U.S. Congresswoman Shot

I'm discouraged by the immediate politicization of this event. Where is the mourning in our country? Where is the civility? Where are the days that pass to think about what happened?

 

It's sad. Really, really sad.

Hes got crazy eyes!

 

Shit... He shaved his eyebrows off.....

Crazy fucker went all Whoppie Goldberg on his eyebrows...

 

One shot one kill for this guy, save us millions in tax dollars.

Loughner is a registered independent. Didnt vote in 2010 election.

 

Some have said that the really hyper-partisan leftists were probably crossing their fingers and hoping that this guy was a Tea Party person.

 

Another irony that some have pointed out is that when the Fort Hood shooting occurred, because the guy was a radical Muslim, the immediate reaction from the media was to say that we shouldn't let this guy's act cause us to pre-judge all the rest of the Muslims (and I agree).

 

But then with this guy, the immediate reaction is to blame the Right and that it must mean all Tea Party people, Glenn Beck fans, Sean Hannity fans, Sarah Palin fans, etc...are nuts (nevermind the guy wasn't even political).

 

You know, I never have liked that Mr. Clean guy! And is he wearing an earring?

I'm discouraged by the immediate politicization of this event.

 

Shooting a politician in the head is typically a political event...

 

Shooting a politician in the head is typically a political event...

 

Historically that isnt true.

 

 

James Garfield was assassinated by his speechwriter because he didnt get the promotion he wanted.

 

The man who shot Andrew Jackson was completely insane and had delusions that he was the King of England.

 

The man who shot Teddy Roosevelt was ordered to do so by the ghost of President McKinley.

 

The man who tried to shoot Franklin Roosevelt believed that Roosevelt was psychically causing his gallbladder pain.

 

The first attempt on Kennedys life (bet ya didnt know about that one huh?), the would be suicide bomber hated rich people and Catholics.

 

The man who tried to hijack an airplane to fly into the Nixon White House was angry because he had been denied a government loan.

 

There were two attempts on Gerald Ford's life, both by completely insane associates of the Charles Manson Family.

 

John Hinckley shot Reagan because he watched Taxi Driver and thought Jodie Foster would fall in love with him.

 

The first attempt on Clinton's life was by a depressed supporter who tried to crash a plane into the white house. The second was by a man who wanted to save the world from a "Green Mist" emanating from the Rockies.

 

 

MOST assassinations and assassination attempts are carried out by people who are mentally ill, and dont really have the mental capabilities to engage in politics.

 

 

http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_rea...rm.htm#9-65.100

United States Attorney's Manual 9-65.140

 

Publicity Concerning Threats Against Government Officials

Media attention given to certain kinds of criminal activity seems to generate further criminal activity; this is especially true concerning Presidential threats which is well documented by data previously supplied by the United States Secret Service. For example, in the six-month period following the March 30, 1981, attempt on the life of President Reagan, the average number of threats against protectees of the Secret Service increased by over 150 percent from a similar period during the prior year.

 

Of the individuals who come to the Secret Service's attention as creating a possible danger to one of their protectees, approximately 75 percent are mentally ill.

Kudos for a carefully selected list... If I had time I'd dig up even more that were clearly political/ideological in nature (Lincoln, McKinley, MLK, RFK, attempt on Truman, most likely JFK, etc... and that's just in the U.S.)

 

Point is, the kid was angry about school, but didn't shoot his teacher. He was angry about his job, but didn't shoot his boss. He went to a political event and put a gun 12" from his representative's head. Keep in mind I'm not saying that it's the fault of the media.. I don't think that's the case at all. But it certainly doesn't help.

 

I think we can all agree that videogames and movies don't make people violent. They're clearly in the realm of entertainment, and I think that even most crazy people can understand that. However, when mainstream politicians, public figures, TV/radio hosts, and bloggers regularly assert that the president is an illegal alien hellbent on ruining the country, or that representatives who voted for healthcare reform are fascists intent on instituting death panels to kill off senior citizens, or that democrats are actually secret socialist-fascist-communist-muslims who must be neutralized, I can see how crazy people could begin to think it was totally normal to consider shooting shit up. The looneybin rhetoric has moved out of the fringe and become part of our day to day normalcy, complete with affirmation by mainstream "non crazy" types, so it seems perfectly sane to talk about second amendment remedies and taking guns to your opponent's events.

 

What I think is more important to look into is a) after all the signs pointing to this kid being nuts, why wasn't he treated in any way.. and how was someone painted as being so obviously nuts by people who knew him able to legally purchase a gun and 30 round magazine? I don't have a problem with guns, but I have a problem with batshit crazy people being able to buy guns.

What I think is more important to look into is a) after all the signs pointing to this kid being nuts, why wasn't he treated in any way.. and how was someone painted as being so obviously nuts by people who knew him able to legally purchase a gun and 30 round magazine? I don't have a problem with guns, but I have a problem with batshit crazy people being able to buy guns.

 

I agree with you on the above. He was clearly fcuking nuts.... For a LONG time... And nobody did shit about it, including the Sheriff of Pima county who has gone out of his way to MAKE this political. And had the Sheriff done his job, this whack job would NOT have been able to buy a gun.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0824904120110109

 

RPT-Arizona suspect had made death threats-sheriff

 

 

 

 

TUCSON, Ariz. Jan 8 (Reuters) - The suspect in Saturday's shooting rampage in which a U.S. congresswoman was critically wounded was unstable and had been known to make death threats in the past, the local sheriff said.

 

If, like the sheriff said, the young man had made death threats against third parties, THATS ENOUGH TO INVOLUNTARILY COMMIT HIM FOR 72 hours in every jurisdiction I know of.... AND THAT would have kept him from buying the gun legally.

