now terrorists are generally NOT crazy!? Really? I have to re evalutate what I think of some here after that comment.

[PeaceNikki]

31. "People can make "inferences from where it took place," said {Mayor John} Suthers"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-springs-shooting-robert-lewis-dear-neighbors-planned-parenthood-attack/

[Orrex]

5. I think that the OP makes a valid point

If the shooter had been Muslim, the news media would be eager to call him a terrorist, even if he were a "lone nutjob." Certainly the RW hate machine would be calling him that.

It's not that it's "important" to the OP that this be labeled "terrorism" so much as it forces us to ask why similar crimes are called "terrorism" so readily.


For that matter, a single person can be guilty of "making terroristic threats," so why couldn't "a lone nut job" be called a terrorist?

[pipoman]

10. Because if he were Muslim he would be most likely

Working within a group and following a plan..I can't think of a single incident of a lone loon whi was Muslim being labeled a terrorist with the exception of the shoe bomb guy..I suppose the OP can call him anything, doesn't make it accurate.

[PeaceNikki]

11. A plan like that of Troy Newman who says a biblical society would execute its abortion providers?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/anti-planned-parenthood-activist-troy-newmans-terrifying-woman-shaming-apocalyptic-manifesto

And to quote Bluenorthwest, "Anti-abortion terrorism is a recognized form of Christian terrorism. In the US there have been at

least 8 people murdered, 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 assaults, 100 acid attacks, 41 bombings and 3 kidnappings done by such persons, each and every one of them motivated by their fundamentalist Christian views.
Similar terrorism has occurred in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, again always by people from the same philosophical territory...."

This fucker is in no way a "lone wolf".

[Scuba]

12. You're getting your ass kicked on this thread. You might want to self-delete just to save face.

[pipoman]

15. Nonsense...a vocal few think the term "terrorism" applies or is even important....

[PeaceNikki]

17. These targeted threats and violence are meant to scare providers into stopping

the provision of abortion services.

That is terrorism.

[Orrex]

18. What definition are you using?

Neither the dictionary definition nor the FBI's definition requires participation by multiple individuals.

If you've imagined a more accurate and more useful definition, you should convey it to the FBI for the sake of everyone's safety.

[Rex]

32. Wrong, you got it wrong on the word and won't admit to it.

It is okay, sometimes we are wrong. The term applies to this case, you can pretend it does not...but that doesn't change the fact that you are wrong.

Unless you can show us the term used like you say it is used, just fess up. Or is it impossible to be wrong about something after so many people told you the meaning in the dictionary?

[daleanime]

8. And he created this hate all by his lonesome, my, how....

creative.

[ToxMarz]

14. Stochastic terrorism is a team sport

[Deny and Shred]

16. The US spends tens of billions to fight terrorism

If this were to be appropriately labelled, the ongoing problem has a better chance at being addressed by capable agencies. The FBI infiltrates Mothers Against the War, but we leave Chriatian extremist attacks to the local police.

Lone Wolf/ Lone Nut Job has been an excuse to not pursue justice for decades.

[greymattermom]

19. In many people's mind the term "terrorist" now means Muslim.

Broadening the use of it would be educational. People forget the real meaning of words and think white folks can't be "minority" for example.

[napkinz]

22. yep ...

[NJCher]

23. this guy says our homegrown terrorists are the same as Middle East terrorists

Robert Young Pelton.

He said it on the 11/24/15 Coast to Coast show:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2015/11/24

Here's an excerpt from the show's summary at the C2C web site:

The group that carried out the recent attacks in Paris could be compared to the school shooters in the US, he said. "You're seeing the same psychological profile...the same disconnection from society." Pelton also noted that ISIS wants people to hate the migrants that are fleeing them, and dropped a fake passport at the shooting scene to implicate them.

C2C is the largest night-time radio station in the nation and even has an international audience, so this comment did go to millions of listeners.

Note that Pelton is independent, and goes out to dangerous areas and sees on his own. He is not a tool, like what we unfortunately have on CNN and MSNBC and almost all of the rest of U.S. media.


Cher

[malaise]

24. If only they had been that cautious with that made up lying

deceitful video with a very clear motive - destroying Planned Parenthood -

[Octafish]

25. Start following that evidenciary trail and it leads to some places the PTB would rather not.

You know.

Why Don’t We Know Much About Right-Wing Terrorists? Conservatives Fired The Guy Studying Them

JAMESON PARKER
AddictingInfo, JUNE 18, 2015 4:41 PM

After a mass shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, left nine people dead and a right-wing white supremacist arrested, the country once again faces the uneasy question of just how many so-called “home-grown” terrorists are out there – heavily armed, ideologically driven, and violent.

It’s a good question, but it may be tough to answer because for reasons that are astoundingly dimwitted, the Department of Homeland Security pushed out the guy who was in charge of watching them, and dismantled his team all the way back in 2009.

The beleaguered hero of this story is Daryl Johnson, a top government counterterrorism analyst working at Homeland Security who spent six years with the agency amassing a wealth of data on far-right extremist groups that posed various degrees of threat to citizens in the United States. In 2009, in the months after President Obama assumed office, he watched as these groups veered even further right, and began to fear that America’s first African-American president could be the catalyst of a major uptick in hate crimes and anti-government attacks.

In a landmark report released just months into Obama’s term, and now looks downright clairvoyant, Johnson made the case that radical Islam is only a small piece of the terrorism pie:

“Do not overlook other types of terrorist groups,” the report warned, noting that five purely domestic groups had considered using weapons of mass destruction in that period. Similar warnings have been issued by the two principal non-government groups that track domestic terrorism: the New York-based Anti-Defamation League and the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

An annual tally by the latter group of what it calls “Terror From the Right” listed 13 major incidents and arrests last year, nearly double the annual number in previous years; the group also reported the number of hate groups had topped 1,000 in 2010, for the first time in at least two decades.

In response to that report, Johnson was destroyed. It wasn’t his integrity or claims that got him in trouble, his facts were solid. Instead, it was the inconvenient truth that much of the threat comes from right-wing conservatives, and even more awkwardly, radical right-wing conservatives who say and think a lot of the same things mainstream right-wing conservatives say and think.


CONTINUED w/links...

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/18/why-dont-we-know-much-about-right-wing-terrorists-conservatives-fired-the-guy-studying-them/

So, yes. There are no rightwing terrorists by definition because the rightwing gets to define what is defined. Got it, no?

[PatrickforO]

29. Great post.

Do you sometimes wonder if people see this even without such coverage? I like to think a surprising number of Americans feel like this is a domestic terrorist, but cannot actually say it because the right wing political correctness doctrine (if it goes against what they believe then it isn't 'correct') forbids the use of the word 'terrorist.'

But they know, all the same.

We know.

[Democat]

28. And DU would be saying "let's wait and see what his motives might have been"

Instead of calling him a Christian terrorist or a white terrorist.

And some here would be blaming America, Obama, and Bush for the shooting.

[edgineered]

33. Kick, and Rec