It’s time that this country start taking right-wing domestic terrorism seriously

After letting a special unit devoted to monitoring domestic terrorism fall dormant following the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that it was reviving the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee to focus on extremists motivated by antigovernment and racial hatred. Cue the wingnut hysteria. Attorney General Revives Domestic Terrorism Group, And Far Right Goes Wild:

Predictably, pundits from the extreme conspiracist right, particularly antigovernment “Patriot” groups, worked themselves into a frenzy over the announcement, warning their followers that a “war on the white man” was about to come down from the Obama administration. A similar reaction greeted the 2009 leak of a report from the Department of Homeland Security that focused on the domestic radical right, with right-wing groups describing it as an attack on the political conservatives.

And then this happened on Friday in “guns anywhere” Georgia. ‘Sovereign citizen’ killed during full-frontal assault on Georgia courthouse:

A shootout with a police deputy kept a man armed with explosives and an assault rifle from entering a courthouse in north Georgia on Friday morning. The deputy was injured; the suspect was killed.

The gunman, who police identified as Dennis Marx, was due in court to plead out on drug and weapons charges at the Forsyth County Courthouse in Cumming, Ga.. Authorities described him as “a sovereign citizen,” part of an anti-government group that has been tied to violent attacks on law enforcement around the country.

Marx drove his silver sport utility vehicle over the curb and through flower beds before coming to a stop in front of the courthouse flagpole. “It was on the courthouse as far as it could go — up to the stairs,” witness Kim Stephens told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A deputy performing a routine sweep of the courthouse approached the armed man who was still in his car. Marx began firing through the windshield, hitting the unnamed officer in the leg. He then threw out homemade spike strips so cars could not approach the building before beginning a “frontal assault” on the building, which included throwing gas or pepper grenades, police said.

Marx was carrying buckets of homemade explosives and ammunition, smoke grenades, supplies and water. “He came here with the purpose of occupying the courthouse,” Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper said during a press conference. “Mr. Marx’s intention was to get in that front door and take hostages.”

The SWAT team, which was on its way to a separate incident, arrived at the courthouse within 37 seconds, WSBTV reported. Deputies both in and outside of the building engaged in a roughly 90-second shootout with the gunman, police said. Marx was shot and killed, despite wearing body armor, according to WISTV.

The actions of the wounded deputy prevented Marx from entering the building. “When the deputy engaged him outside, it saved lives,” Piper said. “The entire situation was solved by that deputy’s actions.”

On Sunday, two self-described white supremacists who boasted to neighbors that they’d spent time at Cliven Bundy’s ranch during the recent standoff there executed two Las Vegas policemen in cold blood and killed and innocent bystander at a nearby Wal-Mart before killing themselves in a murder-suicide pact. The Las Vegas Sun reports, Neighbors: Couple suspected in Las Vegas killing spree vowed to commit ‘next Columbine’:

Hours after a man and woman killed two police officers at an east Las Vegas pizza restaurant and then gunned down another victim at a nearby Wal-Mart before killing themselves, a picture of the shooters began to emerge.

Residents at an apartment complex where it appeared the two lived together said they had a reputation for spouting racist, anti-government views, bragging about their gun collection and boasting that they’d spent time at Cliven Bundy’s ranch during a recent standoff there between armed militia members and federal government agents.

The couple was identified this morning as Jerad and Amanda Miller, according to the Lafayette Journal and Courier newspaper.

According to one police official and a witness, one of the shooters shouted, “This is a revolution” and “We’re freedom fighters.”

The duo also told people they planned to commit a mass shooting, said Brandon Moore, a resident of the complex.

“They were handing out white-power propaganda and were talking about doing the next Columbine,” Moore said.

* * *

On Monday morning, officials in Lafayette, Ind., said the assailants had spent time there before coming to Las Vegas. That information was echoed by a neighbor of the couple in Las Vegas.

* * *

The events began about 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the CiCi’s Pizza at 309 N. Nellis Boulevard when the two armed assailants ambushed Beck and Soldo, who were eating lunch.

After shooting the officers and taking their firearms and ammunition, the assailants made their way across Stewart Avenue to the Wal-Mart at 201 N. Nellis.

There, the assailants shot and killed Wilcox inside the front door of the store.

Police arrived to the busy store as customers began fleeing through the exits. The assailants exchanged gunfire with police before the female suspect shot the male suspect and then killed herself in an apparent suicide pact, according to Gillespie.

* * *

Sara Andrea, a resident of the complex, said the assailants were known to walk around town dressed as the Batman comic book characters The Joker and Harley Quinn.

“No one associated (with them), but everyone knew these people,” she said.

Residents who spoke about the assailants all mentioned the couple’s relationship with Bundy.

Oak Tree resident Sue Hale said the two told her they were in Bunkerville during the standoff, which occurred in April after federal authorities began conducting a roundup of Bundy’s cattle. Bundy had defied the government by grazing the cattle on public land without a permit.

“Yap, yap, yap. They were always running their mouths,” Hale said.

Let this be a lesson to you, Brandon Moore. When your crazy gun-totin’ neighbors are talking about killing people in the next Columbine, take it seriously and call the cops. Three innocent people are now dead because you did not take them seriously.

And FAUX News, it’s all fun and games playing patriot revolutionaries against the “tyranny of Obama” at the Bundy Ranch until one of the yahoos you inspired to come to the Bundy Ranch takes it seriously and starts a “revolution” by executing two cops, now isn’t it? Where is the media responsibility for fostering this kind of mass insanity?

And why does this country tolerate conspiracists like the certifiably insane Alex Jones? InfoWars Thinks Las Vegas Shooting Is False Flag, ‘Custom-Made To Demonize The Patriot Movement’.

It’s time that this country start taking right-wing domestic terrorism seriously and stop treating it as entertainment for FAUX News and the conservative media entertainment complex.