What motivated an 89-year-old to shoot up the Holocaust Museum? White-supremacist hate and fear
By David Neiwert Wednesday Jun 10, 2009 11:45am
[UPDATE: Stephen Tyrone Johns, the guard who was shot, died later of the wounds.]
We're learning more and more about the man who walked into the Holocaust Museum in D.C. this morning and opened fire on a guard.
First, more personal details from MSNBC:
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, NBC News reported. NBC said he may have had connections to hate groups or anti-government groups.
... Von Brunn is believed to have had contact with law enforcement in the past, according to NBC. A D.C. Superior Court jury convicted a man by the same name in 1983 of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board.
The case involved a 1981 incident in which police arrested Von Brunn at the board's headquarters carrying several weapons. He was convicted and later released from federal prison in 1989, records show.
What this tells us, of course, is that he was "sovereign citizen" -- just like Dr. George Tiller's assassin. If he was attempting a "citizen's arrest" of Alan Greenspan as far back as 1981, that almost certainly means he was an adherent of Posse Comitatus ideology, and very likely Christian Identity as well.
VonBrunn had a Website (now unavailable) where he promoted his online book, "Kill the Best Gentiles". Here's a screen grab:
Here's how he described his 1981 arrest:
In 1981 von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."
I contemplated putting up the first six chapters of his book so people could see how far gone this guy is, but it's too vile. Here's a sample of his short work:
Jack Levin, in the MSNBC clip above, is exactly right: Violent characters like this are being driven mad with fear about what Obama and the liberals are doing to the country. A lot of that fear is being stoked by mainstream sources, and the unstable characters like this seize that as an excuse to act.
Anyway, it's not like we didn't warn that this was going to happen.
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So you douchebags are hoping this sick bastard gets raped?
Very progressive of you.
.
A true progressive wants no one harmed.
A true progressive understands this man is sick.
A true progressive knows he is contagious.
He needs to be quarantined not brutalized.
and the rewhatevers.
....and a true progressive wants the venom-spewers on Fox and elsewhere arrested for inciting violence with their hate-speak.
If you can get an indictment I am with you.
quarantine Fox?
By pressuring advertisers and organizing protests.
Big fucking protests. Write letters to the sponsors
and say I won't buy your product. I did it to AT&T
last week. Anyone who lives close to their studios
can picket them. Me and my lefty friends are gonna
picket Fox 2 St. Louis this weekend. There is always
a response, the only question is can you turn off the
TV long enough to get the job done.
have already quarantined them from my home. No reason to attack me. By quarantining Fox I mean make it so nobody sees or hears them. If you are having protests, good on you.
sorry man, should have replaced "you" with people.
I can say what I want as long as I follow the rules. I
have read your posts too. If you aren't a progressive
you are damn close. You comment on this issue is
sexist, reckless, homophobic, violent and distasteful.
You don't like that? Put me on ignore.
You don't get to define whats progressive AND your habit of saying that anyone who doesn't agree with your definition of being a progressive isn't one is obnoxious and frankly, un-progressive.
I grant your comment is distasteful, explain how my words were violent, homophobic, reckless or sexist?
Also I note that since you admit you only self-censored because the site would do it, you're not that different.
And besides, you're the one complaining about what I said, please ignore me. As for me, you provide too many chuckles.
Keep talking just keep rambling on and on and
keep trying to justify yourself. Run me down for
being discerning and promoting justice.
cant do it.
you haven't earned Ignore yet. Only 4 peeps have. You haven't crossed the line yet. The more you blather the more you appear impotent and caustic. I draw you out.
As for our past discourse, I am pleased with the outcome.
ty for the chuckles
survivors over the years, I never appreciate it when someone throws out the suggestion that someone "ought" to be raped for something they have done, even if the person in question is an anti-semetic monster like Von Brunn.
It cheapens the experiences of real survivors of rape, it densensitizes others to what survivors go through, and worst of all, it is very fucking triggering to survivors, thank you very much. I am in an advanced state of healing so the only reaction you got out of me was anger and exasperation, but for a survivor who is vulnerable it can be very hurtful.
