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'''Michael Brian Vanderboegh''' (born [[1953]]; died [[August 10]], [[2016]] in [[Pinson]]) was an anti-government militia group founder and website publisher who advocated violent resistance to United State law.
'''Michael Brian Vanderboegh''' (born [[July 23]], [[1952]] in St Joseph, Michigan; died [[August 10]], [[2016]] in [[Pinson]]) was an anti-government militia group founder and website publisher who advocated violent resistance to United State law.


Vanderbough became active in the "Patriot" movement immediately following the FBI's [[1993]] raid of a compound in Waco, Texas. As a leader in the Alabama Militia and the Sons of Liberty, Vanderbough staked out a "moderate" position, distinguishing himself from similar groups with overtly racist or neo-Nazi ideologies.
He was one of three children born to David and Norma Vanderboegh of Michigan.


In the mid-2000s, Vanderbough led an "Alabama Minuteman Support Team" which traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to join other civilians in attempting to capture undocumented migrants.
Vanderboegh has claimed to have first become involved in anti-government activism through left-wing groups in the 1960s, including Students for a Democratic Society, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Maoist Progressive Labor Party. He said he parted ways with Communism after being introduced to Friedrich von Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" in [[1977]]. He moved to Alabama after divorcing his first wife in [[1985]]. He became interested in Alabama's [[Civil War]] history and researched [[Winston County]]'s efforts to secede from the Confederate States of America. He spent time as a Civil War reenactor with the [[1st Alabama Union Calvary Company C]] and the [[La Grange Living History Association]].  


In [[2008]] Vanderbough co-founded a group called the [[Three Percenters]] (or III Percenters), focused on resistance against gun control legislation and its enforcement. He has participated in many online forums and published his own "[[Sipsey Street Irregulars]]" weblog, which he has used to implore vandalism against Democratic Party offices and officials' homes to show opposition to weakened immigration policies and passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Vanderboegh became active in the "Patriot" movement immediately following the FBI's [[1993]] raid of a compound in Waco, Texas. As a leader in the Alabama Militia and the Sons of Liberty, Vanderboegh staked out a "moderate" position, distinguishing himself from similar groups with overtly racist or neo-Nazi ideologies. He and Montana activist and writer Stewart Rhodes founded the "Oath Keepers". In the mid-2000s, Vanderboegh led an "Alabama Minuteman Support Team" which traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to join other civilians in attempting to capture undocumented migrants.


He also wrote an unpublished novel and self-described "field manual" advocating violence against government agents. That book has been implicated as in inspiration for Frederick Thomas' [[2011]] plot to bomb federal buildings and assassinate government officials in four Georgia cities.
In April [[2009]] Vanderboegh and Rhodes co-founded a group called the [[Three Percenters]] (or III Percenters), a movement focused on resistance against gun control legislation and its enforcement. He disavows those who have adopted Three Percenter symbols for organized groups, saying that large organizations are susceptible to infiltration and dysfunction. He has participated in many online forums and published his own "[[Sipsey Street Irregulars]]" weblog, which he has used to implore vandalism against Democratic Party offices and officials' homes to show opposition to weakened immigration policies and passage of the Affordable Care Act. He also published "whistleblower" accounts from ATF agents warning of problems with the Bureau's problematic "Fast and Furious" sting aimed at tracking high-powered weapons used by Mexican drug cartels. He was invited several times to appear on FOX News as an expert commentator on the operation, and attended Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with support from the Gun Owners of America.


He also wrote an unpublished novel and self-described "field manual" advocating violence against government agents. That book has been implicated as in inspiration for Frederick Thomas' [[2011]] plot to bomb federal buildings and assassinate government officials in four Georgia cities. Vanderboegh sent threatening letters to Connecticut legislators when they passed new gun controls in the wake of the Newton school shooting, and published the home addresses of their families. He also claimed to have personally violated Connecticut's gun laws by smuggling high-capacity magazines into the state illegally and encouraging others to do likewise. In [[2014]] Vanderboegh's group participated in a standoff with federal officials at Cliven Bundy's Clark County, Nevada cattle ranch, and claimed a victory when authorities decided not to use force. He added a specific threat of mutilation against Senator Harry Reid.


