Exclusive: Accused Annapolis shooter had deep, dark links to the alt-right

[riversedge]

Source: Salon



In Jarrod Ramos’ disturbing Twitter history, numerous far-right links and hints of violence against journalists


June 30, 2018 10:00am (UTC)



When the identity of the apparent gunman in the massacre of five journalists in Annapolis, Maryland, was revealed, area resident John Hutson, a retired Navy admiral who is now a prominent consultant and writer, had a shock of recognition. The suspect, Jarrod Ramos, had contacted Hutson in March 2015, taunting him about his role in alerting law enforcement and thwarting a potential mass killer who threatened schoolchildren and Jews in far-away Montana.

That first individual in Montana, David Lenio, overflowed with hyperbolic threats, and Hutson’s efforts to stop him succeeded, as I reported at Salon, just after it happened. Ramos was more cryptic less overtly demonstrative—but in the end, far more deadlier. Both were somewhat enigmatic, angry loners, with an unmistakable affinity for the racist alt-right.

“Jarrod Ramos was a lone nut who was not politically motivated, but he was politically influenced by the alt-right,” Hutson told Salon.

Researcher Fred Clarkson agrees. “Ramos and David Lenio seem to have been drawn into the orbit of far-right visions of anti-democratic violence, even as they seem to have ultimately acted on their own,” said Clarkson, a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The only two politicians Ramos had tweeted about, according to Hutson, were Donald Trump and Michael Peroutka, a wealthy neo-Confederate funder turned Maryland county councilman. Hutson has written about Peroutka, as have I. Peroutka had major funding ties to former Alabama judge and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, as well to the League of the South, whose leader, Michael Hill, had written approvingly about plans to form paramilitary groups to fight a militarized “fourth generation” culture war, one of whose targets would be the media..........................................

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2018/06/30/exclusive-accused-annapolis-shooter-had-deep-dark-links-to-the-alt-right/

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Link to tweet

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/6Z6BbEKDg44idexAvAl74wKv5rw4YQebkKvxsR4QzUhbUVJTkC7QYTzvJdeuVEyNZPIWl0pGAKgNpv-0G7qif9PtBREtQuf57LQn3bdxt4VqsJP3dARlQU7YrB_K79nCM5BY-uGLnT6VgxQZAQ

[bronxiteforever]

1. Kick and recommend for visibility

[heaven05]

2. figures

people dying meaninglessly because of this clown. What a shame. 75 million assault rifles in civilian hands, some of those hands are being directed by a diseased minds and a heart filled with hate of all types. Sad .

[Delarage]

3. Of Course He did

Right-wing-nuts and/or the criminally insane (which most right-wing-nuts are) are almost always these types of domestic terrorists, seeking to undermine American values and democracy. Yet the losers chant U-S-A at dipshit's rallies.........

[Cha]

4. Sounds like trump the Fraud

[heaven05]

5. mentally ill or not

these types are never alone. There are multitudes of racist wypipo out there with grievances against everyone and this system, with assault rifles.

[Yellowdog88]

6. Shocked, I tell ya

Sean Hannity is not going to be comfortable with this news. I see a full retraction and an apology to Rep Waters at his next broadcast.

[Rorey]

13. Even if he did retract

I doubt any of his listeners would hear it. He tells them what they want to hear, and they believe what they want to believe. His damage is already done.

[dalton99a]

7. More blood on Trump's little hands

[forgotmylogin]

18. Why do we have a President who is vindictive...

evil, short-tempered, and likes to make fun of his political enemies publicly?

Oh. Her emails.

A President who doesn't represent all people and calls out domestic political enemies is painting targets on American citizens' heads.

This alone is dangerous and should be a good enough reason to remove him.

Milo Y. - he can go too.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "not politically motivated, but he was politically influenced by the alt-right,"

I am so fucking sick of this twisting and spinning by both the media and our government to NOT characterize hate groups like the so-called "alt-right" and white supremacist/KKK/Skinheads, as somehow not "political", and therefore not "terrorist" (despite their bombings, killings, burnings, and assaults of the people they go after). And then when they try to stupidly justify this idiotic argument, the "criteria" suddenly becomes what "politician" some fascist RW nut may or may not have "tweeted" about, and thus it is somehow well... maybe "political" but not really "political".

I.e., if a "radical" brown-skinned Muslim yells "Death to America" (doesn't even have to actually do any harm to anyone), they are a "terrorist". But if a "radical" white-skinned Christian KKK/alt-right/Skinhead yells "Death to American 'Kikes', 'Niggers', 'Chinks', 'Wetbacks'" and actually assaults or KILLS people, they are not a "terrorist".

