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Democratic congresswoman shot at point-blank range in Arizona

January 8, 2011

SECOND UPDATE: Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy issued the following statement Saturday afternoon in response to the Arizona shootings:

“The attacks on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, members of her staff, and others are absolutely appalling. This event is horrific and acts of such violence cannot be tolerated in our society. Judy and I will be praying for Gabrielle, her family, her staff, those who were injured and their families.”

Meanwhile, Arizona authorities are searching for “a person of interest” who might have been at the shopping center with alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner.

UPDATE: The shooter of  U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords has been identified as Jared Lee Loughner, 22, of Tucson.

Loughner was tackled by one of Giffords’ aides as he tried to flee the scene after the shooting.

Another one of Giffords’ aides is confirmed to be dead along with four others. The gunman shot 18 people.

A surgeon has been quoted as being “very optimistic” about Giffords’ chance for surviving.

ORIGINAL POST: Multiple media reports confirm that a Democratic congresswoman was shot in the head at point blank range Saturday morning while hosting a meet-the-public event in Tucson. [LA Times]

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), 40, a three-term congresswoman, was airlifted to a local hospital shortly after the shooting at a Safeway market.

“She is currently in surgery. She’s alive,” University Medical Center spokeswoman Darci Slaten said. Slaten added that nine other shooting victims were being treated at the hospital.

Fox News reported that between 12 and 15 people were shot.

Giffords was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event — public gatherings to give her constituents a chance to talk directly with her — when attacked from about four feet  away, NPR said.

NPR initially reported that Giffords had died, but quickly retracted that information.

The report said the suspect tried to run away but was tackled by a bystander and was in police custody.

Giffords is married to astronaut Mark Kelly


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The accused and his attorney aren’t going to be successful with a defense that admits the crime because of his intense thrill, and if they cannot dispute the facts, his next best shot at cutting a break from the jury or sentencing judge it to try to come up with an explanation that puts him in a somewhat sympathetic and understanding light i.e. something must have strongly influenced him to do the terrible things accused of, and if not for the influence he would never have committed such an act. Simply stated; do people get ideas for crimes from watching television or movies and then go out and commit them?

One expert witness for the defense alleged that media was the accuser’s “instructor, brain-washer, hypnotizer” claiming the accused could not distinguish whether he was in a TV play acting out or whether it was cold blooded murder, and that the pulling of the trigger was in effect a conditioned response bought on by his “habituation” to TV and his fondness for viewing violent crime shows (once again claiming others were to blame).

When an offender actually gets an idea to kill from media, it is pretty obvious in detail replication. Thus, there can be little doubt that the crime would not have happened this way (detail replica) without the influence of media (magazine story in detail). But there can be almost as little doubt that had he not seen the particular magazine, he would have killed anyway, and the crime would have been based on another magazine, film, radio, or out of his own perverted or sociopathic imagination.

(From: The Anatomy of a Motive Page 91-99 abbreviated by John Douglas FBI Profiler)


The fact that any of you can explain his behavior does not excuse it!


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Talk about disgusting and cynical: Sarah Palin is now using the tragedy to help raise donations to her own political action committee!


http://www.sarahpac.com/


Putting her message about the shooting ON HER POLITICAL FUND-RAISING PAGE at this time is a way to try to cash in on all the people who do internet searches about the shooting.


Great work Palin. Now some of those people will be channeled straight to YOUR fund-raising site aimed at getting YOU money. This has got to be one of the most cynical and disgusting uses of of a “condolence” message in all of history.


Does Sarah Palin and her staff have no shame?


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Anyone who can read the death of Little Nell..


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It seems that it would have been more appropriate if she apologized for her map with the cross hairs and her reload statements. If she would at least say something to the effect of ‘I didn’t mean to cause any harm to anyone and we all need to work together to improve the discourse in our country. I’m very sorry for any distress that my website and words might have caused and will work to be more civil in the future’. And that should be said live on TV and in the paper not on her website. But I’m not a politician and I’m sure the way I said it isn’t that good, I’m just saying that an apology for her own actions is in order. That apology should be to everyone not just the Tea Bags that read her website.


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Congresswoman Giffords had gone on television warning Sarah Palin that her anti-Democrat “gun sight” map encouraging people to “target” Democratic politicians as a final “solution” could lead to tragedies. You can watch Giffords’ warning on video at this link:


http://yesbuthowever.com/palin-website-had-target-5000203/


All this is more evidence that the Republican Party was infiltrated and co-opted and now fully deserves it’s sordid reputation as the political party of “death and destruction.”