If you're not willing to respect C & L's comment policy, then for gods sake at least respect others who may be reading.
Whats wrong with that?
Oh I don't know. Hoping someone is sexually abused for a crime that he has been tried, convicted and imprisoned for.
Is that part of the court mandated punishment?
I'm talking schadenfreude
a trendy word for being hateful. Don't stop now keep it coming.
Let it go! What are you trying to prove here? That you're the bestest progressive on here? If I tell you you are the bestest progressive and beat the shit out of FilthyHarry's progressiveness will you move on?
Thank you katie, you are right.
I was not prepared for that completely honest and pathetic answer.
Leaving now, thanks.
I should have linked it to the definition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tk9dtjoQY0
For me saying I hope he goes straight to hell WOW
Obama signals doom for extremists. Advocating universal human love and understanding can't be tolerated.
Obama's just doing his job being president. Its the right-wing punditry as well as the lingering effects of the PALIN/mccain campaign that signals doom for extremists, specifically by telling them they are doomed because of Obama.
That damn Obama! As my Christian friends would say, "What would Jesus do?"
Oh, uh....never mind.
Get hammered then nailed.
Obama signals doom for extremists. Advocating universal human love and understanding can't be tolerated.
I respectfully disagree. He is a focus for them. They are all around
us. The worse the economy gets the more marginalized the poor or
working class white man becomes. He has to blame someone, it must be
that n______r president's fault. It must be the Jew banker's fault.
I swear go to a any tavern in southern Missouri and you will hear
EXACTLY this kind of talk.
Doesn't just happen in Missouri. Anytime you have a white only crowd, you have the opportunity for the racists to feel comfortable enough to spout this shit. I think we have to start calling them on it in those personal situations.
Once again, the spawn of right-wing radio and TV.
I guarantee he listens to Rush and watches Billo and Beck. These right-wing loudmouths need to be charged with inciting violence and hauled away to jail.
The only problem is if he was arrested back in 81 for similar crimes, FAUX can claim that's well before they were around.
Faux was just in time for his "rehabilitation."
Yes, but the venom they spew only incites nuts like this more.
FOX has featured programs on how the Jews control the FED and are coming to kill gentiles. No wonder this rekindles the flames put out by our excellent prison system.
rediculous
Except where do we INVADE????
Fox Studios.....and watch all the chickenhawks wet their pants.
with sawed off shotguns. That'll fool them hate spewers and teach em a lesson. (Said in complete jest.)
Write/call the FCC and complain. This lays squarely at the feet of right wing hate radio and TV. We can't tolerate this any longer. The FCC must be made to enforce the law and revoke the licenses of media corporations that broadcast hate speech disguised as political opinion. Give them specific examples. There are plenty that have been showcased right here on C&L.
Do you even read the very blog you post on? I havn't seen this much hate in one place...ever.
What are you talking about? Are you having trouble comprehending what I wrote?
Or are you a glen beck fanboy?
is on the fanboy possibility.
Opinion. :)
Amended: Regarding [Cjsparky] that is. ;)
Cjsparky is partially right. MANY MANY MANY comments are just
pure name calling and vitriol. I have brought this up in the
past as well.
Doesn't have to be fanboy motivated. I get tired of hearing highly successful people get called idiot and moron on this site.
The South!!! Rebel flags and rednecks for miles!!
Not just the South. One of my coworkers is from southern Ohio, and he tells me that in Ohio and Indiana there are places where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting the Treason Flag.
When I was living in SE TX, I was amazed how many "Heritage not hate" bumper stickers I saw concerning the confederate flag, but how incensed these same people got when Mexican-Americans waved the Mexican flag over sporting events.
They smell like patchoulli?
I live in Southern New Jersey and I've seen the "Heritage Not Hate" confederate flag bumper stickers. Racism and stupidity is just not limited to the South, believe me.
I've seen them in Michigan, and I feel like I should buy them a copy of "Glory".
Racism is everywhere, people. Even in places like MARYLAND. I've lived in Texas and I've lived around the Midwest. I've found it everywhere I've lived.
