[We] believe the TSA is an unconstitutional Gestapo-like manifestation of an out of control police state.
Kurt Nimmo
at Alex Jones’ InfoWars
You might read the previous statement and think it could incite someone to violence against the TSA. You might think it was something a nut case right-wing conspiracy theorist would say. What you probably would not think is that the quote is part of a defense by people like Mr. Nimmo against being painted with the same brush as Paul Ciancia, the alleged shooter at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) reported to be carrying an AR-15 assault rifle, and a duffle bag containing a racist, sexist, homophobic note against the New World Order, The Federal Reserve and the TSA. The article ”SPLC and Raw Story Blame ‘Patriots’ for the LAX Shooting” is just such a defense.
The trail starts at the web site of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who published a story yesterday titled: “Alleged LAX Shooter Referenced ‘Patriot’ Conspiracy Theories.” In the story SPLC writer Mark Potok cites a police source for details of a note Ciancia was carrying. The article concluded:
Ciancia’s language and references seemed to put him squarely in the conspiracy-minded world of the antigovernment “Patriot” movement.
and
So-called Patriots also increasingly see the DHS, which produces intelligence assessments of extremists that are distributed to other law enforcement agencies, as an enemy and even a collaborator in the New World Order conspiracy.
While the SPLC hardly considers Paul Ciancia a patriot, “patriot” in quotes and “so-called” implies that he aligns himself with like-minded groups who consider themselves patriots. In Ciancia’s note he allegedly referred to himself as “p****d-off patriot.”
Rather than trying to appear moderate in contrast with Ciancia, Mr. Nimmo tries to distance himself from Ciancia by demonstrating that they share the same nut-case view of the TSA. He seems to prove the SPLC point by being the example of the so-called patriot embracing crazy right-wing conspiracies about the TSA and DHS.
In a way the SPLC has profiled Ciancia and placed in a category with certain anti-government groups. Profiling can be based on sound statistical methodology, long experience, or it can be a framework for confirmation bias. One can debate whether the SPLC profile in this case is accurate. But that doesn’t get us to the key question:
Is Ciancia a birther?
Remember that another right-wing shooter, James W. von Brunn, had been previously arrested for trying to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve, before he shot and killed a museum guard at the Holocaust Museum in 2009. Brunn was a birther. At that time DHS warned of a resurgence in right-wing extremism.
There are certainly birthers that share conspiracy theorist beliefs about the Obama administration and the New World Order. People who believe conspiracy theories tend to believe more than one. It certainly would not surprise me to find that Ciancia’s a birther too, but I would not jump to that conclusion. Perhaps the full text of the note, not released, would clear the question up.
Before anyone gets too anxious, I would remind readers that an American is more likely to die as the result of being sat on by a cow than shot by a birther trying to eradicate the TSA. The crossed-out portion was based on something I read about 100 deaths a year from cattle sitting on people. In fact, pretty much nobody dies that way. There were 108 deaths between 2003 and 2007 where cattle were the primary or secondary cause, but not from sitting. Details of a survey containing that number appeared in the July 31, 2009 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by the CDC. If disease and death is your thing, the MMWR is your go-to source.
Read more:
As a person who lives in an area surrounded by farmland and cattle, I take no comfort in your last statement.
And it wouldn’t be a shooting without Info Wars crying false flag.
Please note updates to the story.
I dunno, cows look pretty shifty to me!
I wouldn’t put any stock in anything the SPLC says: I’ve read their characterizations of people and events I’m familiar with, and they were an evil blend of political correctness and conspiracy nuttiness as bad as any birther.
They did wonderful work back in the days when they were battling the Klan, but it appears to have traumatized them, because now they see bad things that aren’t there.
A glittering generality, Ran Talbott. How about some specifics? Nobody, but nobody, should expect anybody to believe them when they make allegations without citing a single detail to back up such allegation. So what has the Southern Poverty Law Center done that’s so bad?
I used to have to put in my time milking the cows at a little college I attended for a while, and one morning one of the cows decided to accompany me through the door into the milking parlor– rolling me against the wall like you roll a stick between your palms. I believe I lived, but it could’ve gone either way. I really didn’t like milking.
I have contacted the SPLC several times via email and by phone to ask that someone from their organization come on RC Radio. I figured that our work debunking the Birthers would make for an interesting conversation. All they ever do is add me to their solicitation list asking for donations. I know this is anecdotal evidence but I relate it for what it is.
Update
Walking through the cow pasture, a person may step on a cow patty. While moving back quickly, he steps into a prairie dog hole breaking their ankle. The prairie dogs than attack his foot, biting and clawing away. Having freed himself, he limps away to help. Crossing the road, he catches is good foot on a cattle guard and breaks that ankle. Now desperate for water, he crawls a mile toward Beaver Creek, only to find it is still dry at this time year. When he is almost gone, a farmer in his pickup drives by and notices the person, picks him up and begins to rush him to the nearest doctor. On the way, the truck swerves to miss a pig in the road and flips the truck. Our victim is tossed out into a horse trough where he drowns.
Cows are dangerous.
This is anecdotal evidence that the SPLC may not be too good about working with others, but hardly evidence that its postings are as far from reality as those from the birther community.