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In spite of the efforts of some to link this killer with the Right , the evidence so far links him more with the left. No, he is not a veteran of Afghanistan (he was rejected by the army). He is not associated with right wing ideology (NYT says he was known as a far left wing guy). He is not associated with any anti-immigration groups (he’s not a member and has not attended any American Renaissance group meetings). He is not a Christian terrorist (he denounced the bible on youtube).


Look at his Youtube and other internet videos. He appears to be mentally impaired. He was suspended from college until he had a mental evaluation. He has a history of strange behavior. He was a 22 year old, and mental illness often strikes young adults.


So, until the killer is connected with some right or left wing ideology or with some form of mental illness, please stop trying to use this situation to shut down right wing radio and tv based upon your own personal adversion to right wing ideas. By shutting down free speech, you will give people few options, other than violence, to object to government and governmental policies.


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Citizen, this has very little to do with “right wing vs left wing.” This is about toning down, decreasing the overwhelming degree of hate and fear-mongering being promulgated on the public airwaves.

Nor is it about ending “free speech.” But if someone is addicted to spreading lies and hatred in our community, there is nothing that says we have to hand that despicable person a public microphone to help him spread his ill-conceived message as far as possible. And nothing about free speech requires us to sponsor or in any way contribute to the funding of those types of malignant broadcasts.


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Perhaps those who died in this tragedy do not have to die in vain. In the weeks ahead many of us can use all the communication channels we can think of to use this incident as leverage to convince management at KVEC 920 AM , and advertisers to drop all their fear and violence promoting HATE RADIO programs that they infect the airwaves with each and every day.


Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck do not have to be blamed for this tragedy, but surely any rational business people who allow their advertisements to be in anyway associated with those types of hate-mongering, divisive programs can see that shows like that are dangerous and disruptive and can add fuel to the violent tendencies of people.


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Oh, Not-So-Wise-Guy:


Can you please remind me exactly how many KVEC listeners have picked up a gun and tried to kill someone because they listened to Glenn Beck? Can you share with me the number of politicians who have been shot in the 22 years of Rush Limbaugh on the radio?


As I recall, the last time there was a major political assassination attempt in this country, it was 1981 and Ronald Reagan, a conservative, was the topic. The shooter was a mentally unstable young man fixated on Jodi Foster, so by your reasoning, that all happened because of violent Hollywood movies.


There is an opportunity here, a teachable moment. I’m all in favor of toning down the rhetoric on some talk shows and from some political figures. Maybe some good will come out of this.


But don’t use Saturday’s tragedy to promote your own agenda against conservative talk radio.


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Dave, I don’t care if it’s “conservative” or “liberal” talk radio on KVEC. It’s all the LIES and HATRED and VIOLENT rhetoric that station broadcasts daily that I object to. As I said, I don’t blame Rush LImbaugh or Glenn Beck for the shooting in Arizona. I already see enough KVEC-inspired animosity right here on the Central Coast to want KVEC to upgrade its talk show line-up.


No two ways about it, the Dave Congalton show and other LOCAL shows not withstanding, KVEC has definitely harmed our community with its continual promotion of the world’s most despicable hate radio purveyors.


Someone at KVEC needs to learn that “conservative” talk does not have to equal “hate and violence” talk. Surely there must be some conservative pundits that are not so hate-filled and divisive as those who KVEC bows to.


See more of my comments on KVEC hate radio above.


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“Paul Krugman Blames Giffords Shooting on Palin, Limbaugh and Beck”


Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/08/paul-krugman-blames-giffords-shooting-palin-limbaugh-and-beck#ixzz1AYgrPFlW


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Jeez, we aren’t just talking about local issues here. What about all the abortion clinic bombings, the doctors and staff murdered after their pictures and addresses were published?

Dave, you are way smarter than your comments here would lead the reader to believe. I wonder why you defend these creeps who spread hate, fear and violence and are able to sway elections and our future by pounding their lies into the illiterate and naive amongst us.

These overly paid fat cats are making a killing by shouting ‘fire’ in our crowded theater of society, and you continually give them a free pass.


