#1206: Linda Thompson

Update: I had written the whole post before realizing that Thompson passed away in 2009. She's thus strictly speaking disqualified for an entry, but I didn't really fancy letting the post go to waste either.

The militia movement is a counterculture in the US consisting primarily of disaffected, rural, white, right-wing fundies who believe that the federal government’s authority is either broadly abused (often because it is populated by lizard people or puppets for dark and nebulous shadow organizations) or outright null and void, and that the American people must form armed paramilitary groups in order to stand up to Washington. The movement was most active in the 1990s, but has made something of a comeback in recent years following the election of a colored Muslim Marxist as President.

Indiana attorney Linda Thompson is one of the legends of the movement. Formerly a liberal who had done some work for the ACLU, Thompson made a video called Waco, the Big Lie right after the 1993 Waco siege. Although it was not the first significant criticism of the government’s handling of the events, it was one of the most ridiculous, and actually managed to make a bit of a splash for its sensationalism. Thompson herself moved far right, went insane, and proclaimed herself “Acting Adjutant General of the Unorganized Militias of the United States,” complete with mumbo-jumbo about black helicopters and the quadrant sign code conspiracy (the idea that the bar-coded stickers on the backs of highway signs were to guide U.N. tanks after they invade the U.S). She also claimed that the Amtrak heavy repair shop at Beech Grove, Indiana is one of the FEMA concentration camps, and proclaimed an armed march on Washington, D.C. scheduled for September 19, 1994 during which “all militia units” were to assemble and arrest the entire U.S. Congress for “treason”. The idea was later cancelled due to lack of interest from other groups, who sometimes suspected Thompson of being a government plant. Later she was arrested for blocking a Presidential motorcade in Indianapolis with several weapons in her car.

She was also (but of course) a major proponent of the Vince Foster conspiracy theory, and compiled most of the list that former Rep. William Dannemeyer sent to congressional leaders in 1994 of 24 people with some connection to Clinton who had died “under other than natural circumstances”, calling for hearings on the matter.

Her most famous achievement was the “documentary” America Under Siege, which was sold as a VHS videotape through her American Justice Federation. It was most notable for its perfection of the Gish gallop in the documentary format.

Linda D. Thompson, the former Mayor of Harrisburg, Pa., is (probably) a different one, but she warrants mention as well for her claim that organizing a campaign of praying and fasting would be the most efficient way of solving the city’s piling debt.

Diagnosis: Really a sort of Platonic idea of a loon. Angry, paranoid, and moderately desperate. Probably not a very significant threat to civilization in the long run, but keep a safe distance just in case.