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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! June 10, 2009 "Told Ya So" - 89 year-old shooter "confirms DHS report"By Greyhawk
Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge just announced that the shooting at the Holocaust Museum - allegedly by an 89-year old WWII veteran - confirms a recent DHS report regarding the threat posed by extremist veterans. Shepard Smith adds "They [DHS] saw the signs, now it has begun". Smith keeps hammering on that angle... Early reports also indicate the shooter claimed to hold a journalism degree.
Law enforcement officials said they have long been familiar with Mr. Von Brunn, who has claimed variously to be a member of Mensa, the high-I.Q. fraternity; to have been a P.T. boat captain in World War II and to have been victimized by a court system run by Jews and black people. Update - earlier video from Herridge and Smith warning America about the veteran threat: And Herridge just rejoined Smith yet again to note "we can't emphasize enough" the importance of this report. But I don't think you're going to see the smug, triumphant veteran-bashing videos released any time soon. Fox: A man named James Von Brunn operates a white supremacist Web site, Holy Western Empire, that carries several anti-Semitic statements. A biography of Brunn posted on the site says he is a World War II veteran who served time in federal prison for trying to make a "citizens arrest" of Federal Reserve Board members in 1981.If that's all on which Smith and Herridge are basing their claims of vindication regarding the veteran threat, they're pathetic. More: Here's a screen-cap from the Nazi's web page (click for larger version): 
What biographical bit does he put first? "James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university". Guess what, Shep - I'm no journalist, but until I confirmed that claim I'd assume he's lying. And still more: Ralph Peters - appearing on Fox with Neil Cavuto and surprised by what he'd heard earlier on Smith's show, eloquently defends his fellow veterans: "Neil, I gotta say something. On Fox News of all places in the last hour I heard that this tragic incident at the Holocaust Museum somehow validates the disgraceful report from the Department of Homeland Security warning about a terror threat from our returning veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan. Neil, this guy served in World War Two. He's been out of the military 64 years. He wasn't career military, he was a career nut. Ten million Americans served in World War Two, of the millions who survived are you going to put them on a terrorist watch list? It had nothing to do with the Department of Homeland Security report." I'd add that no one has verified that WWII-veteran status yet, but his point is correct. Peters concludes: "You know a question nobody's asked yet? The brave security guard who died saving lives... was he a military veteran?" Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't. No reporter thought to ask. But you can bet he wasn't a journalist. And now - Video - here are a couple clips from the discussion. First - here's the actual veterans quote from the DHS report: DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists--including lone wolves or small terrorist cells--to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today. As you watch, bear in mind that Smith and Herridge know they're talking about a guy who claims to be an 89-year old WWII veteran. Unless he crashed a PT boat through the front doors of the Holocaust Museum, any military training from back in '42 was not a factor. But Smith wants to make sure you understand very specifically - this is a former military guy, it's not political, social, or anything else: And here's Ralph Peters, responding: The security guard who gave his life in the line of duty has been identified as Stephen Tyrone Johns. There are no words to express our grief and shock over today's events at the Museum, which took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Officer Johns, who died heroically in the line of duty, served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns's family. We have made the decision to close the Museum Thursday, June 11, in honor of Officer Johns and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory. Previous posts on the DHS reports here and here and here (really - you might want to read these before deciding you know what I think of the reports.). Late update: "FNC Has More Viewers Than CNN/MSNBC Combined During Museum Shooting". Swell. Elsewhere: More blame game. Here's a thought - let's blame the shooter. Laughing Wolf at Blackfive would like to politely discuss this with Fox advertisers. And from TSO: Vindication - a must-read. (I'll beg, even: please read it before writing something in the comments here that makes you look really stupid.) And