Jan
08
Political Violence in Arizona
By
While we all wait to learn whether Rep. Gifford will survive, it’s clear that Federal Judge John Roll was shot and killed. A ten-year old girl is also reported dead. The shooter has been identified as Jared Laughner.
This is a dark day in America.
Twitter: gordondsmith
says:
Tuscon Citizen (newspaper)
KVOA (Tuscon television)
Loughner, actually. By his YouTube site and web postings, he appears to be a serious deranged conspiracy theory type.
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Keeping tabs on ‘the crazies’ these days strikes me as a labor for Sisyphus. We don’t know if the shooter here was your regular common every day crazy or Tea Party crazy.
We do know he legally bought the gun just two months ago and used it yesterday to murder six people.
Giffords was targeted, literally, by gun promoting nut case Sarah Palin, leading candidate for Republican presidential nomination, 2012.
I will be paying attention to see which GOP national figures denounce her rhetoric.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36033690#36033690
Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
Oh, like the map posted by the DCCC targeting Republicans? http://www.verumserum.com/?p=13647
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Twitter: anonymousmarsh
says:
Perhaps the real issue here isn’t political–at least not outright– but of someone who was mentally ill and isolated (or just ignored?) and with no one to take notice, or without access to any help.
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“Don’t retreat, reload” – Sarah Palin
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“If this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies. “I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” — Sharon Angle
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Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
Diogenes:
The guy was a lefty. Since when do lefties take their marching (or shooting) orders from Sarah Palin? I thought you guys hated her.
I’ll repost what I posted on Brainshrub’s facebook page before 6am this morning:
Reasonable point of view: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2011/01/09/two-very-different-politicians-two-very-similar-shootings
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There must be lots of far-left libruls who carry Glock 19s with 30-round extended magazines for shooting Democratic politicians.
After reviewing what’s known about the guy to date, the Times notes what others in the blogosphere already have suggested:
Twitter: anonymousmarsh
says:
Yes, but on his myspace page he said he liked The Communist Manifesto, so therefore he is a Lefty, and any “proof” or depth you try to add to the situation is moot. Stop trying to make it complicated. sheesh…oh yeah, and some girl who met him at a party once or something told the AP or someone via Twitter that he was a lefty. This is all the proof we need.
“If someone’s looking for something to point at the right for it’s the fact that more comprehensive national health care would have probably caught Loughner’s mental illness earlier on and treated it before he became violent.” Credit to FYMF
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The right-wing blogs bit hard on Loughner having Marx and Engels on his reading list, but none dared mention that Ayn Rand’s “We The Living” is on list of favorite reads too. Please…
I knew a guy in college who vacillated between being a Marxist and a Jesus freak. He was eventually diagnosed as manic depressive. A folk rocker I knew with hair down to his butt eventually became a Reagan Republican. It’s a bit much, reading so much from a reading list when someone’s that age.
We’ll know more about Loughner soon. Eventually we’ll know why the Army wouldn’t take him (psych evaluation?). People would not sit next to the guy in class. He got tossed out of school until he got psychiatric treatment, etc.
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There’s no question that this individual was very sick… whether or not his actions were triggered by political rhetoric is something for his doctors to say, not us.
But, I find the fact that we are convinced that politics must have been his primary motivation very telling.
Right, Left, moderate whatever… the majority of citizens are getting sick of all the bickering. They are saying to our leaders -see what can happen when you act this way. Learn how to disagree with dignity and get on with the business you were elected to handle.
No one wants to be in a room with bunch of kids yelling and fighting for very long. Wake up Washington- act right or take your toys and go home.
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Twitter: BuggHere
says:
Please don’t pay Bobby any mind.
The thing about him, like every other blowhard around, is that he is so obsessed with “the other team” that he loses all objectivity about the situation.
Yesterday I wrote a blog about the situation, and pointed out that all of the gun-at-campaign-rallys-don’t-retreat-reload imagery was wrong. I mentioned the Republicans doing this because I couldn’t find an instance of the democratic party doing it.
Now that he, in the same fervor that he probably spent trying initially attach the shooter to the Daily Kos site ( http://twitter.com/#!/ThunderPig/status/23895203085553664 ) has found the image on the Democratic site, he’s going to hold onto this and attempt to milk it for all that it’s work. It’s what simple minded dolts do.
Here’s an idea: EVERYONE stop using the idea of violence or violent imagery to rally people. It makes us all look like stupid fucking bloodthirsty Americans. Just because the other team does it doesn’t mean that your team is absolved from blame. Saying stupid shit like this to ramp up the fervor of your retards may not cause the reasonable people out there to start shooting, but it certainly helps those idiots on the fringe out in their cause.
I don’t expect Bobby to think about this objectively, because I don’t think that there’s an objective bone in the mouth-breathing waterhead’s body. I just wish everyone reading this would be objective.