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Dave, I don’t believe that your show is one fueled by hate speech as a matter of fact quite the opposite. You seem to stay pretty neutral and you stay away from the hate rhetoric. As a matter of fact I felt as if you were a bit cross with me when I called in and said that it makes me more sick to see Hugh Hef. kiss a 19 year old then seeing two men kiss (someone called in and said it made them sick to see two men kiss). My little statement seemed to be too much for you.


I do believe that although no one as come out and said ‘I’m going to kill someone because of Rush’ that their words do effect negative unhealthy emotions with those that are not well balanced to begin with. RushBilloHannity’s words do hurt the country in the way that these mean spirited people cause a great deal of division. I am a bleeding heart so perhaps I’m biased but I really do believe that the hate (most not all) does come from the right wing radio jocks along with the many Tea Parties. When the extreme right hear things like ‘they hate our country’ They are socialist communist that don’t care about and are set to destroy our country’ (Beck) eventually that will a negative effect on this country.


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Dave, Bryon Williams may not have been a KVEC listener, but can you be sure? He did say Beck was his inspiration and provided his target acquisition data.


Oklahoma City may well have been a result of anti-government hate-speech encouraging the right-wing crazies out there. There is still a lot of talk about Rush being responsible for setting them off.


Take some responsibility for your brand of entertainment that spouts the vitriol on your station and realize that there can be consequences for broadcasting it. And we will keep in mind that it is not your type of listeners that are killing people, it’s their guns and bombs.


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Intellectually incurious redux.


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“You know that Sarah’s website put gun sight cross hairs on the victim’s congressional district right??”

The above was posted by Zaphod and I have no reason to believe that his statement isn’t correct.


That kind of behavior for a politician in her position is not just irresponsible, it’s childish and unacceptable in fact, it should be criminal and possibly is criminal. She effectively did target Giffords for assassination. While I realize that Sarah Palin has the emotional and intellectual mentality of a high school teenager there is no excuse for anyone to have tolerated that kind of sick joke on her website, if you can even call it a joke. Regardless of whether Sarah’s actions had anything to do with this horrific shooting, I would say that her career is/should be over and good riddance.


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It’s true that Sarah Palin issued a map with a gun sight target on Gifford’s congressional district. For other sordid details of Palin politics and a look at the deadly map, go to:


http://yesbuthowever.com/palin-website-had-target-5000203/


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I just looked at the map. it say’s “We’ve Diagnosed the problem, Help us prescribe the solution” !!

Yes, those district’s are obviously all depicted as gun site targets!

It goes on to direct the viewer to a drop down button that lists the names of the candidates. Is she out of her mind? I hope the families of the victims file a civil suit against her.


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Good lord you people are terribly uninformed. Compare the “targets” on WiseGuy’s link to an actual Glock sight picture: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/393317703_0a8944b510.jpg


Secondly, why would a left wing nut job kill a Democrat Congresswoman because Sarah Palin targeted that district for a Republican win?


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Following Zaphod’s links will get you to a map of 20 districts at the Huffington site that was on the http://www.Sarahpac.org (?) previously. Also in there is an Article -(Not Criminal)

Gabrielle was the 4th on the List. Some time today the SPalin website was amended to have a wellwishing message instead.

That walking away from the Alaskan Governorship hasn’t cost SP any credibility tells us more than the unfortunate and poor choices of “Hit list ” etc…

This guy is nuts.

There will be spin and Palin will be portrayed as the real victim.

There are enough gullible voters in this country to turn us nuts as a nation


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Fudgecicles

http://www.sarahpac.com


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In reading the link to the article at the NY Times, one sentence certainly gives me pause: “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy,” This quote was from someone who said that they hadn’t seen him since 2007; I am concerned that this troubled young man has turned away from any philosophy concerning “left wing” or “liberal”; I for one have no knowledge of any American liberal who has ever advocated violence as a means of resolving issues. The only reason that I mentioned in an earlier comment that this disturbed person could have been motivated by the writings of Michael Savage or Glen Beck is that to my knowledge, no one on the left has ever advocated for the killing of anyone as a means of “solving” anything, whereas I have seen and heard on numerous occasions of those on the right of advocating such violence. I still stand by that assertion; if this crazed person is a single individual that has no outside influence on his reasons for his behavior, that is just a very sad reality. IF though, it is found out that he had influence by the writings of ANYONE advocating violence, no matter what their political leanings, they need to held accountable for their actions.


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“I for one have no knowledge of any American liberal who has ever advocated violence as a means of resolving issues.”


