A good deal of analysis has gone into James Hodgkinson, the Friend of Bernie and neosocialist wacko who tried to murder the Republicans in Congress by an act of terrorism. Yes, he hated Trump and all Republicans. Yes, he waxed poetic over high taxes and MSNBC. Yes, he was abusive to his foster children (one committed suicide by immolating herself with gasoline while the other ran away -- after Jimmy knocked her around -- and eventually died of a heroin overdose as a young adult.) Yes, he was estranged from his wife (gone since March to live in his van in the D.C. area.) But one aspect of his life that caught my eye is that he was a union carpenter.

Many years ago, I worked at a grocery store. I was responsible for opening up for deliveries and checking in the product. Once there was a strike against a major beer distributor, a particularly ugly one. The distributor hired temporary delivery workers. One day I opened the door for a delivery and the driver came in -- white as a sheet. He said "look at this" and showed me the shotgun blasted windshield of his truck; the striking union thugs tried to murder him to keep him from doing the job that these union people just wouldn't do.

Now our good friend Hodgkinson was a union man. A member of the Carpenter's Regional Council -- a carpenter's union -- and was an independent contractor before becoming a home inspector. I think this is important.

The fact is, union thuggery has always been a tool of the Democrats and the Progressive Left. It is generally laughed off as harmless pranksterism by the media and local authorities, who are infuriatingly unwilling to crack down on violence by union thugs. Take, for example, the assault on a vendor at a St. Louis townhall meeting a number of years back. Kenneth Gladney, an out-of-work black man who was trying to earn a few bucks selling flag pins at a townhall meeting held by then Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan -- was viciously assaulted and beaten by SEIU members who didn't like a black guy leaving the plantation. Gladney's attackers were naturally acquitted by a kangaroo court in St. Louis County. St. Louis is a union town.

I met Gladney at a rally for justice for the man. He was in a wheelchair and clearly in pain but felt it was his duty to come to the rally in his defense. I felt bad for him; he was accompanied by a nurse who frequently checked his vitals.

At the rally, a couple of SEIU thugs tried to incite violence, getting in the faces of Tea Party protesters and generally causing trouble. Heavy police presence and good sense kept the situation calm, but the intent was clear.

This is standard operating procedure for many of the union thugs, who act as shock troops for the Left and Democrats. And it's been this way for longer than I have been alive.

So it should come as no surprise that a loyal union guy would think nothing of shooting up Republicans; his experience was always that union people got away with it.

Labor unions are little more than an arm of the Democratic Party. They donate almost entirely to the Democrats, and are generally exempted from campaign finance laws. They force people to join their organizations then take money to promote radical leftist ideology and violence. Fourteen of the nation's top political donors are labor unions. They donated almost entirely to the Clinton campaign, even while a large number of their members voted for Donald J. Trump.

Labor unions have a long and nasty history of violence in the United States. And the Courts have supported this as excusable.

From the Blaze:

"It’s a huge caveat worth noting anytime union members spiral down toward lethal behavior: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that certain labor union violence -- even when involving homicide -- cannot be prosecuted under federal law. The controversial U.S. v. Enmons verdict deemed in 1973 that labor violence against employers -- including property damage, assault, and homicide -- isn’t federally punishable when it’s carried out for legitimate union pursuits, such as wage or benefit increases."

U.S. v. Enmons was the 1973 case where the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was indicted under the Hobbs anti-racketeering act for firing rifles at electrical substations and damaging company equipment (and thus impacting interstate commerce). SCOTUS ruled that the union may not be tried under Hobbes, which subjected the union members to be fined "not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both." With this ruling by the Supreme Court, prosecution of unions for violence dropped precipitously (even though state laws against individual violence are still supposed to apply.)

According to a 1998 report by the CATO Institute:

"Under the Supreme Court’s 1973 Enmons decision, vandalism, assault, even murder by union officials are exempt from federal anti-extortion law. As long as the violence is aimed at obtaining property for which the union can assert a “lawful claim” -- for example, wage or benefit increases -- the violence is deemed to be in furtherance of “legitimate” union objectives. By the Court’s peculiar logic, such violence does not count as extortion.

The result has been an epidemic of union-related violence. The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) has recorded 8,799 incidents of violence from news reports since 1975. Those reports show only 258 convictions, suggesting a conviction rate of less than 3 percent. Moreover, local law enforcement authorities often get many more reports of strike violence than journalists can possibly cover.

Many states have taken a cue from the high Court by enacting their own extortion laws with exemptions similar to those established by Enmons. As a result, employees trying to support their families during a violent strike are now denied protection against extortion under both state and federal laws."

No wonder the Progressive Left has enlisted the unions. And they have been happy to oblige, supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement and endorsing Black Lives Matter violence. And don't forget the violence in Wisconsin perpetrated by the labor unions from across the country in opposition to Scott Walker.

So why would the Congressional shooter not attack Republicans? He has been told all his working life (and probably his youth as well) that it is okay to use violence if you are a union man. While most grounded individuals who are union members won't do this, those less balanced, egged on by the endless stream of hatred from the media and their political buddies, can decide it's time for a good old-fashioned bloodletting.

Back in the 70s labor unions ran a television commercial with a catchy song "look for the union label." Well, I can see that label on the bloodsoaked hands of James Hodgkinson.

Read more from Tim and friends at The Aviary www.tbirdnow.mee.nu