An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to an Ohio mosque attributed his crime to the influence of Fox News, which he says convinced him that "most Muslims are terrorists."
Randolph Linn, 52, of St. Joe, Indiana pleaded guilty to arson for burning the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. His plea will result in a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a 40-year sentence.
Linn told the court that on September 30 he had gotten "riled up" as a result of watching Fox News and drinking beer. Linn claims to have drank 45 beers in seven hours before heading to the mosque and setting a fire in the prayer room. He was also reportedly armed with a revolver at the time.
During the court proceedings, Judge Jack Zouhary asked Linn if he knew any Muslims or knew what Islam was about.
"No, I only know what I hear on Fox news and what I hear on [right-wing talk] radio," Linn replied.
"Muslims are killing Americans and trying to blow stuff up," Linn told the judge. "Most Muslims are terrorists and don't believe in Jesus Christ," Linn falsely stated, ignorant of the fact that Jesus is revered as a prophet in Islam.
After he was arrested on October 2, Linn told officers, "Fuck those Muslims... they would kill us if they got the chance."
Okay somebody go ahead and convince me that Fox news is NOT one of the most destructive forces in America today.
Go ahead, I fucking dare you!
P.S. By the way one would think that this Ohio mosque had a pretty good chance for a successful civil suit against Fox News. I'm just saying.
"Linn claims to have drank 45 beers in seven hours before heading to the mosque and setting a fire in the prayer room."
ReplyDeleteclaims to have drunk
45? 44? 46? I have trouble counting after 15 beers. This guy looks like he might have trouble counting sober.
Deleteclaims to have been drunk on
DeleteYes but which of the two reason expressed, being drunk and being under the influence of Fox News, do YOU think was mainly at fault for his decision making?
DeleteMy dad drank like an alcoholic fish and never burned down a single mosque, or church, or even synagogue.
Hate doesn't come in a bottle, just permission to act on it.
No one is born Christian, Muslim or Jew... it's an acquired... errr brainwashed ideology
ReplyDeleteActually, if you are born to Jewish parents, you ARE considered to be Jewish, and I think the same is true of Muslims, which is why the right is convinced that Obama is Muslim. Christianity, though, in its various forms, is an acquired madness.
DeleteActually, it's also accurate to say "if you are born to a Jewish Mother...." It's not that dear ol' Dad doesn't matter, it's just that children born of 'mixed' (religion) marriages are considered matrilineally. Of course, there is nothing to stop a Jewish born male or female from adopting another religion if they later choose or anyone not born into the Hebrew religion can convert to Judaism.
DeleteThen it stands to reason that one can be born ATHEIST? That makes as much sense as being born of a certain Religion. Once a child grows to an age where he/she can decipher the Fairy Tales of Religion, he/she will make his/her own decision. Brainwashing is terrible.
DeleteAs a Canadian looking in, I can see how Fox is stirring the hate but it goes a little deeper than that. The hate rhetoric is being stirred on MSNBC too but your political persuasion and your audience's won't be able to see that. And so with hate on both sides and lots to go around, is it any wonder that so many Americans are picking up their guns as a means to get it off their chests? This and the obvious hate rhetoric being pushed by others than fox news against Muslims makes it a sure thing that this will only be one among many violent acts against your fellow Americans. It always becomes easier when you're being conditioned by hearing about all your slaughtering of others in foreign lands.
ReplyDeleteAs the debate over assault rifles and guns in general fades quickly into obscurity. Who really cares until it becomes one of their own who is among the victims?
Gawd bless the land of the gun and the home of the coward who can't live without one.
It's not clear what are saying. As read, one might suppose MSNBC is stirring up hate of Muslims. As that is clearly untrue, can you please tell us who we are urged to hate?
DeleteMSNBC? Really? MSNBC stirs us up to stand up for the little guy, not to shoot the people who don't look like us. In fact, I have never heard a call to arms anywhere BUT from Fox and rightwing nuts like Bachmann and some of the rest. The left does not hate. We are not the ones collecting enough guns to wipe out our towns. And we are also concerned about drones, hate these useless wars, and fight against that. Not sure what you are hearing up north, but it is not liberals who are the problem here.
DeleteIf you think for a minute that it's only the righties who are buying up the guns and using them on people then you need to be on the list of people who should be prohibited from owning one. Sorry, but that little lie just can't be passed off to anybody but your politically sympathetic. Not even a leftist Canadian like me.
DeleteDo leftist Canadians know about Nate Silver and statistics?
Delete"...If they identify as Democratic voters, the chances are only about one in four, or 25 percent, that they have a gun in their home. But the chances are more than twice that, almost 60 percent, if they are Republicans.
Whether someone owns a gun is a more powerful predictor of a person’s political party than her gender, whether she identifies as gay or lesbian, whether she is Hispanic, whether she lives in the South or a number of other demographic characteristics."
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/in-gun-ownership-statistics-partisan-divide-is-sharp/
Just a minor correction...the mosque was in Ohio. He drank those beers and then he DROVE to Ohio to set the fire. (I tend to think that 45 number was an error in the original report - he might have said "4 to 5" because 45 would have likely killed him from alcohol poisoning)
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure you are right, 4 to 5 if it is said fast or slurred sounds like 45.
