Milo Yiannopoulos Says He Was Only Kidding About Killing Journalists

Mod: Donald Trump's favorite wild thing is back in the news once again. This time over his controversial call advocating for the "gunning down" of news reporters. As usual, people just don't understand poor Milo, and here is how he defended himself yesterday. Apparently it was all a joke.

Milo Yiannopoulos: My call for shooting journalists was just a 'troll' (The Hill link): Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday insisted that he "wasn't being serious" when he recently told two reporters that he "can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning down journalists."

Yiannopoulos's comments Thursday came shortly after a gunman opened fire in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Md., leaving at least five people dead and several others seriously injured. Authorities have taken a suspect into custody, but have not yet released an identity or motive.

"You're about to see a raft of news stories claiming that I am responsible for inspiring the deaths of journalists," Yiannopoulos wrote in a Facebook post. "The truth, as always, is the opposite of what the media tells you."

"I sent a troll about 'vigilante death squads' as a *private* response to a few hostile journalists who were asking me for comment, basically as a way of saying, 'F---k off.' They then published it," he continued. "Amazed they were pretending to take my joke as a 'threat,' I reposted these stories on Instagram to mock them - and to make it clear that I wasn't being serious."

Mod: Nothing says warm hearted alt-humor like talking about killing journalists. Here is the story that has so inconvenienced poor Milo.

Five dead in Capital Gazette shooting; suspect Jarrod Ramos is in custody, police say (Washington Post link): A man with a vendetta against a newspaper in Annapolis, Md., fired a shotgun through the newsroom’s glass doors and at its employees, killing five and injuring two others Thursday afternoon in a targeted shooting, according to police.

The attack appears to be the deadliest involving journalists in the United States in decades. Local police said the Capital Gazette was targeted, prompting heightened security in newsrooms nationwide.

A bulletin emailed to Maryland law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Jarrod Ramos, 38. Police were searching an apartment in Laurel, Md., late Thursday that is linked to Ramos.

Police, who arrived at the scene within a minute of the reported gunfire, apprehended a gunman found hiding under a desk in the newsroom, according to the top official in Anne Arundel County, where the attack occurred.

Police said all of the victims killed were Capital Gazette employees: Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters. Fischman and Hiaasen were editors, McNamara was a reporter, Smith was a sales assistant and Winters worked for special publications, according to the newspaper’s website.

South Florida's Rob Hiaasen, novelist Carl Hiaasen's brother, killed in newsroom shooting (Sun Sentinel link): Novelist and Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen’s brother was among those killed Thursday in a newsroom shooting in Annapolis, Maryland, his family confirmed. Rob Hiaasen was assistant managing editor and a columnist at The Capital newspaper where he was hired in 2010. He was 59.

“There was no finer human being, there just wasn’t,” Rob Hiaasen’s widow, Maria, said Thursday night, her 58th birthday. “And certainly no finer father, and he was a damn fine journalist too.”

A birthday package from her husband still awaited her, Maria Hiaasen said. Rob Hiaasen had asked her if she wanted to open her gift Thursday morning, but she told him she’d rather wait until he got home from work.

He never made it back home. The shooting on the first-floor of the newspaper’s building occurred at about 2:40 p.m. The couple had celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary six days earlier.

Mod: And here it was only a year ago last February that the President of the United States was defending Milo Yiannopoulos. Goodness how time flies.

Trump's White House defends provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos' against Berkeley protesters (Business Insider link): President Donald Trump and his top staff on Thursday moved to defend controversial right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. 

On Wednesday, the University of California, Berkeley, canceled an appearance by the inflammatory Breitbart editor after a protest of the event turned ugly, as some demonstrators set fires, hurled objects at police officers, and broke windows in several storefronts. Wednesday's event began as expected: Yiannopoulos arrived and protesters swarmed, noting his far-right nationalist sympathies and history of incidents in which he has been accused of waging harassment campaigns.

But the scene became chaotic when, according to the university "masked agitators" arrived to cause mayhem, disturbing what would have otherwise been a peaceful protest. The demonstration garnered coverage across multiple cable news networks, and eventually prompted a response from the president himself.

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?" Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

On "Fox and Friends" on Thursday, top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also weighed in on the protests, claiming the protesters "don't welcome free speech" and that students on college campuses were waging war on the First Amendment.

Mod: Yes. Why would anyone ever want to shut up Milo? 

sierramadretattler.blogspot.com