Monday, April 27, 2009

FBI Arrests Tea Party Participant who made Death Threats on Twitter! (Glenn Beck fan!)

As I previously reported, it appears extremists, hate groups and Obama haters are loading the ranks of the Teabaggers. The April 15th event scared off many Independents and Progressives. I wonder how quickly the Republicans will also flee from this group, particularly with the FBI's most recent arrest of a Twitter-using accused Domestic Terrorist.
An Oklahoma City man who announced on Twitter that he would turn an April 15 tax protest into a bloodbath was hit with a federal charge of making interstate threats last week, in what appears to be first criminal prosecution to stem from posts on the microblogging site.
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user
CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
“START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!,” read a tweet at 8:01 PM that day. “After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!,” he added five minutes later. Then: “Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.”
Hayden’s
MySpace page is a breathtaking gallery of right wing memes about the “New World Order,” gun control as Nazi fascism, and Barack Obama’s covert use of television hypnosis, among many others.
In addition to the threats, many of Hayden’s tweets fixated on another Oklahoma City man whom he erroneously believed was in charge of the city’s tea party demonstration.
“He seemed to know stuff about me, but I don’t know how or why,” says Earl Shaffer. “He called me a few days before that tea party and let me know somehow he got my name as one of the organizers. I don’t have the energy.”
Shaffer told Hayden that he wasn’t a tea party organizer, but Hayden continued to tweet baffling messages about the 58-year-old retiree, posting his phone number in one. Hayden’s penultimate tweet at 12:49 AM on April 15 returned to the subject of his martyrdom. “Locked AND loaded for the Oklahoma State Capitol. Let’s see what happens.”
The FBI
arrested (.pdf) him at his home later that day, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City, which otherwise declined to comment on the case. Despite the odd phone call from Hayden, Shaffer planned on joining the tea party himself. He was headed there when he spotted what turned out to be FBI agents watching him from their car around the corner. Like a real Oklahoman, he confronted the feds, who advised him that he could be arrested if he went to the demonstration.
“They asked if I knew [Hayden], and I told them no,” he says. ” They asked me questions about how I heard about the tea party, and I told them I heard about it through that talk show host Glenn Beck.”
Hayden was arraigned on the 16th, and ordered released to a halfway house pending trial — a move that suggests the magistrate judge does not consider him a genuine threat. Hayden’s attorney declined to comment. California-based Twitter did not respond to an inquiry by Threat Level.
References:
Hayden's Extremist Group - Oathkeepers page

7 comments:

. said...

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-sargent/2009/04/21/left-wing-extremist-joins-osama-fbi-most-wanted-listLeft-Wing Extremist Joins Osama On FBI Most Wanted List

By Mike Sargent
April 21, 2009 - 16:12 ET

Remember when NewsBusters told you about CNN ignoring a report on left-wing extremism? Perhaps you have heard a reference to Timothy McVeigh recently, as an example of right-wing extremism? Well, as it turns out, McVeigh isn’t the only extremist to bomb a building.

Please welcome Daniel Andreas San Diego (shown at right in photos via FBI.gov) to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted Terrorists list – notably, the only domestic terrorist on that list. San Diego is wanted by the FBI for “his alleged involvement in the bombing of two office buildings in the San Francisco, California, area.” Apparently, San Diego is suspected of being involved with two explosions at the Chiron Corporation in Emeryville – a corporation which the FBI says has had business ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences. If you’ve read the report on left-wing extremism, that company is a top priority for left-wing extremists.

But the fun doesn’t stop there.

How much damage have these groups caused? According to the FBI’s press release:

"Animal rights and environmental extremism pose a significant domestic terror threat. To date, extremists have been responsible for more than 1,800 criminal acts and more than $110 million in damages. Currently, we are investigating approximately 170 such extremist incidents across the country. "

So let’s sum this up: When the media talks about Timothy McVeigh, they’re citing one horrific act of a madman as an example of the evil right-wing extremists. But they pass over one hundred seventy left-wing extremist incidents by failing to cite a single one of these examples.

If there be any doubt, let’s examine the media coverage of the sole domestic terrorist to grace the pages of the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list. A Nexis search for the words “Chiron” or “Shaklee” (the names of the companies targeted by San Diego) from August 28th through October 1st, 2003 (the time around San Diego’s bombings) turns up six stories from the L.A. Times, three stories from the New York Times, and one story from the Washington Post. On ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC, there was a combined…zero mentions of this act of domestic terrorism. Three television networks and two ‘round-the-clock news channels failed to report that there was so much as a hiccup in San Francisco – much less multiple bombings.

