One fact about Steve Kangas is indisputable: This proud veteran of years of political argument in Internet discussion forums, and creator of an award-winning Web site devoted to liberal issues, is dead. On Feb. 8, his body was discovered in a men’s room on the 39th floor of a building in Pittsburgh — just outside the offices of conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.
But that’s where the certainty ends — at least on the part of those discussing Kangas’ death in the very same Usenet newsgroups that Kangas, a dogged debater who championed liberal causes with formidable persistence, once participated in. Was Kangas, as press reports in Pittsburgh papers declared, the drunken victim of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head? Had he really become obsessed with Scaife to the point that he had traveled all the way from his home in Las Vegas on a deluded mission to assassinate him? Could it possibly be true that this lifelong foe of right-wing ideology had been found with a copy of “Mein Kampf” by his side?
Or was something more sinister at work? In newsgroups such as alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater and alt.society.liberalism, longtime virtual acquaintances of Kangas picked apart odd discrepancies in the story. Why did the police report say the gun wound was to the left of his head, while the autopsy reported a wound on the roof of his mouth? Why had the hard drive on his computer been erased shortly after his death? Why had Scaife assigned his No. 1 private detective, Rex Armistead, to look into Kangas’ past?
A mirror of Kangas’ website (Liberalism Resurgent) can be found here:
•http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/
A link to several essay’s and favorite quotes written by Kangas can be found here: •http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/tenets.htm
This includes many essays (arguably well ahead of their time when considering they were written in the mid to late 1990s) regarding Kanga’s (definitely not unfounded in 2026) beliefs regarding a right wing conspiracy to attack democracy, discredit liberalism and equality, and concentrate wealth in the hands of an elite few.
The essay mentioned in this article regarding the role Kangas believed the CIA held in this conspiracy can be found here: •Origin of the Overclass
I haven’t come across many articles written about the incident, however, this very detailed blog post includes some interesting information regarding Kangas’ death: https://www.jimpivonka.com/pages/RichMScaife-SteveKangas.html
One of the details reported in the few official news articles about his death, which seems to stand out and is especially bizarre, is the claim Kangas was carrying a copy of Mein Kampf when his body was found. Killing himself while carrying the book like a beloved manifesto would seem to completely clash with his well known opposition to fascism. However, it would seem to give credit to the official story that Kangas was a mentally ill conspiracy theorist who went off the deep end before killing himself. In particular, as one of Scaife’s tabloids states: "Kangas was ‘a sad loser, drowning in his own political paranoia.’ "
Interestingly, the blog post states this claim was later proven untrue:
in one of the most iniquitous manner I have ever heard, to feed disinformation to the press as in the false story about Mein Kampf. Even Steve’s mother admits to feeling somewhat used or taken advantage of in one of the media reports. Simply put taking advantage of another’s grief is the lowest form of malevolent behavior.
Allegedly there is some confusion as to who actually brought up there being a copy of Mein Kampf found at the scene to Kangas’ mother, and his mother later stated she could not remember who actually told her about the copy of the book.
The mirror of Kangas’ website includes links to pages of different quotes, including one page where he compares quotes regarding the solidarity/teamwork strategies of the left with the isolationist strategies opposed to coalition building of the right, including quotes from Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Kangas makes a point to explicitly state that quotes from Mein Kampf are included only to show the contrast between beliefs of the left and right.
Most reflect my beliefs, except, of course, the Hitler quotes, which are reverse indicators of my beliefs.
Kangas was very careful about citing his sources when making an argument, and was believed to have been working on a book about the conservative right in addition to working towards completing his college degree when he died. It’s important to understand that at the time, citing the internet as a source, even for a simple quote, was typically not acceptable in an academic setting. Given Kangas made a point to state the book was in contradiction to his own beliefs, it seems most likely that if there even was a copy of Mein Kampf actually owned by Kangas, it would have been to use as a source for the book he was writing.
Why Kangas owning a copy of the book would then be brought up to his mother is unclear, however, it certainly seems noteworthy that Kangas had recently purchased a home alarm system and a registered firearm shortly before his death (which also seems odd for somebody to do before commiting suicide, but stranger things have happened).
As the Salon article mentions, Scaife had indeed recently sent his PI Rex Armistead to investigate Kangas. This is just my own theory, but given the home security system and previously documented accusations against Armistead of abuse of power and corruption during his PI activities, if the mention of Mein Kampf was indeed planted by somebody in Pittsburgh working with Scaife, Kangas’ own denouncement of Mein Kampf, would not only seem to add credibility to the claim that Kangas would not have had a reason to be carrying the book with him before allegedly committing suicide, it would also support the suspicion of many that Armistead may have broken into Kangas’ apartment at some point prior to the murder while investigating him. This could also explain Kangas purchasing an alarm system and firearm shortly before his death. If Armistead did break in, perhaps while looking for dirt to bring back to Scaife, the copy of the Mein Kampf would have almost certainly stood out as something that could be used to harm his credibility, especially if he was unaware of the context the book was being used on Kangas’ website.
As an aside from his potential involvement in the death of Kangas, Armistead actually has his very own noteworthy WTF page in history for his role as a corrupt former law enforcement officer prior to becoming a private investigator, as well as for helping enforce right wing attacks on the left, and his opposition to the civil right’s movement.