Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be summer in Kansas without prairie thunderstorms, sipping lemonade on the porch, getting ready for the State Fair in Lawrence, and abortion clinic violence.
A Kansas abortion clinic was evacuated Monday after a man brought in explosives and knives, CBS News reports.
The man, who wasn’t named in news reports, was taken into custody at South Wind Women’s Center after the staff called police. The clinic is the same one that murdered abortion doctor Dr. George Tiller worked in and has been the target of protests and violence by anti-abortion activists in the past.
Local KWCH reports the device was “active and set to go off.” The bomb was wrapped in a box sealed with tape. It was detonated off-site by the bomb squad.
Police said they are investigating the man’s intentions.
“He was very forthcoming about it, he wasn’t trying to hide it,” Witchita police Capt. Doug Nolte told KSN. “He was here to do some business with the clinic.”
The clinic is one of three that provides abortions in Kansas.
Perhaps Gov. Brownback might want to reconsider playing up opponents of his ridiculous abortion law as demons and murderers before a building full of people gets blown up by a domestic suicide bomber.
Just saying.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
We have to find out who inspired him. As I understand it, it’s “inspiration” that determines if this was an attempted terrorist attack. Check his social media.
That is some unfortunate phrasing. Maybe it came off better on TV.
Roger Moore
Are we allowed to call these yahoos terrorists yet?
Karen
Now Mike Huckabee can bitch that the man was deprived of his religious.
JPL
Police said they are investigating the man’s intentions.
wtf
opiejeanne
Dear God, I saw a Twitter this morning. by a pro-life advocate that the guy was just applying for a job.
opiejeanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: no. Beyond belief.
Patricia Kayden
@Roger Moore: Yes. He is a terrorist. Scary that anyone could think otherwise.
thefax
The Kansas State Fair is in Hutchinson, not Lawrence. But sadly you’re of course right about the clinic violence.
Bobby Thomson
You seem to think Brownback would view a clinic bombing as bad.
Roger Moore
@Patricia Kayden:
I didn’t ask whether he is a terrorist; I asked if we’re allowed to call him and his compatriots terrorists.
The Ancient Randonneur
According to a new report the man does appear to have been there to apply for a job. Think I’ll wait until we have moe facts before I make any judgements, but by all means go ahead and don’t allow any new findings to interfere with the outrage of the day. If indeed the updated report is true then I will order in enough crow for everyone to dine upon.
JPL
OT.. According to Politico, Ben Carson used to refer women carrying fetuses with genetic disorder to doctors who perform abortions.
Two days ago he told ABC news that life begins at conception.
Lavocat
“He was here to do some business with the clinic.”
Yes, and the name of that business is MURDER.
WTF?
the Conster
Men obsessed with abortion like this guy skeeves me out like nothing else, and having a term like “pro-life” attach to these creepy fucks is just.so.wrong. They’re certifiably deranged. I keep trying to come up with an analog for women obsessed about an exclusively male issue, and I just can’t.
Baud
@The Ancient Randonneur:
Does the new report explain the bomb?
MattF
The guy sounds… deluded. Why should he be secretive about what the voices in his head are telling him to do? Doesn’t everybody hear them?
schrodinger's cat
@the Conster: Its about control. That’s the role of traditional religion too. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism you name it, its all about keeping women in their place, barefoot and pregnant.
JPL
@Baud: Is it possible that he brought the bomb, in order to defend himself, against anti-abortion zealots?
okay that was lame
Davebo
Roger Moore
@Baud:
He was holding it for a friend.
gene108
@Baud:
Maybe the bomb was not meant for the abortion clinic, but rather for a Christian prayer revival meeting after work…which would make liberals all happy…(not)…
Patricia Kayden
@Roger Moore: Yes. Why not?
Another Holocene Human
@the Conster:
There was a nutty chick on a Usenet board I used to frequent (down in alt.* hell) who absolutely, firmly believed that Orthodox Jewish men didn’t masturbate.
Davebo
The “bomb” was apparently a homemade firecracker. A pill bottle filled with gunpowder.