I can't wait to see the authors' names of his home library.
I wonder how many people are going to have to die or be shot before some of this right-wing war rhetoric is toned down? Is there a number? If we have a shooting in this country every week (we're 2 for 2 now), how many weeks will it be until far-right lunatics wonder aloud if all the murder that is committed in their name might just be a bad thing?
Yup. We need to have a massive FBI investigation of ALL far right-wing groups and eviscerate the ones who are causing this violence.
nice call for violence...
Where have you been? Rev. Wright, lapel pins, Michelle Obama aka; angry black woman, Hillary supporters jumping over to McCain, Acorn, guns and bibles, Teabagging, socialism, what the fuck ever else, were excuses of cowardly racist Americans who freak out daily that a black man lives in their White House.
Criminologist Jack Levin simply exercised incredible honesty in his evaluation.
Massive FBI investigation = Call for violence? In what world?
In the one where right-wingers freak out and start shooting at the approach of the FBI.
Eviscerate
How is requesting investigations of right wing hate groups that are causing this violence a call for violence?
You mean my comment was deleted because I used the word "eviscerate?" Geez, folks, I meant "incapacitate the organizations" not "do bodily harm to the members."
Sheesh! How about a little descriptive latitude?
[Okay-Sitemonitor]
Whoever's doing the TOS site moderation today is more jumpy on the delete button than normal, perhaps fearing a right-wing trolling the site for "left-wing hate" that O'Reilly can use later. Whatever. I'm not taking it personally, hope you don't either.
No, I just needed to explain my choice of words in my 13:00 post.
the Mods don't want comments taken out of context.
Off the Topic:
I visited one particular hate site, that locked their discussion thread shortly after it became apparent that the shooter was indeed a WS. The Mod placed a "disclaimer" against advocating violence and said the Admins would be 'reviewing' the thread (i.e. Perhaps "Memory Holing"/Deep Sixing the comments that supported the shooter).
The same latitude that you give folks who have different political beliefs than you?
Next from Hollywood
Night of the Living Dead Museum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIWsMKZt3Eg
I'm originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland--still mostly remote and bucolic--please don't blame the people there! Very blue collar, down-to-Earth, and reasonable. No idea what was up with this kook!
Thanks, schultzbk!
I'm originally from there, too - Berlin, to be exact. And everything you mentioned is true. (Although I was a lonely liberal voice when I was growing up there, none of the conservatives I came across was violent.)
OK. I know there is limited control of advertising on blogs. but right now I have a "game vance" ad selling a shooting game. WTH?
And you want to ban weapons leaving the only armed people in America right wing nut jobs?
Use Firefox as your browser, ad on NoScript and Adblock Plus.
Thanks Andy K!
I want him to live, be sent to prison and be interviewed to see just what exactly made him pick today to do what he did.
Hmmm...looks like you can call it ADAY.
It's bad when all of your posts are deleted for violations. This is not ADAYs day.
This would be the perfect time for people like Rush, Billo, and Beck to step up and start trying to tamp some of this hate down. Their audiences need to hear this from them and they could do more than anyone to try to calm and settle things down.
They think they're not doin anything wrong.
Anyone who questions them is a commie pinko liberal tree huggin...well you get he idea.
They don't have to admit or say they are doing anything wrong, just make a concerted effort to speak against these acts and show they aren't complete total assholes. At least give it a try.
Enforce the law! Let's start cracking down on hate speech. Let's start cracking down on veiled threats.
Let's show these so-called 'Murican patriots just what supporting GW Bush and the GOP version of "freedom" really means.
L&P!!!
Spot on!
until the 1980s.
Then Reagan won the White House and the GOP, aided and abetted by their courting of the crazies and getting getting enuf centrist whites to believe that brown people on welfare were the root of all their middle class problems, won control of the Congress.
They courted these nuts, and called the FBI off of them.
The country is now reaping what the GOP has sown.
The crazies believe they are the mainstream. They have been emboldened.
