General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhite Supremacy, GOP Politics, and the Jewish Community Center Shooting
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In a state with a religious freedom law, could Cross actions be defended on grounds of religion? It is not a big step from Stand Your Ground, after all.
Anti-Semitism is as much a part of conservative Christianity as the belief that Jesus died for your sins and has been around longer. Crusaders used to slaughter Jews in the Rhineland on their way to the Middle East. Even other types of Christians werent safe, as the Eastern Romans found to their dismay when the fanatics of the First Crusade tramped through Roman lands.
It should surprise no one that the killer of Overland Park was a white supremacist. It should give us all pause and put us doubly on alert for Republican politicians with close ties to white supremacists, particularly in light of the new religious freedom bill craze, allowing extremist Christians to persecute anyone of whom they do not approve.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/14/white-supremacy-gop-politics-jewish-community-center-shooting.html
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The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said it reached Miller's wife, Marge, by phone and that she said authorities had been to their home and told her that her husband had been arrested in Sunday's attacks. Calls by The Associated Press to a number listed as Miller's on his website were met by a busy signal or rang unanswered.
According to the law center, Miller has been involved in the white supremacist movement for most of his life. He founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and was its "grand dragon" in the 1980s. The Army veteran and retired truck driver later founded another white supremacist group, the White Patriot Party, the center said.
Miller was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1987 for violating the terms of his bond while appealing a North Carolina conviction for operating a paramilitary camp. The search ended after federal agents found Miller and three other men in an Ozark mobile home, which was filled with hand grenades, automatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Miller tried running for U.S. House in 2006 and the U.S. Senate in 2010, espousing a white power platform each time.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kkk-leader-jewish-community-center-shooting-suspect
Three Dead in Pre-Passover Shooting at Jewish Community Center
This shooting occurred a day before Passover begins tomorrow night at sundown. If the reports from The Forward are correct, then this represents an anti-Semitic murder as preparations for that upcoming holiday are well underway.
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That said, there is a significant way to go, both in terms of anti-Semitism and bigotry in general. Today's shooting is a reminder of that. There are three families that will be burying their loved ones tomorrow before they sit down for their Passover seder. There will be three empty chairs. Twelve cups of wine that will not be drunk. Three haggadot that will remain unopened.
I don't think there's anything else I can say.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/13/1291759/-Three-Dead-in-Pre-Passover-Shooting-at-Jewish-Community-Center
onehandle
(51,122 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)It makes you wonder how anyone is able to stockpile that many weapons.
atreides1
(16,079 posts)Option #1. He purchased the weapons from someone he knew!
Option #2. He purchased the weapons from a private seller...maybe from an ad in the paper.
Option #3. He purchased the weapons from a private seller at a gun show.
Paladin
(28,262 posts)Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)Rozlee
(2,529 posts)Gun shows are largely unregulated. An a-Qaeda spokesman made a video urging his followers to buy weapons at American gun shows, saying how easy it was to go to any convention center to buy them, sometimes without any ID. There's a gun black market in the US. Most of the narco killings in Mexico can be traced to guns bought or stolen here. There are nearly 300 million guns in our country. It's not hard to get a hold of them. There are many gun hoarders out there. When my husband's cousin died in Montana, they discovered over 400 guns in his house. He'd never been what one considered a 'gun nut' either.
JEFF9K
(1,935 posts)... when he ran for public office?
Stainless
(718 posts)Why in the fuck is a White Supremacist maggot who has exhibited severe anti-social behavior his entire life able to own guns and run around spewing his hatred?
Ned Fenwick
(25 posts)Do we have any idea as to what source he may have turned for reinforcement for his anger, expressed in violent or hateful rhetoric? Possibly a media outlet, or network? An old man, his hatred and illness would probably require reinforcement and confirmation to maintain him at the shooting-innocent-strangers-with-a-shotgun level. I have an idea where he may have found the confirmation needed to keep him a sufficiently horrible person. We probably all do.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)Linking this guy to the Repubs is irresponsible. For one thing, he has run for elective office as a Republican, a Democrat, and as an Independent. Seems like his political loyalties shifted with the winds.
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)It didn't say Republicans had close ties to this white supremacist, but in general.