Oh, so only people on the right (Beck, Hannity) have advocated killing people to solve a problem? Maybe that’s because people on the left (Malik Shabazz -New Black Panther Party, .) just kill people and don’t talk about it? (Sorry,Beck and Hannity do not advocate violence; the New Black Panther Party does talk about killing people, but as far as I know they don’t)


Your comments are so ignorant, they actually turn my stomach.


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Citizen: Let me clarify this somewhat: “I for one have no knowledge of any American liberal IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP OR IN A POSITION OF A NATIONAL FORMAT that has ever advocated violence as a means of resolving issues.” I’m sorry that I forgot that someone on the right would look for anyone, anywhere that has some sort of left leaning that also advocates violence and would deduce that I meant absolutely ANYONE, but my comparison was supposed to be “apples to apples”; Michael Savage has consistently advocated violence; so has Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly called Dr. Tillman a “baby killer” before he was gunned down by some nut case who had no remorse. If anyone on the right wants to show me some one on the left in a NATIONAL POSITION OF LEADERSHIP OR MEDIA POSITION (that would be a nationally syndicated show, not some internet only b.s.) that advocates violence, fine, bring it on. Don’t tell me that some wacko calling himself a “New Black Panther” is equal to Glen Beck, Rush LImbaugh, Michael Savage or any other nationally syndicated right wing media figure. Now, turn your stomach back around to adult position and address my assertion with some facts that are relevant.


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Dear Bob:


Having followed the activities of the New Black Panthers since they threatened to burn down my hometown if they didn’t get a permit to march, I can tell you that they are not insignificant in the political landscape. Malik Shabaaz was on the White House guest list when it was first released after Obama took office. Gibbs said that this Malik Shabaaz was not the leader of the New Black Panthers, but someone else with the same name. Guess what. Malik Shabaaz is a made up name and there is no other person by this name in the U.S. or else where. So, don’t discount this guy as a whacko. In at least one instance that we know of, he has had the ear of the President of the U.S. when state governors like Bobby Jindal during the BP oil spill have not been able to get in to see Obama.


My reply to you is that Beck, Savage, etc. do not advocate violence. You are mistaken. I don’t believe that Rachael Madow, Al Franken, etc. advocate violence, either. You can call someone a baby killer if you want to. That doesn’t mean you are advocating that someone go out and kill them. When the New Black Panthers said that white babies should be killed, they weren’t telling people to go out and kill white babies, they were making a point.


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circa June, 2008, Philadelphia, PA: ““If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun…” Guess which “…American liberal IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP…” AND “…IN A POSITION OF A NATIONAL FORMAT…” said that?


Answer: Barak Obama. The president is to blame for this shooting. He advocated bringing a gun.


There, now you know…


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RWA There have been a number of other attempts to identify “left-wing authoritarians” in the United States and Canada. These would be people who submit to leftist authorities, are highly conventional to liberal viewpoints, and are aggressive to people who oppose left-wing ideology. These attempts have failed because measures of authoritarianism always correlate at least slightly with the right. There are certainly extremists across the political spectrum, but most psychologists now believe that authoritarianism is a predominantly right-wing phenomenon.”


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You are misrepresenting this Wikipedia article. Go back and read it again. According to the article and their definition of Right Wing Authoritarian, you can have left wing or right wing political views and still be a Right Wing Authoritarian type of person.


Authoritarianism does not equal violence. They are going by a clinical (very specific definition) that simply does not mean “all right wingers”, or that only right wingers advocate violence.You are implying a chain of assumptions that are not necessarily true, and certainly are not supported by this article.


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You are misrepresenting this Wikipedia article ??? Go back and read it again!!!!!!!! I copy and pasted my entire comment from the article I linked.

too much cognizable dissonance for you perhaps.


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The article is supposed to be a clinical definition of “Right Wing Authoritarian”. A quote from the article, meant to apply in general to another situation, is misrepresentation because the entire article is predicated on the definition given.


For all of you left wingers, please note that Ted Honerich (the Noam Chomsky of Great Britain) ravages people when they use arguments that ignore the original definitions and terms of his argument).