thanks, John. And still more here (and thanks Glenn). And lastly: DHS report confirmed? Well, "heck of a job, Brownie" - keep up the good work. Posted by Greyhawk / June 10, 2009 3:19 PM | Permalink 7 TrackBacksInteresting how the news works.Greyhawk reports over at Mudville Gazette: Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge just announced that the shooting at the Holocaust Museum - allegedly by an 89-year old WWII veteran - confirms a recent DHS report regarding ... Read More Before we get into the story, we need to pay respect to Officer Stephen T. Johns, of Temple Hills, Mayland. He was 39 years old, a six year veteran of the museum and gave his life to stop a deranged machine of hate. God bless you and keep you Officer... Read More Okay - my headline is intended to make a point: no one (other than fellow Nazis - and some of them will probably deny him) deserves to be associated with this sumbitch. In his 90 years on this earth (which he probably wanted to end guns blazing) this d... Read More "FNC Has More Viewers Than CNN/MSNBC Combined During Museum Shooting". From 1-5pmET, FNC averaged 1,322,000 Total Viewers and 326,000 in the demo, followed by CNN (824,000 and 126,000) and MSNBC (311,000 and 93,000).And all those Fox viewers learned to... Read More Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a ... Read More Hey - I'm a conservative this week!But later on Fox, New York Post columnist Ralph Peters attacked Smith and Herridge for claiming that the shooting “validated” the DHS report. Though some conservatives have concluded that the recent string... Read More the point about whether World War Two veterans are what the DHS really meant when they said Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. ... "The wheels came off the wagon because the vetting process was not followed," Ms. Napolitano told the House... Read More 34 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
I could not agree more. I was SO angry listening to Shep Smith that I emailed him 4 times!!
Thanks - maybe that was your email he read on the air. He seemed surprised anyone would take issue with him on this.
Mary Ware, maybe you are one of the nuts Smith mentioned who sends increasingly angry, unhinged e-mails to him.
Of course the DHS report got it right! Seriously, I've been living in my basement fighting rats for cheese for months now - I know!!!!!
Throw the book at this old guy. Outrageous.
Baker and Shep are wrong wrong wrong. After spending many hours painstakingly rephrasing and rewording intelligence assessments, and what struck me about the leaked DHS report was it's sloppiness and imprecision.
By making broad, unsubstantiated claims about a group under official government title, you end up stigmatizing them, and not making people any safer in the process. Even if those claims are carefully couched in terms of mere "possibilities", and not based on evidence, you could be encouraging discrimination that would result in the loss of civil or human rights for veterans. As a result, all you've accomplished is to polarize and fracture the social fabric, thereby worsening, not increasing, security for everybody.
Returning vets might feel "disgruntled" and disenfranchised"? Says who? Where's the study that tells us a large percentage of returning vets are disgruntled and disenfranchised? Where's the specific evidence justifying a heightened alert for such people?
The leaked report was carelessly worded, and even illogical at some points. Something intended for wide distribution, does have to be watered down, but NOT at the expense of precision. Say what it is you're talking about, rather than saying, "Watch out for those vets who might be Nazi recruits".
I'm sure DHS will be playing up this shooter's WWII vet status to discredit criticism of the report. The criticism of the DHS report was legitimate, however, and still stands.
One could make that argument about anybody. Let's see, the newspaper business is going t*ts up. Journalists MUST be disaffected, no? They're losing their jobs. They are held in low esteem by the public. Their "journalism" often exhibits strains of hate and resentment toward people different from them. Should we be keeping an eye on those disgruntled journalists? Are they a threat? Well, it's "possible", isn't it? Seems likely, huh?
It would be just as ludicrous.
And who are these "white supremacists"? Where does all this come from? And on a day when Jeremiah Wright, Obama's old pastor says "Them Jews won't let me talk to him", those poor guys are getting it from both ends. Yeesh. Terrible.
Just want to add that such general assertions about the potential for criminal conduct by blacks, women or gays would never get past the front office. Shep displayed some very ignorant, stereotyped views that are disturbing to see in a news anchor who's job it is to relay the news, not mold the news to support his own biases.
