The Official JREF Lone Nut Challenge

Galileo

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The Official JREF Lone Nut Challenge

The Challenge: Can you name any "lone nuts" prior to 1750?

Examples of people who were assassination targets by "lone nuts":

Spencer Perceval (1812)
Andrew Jackson (1835)
James Garfield (1881)
William McKinley (1901)
Ted Roosevelt (1912)
Huey Long (1935)
JFK (1963)
MLK (1968)
RFK (1968)
George Wallace (1972)
Ronald Reagan (1981)
Anthrax Attacks (2001)


Definition of "lone nut" for purposes of this thread:

* the assassin must be acting alone

* the assassin must be a crazy person whose attack is irrational and doesn't advance his or her supposed big picture political goals

* the assassin must not be an insider

* the target of the assassin must be a significant political leader

* the version of the assassin's story must be the standard or official history of the event. In other words, if the authority figures of the time believe the assassin was part of a conspiracy, then the assassin is not a "lone nut".

:k:
 
Jacques Clément
ETA: Whoops. Misread what was being demanded. I posted the assassin. The target was Henry III of France.
 
Last edited:
Jacques Clément
ETA: Whoops. Misread what was being demanded. I posted the assassin. The target was Henry III of France.

Clement wasn't a lone nut:

During the French Wars of Religion, Clément became fanatically religious and an ardent partisan of the Catholic League. Viewing Protestantism as heresy, he talked of exterminating the Huguenots and formed a plan to kill Henry III. His project was encouraged by some of the heads of the League, in particular Catherine de Guise, the Duchess Montpensier. He was assured of temporal rewards if he succeeded and of eternal bliss if he failed. Having obtained letters for the king, he left Paris on July 31, 1589, and reached Saint-Cloud, the headquarters of Henry, who was besieging Paris, on August 1, 1589.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Clément

Henry was killed during a military operation:

On 1 August 1589, Henry III lodged with his army at Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, prepared to attack Paris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_France
 
Henry was killed during a military operation:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_France

So you're a liar. What an amazingly selective quote. Here's the rest of it:
when a young fanatical Dominican friar, Jacques Clément, carrying false papers, was granted access to deliver important documents to the King. The monk gave the King a bundle of papers and stated that he had a secret message to deliver. The King signaled for his attendants to step back for privacy, and Clément whispered in his ear while plunging a knife into his abdomen. Clément was killed on the spot by the guards.
That follows the comma in your quote immediately. You couldn't even post the entire sentence.
They guy slipped in on false pretenses and stabbed the guy. Perfect description of what you were looking for, but you're too freaking dishonest to aknowledge it.
 
So you're a liar. What an amazingly selective quote. Here's the rest of it:

That follows the comma in your quote immediately. You couldn't even post the entire sentence.
They guy slipped in on false pretenses and stabbed the guy. Perfect description of what you were looking for, but you're too freaking dishonest to aknowledge it.

You told a lie. The guy was not a lone nut. He was working with people is says right in the article. He just attacked an opposing military commander.
 
Why add 2,3 and 5 to your list of what makes it not a lone nut? That ends up eliminating half of the list you provided.

What is the point of all this anyway?
 
Yawn. The attack fits the lone nut methodology perfectly. Classifying it as a military result by doctoring a quote is exceptionally dishonest. But I'm sure you know that.
 
Why add 2,3 and 5 to your list of what makes it not a lone nut? That ends up eliminating half of the list you provided.

What is the point of all this anyway?

It doesn't eliminate any of them. If it did, you'd be supporting a conspiracy theory, as you'd be denying the lone nut theory. Face it. You can't find any legitimate lone nuts prior to 1750.
 
Can we count the Welsh Bowman who supposedly took a shot at Edward I just prior to the Hundred Years War simply for the hell of it? A Medieval History course I took back in college credited that with convincing Edward to adopt Welsh Bowmen into his military formally.
 
Yawn. The attack fits the lone nut methodology perfectly. Classifying it as a military result by doctoring a quote is exceptionally dishonest. But I'm sure you know that.

No, the attacker was working with others. It says right in the article. He also had false papers. Show me a legitimate historin who says Clement was a lone nut. You just made a lame attempt and came up with a big fail.
 
Can we count the Welsh Bowman who supposedly took a shot at Edward I just prior to the Hundred Years War simply for the hell of it? A Medieval History course I took back in college credited that with convincing Edward to adopt Welsh Bowmen into his military formally.

Show us a link or some details, please.
 
It doesn't eliminate any of them. If it did, you'd be supporting a conspiracy theory, as you'd be denying the lone nut theory. Face it. You can't find any legitimate lone nuts prior to 1750.

So, he can't be a lone nut if he has a long term goal or political ideology?

Leon Frank Czolgosz was a very vocal anarchist. He felt killing McKinley would kick off some kind of revolution.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a communist who wanted to get into the KGB. He figured taking out American leaders would get him in.
 
Can anyone name any Gangsta Rappers from before 1970?

I guess they don't exist either!


Actually, in accordance to the op's question: how about the boy that killed Richard I?
 
Can anyone name any Gangsta Rappers from before 1970?

I guess they don't exist either!

Lies.

250w.jpg
 
This one might be disqualified on a number of grounds:

Sergei Kirov who was assassinated by Leonid Nikolaev in 1934.

It's possible that it could be disqualified on the grounds that he was a partial outsider (he had been a member of the Communist Party but was expelled), I'm competent to judge his mental state - although he had become embittered about his expulsion from the Party and apparently wanted revenge.

And, it's not exactly clear if he acted alone. According to a number of historians there seems to be some compelling evidence to suggest Stalin had arranged the murder as a pretext for beginning his purge of the Party. On the other hand, the "official" story according to Stalin at the time, was that his murder was a part of a massive conspiracy that involved millions of people (if the numbers of executed are anything to go by).
 

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