 

 

 

 

Kudos for a carefully selected list... If I had time I'd dig up even more that were clearly political/ideological in nature (Lincoln, McKinley, MLK, RFK, attempt on Truman, most likely JFK, etc... and that's just in the U.S.)

 

You clearly have the time.... I gave you a list of 11 specific people. You responded with a list of 6 including the murder of someone who never held political office (MLK). I also gave you a statistic from the INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED subject matter experts on political assassination, the U.S. Secret Service. If you have some counter evidence, Im all ears.

Point is, the kid was angry about school, but didn't shoot his teacher. He was angry about his job, but didn't shoot his boss. He went to a political event and put a gun 12" from his representative's head. Keep in mind I'm not saying that it's the fault of the media.. I don't think that's the case at all. But it certainly doesn't help.

 

He shot this woman because he was obsessed with her due to how she refused to answer some crazy question he asked her some years back, something like, "What is government if words have no meaning?"

 

or that representatives who voted for healthcare reform are fascists intent on instituting death panels to kill off senior citizens, or that democrats are actually secret socialist-fascist-communist-muslims who must be neutralized, I can see how crazy people could begin to think it was totally normal to consider shooting shit up. The looneybin rhetoric has moved out of the fringe and become part of our day to day normalcy, complete with affirmation by mainstream "non crazy" types, so it seems perfectly sane to talk about second amendment remedies and taking guns to your opponent's events.

 

Viscious political rhetoric has been occurring since the beginning of the country. It is nothing new. Even the Founding Fathers said some nasty stuff about one another. We just came through eight years of some of the most insane, hate-filled-rhetoric about George W. Bush, complete with a novel fantasizing about Bush being assassinated and a fake documentary about the events that would happen if Bush had been assassinated, along with some nasty stuff said by mainstream Democrats and many in the media.

Shooter was focused since 2007, long before anyone was famous in 2008

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...1163461466.html

I just don't understand how people like this continue to fall through the cracks and live untreated or institutionalized!

 

Where are the parents, teachers and previously warned law enforcement people?

WTF. This dude looks crazier by the day, posing in a Gstring, and putting on his myspace that he has to do something about this countries illiteracy. Wow. Really, he had a problem with fcuking grammar. At least this shows a lot of peoples true colors for the blame game that happened within hours, Never let a good tragedy go to waste I guess. Oh and the why the fcuk does the Sheriff still have hhis job?

 

 

"Loughner, 22, posed for photos with a gun, dressed only in a bright red G-string, and had the film developed on the eve of the rampage that killed six people and gravely injured Giffords, authorities said.

 

Video: Timeline of Tucson shooting (on this page)

The most detailed timeline of Loughner's busy 11 hours before the shooting was released Friday by the Pima County Sheriff's Office. It begins with Loughner dropping off the 35mm film at a pharmacy at 11:35 p.m. Jan. 7, the night before the shooting. He checks into a motel about an hour later and at 2:19 a.m. Jan. 8 he picked up his developed photos."

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41088221/

"Loughner, 22, posed for photos with a gun, dressed only in a bright red G-string, and had the film developed on the eve of the rampage that killed six people and gravely injured Giffords, authorities said.

 

 

I suspect if I saw a photo of myself in a G-String, it might make me lose it too.

I know a guy who is going to flip his lid someday. It's not a question of "if," simply "when."

 

The FBI has detained him in dramatic unmarked helicopter fashion, and I can't believe he's still walking around on the streets. He's one of these guys who thinks that the CIA put a bug in his head. Heavy drug user. He's made direct, physical threats to people in emails. Fits the psychotic deranged MO perfectly. Very smart mother F*er.

 

When he finally goes out, he's crafty enough to know how to take out the maximum volume of soft targets. I'd say that it would make sense to alert the authorities, but they already know about him.

 

His initials are AT in OK just in case I ever get wiped out.

 

 

I know a guy who is going to flip his lid someday. It's not a question of "if," simply "when."

 

The FBI has detained him in dramatic unmarked helicopter fashion, and I can't believe he's still walking around on the streets. He's one of these guys who thinks that the CIA put a bug in his head. Heavy drug user. He's made direct, physical threats to people in emails. Fits the psychotic deranged MO perfectly. Very smart mother F*er.

 

When he finally goes out, he's crafty enough to know how to take out the maximum volume of soft targets. I'd say that it would make sense to alert the authorities, but they already know about him.

 

His initials are AT in OK just in case I ever get wiped out.

happy not to live in Texas

happy not to live in Texas

 

He's in OK. there's crazyfarts everywhere though. This one is ready to pop. If someone is going to go ballistic, I'd rather be in Texas than in California or Mass. Texans are all packin' major heat.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=725...ain;cbsCarousel

 

In the more than 80 cases that you studied was politics, pure and simple, ever the motivation?

 

I cannot think of a single case where politics pure and simple was the motivation.

 

 

The fact is, thanks to our various political institutions, there is simply NO political advantage in America to assassination. Had Loughner been successful (and he ultimately may have been, its questionable whether she'll ever be able to return to Congress) The personal tragedy aside- So what? One seat in the house one way or the other means NOTHING. Especially when the victim is in the minority by a count of 242 to 193. Wow... Making it 243 to 192 would just change EVERYTHING?

 

Even in the case of the President, an assassin only succeeds in replacing the person, with another person of similar ideology. Very little if ANYTHING is accomplished politically. Its why its an act almost completely relegated to the irrational and delusional. Small, insignificant, mentally ill people who think they will become "important" by killing somebody important.