[NBachers]

20. Yeah, that was an ugly knot of illogical pretzel deception there, wasn't it?

[mainer]

9. Sounded like a typical incel -- couldn't get women to date him

and took it out on everyone.

[Corgigal]

16. That's what I'm thinking.

That big funding he would have received from his "creditable " law suit we're going to help him get all those models, that he would have sex with then hurt.

Didn't happen in his fantasyland, so regular people had to be hurt because of it. Then are all over 4chan whinny, not stepping up, just whining.

[Mc Mike]

10. Peroutka's another Koch brothers bircher astroturfer.

Last edited Sat Jun 30, 2018, 05:06 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.politicalresearch.org/tag/koch-brothers/

" A particularly clear example of what Reconstructionists call “sphere sovereignty”—the idea that God granted the family, the church and government authority over specific areas of life—can be found42 in the writings of Michael Peroutka,43 a former Constitution Party presidential candidate who runs the Institute on the Constitution. Peroutka was elected last year to the Anne Arundel County Council in Maryland as a Republican,44 despite the fact that he’s argued that the Maryland General Assembly is an invalid government body since it has passed laws that Peroutka believes violate “God’s law.”45 Peroutka also believes that, given the government’s only legitimate, biblically-sanctioned role is to protect “God-given rights,” then “It is not the role of civil government to house, feed, clothe, educate or give health care to…ANYBODY!”

John Lofton, the late right-wing pundit and spokesperson for Peroutka’s Institute on the Constitution, had a similar message in 2012, writing that “it is crystal clear that in God’s Word He gives NO AUTHORITY to civil government (Caesar) to give health, education or welfare to ANYBODY. If people need help, it is the role of the Church—God’s people—to provide this help and NOT government.”46

David Barton sounds similar themes. Last July he appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network’s “Praise the Lord.”47 In addition to promoting his theories about Jesus’s views on various taxes, Barton declared, “It’s not the government’s responsibility to take care of the poor and needy, it’s the church’s responsibility.” He added, “What we’re doing right now is for the first time in America we have ignored what the Bible says. The Bible says you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

[KY_EnviroGuy]

17. Thanks for the link.

This article connects a lot of dots and answers questions that have been lingering in my mind about the extreme Christian right. It's quite a puzzle with many pieces. The roots of it go far back into American history.

Thank goodness this movement's dark underbelly is finally seeing sunlight.......

[Mc Mike]

19. The Kochs/birchers have a zillion tentacles.

They're backing the ayn rand athiest fans as well as the nazi 'christians'.

P.R.A. has been doing a lot of good investigative work, for decades.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. A zillion at least when we consider the connections into....

churches and their orgs, Chamber of Commerce, Mercers, Adelson, gun groups, college republicans, etc. I don't think hardly anyone in the general public has even a clue that any of this exists, and that's a shame. It is so complex, it makes ones head spin and I've only been able to pick out some of the pieces over the years. Lakoff makes many of my random observations subsequent to the Nixon era make far more sense.

I have often wondered if the masters of the right-wing policy and propaganda networks have a central means by which they communicate and coordinate.

After we see the extent and power of this massive control and influence system, perhaps it's no wonder their congresscritters act like a bunch of silent sheep. Their system is almost like a shadow government in many ways.

[Mc Mike]

22. They purposefully muddy the waters, but they're not geniuses.

They just have all the money they've stolen from us, and all the time in the world, to set up these people and orgs that advance their nazi b.s.

[John Farmer]

23. Two Forums for Right-Wing Paranoids:

I have often wondered if the masters of the right-wing policy and propaganda networks have a central means by which they communicate and coordinate.

While not a central means of control, communication or coordination, those influenced by the above have their own more-or-less extreme websites where they encourage one another.

Two of them are:

http://www.thetreeofliberty.com

http://www.timebomb2000.com

Both are worth visiting if only for a disturbing dose of reality.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Anybody surprised?

[mountain grammy]

12. No surprise and nothing new.

But for some reason doesn’t get much attention. Mmmmm, must be the librul media. Right.

[rockfordfile]

14. Another right-wing coward pos

[Snellius]

15. Even without "deep ties" the atmosphere of distrust and hostility to media was all Trump

The right-wing media is very afraid of this story. The stooges at Fox News seem suddenly to be having a "duh" moment realizing that they are the fake media too. You always know things are embarrassing for the right media when Drudge's big headline is about the weather or Hillary's health.