DeleteAs for the "both sides do it" argument. i have yet to see any left wing person burn a mosque or shoot up a senator in broad day light. Get a dick sucked, sure thing by a consenting adult but not murder or burn anything in anger or fear.
You'd be surprised how much alcohol a true alcoholic can consume without even appearing drunk. I used to work at a Fred Meyer in a part of town with lots of hard drinkers. It wasn't unusual to sell someone 6 - 8 quarts of beer a day which they themselves would consume and appear sober as a - well I was going to say judge but I don't know how accurate that is - sober person.
DeleteI go with ibwilliams that they were correct with 45 beers. iwilliams is correct on the amount of alcohol an alcoholic can drink vs. a non alcoholic. Overtime their bodies compensate for their excessive alcohol consumption by their livers growing larger to accommodate this. That is why there is so much liver diseases associated with alcoholics. Also, with his consumption being part of his defense, his lawyer may have also been exaggerating the amount.
DeleteYou hit the nail right on the head - civil law suit. Think about what the Southern Poverty Law Center did to the KKK. YES!
ReplyDeleteGAS CHAMBER.
ReplyDeleteDepends where he got the beer. If he was drinking at home, then he is to blame. If a bar over-served this drunk guy, then they might have some 'spalining to do, too. I agree with the others. 45 beers would have left this guy throwing up at the curb. He could never have driven anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that you can't punish people for being stupid. If this guy chooses to listen to Fox and Right Wing radio-- to the exclusion of everything else-- he is restricting himself to only one side of the story. That's not illegal. If the people on Right Wing Radio and on Fox News had said, "Attention listeners. Go out and drink a bunch of beers, and then, when you are no longer in your right mind, set fire to a mosque" then you've got something. I don't like Fox or Right Wing Talk Radio, but unless they told the guy to go out there and commit arson, you can't punish them for their 1st amendment rights to exercise hate speech.
Let's see what does stick to this guy:
Drunk driving
Arson
He was armed with a revolver. Was the revolver registered to him? Was it concealed or in the open?
Maybe a hate crime.
And, I believe in using this guy as an advertisement for Fox and Right Wing Talk Radio-- listening to these people do make you stupid. (Unfortunately, that's not a crime).
That Islamic center in Toledo is absolutely beautiful. You can see it from the highway as you drive into Toledo.
ReplyDelete"Watching Fox News" You know, I'll go out on a limb here and say that (my opinion only) you could trace back a bunch of hate crimes/violence to the perpetrators having watched too much Fox News.
ReplyDeleteThe right-wing nut jobs like Ann Coulter claim that these murderous individuals that go on these rampages are liberals, Democrats. I don't know where she comes up with that.
I would guestimate that most are rabid, hard-core 'Christian' conservatives who have stockpiles of weapons and watch Fox News all day.
She pulls it out of her ass to tell the faithful, because they'll eat it up. They readily believe that only our side does bad things. So when things that people with any decency will condemn happen, they immediately start pointing at us, lest they get the fallout.
DeleteFaux is also claiming that WBC is a "left-wing cult." When was the last time you heard someone on the left talking about how much god hates faggots? Sure hear it a lot on the right, though.
Mr. Linn is going to get to know some Muslims up close and personal in jail.
ReplyDeleteLol For sure the Nation of Islam will have it's representatives appraised of of Mr. Linn's impending arrival.
Delete"P.S. By the way one would think that this Ohio mosque had a pretty good chance for a successful civil suit against Fox News. I'm just saying."
ReplyDeleteI don't think Fox has much to worry about from a law suit being filed against them. They would just say they had the constitutional right of free speech and would place the sole blame on the arsonist. They no doubt would state he is solely responsible for his own actions and his thinking was compromised by the alcohol.
I only wish someone would sue them for something they couldn't get out of by Fox using their common defense of free speech, or that they are an entertainment network, and not a news station even though they use the word "News" in their title. They have used both in the past to get around FCC regulations and lawsuits.
Off topic. “Children are abandoned to their own devices, homes are dirty, meals are cold or fast food, clothes are filthy.”
ReplyDeleteNo, not what you think. It's the Catholic church's lame explanation for domestic violence. Like a priest would know about married life.
www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/27/italian-priests-christmas-flyer-women-incite-violence-with-cold-dinners/
“Children are abandoned to their own devices, homes are dirty, meals are cold or fast food, clothes are filthy.” At first I thought you were talking about the paylin household. Ya sure yu betcha.
DeleteHow the hell was he even able to WALK after 45 beers???
ReplyDeleteSick people like to think there are others who hear the same voices they hear in their own heads, and THIS is the niche market Fox taps into. If so many others hear the same voices, then I'm normal and the voices MUST be right!!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's worth a shot, now that hostess caused the "Twinkie defense" to fade away.
Fox should bring back Palin, she and A.West could lead this parade of misanthropes, first get rid of the fire arms and then let themselves be beaten to a pulp with bags of yesterdays remains.
ReplyDelete