There were a host of problems with the leaked DHS report, and the criticisms it received were, and still are, valid. Since DHS has retracted it, though, we can assume corrections have been made. Hopefully, nothing like this will come up again.
Nobody, including DHS, claimed that veterans were terrorists. What is claimed is that veterans are particularly vulnerable to being recruited by extremist groups. In this case, the shooter's veteran status probably has nothing to do with his actions, but he fits the right-wing extremist profile, as outlined in the DHS report, in other ways.
"Just want to add that such general assertions about the potential for criminal conduct by blacks, women or gays would never get past the front office."
Perhaps because those people aren't found in the highest levels of right-wing extremist groups, targetted for recruitment and revered for their background. As you could learn from anyone who investigates these extremist groups.
I mean seriously, how badly does the obvious burn your sensitive little eyes ?
You've founded a militia in the woods and want to overthrow something in an armed takeover. Every other right-wing group you know about actively recruits ex-servicement and holds up their vets as prized members for their combat skills. You're looking for recruits and it just so happens that thousands of vets are returning to the US from the ccmbat zone. Where you going for new recruits for your armed takeover pal ? Walmart ?
Either claim that the DHS report called all servicemen racist nutbags or get the f**k over it already. Otherwise you're doing nothing but whinging about the fact that you didn't like law enforcement pointing out this inconvenient truth.
BTW, I notice you didn't try saying that broad generalizations about Muslims would be verboten, based on an insignificant minority being involved in violent extremist plots in the US.
You remember the Muslims right ? Those guys you've not had a problem doing this gross generalization to for so many years. Those guys currently getting their butts kicked by about 100:1 by the white right-wing extremists when it comes to how many domestic terrorism plots they've carried out or had disrupted since 9/11.
Rather than the fantasy in your skull keeping you angry, why don't you take a look at what that DHS report says. This is what you are complaining about:
-----------------------------
(U) Disgruntled Military Veterans
(U//FOUO) DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.
-----------------------------
Put you best lying face on an try telling us you have any objection to that assessment whatsoever, let alone try claiming it unfairly denigrates all military vets like you are claiming it does.
This it not news. As they say, the peak of the right-wing extremist groups in the 90s saw this recruiting and they are warning of the same thing again.
If you wanted to object, you could on the grounds that there was no such "small percentage of digruntled ex-servicemen" joining such right-wing extremist groups then or now. But you're not going to do that, because then we could refer to the FBI saying the same thing for 2 decades and look at some actual cases.
No, you'll just stick to whinging about this because you don't like it while claiming it says something it doesn't. Because otherwise, you're gonna need to lie in order to disagree with what the DHS report actually says.
Come to think of it, why don't you just lie to yourself about these news items while you're at it. Tell each other that he wasn't a right-wing extremist, he was a Mexican Mafia member. That fixes it and it's no less reality-based than what you're doing already.
Greyhawk: "Ten million Americans served in World War Two, of the millions who survived are you going to put them on a terrorist watch list?"
No we're going to put them in forced labor FEMA concentration camps. Start digging yourself a spider hole in the back yard buddy.
Oh wait... no that wasn't it. Yeah, no, we were just going to mention briefly in a report about domestic threats that right-wing groups will actively target returning vets like they are doing and that small numbers will join, like they have been doing. You know, stating these facts.
You need to switch off Glenn Beck and take a reality check.
Told ya so = Janet Napolitano got it right. latter day conservatives == my what a bunch ! Keep going Rush Hannity Etc , what a job you are doing !
Maybe it's a self-fulfilling prophecy but Janet Napolitano and her DHS report are looking pretty prophetic right now.
What about the recent video released showing Jews in Israel being extremely racist and full of hate? Apparently the Jews always get a free pass. Does anybody ever hold the Jews accountable for their atrocious behavior?
Is anything James Von Brunn wrote false?
That's what I thought.
People hate the truth.