Now, in the wake of the Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security warning Americans to beware of pro-life veterans’ potential terrorist tendencies, the FBI puts its first domestic terrorist on its Most Wanted Terrorists list – with, among others, Osama bin Laden, the founder of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and the first American to be charged with treason since 1952. And this terrorist happens to be a radical left-wing eco-terrorist. So when can we expect the mainstream media outlets to cover this?

How about quarter-after-never?

. said...

Also, this is interesting:

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/leftwing.pdfLeftwing Extremists
Likely to Increase Use of Cyber
Attacks over the Coming Decade

Just a tidbit:

"(U) Key Findings

(U//FOUO) DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) judges that a number of
emerging trends point to leftwing extremists maturing and expanding their cyber attack
capabilities over the next decade with the aim of attacking targets in the United States.

— (U//FOUO) The potential for economic damage, the individually-initiated and
anonymous nature of cyber attacks, and the perception that cyber attacks are
nonviolent align well with the ideological beliefs, strategic objectives, and
tactics of many leftwing extremists.

— (U//FOUO) The increasing reliance of commercial businesses and other
enterprises on cyber technologies, including interconnected networks and
remote access, creates new and expanding vulnerabilities that technically-savvy
leftwing extremists will exploit.

— (U//FOUO) The proliferation of cyber technologies and expertise as well as the
public availability of online hacking tools and “hackers-for-hire” offer leftwing
extremists incentives to adopt a cyber attack strategy. "

Dee said...

AZ,
Can you resubmit your two items on leftwing domestic terrorists but please summarize or shorten. The next commenters will have to scroll down and down before getting to the end of them in the comment sections.

Dee said...

BTW,
I do agree that both left and right wing domestic terrorists are a danger and are terrorists. I did read recently, however that the biggest difference is the right wingers tend to be more violent, kill people and use more assault weapons while the left tends to use more cyber or empty building attacks.

However, I agree, both are wrong and should stop any types of attacks.

. said...

My favorite is this take by "SMALL WARS JOURNAL" http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/04/right-wing-extremist-vets-left/ in which he says:

"The Department of Homeland Security recently disseminated two FOUO reports - Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment (7 April 09) and Leftwing Extremists Likely to Increase Use of Cyber Attacks over the Coming Decade (26 January 09) - that are now in the public domain. These two reports - which say absolutely nothing helpful to those on the frontlines of defending our nation - will most certainly stoke partisan bickering."I agree. It would appear that it just leads to more divisionism being procreated by the administration, not less (so much for 'unity'). It is almost as if they want the political extremes to try and slit each other's throats.

He also cites a quote by
David Rehbein, National Commander of the American Legion, expressed his concern over such analytical mush as this nugget from the "right-wing" report...

"The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."
Which is what so many of us have been saying:
They will come up with any excuse to do want they have been wanting to do, not what should be done.

This all very reminiscent of the run up to Iraq: Saddam is a bad guy, WMD, regime change, 9/11 connections, etc. Only the first one panned out thus far, the others are debatable as far as the extent.

But now, the current administration seems to be following the same strategy:
'clinging to religion and guns', right-wing extremists, 'dangerous' vets, anti-government demonstrations, school shootings, hate groups, stockpiling, etc.

Then there is the desire to control the internet:
Cyber terrorism, left-wing extremists, child porn, 'sexting', child abductions thru social networking sites, digital piracy, etc.

But, both categories of 'threats' are overly inflated beyond the truth. Just walk outside and look around....

No mass roving gangs of internet pirates doped out on meth driving around in SUV's with AK's shooting gays and 'minorities' in my town, not sure about everyone else's towns.......

. said...

I'll just post the links, let the people filter it out for themselves I suppose:

Leftwing Extremists Increase in Cyber Attacks:
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/leftwing.pdfLeft-Wing Extremist Joins Osama On FBI Most Wanted List ...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-sargent/2009/04/21/left-wing-extremist-joins-osama-fbi-most-wanted-listRight Wing Extremist Vets, Left Wing Extremist Puter Hacks, Oh My ...
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/04/right-wing-extremist-vets-left/Militant Extremists in the United States
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202266_pf.html

Dee said...

AZ,
Yes, I was planning on writing an article on that. But will you email me dee_perezscott@yahoo.com regarding the article?

Page Hits