Besides, we all know that Bobby is the only person on here who has creepily insinuated that he is okay with murdering a fellow American.
http://twitter.com/#!/ThunderPig/status/28040203330
You can’t argue with unreasonable people, and Bobby Coggins might be the most unreasonable and borderline psychotic internet tough guy West of the Balsams.
“The massacre in Tucson is, in a sense, irrelevant to the important point. Whatever drove Jared Lee Loughner, America’s political frequencies are full of violent static.”— George Packer, in the New Yorker.
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Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
Immediately after the shooting Markos politicized the shooting, as did the Sheriff.
Diogenes, do you seriously expect the charge of Tea Partier to stick? He hates the American Flag and the Constitution.
Jason Bugg, the Voice of Reason and nonviolence in political discourse. Oh, and add stalker to the list. Nice.
Jason, I was running down rumors on a breaking story…and if you had a single ounce of decency…you would have also posted my tweet discounting the previous suspicion. Get used to breaking news and events where the story and leads are worked out in real-time on a crowd-sourced platform like Twitter. As my old CO used to say, “Early Intel is often wrong or misleading…don’t be afraid to share something that might be wrong for fear being hit over the head with it later. Just be sure to update the Intel with more correct info in a timely manner.”
“I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America”
— Michelle Bachmann
“”want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.” — Michelle Bachmann
And oh yeah…”Mein Kampf” was also on Loughner’s list of favorite books.
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Twitter: gordondsmith
says:
“Insurrectionism Timeline”:
Twitter: dixiegirlz
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From Politico:
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Twitter: dixiegirlz
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“Both Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) both told POLITICO they will be carrying their guns in their home districts for protection. Both lawmakers hold a conceal and carry permit”
Yee ha! Back to frontier days…two steps forward, five steps back.
“Yee ha! Back to frontier days…two steps forward, five steps back.”
Isn’t that the whole point of the Teabagger movement?
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Twitter: BuggHere
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This is a senseless tragedy instigated by someone who appears based on news reports to be very mentally unstable. I don’t think it is appropriate to try to spin this into a political issue.
Our elected representatives (at the federal, state, and local level) make so many sacrifices to serve us. While politicians are generally held in low regard by the public, few of us really understand what they and their family go through to serve the public. At the least, they sacrifice their personal family time, privacy, finances, face all types of criticism (some fair, some not), and in some instances, legitimate policy differences are transformed into an attempt to portray them as immoral and unethical.
No one should be subjected to death threats and violence but I’d say most who have served in public office for several years have endured at least threats of violence. Based on my personal knowledge, there were a couple of times in eight years that such threats were experienced. I never took such threats seriously (based on the source, context, etc.) but if someone really wants to hurt you, they probably won’t tell you beforehand. Its fairly easy to find where you live, work, go to the store, etc.
At this time, my thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured and the families of those who were killed. And I sincerely thank those in public office (even those who I strongly disagree with) for their willingness to serve.
Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
Jared was indeed a troubled individual. Photos of a “Makeshift Shrine” at his house have been released.
They have yet to find any incriminating posters of Sarah Palin, much to the disappointment of MSNBC and Congresswoman Linda Lopez.
Twitter: BuggHere
says:
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Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
@Jason
LOL. Fine time for me to look to or present actual evidence rather than rhetoric, eh?
Twitter: BuggHere
says:
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The dress–the Halston red? Ooo!…
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“I think a baseball bat is the most effective way these days [to talk to liberals] — Ann Coulter
”I’m thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I’m wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. … No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out.” — Glenn Beck
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As myopic and ADD-addled a lot of people are these days, I’m guessing that Tom DeLay getting sentenced to 3 years in prison will deflect some attention away from the shootings.
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Twitter: dixiegirlz
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Ailes wants “the other side” to tone it down too? So I guess he is admitting that Fox isn’t “fair and balanced” if it is taking sides.
Maybe I’ve missed something, but while the left has its share of “bombast” it in no way compares to what comes from the right. I certainly don’t recall anyone on the left saying the best way to talk with conservatives is “with a baseball bat.” I certainly don’t recall anyone on the left talking about the need for “second amendment solutions” to losing an election, or wanting people to be “armed and dangerous” in their opposition to a policy. I don’t recall anyone on the left talking about how they could personally kill someone who they disagree with and I never recall anyone on the left urging his/her supports “don’t retreat, reload.”
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Only if this means to “reload” our brain cells and not retreat in fear from the ideas of those we don’t agree with, rather, share ideas and challenge each other to live lives of excellence rather than complacency or mediocracy.
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Twitter: anonymousmarsh
says:
When did Scru Hoo get a Self-Help section?
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Twitter: ThunderPig
says:
The LA Times has posted the video that got Jared Lee Loughner suspended from Pima Community College.
Now that there has been proven to be no connection between the insane killer and Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Fox News, isn’t it time for the Left and allied media to issue an apology? Afterall, Obama stated that it was the act of an insane killer, right?
…
I thought not.
Still waiting for an apology for the Brooks Brothers riot among many, many, many, many other things.
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