And why are the Jews the only people on the planet allowed to be Nationalists and have their own Nation FOR JEWS ONLY?
Everybody else is forced to embrace the scam/lie of multiculturalism and diversity. Why not the Jewish Supremacists?
Everybody has to arrive at their own answer to THE JEWISH QUESTION.
Frankly, I'm sick of the hypocrisy and double standards of the Jews and the rules all of the non-Jews, or "goyim" cattle as they call us, are forced to follow.
F THIS SHIT.
"Is anything James Von Brunn wrote false?"
I don't know - unlike you I never read anything he wrote.
Here's an idea "Leroy" - ask your internet service provider, see if they know. Here's their contact info:
OrgName: AT&T Internet Services
OrgID: SIS-80
Address: 2701 N. Central Expwy # 2205.15
City: Richardson
StateProv: TX
PostalCode: 75080
Country: US
NetRange: 71.128.0.0 - 71.159.255.255
CIDR: 71.128.0.0/11
NetName: SBCIS-SIS80
NetHandle: NET-71-128-0-0-1
Parent: NET-71-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.PBI.NET
NameServer: NS2.PBI.NET
Comment: Contact IPAdmin-PBI@sbcis.sbc.com for general IP
Comment: support. Contact support@pacbell.net for technical support issues. Contact
Comment: abuse@pacbell.net for policy abuse issues.
RegDate: 2005-01-11
Updated: 2007-05-25
RTechHandle: PIA2-ORG-ARIN
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RTechPhone: +1-800-648-1626
RTechEmail: IPAdmin-PBI@sbc.com
OrgAbuseHandle: ABUSE6-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Abuse - Southwestern Bell Internet
OrgAbusePhone: +1-800-648-1626
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@sbcglobal.net
OrgNOCHandle: SUPPO-ARIN
OrgNOCName: Support - Southwestern Bell Internet Services
OrgNOCPhone: 800-648-1626
OrgNOCEmail: ipadmin@att.com
OrgTechHandle: IPADM2-ARIN
OrgTechName: IPAdmin-SBIS
OrgTechPhone: 800-648-1626
OrgTechEmail: ipadmin@att.com
I am Barack Obama.
Kilo, work on reading comprehension. You have a problem with what Ralph Peters said - but it won't help you to pretend I said it. His point - as I take it - is actually pretty close to what I think you're trying to say in your own rather sneering, marginally literate way: the idea is ridiculous.
Now read and listen more carefully - the issue isn't about right, left, or otherwise - the issue is about a couple of Fox News morons (sorry if you're a big fan) claiming this 89 year old dirt bag (I'm not at all sorry if you're his fan-boy) proves that Iraq and Afghan vets (this is where I come in) are a threat - big or small.
Hate to burst your bubble, Kilo, but Fox News ain't the source of all wisdom you think it to be.
I did my own piece on the same thing before I read yours, although mine was about the vindication of the report only.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=11506
BTW, he was also a "birther"
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/von_brunn_a_birther.php
Greyhawk, that's a cool trick! Do me, do me!
I want to commit genocide against Finns!
C'mon, Guy, you gotta love daaaa Finns!
In this case, the shooter's veteran status probably has nothing to do with his actions, but he fits the right-wing extremist profile, as outlined in the DHS report, in other ways.
The Narrative is correct, even if the facts were wrong.
"Kilo, work on reading comprehension ... Now read and listen more carefully "
This appears to be an accurate assessment.
I just reviewed this and your other writings on the topic and I do owe you an apology for getting your position completely backwards.
Thanks Kilo. Apologies to you if I replied harshly.
Added in Kilo's defense: I updated this post several times (each paragraph that begins with "more" etc) , some may have been after Kilo's initial comment, and they might have clarified points on which I was unclear originally.
However, there have been and will be no additional updates.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m6d10-Holocaust-Museum-shooter-von-Brunn-a-911-truther-who-hated-neocons-Bush-McCain
Mr. Von Brunn reminds me of George Galloway when he would bark-like-a-mad-Hitler about the 'evil neo-cons ruling the White House'.