There is only one way to get these people back in line. You slap them...HARD. You crack on them so hard that their heads will spin. You infiltrate the groups and then you haul them all off to the big house in one swoop. You put them AND their cockeyed beliefs on trial and throw their backwoods asses into the slammer and keep them there till they start to ossify. You drive them back into the shadows where they belong.
I don't care how old this cretin is.
Throw his wrinkled up, white supremacist, backwoods ass in jail and throw away the freakin' key.
ROFL
sparky?
Was the "You slap them...HARD" part...it just tickled me. No biggie.
I agree that idiots like the WS ass who shot a guard and intended on doing real harm need to be put away...for-freaking-ever...
spent nearly the entire Reagan administration in federal prison.
Imagine that. Boy I bet they are embarrased now.
who got him out?
Okay, so this guy is violent, racist, and probably insane.
Shooting up the Holocaust Museum is a clear indication of that, but I'm not sure that trying to put Greenspan under citizen's arrest is similarly crazy, even if it was in 1981. The blame for our current economic mess doesn't rest solely with Greenspan, but he was certainly a cheerleader for what led up to it.
Greenspan also wasn't running the Fed in 1981... Paul Volcker was.
Comments like Jack Levin's incense me. Black people and other victims of hatred or discrimination, do not in any way motivate, drive or fuel racism, fear or hatred, period. If it were not black people it would be any other group of people who were non-white, non-christian and non-male on the receiving end of the hate that is interwoven into the fabric of this nation. This man was hateful and crazy before President Obama and will continue to be hateful and crazy longer after President Obama leaves office. Racist, hateful individuals do not need to be encouraged or stoked, it is their own sense of inferiority and self-hatred that drives them to wreak havoc on the rest of us. Try looking at the people this man surrounds himself to find clues on what drives his hatred. I'm willing to bet that black people are not on his list teachers, role models and do not in any way influence his psyche. People like Jack Levin should think before they speak.
Agreed. The KKK in the 1920s (at least in some areas) actually hated Catholics more than they hated anyone else.
And especially hated guys out in public wearing their bathrobes.
It has nothing to do with Obama as the man. It's simply because he is not white. What needs to be discussed if how far-right terrorists are much more willing to execute violence with a Black man in the White House
growing up as a boy. He was born in 1920. Then watching FOX set off flashbacks.
I have seen plenty of racist acts, against whites, blacks, etc. White people have not cornered the market on hate, discrimination, and violence...get real. Plenty of it to go around from ALL races.
Translation - "Everyone does it"
Let's see who used that defense...oh yeah...Nixon apologists, Bush apologist, GOP apologists, racist apologists, homophobic apologists.
It's just a rightwing domestic terrorism loving troll. Pay no heed.
NO!
Translation...don't perpetuate the problem with reverse racism...
Acknowledge that racism takes many forms, and comes from many sources. There is not one race in existence who does not disply racism in some fashion or another.
Translation : Please nobody do it anymore...
Denial, disturbing rationalizations, and of course maniacal hatred of those who happen to be different are cornerstone traits of racism. You are one dumb mother fucker.
What is name calling on the internet a cornerstone trait of?
Try to keep up.
Really? Why don't you describe the plethora of racist acts which you claim to have witnessed, and then proceed to "get real."
I didn't read any comments claiming that "whites have cornered the market" on racism.
Shouldn't you be trolling somewhere else?
"Black people and other victims of hatred or discrimination, do not in any way motivate, drive or fuel racism, fear or hatred, period." quote from the statement I responded to...
So I guess the time I was beaten in Underground Atlanta by a gang of black men and called cracker and then urinated on...
That is just happenstance right?
I will make your point for you in a way I think may be less racially charged...here we go...
Victims of hatred or discrimination, do not in any way motivate, drive or fuel racism, fear or hatred, period.
Fixed
I won't go into a discussion of who is more racist or hateful it's pointless. The point is that the perpetrators of hate and racism do not require provocation from their victims. To provide a justification for their violence outside of their own personal responsibility for their actions is an effort to blame the victim not unlike bringing up how the victim of rape was dressed or what time they were out. The narrative in this country is to avert all efforts of criminalizing these perpetrators of terror within our borders. I call things as I see them. This man is a racist murderer period, and that has nothing to do with President Obama or so called liberals. How do either of these explain his Reagan era criminality?