These are other quotes from the article “The “right wing” in right-wing authoritarianism does not necessarily refer to someone’s politics, but to psychological preferences and personality. It means that the person tends to follow the established conventions and authorities in society. In theory, the authorities could have either right-wing or left-wing political views.” “Although authoritarians in North America generally support conservative political parties, this finding must be considered in a historical and cultural context. For example, during the Cold War, authoritarians in the United States were usually anti-communist, whereas in the Soviet Union, authoritarians generally supported the Communist Party and were opposed to capitalism.[10] Thus, authoritarians generally favor the established ways and oppose social and political change. Hence, even politics usually labeled as right or left-wing is not descriptive. While Communism in the Soviet Union is seen as leftist, it still inspired the same responses. ” Some disagree with this definition “Stenner argues that authoritarianism is best understood as a dynamic response to external threat, not a static disposition based on the traits of submission, aggression, and conventionalism. Stenner is critical of Altemeyer’s social learning interpretation and argues that it cannot account for how levels of authoritarianism fluctuate with social conditions.”


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Citizen, it is interesting to see how much the right has borrowed from the “old” Blank Panther Party rule book.


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It was a calculated undertaking, what he did was well prepared, plotted and executed.

I don’t see a paranoiac schizophrenia issue here. I see a thug promoting to terrorist.

I am already deaf ears to excuses, pleas and cries this killer makes in his trial.


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Perhaps we should wait to get more information before we villify the Tea Party, Replublicans, Palin/Beck and those who support the “right to bear arms”. It is more important now that ever to remember, not EVERYONE is cut from the same cloth. When you point a finger at someone, three of your own fingers point right back at you.


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Danika, even if this is just a person with extreme mental issues ie schizophrenia, statements such as the one I quoted about ‘reloading’ only fuel the flames. It’s only a matter of time before some whack job takes statement such as Palins literally. When someone has so much influence over so many then one should understand that they have responsibility to chose their words carefully. There are unbalanced people that with help from Palin, Rush, insHannity etc. might be tipped over the edge. Palin and co spread hatred and encourage division over unity so there will be violent consequences from crazy people. Of course this guy whacked, anyone that commits a crime such as this is whacked but could it have been prevented by not spewing hate speeches,,maybe.


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Interesting. While lynching Jan Marx some writers were astounded that I had pointed out she had not yet been charged or convicted of anything.

Here you are repeatedly calling for calm in the face of multiple murders, and I will bet politically motivated (hate crime). I repeat my offer, wanna make some money? Bet me that when this is settled we will find no link to hate radio, palinistas, tea party crackpots or right wing neo con dogma. Any amount, any reasonable odds. But, to be prudent with your money better read Typo Queen carefully, she is right on-without the maybe.

And duh, dubya is by far the worst piece of human garbage that has taken up residence in our white house. But that is a debate for another story-this blog is about political murder and its causes.


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Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” Pls see my Facebook page. (Sarah Palin)


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Astounded? Hardly.


You simply blundered in your ignorance of not recognizing civil wrongs do not amount to criminal charges, and moral wrongs don’t necessarily amount to either.


The fact that there are no criminal charges says only minimal as to whether a wrong occurred.


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I’m pointing all ten fingers at the right wing. And I guess everyone reading these blogs agrees with me, not one offer yet to place a bet in favor of the fascists who promote dysfunction, misinformation and violence in our society. I’m so glad you all are wise enough to see the light.


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After reading some of this gentleman’s rantings on the net, I think at the end of the day what we are going to see is a case of schizophrenia. Just my humble opinion.


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Consider that schizophrenics may frequently serve as a human lightning rod, attracting and reacting to the over-riding vibrations that their more sensitive natures absorb and reflect. They pick up the vibrations that each of us send through thought, word and deed.


The effects of electronic transmission through cell towers and cell phones, tv and radio frequencies of all kinds, in abetting schizophrenia or other unhealthy mental states has not been adequately studied.


Schizophrenia may be a symptom of an unhealthy society. Violent schizophrenics may truly be victims of the violent thoughts of others, though not necessarily those of their victims. They may be picking up the jumble of vibrations of thousands of people that jump, like an electric spark, to one person, ungrounded, that manifests in that person as a nightmarish, jumbled dream/reality that seems to come from both inside and out. They live in the static and flickers between clear stations.


Watch the static long enough on a broken TV and you may conjure images of violence, you may see images evoking the theme of love. When guns are in the mix and nearby and handy or on the mind of others in the realm, an unstable mind may tend to sync more toward violence than love. Schizophrenics channel spirit, good and bad, like electricity, holding it, constraining it, transforming it, sometimes unleashing it in troubling ways.


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Here is an article from NYT about his online life.


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