<!--Based in the small town of Pinson just north of Birmingham, Vanderboegh has lived for years on a monthly disability check despite his repeatedly professed contempt for the government that issues it. Suffering from diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure,
Vanderbeogh did not support the actions of a group calling itself ""3 Percenters of Idaho", which included Bundy's son Ammon, when they broke into a closed visitors center at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon in [[2016]].


Vanderbeogh’s history apparently gave no pause to Fox News, which brought him on as an expert commentator to attack a failed ATF gun-trafficking sting called “Fast and Furious” without giving any inkling of his extremist activities. Finally, after the brick-throwing episodes in 2010, Fox stopped giving Vanderboegh a platform and describing him as “an authority.”
Vanderboegh lived in [[Pinson]] on federal disability due to diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure. He died of cancer in August [[2016]]. He was survived by his second wife, Rosey, and three children; Matthew, Hannah and Zoe.


None of this has tempered Vanderboegh’s violent rhetoric. On Nov. 6, 2012, his blog post entitled “Vote” advised going to the polls but added ominously, “At least later on you can say you tried everything else before you were forced to shoot people in righteous self-defense of life and liberty.”
==References==
* Mencimer, Stephanie (December 14, 2011) "[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-mike-vanderboegh Meet the Former Militiaman Behind the Fast and Furious Scandal]" ''Mother Jones''
* Elliot, Rebecca (July 2, 2012) "[https://www.buzzfeed.com/rebeccaelliott/meet-the-camo-clad-gonzo-bloggers-behind-the-fast?utm_term=.sob3xx1K1g#.mxL7BBAeAM Meet The Camo-Clad, Gonzo Bloggers Behind The Fast And Furious Story]" BuzzFeedNews
* "[http://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/michael-brian-vanderboegh-0 Michael Brian Vanderboegh] profile at the Southern Poverty Law Center


Vanderboegh has a special hatred for the Obama administration. In a 2013 speech to a radical group called the Liberty Oath Keepers meeting in Monticello, N.Y., Vanderboegh claimed, as he often does, that he started out on the far left politically, virtually a Communist — and so he knows a Communist when he sees one. “When you’re in the Party, there are radishes, tomatoes and killer tomatoes,” he said. “A radish is … only red on the outside, on the inside she’s white. A tomato is red through and through. A killer tomato … is a Communist willing to pull the trigger. And if you look at the current Administration … these people are killer tomatoes. … They are willing to do whatever it takes to bend you to their will.”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderboegh, Mike}}
 
[[Category:1952 births]]
Nothing has seemed to slow Vanderboegh’s penchant for making threats, or at least implied threats. In the wake of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., school massacre, he warned in emails sent to more than 1,000 employees of the Connecticut State Police that they risked “initiating hostilities” if they tried to enforce the state’s tough new gun control law. “I personally violated this unconstitutional and tyrannical act by smuggling and by the encouragement of smuggling, defiance and non-compliance on the part of your state’s citizens,” he boasted to the police.
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
 
[[Category:Social activists]]
And he also seemed to target the Connecticut state senators who voted for a new state gun control law, posting information about where they, their spouses and their children lived, what their phone numbers were, and their photos.
[[Category:Bloggers]]
 
In April of 2014, Mike Vanderboegh and his Three Percenters were key participants in the standoff between antigovernment extremists and the federal government in Bunkerville, Nev. Tension was high and the possibility of bloodshed was real until the government ultimately decided abandon operations to roundup a cattle herd belonging to Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy. Vanderboegh was quick to paint the events that day as a significant militia victory.
 
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of the victory won in the desert today. The feds were routed -- routed. There is no word that applies. Courage is contagious, defiance is contagious, victory is contagious.”
 
Shortly after, on April 19th, Patriot’s Day, Vanderboegh gave a speech in Bunkerville that highlighted what many extremists claimed was a pattern of victimization of antigovernment extremists and offered a stern warning of what awaited the federal government.
 
