Anti-abortion politicians and activists are fueling right-wing domestic terrorism in America

Republican politicians and right-wing political activists have, by constantly railing against the idea that women should be able to control their own bodies and releasing heavily-edited videos as part of a political smear campaign, have encouraged terrorist attacks against the reproductive health care provider Planned Parenthood, two of which have occurred within the last month and a half.

The recent terror attack against Planned Parenthood that has received the most media attention was the recent shooting and siege of the Colorado Springs, Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, in which perpetrator Robert Lewis Dear killed three people, Jennifer Markovsky, Ke’Arre Stewart, and Garrett Swasey, and wounded several others before surrendering to police.

However, another recent terror attack against Planned Parenthood that hasn’t gotten anywhere near as much media attention was an attack that occurred a little more than a month ago. That attack involved a hatchet attack at the Claremont, New Hampshire Planned Parenthood clinic, and the attack resulted in extensive property damage to the clinic, as well as water damage to an adjacent business:

A minor was arrested early on Wednesday after allegedly vandalizing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Claremont, New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

“Today’s damage was particularly extensive including the use of a hatchet to destroy computers, furniture, plumbing fixtures, office equipment, medical equipment, phone lines, windows and walls,” Police Chief Alexander Scott said in a statement.

Officers spotted the suspect while checking the building. Scott added that the suspect also defaced the office’s walls with spray paint, and that his actions also caused flooding that affected a business adjacent to the office. As a result, the clinic was closed as of Wednesday afternoon.

By my definition of terrorism, any act intended to kill, maim, injure, and/or stoke fear in a large group of people in the name of a political ideology is an act of terrorism.

In the same way that ISIS is inspiring Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who aren’t officially affiliated with ISIS to carry out “lone wolf”-style terrorist attacks, Republican elected officials and presidential candidates are inspiring anti-abortion terrorists to carry out “lone wolf”-style attacks at women’s health clinics right here in America. In fact, it’s not proper to call these types of terrorists “lone wolves”, as some in the media have described the Colorado Springs terrorist. I prefer to use the term “stoked wolves” to describe terrorists who don’t have any known affiliation with a terrorist group or other entity, but are inspired by a terrorist group or other entity to carry out a terrorist attack.

 

Advertisement

GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger owes Planned Parenthood an apology

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of the 16th Congressional District of Illinois (much of north-central and parts of east-central Illinois, stretching from South Beloit in Winnebago County to Sheldon in Iroquois County) falsely claimed that Planned Parenthood was wrong to claim that its Colorado Springs, Colorado office was the target of a terrorist attack that started earlier today:

Waiting for apology from @RepKinzinger for saying @PPact was wrong to claim it was the shooter's target.

— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) November 27, 2015

The truth of the matter is that the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic was (apparently) the target of the Colorado Springs shooting (which is still an ongoing situation as I write this blog post), as ABC News is reporting that, according to law enforcement, the shooting began at the clinic. Planned Parenthood has every right to claim that they were the target of a terrorist attack, and Adam Kinzinger owes Planned Parenthood and the American people an apology.

Charlie Hebdo shooting in France gets more American media attention than Colorado Springs NAACP bombing here in America

The corporate media has turned a blind eye to domestic terrorism here in the United States.

Yesterday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) office in Colorado Springs, Colorado was firebombed by a person described as a white male who is believed to be approximately 40 years of age and is believed to be balding. While the motive behind the terrorist attack is unknown, it is apparent, but not confirmed, that the attack was motivated by white hatred towards black people.

Earlier today, a mass shooting took place at the headquarters of the Paris, France-based satire newspaper Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed, and, as of this update, two of the attackers are still at large. One of the attackers reportedly bragged that he was part of and/or trained by the Islamic fundamentalist terror group al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Both of these are senseless terrorist attacks that are either apparently or confirmed to have been motivated by hatred by one group of people towards another group of people, yet the terrorist attack that took place in France got far more media attention than the terrorist attack that took place right here in America. The NAACP bombing has received very little coverage by the national news media here in the United States (in fact, I’ve yet to see a single mention of the NAACP bombing on CNN, and the only mention of the NAACP bombing by the media that I know of has been by left-leaning or left-wing internet websites and the traditional local news media in Colorado), yet CNN and other traditional news outlets here in the U.S. have provided extensive coverage of the Charlie Hebdo shooting. I firmly believe that this is because of systematic media bias in the corporate media in this country, specifically, the corporate media in this country is trying to cover-up instances of terrorism perpetrated by white people with far-right political views.