'Extremists' are not left or right, they are both the same; for example, Rev Wright is exactly the same 'extremist' as Mr. Von Brunn and both are just like George Galloway. The one commonality between them is their hatred of Jewish people which is why there is an unholy alliance between Progressives and Islam.
Shep Smith is just an idiot. But if we are being cautious about certain groups it really begs the question of why veterans (and this guy is near 90, that is some DELAYED stress....) are subject to heightened scrutiny but a jailhouse jihadist can do a fatal driveby of a military installation and inspire NO comment by the Barry In Chief. I guess it's true, we aren't at war.
So Leroy, do you work hard to maintain your ignorance or do you come by it naturally? There are roughly 1.5 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens, plus an assortment of Bedouins, Circassians and Samaritans, etc., who also hold Israeli citizenship. Give your hate of the Jews a rest. Hell, Jesus and his apostles were born Jewish, do you hate them?
So is Shepard Smith still beating up women who take "his" parking space?
If you can't stand up and denounce a man, whether a real vet or not, for murdering another human being in cold blood, how are you not disrespecting all the peaceful, hard-working vets out there? How do you not understand that the full DHS report was focused on extremists of all kinds, not just vets? You are pulling a Hannity and taking something completely out of context in order to misrepresent it in your favor. Here is a dose of some truth, if you read it with an open mind you just might enlighten yourself a little.
"The declassified DHS report warned, "Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely." The report further warned, "The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment." This description reflected recent extremist violence, including the July 2008 shooting spree in a Knoxville church "because of its liberal teachings," a thwarted attempt to assassinate Obama in October by two neo-Nazi skinheads, and "a racially motivated rape and murder spree in Brockton, MA" by a 22-year-old white supremacist the "day after Barack Obama was inaugurated." Since the report was issued last April, the trail of death has continued. "We have seen not only the murder of an abortion physician by a member of the radical right, but the murders of five law enforcement officers -- three police officers in Pittsburgh, two sheriff's deputies in Florida by radical right-wing extremists," SPLC's Mark Potok told CNN. "It's really been quite an extraordinary period." The Pittsburgh shooter "feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns," and the Florida killer was "severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected President." In an incident earlier this month, a "lone wolf" American Muslim extremist "shot and killed Army Pvt. William Long" outside a Little Rock, AR, mall in anger over the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."
-From the liberal think tank American Progress (Who, unlike you, cite actual facts in the correct context)
Chadr
Sorry, but given that you didn't state it, who exactly are you're addressing?
But since you brought it up, the DHS report is as accurate as it is useless. Are you really amazed at the prescience of government officials who are paid to come up with "angry murderous thugs might commit murder soon"?
How do you propose we use the DHS report to prevent future murders?
The report on Right-Wing Nut Jobs (your spiritual brethren) that has ya'll's panties in a bunch was ordered up by your Dear Leader George W. Bush and was effectively complete before Sec. Napolitano was confirmed. It mirrors a report on Left-Wing Nut Jobs released last year.
The furor people have tried to generate over its supposed defamation of veterans is ludicrous. Returning to civilian life can be traumatic in the best circumstances. It doesn't take a study to realize that returning vets discharged from a term of duty consisting of multiple tours in war zones might have skills that would be valuable to extremist groups and might be open to their influence.
The extremists know it. Some years ago, an investigation was conducted that found such groups were direcing their active members to enlist in the military for the purpose of gaining skills and experience in weapons and tactics. If they will undertake such a long-term effort, why wouldn't they seek the low hanging fruit of disenchanted, disgruntled recent discharged veterans?
That there might be some unstable Afghan/Iraq vets amenable to such an approach, look at recent reports of military suicides, or the soldier who murdered comrades prior to committing suicide recently in Iraq. Or read some of the posts on this site.