“And I tell you now -- and I proclaim to the world -- to all the would-be tyrants in this country who would victimize such honest, simple people with their evil corruption, their follies, their schemes of power and their insatiable appetites for other people’s liberty, property and lives -- YOU MESS WITH SUCH PEOPLE AT YOUR OWN DEADLY PERIL … People can be wolverines when they need to. I think y’all know about that. I’m sure that the BLM rangers were grateful they got out of Clark County with their testicles intact."
 
Vanderboegh closed his remarks with a threat to U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. “Don’t poke the wolverine with a sharp stick, Harry, unless you want your balls ripped off.”
 
But his support for the Bundy’s began to fade. In January 2016 when antigovernment extremists, led by Ammon Bundy and the self-proclaimed Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, took over and occupied the Malheur Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Ore. Vanderboegh quickly condemned them, calling them fruits, nuts and federal provocateurs.-->

Revision as of 11:45, 11 August 2016

Michael Brian Vanderboegh (born July 23, 1952 in St Joseph, Michigan; died August 10, 2016 in Pinson) was an anti-government militia group founder and website publisher who advocated violent resistance to United State law.

He was one of three children born to David and Norma Vanderboegh of Michigan.

Vanderboegh has claimed to have first become involved in anti-government activism through left-wing groups in the 1960s, including Students for a Democratic Society, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Maoist Progressive Labor Party. He said he parted ways with Communism after being introduced to Friedrich von Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" in 1977. He moved to Alabama after divorcing his first wife in 1985. He became interested in Alabama's Civil War history and researched Winston County's efforts to secede from the Confederate States of America. He spent time as a Civil War reenactor with the 1st Alabama Union Calvary Company C and the La Grange Living History Association.

Vanderboegh became active in the "Patriot" movement immediately following the FBI's 1993 raid of a compound in Waco, Texas. As a leader in the Alabama Militia and the Sons of Liberty, Vanderboegh staked out a "moderate" position, distinguishing himself from similar groups with overtly racist or neo-Nazi ideologies. He and Montana activist and writer Stewart Rhodes founded the "Oath Keepers". In the mid-2000s, Vanderboegh led an "Alabama Minuteman Support Team" which traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to join other civilians in attempting to capture undocumented migrants.

In April 2009 Vanderboegh and Rhodes co-founded a group called the Three Percenters (or III Percenters), a movement focused on resistance against gun control legislation and its enforcement. He disavows those who have adopted Three Percenter symbols for organized groups, saying that large organizations are susceptible to infiltration and dysfunction. He has participated in many online forums and published his own "Sipsey Street Irregulars" weblog, which he has used to implore vandalism against Democratic Party offices and officials' homes to show opposition to weakened immigration policies and passage of the Affordable Care Act. He also published "whistleblower" accounts from ATF agents warning of problems with the Bureau's problematic "Fast and Furious" sting aimed at tracking high-powered weapons used by Mexican drug cartels. He was invited several times to appear on FOX News as an expert commentator on the operation, and attended Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with support from the Gun Owners of America.

He also wrote an unpublished novel and self-described "field manual" advocating violence against government agents. That book has been implicated as in inspiration for Frederick Thomas' 2011 plot to bomb federal buildings and assassinate government officials in four Georgia cities. Vanderboegh sent threatening letters to Connecticut legislators when they passed new gun controls in the wake of the Newton school shooting, and published the home addresses of their families. He also claimed to have personally violated Connecticut's gun laws by smuggling high-capacity magazines into the state illegally and encouraging others to do likewise. In 2014 Vanderboegh's group participated in a standoff with federal officials at Cliven Bundy's Clark County, Nevada cattle ranch, and claimed a victory when authorities decided not to use force. He added a specific threat of mutilation against Senator Harry Reid.

Vanderbeogh did not support the actions of a group calling itself ""3 Percenters of Idaho", which included Bundy's son Ammon, when they broke into a closed visitors center at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon in 2016.

Vanderboegh lived in Pinson on federal disability due to diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure. He died of cancer in August 2016. He was survived by his second wife, Rosey, and three children; Matthew, Hannah and Zoe.

References

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