Let’s not lynch the kid just yet.
trollhattan
@Bobby Thomson:
The local Fox affiliate, tonight: “In a statement read by his spokesman, Governor Brownback noted that ‘While I may disagree with his methods, I certainly empathize with this man’s commitment to preserving innocent lives at all cost.'”
Something like that?
Bobby Thomson
@Davebo: the men were just lighting the cross to extend a Christian welcome to the new family. Police have ruled out any intention of violence.
Baud
@Davebo:
The terrorist angle was less Oniony.
We’ll see.
trollhattan
@Davebo:
WTF am I supposed to do with all this rope, make a tire swing?
Patricia Kayden
@The Ancient Randonneur: Do you have a link to the new report?
Davebo
@Bobby Thomson:
Wow, from a stupid move by a kid looking for work to cross burnings, all in less than 20 minutes!
MattF
@trollhattan: Seriously? “While I may disagree [emphasis added]…”. Um, what to say…
trollhattan
@Bobby Thomson:
James O’Keefe, bringing yard lighting to new minority neighbors’ homes.
Davebo
@trollhattan:
I hear marlinspike seamanship is a great hobby!
trollhattan
@MattF:
To clarify, my prediction, not a cut&paste.
I’ll be taking bets here at the bar.
MattF
@trollhattan: Here’s $50. Not counterfeit, I swear… my sister gave it to me.
Mark
<>
Gosh, I wonder what they were?
Patricia Kayden
@Davebo: So we all jumped the gun, huh? Relieved that this may not be as bad as it was originally reported. it’s not wrong to take these stories seriously given the murders of doctors and health care practitioners associated with abortion rights.
boatboy_srq
@opiejeanne: What job would that be? Lord High Executioner?
trollhattan
Speaking of average white boy terrorists, Bangkok bomber CCTV images released. Boston redux?
trollhattan
@Patricia Kayden: Somebody still needs to explain the “knives.”
Arclite
That’s a feature, not a bug.
kc
Nothing says “pro-life” like killing or maiming a bunch of people.
opiejeanne
@boatboy_srq: my thoughts, too.
I think the guy on Twitter was making a joke, because I saw this more than three hours ago.
Arclite
@JPL:
Because he’s white, his intentions are being investigated. If he was black, he would have been shot, no questions asked.
Davebo
@Patricia Kayden:
Well, technically we didn’t all jump the gun.
Arclite
@Roger Moore:
“Oh, this little thing? I found it on the sidewalk, so I brought it in here to see if someone had lost it.”
singfoom
On the east side of Wichita on Kellog is an abortion clinic that’s been there forever, not sure if it’s the one that he walked into, but I remember seeing a guy in all weather including the winter standing there with his sign, harassing women going into the parking lot…..with his two children next to him.
He got cited for child endangerment.
It’s representative. WE HAVE TO SAVE THE UNBORN CHILDREN……so we can treat them like shit once they’re born….the cognitive dissonance burns.
EDIT: Yeah, that’s the one on Kellogg…
Belafon
Extremism in the closing down of an abortion clinic is no vice.
//
Oatler.
@Belafon: He’s not a terrorist unless he vandalizes an SUV.
Paul in KY
@Another Holocene Human: They’re not supposed to & I’m sure they keep that commandment.
Paul in KY
@trollhattan: The person in the picture does not appear to be either Asian or black.
trollhattan
@Paul in KY:
Nope, not in the least. Looks like a European/American backpacker-tourist type, to me.
Amir Khalid
@Paul in KY:
I couldn’t tell what race the person was, which is of course not at all the same thing as national origin. Could be white, could be Chinese/Korean/Japanese, could be a relatively fair-skinned south-east Asian.
D58826
@Belafon: Neither apparently are the use of explosives.
swbarnes2
@Another Holocene Human: The closest you could get would be women who are rabidly anti-circumcision.
John M. Burt
@swbarnes2: The analogy is far from perfect — now, if there were a group of women who were in favor of mandatory circumcision, and frequently knocked men down for “inspection” and possible sidewalk surgery….