Fantasy Camp

Over at TPM Muckracker, Zach Roth has what could be a hell of a story brewing. With all the attention on Iran and Obamacare, it's important to remember that even a week ago, America was talking about the rise of right-wing domestic terrorism, white supremacist groups, and hate crimes.

We've seen people murdered based on their beliefs on abortion and religion. Now we're potentially seeing people killed because of their ethnic background and immigrant status.

According to local law enforcement, three people posing as police officers forced their way into the home of Raul Flores in Arivaca, Arizona, about 10 miles from the Mexican border, on May 30. They shot and killed Flores and his nine-year-old daughter, and wounded Flores' wife. The three, Shawna Forde, Jason Bush, and Albert Gaxiola, were arrested and charged last Thursday and Friday.

But here's where it gets interesting: Forde's brother, Merrill Metzger, has told the Arizona Daily Star that Forde had been talking recently about "starting a revolution against the United States government," and had said she planned to recruit members of the Aryan Nations as part of a plan to rob drug cartels.

In other words, white supremacist groups and anti-immigrant extremists had the idea to perform home invasion killings on wealthy suspected drug dealers complete with the notion too make the crimes look like "just more border drug violence." The upshot-- they get to keep the money to recruit more into the movement.

In a sick, dark, sociopathic way you have to admire the plan. It sounds like a great movie or book plot, honestly. But the repugnant thing is the plan was apparently very, very real.

It sounds like Forde had started putting that plan into action. Bush, accused of being the triggerman in the killing, was also charged Friday in the 1997 murder of a sleeping Hispanic homeless man in Washington, reports the paper. According to law enforcement authorities in the state, Bush "has had long-standing ties to the Aryan Nations." In 2003, they say, Bush moved to the Sandpoint area of northern Idaho, a historic center of white supremacist activity.

Both Forde and Bush also have ties to the fringe of the anti-immigration movement. As Josh noted last week over at TPM, Forde leads Minutemen American Defense (MAD), a vigilante group that conducts patrols of the US-Mexico border. And according to a recent post on MAD's website, since taken down, the group recently signed up Bush -- said to be a Special Forces veteran, and identified only as "Gunny" -- and put him in charge of "command decisions, Recon and Tactical training."

Sadly, these insane fantasies are claiming real lives, and when I mention growing right-wing violence that needs to be observed, this is what I'm talking about. Less than six months since America's first African-American President was elected and we've had multiple incidents -- three major ones in just the last month -- and I believe wholeheartedly that it will only get worse.

I've been warning about it for quite some time, and some folks who have made a career of following and reporting on incidents like this are Dave Neiwert and Sara Robinson over at Dave's blog, Orcinus. Check the site out when you can, it's a valuable resource on following right-wing domestic terrorism in this country. Sadly, Dave's expertise is now needed more than ever these days.