Most recent would-be terrorists aren’t Muslim

by David Safier

It may be time for a new acronym, IOKIYNM — It's OK If You're Not Muslim. Peter King notwithstanding, we've got two very bad actors who are both White and Right, but the Islamophobes don't seem to consider them or the far right militia movement any kind of a threat.

The most unreported would-be terrorist attack since 9/11 was a man who placed a backpack bomb on the route of the Martin Luther King Day march in Spokane, Washington in January. Fortunately, the bomb with its shrapnel dipped in rat poison was found before the march. Now in custody is Kevin William Hardham, who has all kinds of neo-Nazi, white supremacist connections.

Today comes news of an Alaskan right-wing militia group that was planning to kidnap and maybe kill state troopers and a state judge.

Five Fairbanks-area residents involved in a loose-knit militia group have been arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap or kill Alaska state troopers and a local judge, federal and state authorities said on Friday.

The group includes Francis "Schaeffer" Cox, the 26-year-old leader of the so-called "citizen sovereignty" movement, which considers individuals to be sovereign nations not subject to any state or federal laws.

Cox and his associates had developed an extensive plan to launch their attacks, the troopers said in a statement.

They had already conducted extensive surveillance on Fairbanks-area troopers, locating the homes of two troopers, and acquired a large cache of weapons, some of them illegal, according to the statement.

The five are charged with conspiring to commit murder, kidnapping and arson, weapons misconduct, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, the troopers said. They were arrested late on Thursday without incident, the troopers said.

Cox is also part of the guns-for-everyone-anytime-anywhere movement.

Cox is also the founder of the Alaska-based Second Amendment Task Force, a "pro-gun rights" group. Its website details a supposed United Nations-orchestrated conspiracy to deprive Americans of theirs constitutional right to bear arms.

Oh, and he ran in the 2008 Republican primary for Alaska's District 7 representative. He lost.