I would think almost ANYONE could agree with your point. Well put.
I appreciate your not persecuting one race, in order to describe the plight of another. Thanks, from a non racist white man who happens to be proud that his country elected a black man president...even though I tend to disagree with alot of his decisions.
"This man was hateful and crazy before President Obama and will continue to be hateful and crazy longer after President Obama leaves office."
I am actually hoping he will be dead by then...does that make me a bad person?
Propaganda of the Deed.
We saw it in the Tiller shooting, and we're seeing it here. Extremist rhetoric affecting susceptible minds and motivating them to do terrible things.
I'm an American citizen and as such have a vested interest in the free speech provisions of our Constitution, but can we please start cracking down on these groups and the BS artists who are stoking the fires?
Can we get a second look at that DHS report? I think it was something about right-wing extremist terrorists? I can't be sure...
Yes it spoke about right wing terrorism possibilities from people RECENTLY RELEASED FROM ACTIVE DUTY.
What the report said was that right-wing groups are looking to RECRUIT those recently released from active duty, not that those soldiers recently released are a threat.
That was ONE type of concern mentioned. But go ahead and pretend that that was the whole report if it keeps you from going out and killing people.
Well quote it for me then...
Cause we'll have 125 additional comments on here all saying the same thing.
Keep trying, sparky. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Sorry... I was getting lonely. :)
I'm sure John and the site monitors would love for me to put the report here in the comments! Try Google bonehead!
I'm having trouble finding a site named "Google bonehead." Do I need to pick the monitor up and shake it some more?
But here is your quote:
"Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities."
Link is to full report brought to you by the Moonie Times.
"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."
That is the one I was talking about...I would have felt insulted a tad if I read that when I was returning from Desert Storm years ago...It dosn't say it but it certainly suggests that veterans would be the driving force here...not just victims as you suggest.
Just my take.
What is your take on the radical Muslim who opened fire on a recruiting station and killed a US soldier?
That's not too far from me. Stormfront types aren't very visible here in West Michigan...Not saying there aren't any, because, well, it's kinda obvious that we do, ain't it?
It looks like this Steve guy has registered 16 or so other webpages using the organization name HWE -- I'm going to try to dig up more on this.
More interesting thoughts -- his e-mail Steveo1488 -- the 14 in neo-nazi circles refers to "the 14 words" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words
and 88 refers to the 8th letter of the alphabet H -- so 88 = HH == Heil Hitler -- looking more and more like this guy has ties to neo-nazis
Who knows if the registration info isn't bogus?
Tell you what: I wrote down the guy's name. I'll call some tv stations and the local fishwrap and let them know about the connection. We'll see if it's legit, and if we can't shine a little light on the guy's operations.
4 hour shift- but there will be people at the news desks.
Since their ratings are going south, you'd think they'd want to tap into this "hidden" audience of white supremacists. Since they as a news organization are OBVIOUSLY not responsible for the actions of their viewers, it's a win-win situation! Some possible ideas for new shows:
Aryan American News
White Power Hour
No-Catholic Zone
No Negro News
Hannity's America
Murdoch would make millions! New tag line:
"Fox News, We Report the Way You Want Us To, You Buy from our Advertisers (White Power)"
Fuck faux noise!
Beck's Kill the Best Gentiles, no telling how much better off we would be.
Update: CNN is reporting that a guard at the museum has died. No further details. - BarbinMD
Another family will go to bed in pain tonight because someone here in our country felt they had the right to take the life of someone they loved. Talk about a crying shame.
These dogs call themselves Americans. HA! They call themselves god fearing.
I hope these religious nutcases are right and there IS a God, and I hope the killer burns in hell.
How bout if he just gets a bad sunburn?
so long as his dong looks like it should be laid on a bun with mustard and sauerkraut.
I hate it when I get a comment deleted
Because I'll be damned if I can remember what the hell I said.
Maybe you talk too much?
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