Convicted Animal Rights Terrorist Sneaks on to Fox News
Tucker Carlson Tonight is Fox News’ new 9 p.m. show following the departure of Megyn Kelly, and the ratings are good so far. Complementing this, Carlson’s fiery takedowns of guests have had good pass-around value online. But it’s too bad he didn’t know that one of his recent guests deserved a grilling instead of a friendly chit-chat.
Last week, Carlson had on a fellow named “Kevin Chase” to talk about the USDA’s decision two weeks ago to temporarily remove its online database of inspection reports. But “Kevin Chase” is better known as Kevin Kjonaas, a convicted animal-rights terrorist.
Kjonaas was part of the “SHAC 7”—short for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty—who were sentenced to federal prison terms. Kjonaas got a 6 year sentence in connection with inciting violence against people and companies that did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences, which ran an animal testing lab in New Jersey. The Anti-Defamation League notes, “SHAC’s campaign against HLS involved posting personal information on the Internet about its employees and about employees of firms that do business with HLS. The information posted on the Internet included phone numbers, home addresses, and in some cases, information on where employees’ children attended school. Many of those targeted have had their homes vandalized and received threats against them or their families, testimony revealed.”
And CBS News adds:
Prosecutors also presented testimony from an FBI agent who gathered records of Kjonaas’ telephone calls. Those showed a call from Kjonaas to a man later charged with setting off bombs outside a California pharmaceutical company, Daniel Andreas San Diego, several hours after the bombings.
He is still a fugitive.
Kevin Kjonaas no doubt renamed himself “Kevin Chase” in hopes that he could avoid his criminal history. And it seems to have worked (this one time) with Fox News producers. After all, his new project involves liberating beagles. Everyone loves dogs. Not only did Kjonaas fool Carlson, but conservative firebrand Laura Ingraham also Tweeted backstage photos of her with one of his group’s dogs.
This reminds us of certain people at HSUS. Unlike PETA—which refuses to rebrand its reputation as crazy vegans—a number of HSUS leaders have conveniently changed how they act. Consider CEO Wayne Pacelle, who once admitted, “I don’t want to see another cat or dog born.” These days he’s all too happy to have his photo taken with a pet. Or J.P. Goodwin, now going as John Goodwin, who’s a senior employee at HSUS. Goodwin used to be a spokesperson for the FBI-designated domestic terrorist group Animal Liberation Front. And then there’s HSUS vice president Michael Markarian, who called “Animal Liberation Front activities” a “perfect example of effective rebellion” despite the fact that they involve illegal acts.
The rise of “societal collapse” themes in TV shows and movies—think The Walking Dead—raises the question of how close we are from turning into uncivilized brutes. A parallel question is how close the folks at HSUS and Kevin Kjonaas are to reverting to extremists. Assuming they’ve really changed, that is.