Speaking of which, to anyone who may have stumbled on this site through a link, as I did, I wish to assure you: I am a veteran and this site is not representative of the majority of us.
Sheesh, anon - here's a name you could have used that even fits your "I'm a veteran" claim: Captain Obvious. ("Oblivious" would work too.)
But you're probably one of the 30 illiterate, "I believe what I'm told" fuckwits who visited from Think Progress, I'm guessing.
Damn shame. So, what are you a "veteran" of buddy? Heidelberg '93? Or are you "Rick Duncan"? (Or whatever new name you've come up with) If so I heard they let you out of jail...
You're not a veteran of anything more than a few days of basic prior to wash-out. I can spot your sort a mile away. Want to know one of the dead giveaways? Your claim to represent the majority of veterans - something neither I or any other self-respecting veteran would do.
"It doesn't take a study to realize that returning vets discharged from a term of duty consisting of multiple tours in war zones might have skills that would be valuable to extremist groups and might be open to their influence."
Exactly. Nonetheless, the DHS spent time and money on one. Could have been better spent on hyperbarics, don't you think? No, you don't - I know.
And do some recon of "posts" here before you decide whether you're for 'em or agin' 'em. At a bare minimum read the one you're commenting on before commenting again.
Chadr
We stand up and denounce extremist James Von Brunn for being a:
Christian hater
Jew Hater
FOX News’ O'Reilly hater
Weekly Standard hater
Bush hater
Neo-con hater
9-11 was an inside job nut
Socialist
artist
Stated that “SOCIALISM, represents the future of the West”
Stated that the Apostle Paul destroyed Rome by undermining its pagan virility.
Hated corporations
I'm not sure what's wrong with noting the relatively large amount of veterans with combat experience. It's fairly well-known that extremist groups (militias, especially in the 90's; skinheads) have expressed a desire to recruit veterans. There have also been some concerns about gang members serving in the military. Remember Andres Raya? Being in the military is an honorable and commendable thing. There is nothing wrong with being a veteran. Veterans are not the threat. The militarization of extremists is.
Special Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns died in the line of duty and my heart goes out to his family. However, please don't do a "Tillman" on him.
The facts are that, noticing an old man approaching the door, Special Officer Johns acted in a very appropriate and professional manner - he opened the door so that the old man could enter.
The old man, von Braumm, shot him in the head as he entered the building. Johns probabily did not even register the fact that he was about to be shot. Being a security guard at a building enterance means, if you are well trained, that you know that you are subject to being shot, without warning, by any well-trained attacker.
One of my "old sargeants" used to tell those of us stationed at such "fixed" posts to make our deaths "real noisy" to allert the other guards as, in most attacks, we would be dead before we could comprehend the fact that we were being attacked.
Longwalker, since you brought it up, I don't think those who die in the line of duty while performing dangerous tasks shouldn't be recognized for sacrifice simply because they knew they were doing dangerous work.
As for precise cause of death or what immediate action they took that may have led directly to their demise, I see taking on the task in the first place as the point worthy of praise - exactly the point you are making in your third paragraph.
On a related tangent, I don't see death as requirement for recognition. As example, while many military members do heroic things and survive, all recently awarded Medals of Honor have been posthumous.
One could argue that had Pat Tillman survived he would not have received a Silver Star, this despite the fact that the citation makes clear he received it for actions that - as it turned out - led to his death. (That it came from "friendly fire" does not diminish the justification and absolutely doesn't mandate denying the award - a point Lt Gen McChrystal has made previously.) But it's frequently more clear (this does not mean "obvious") that one's actions are courageous when that ultimate proof is available.
But many Silver Stars and a handful of Service Crosses have gone to living recipients recently. Not to imply the Silver Star lacks significance, but it's really about in the middle of the spectrum of awards for valor. The problem I see is not that we excessively honor the dead, it's that we've forgotten that death is not the unavoidable end result of courage.