Agonizing aftermath

Loughner in court over attempted assassination
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 January 2011 03.04 GMT Jared Loughner has appeared in court where he was formally charged with two counts of Murder and three of Attempted Murder. Photograph: Mamta Popat/AP Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting six people and wounding 14 others in Saturday's Assassination attempt against the Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, has appeared in court, charged with Murder and Attempted Murder. Loughner, 22, who arrived in leg chains and handcuffs and...

Suspect in Arizona shootings appears in court
By David Schwartz PHOENIX, Arizona | Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:42pm EST PHOENIX, Arizona (Reuters) - A troubled 22-year-old College Dropout made his first court appearance on Monday on five federal charges, including the attempted Assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who remained in critical condition with a bullet wound to the head. His hands manacled together, Jared Lee Loughner said understood the charges against him that stem from a Shooting Spree in Tucson on Saturday that left s...

Suspect in Arizona shootings appears in court
By David Schwartz PHOENIX, Arizona | Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:42pm EST PHOENIX, Arizona (Reuters) - A troubled 22-year-old College Dropout made his first court appearance on Monday on five federal charges, including the attempted Assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who remained in critical condition with a bullet wound to the head. His hands manacled together, Jared Lee Loughner said understood the charges against him that stem from a Shooting Spree in Tucson on Saturday that left s...

Our permanent culture of political violence
In the wake of Jared L. Loughner’s attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- part of a shooting rampage that has claimed six lives -- Americans are going through much hand-wringing and some honest soul-searching, while politicians and media pundits have loudly condemned this heinous act of political violence and bemoaned its occurrence. All of these heartfelt expressions are necessary. Words are the only way we can truly express our national grief and sorrow. But much of what i...

Insanity defense difficult for shooting suspect
(01-10) 16:03 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- In an earlier time, the emerging portrait of a deeply troubled young man might have given Jared Loughner's lawyers the basis of an insanity defense. But John Hinckley's successful insanity claim after shooting President Ronald Reagan led Congress to raise the bar, making the task harder. The Justice Department has not said whether it will seek the death penalty against Loughner, the suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the Deaths of a ...

After attack, a leadership test for Obama, Boehner
(01-10) 19:30 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona. But what comes after the easy moment of silence? For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, the vitriol of the past election ca...

Memo For File CXXVIII
Memo For File CXXVIIIMonday, January 10th, 2011 So back to the Arizona shooting. We’re all split squarely down the middle on this thing; our pinhead columnists and authority figures are convinced it was an act of political Extremism, whereas the red-blooded people with whole brains, are leaning toward the gunman being just-plain-nuts. The evidence is falling in behind the ideas of the people-with-whole-brains. But the jump-to-conclusions people have fancy titles and big, big names. I gue...

Megyn Kelly to Democrat Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: Why are you politicizing this tragedy?
Why is Democrat Sheriff Clarence Dupnik politicizing the Assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? It’s almost as if he’s channeling Doug Henning, minus the skin tight body suits and 70s curls, creating a loud and noisy distraction over to the side so no one pays attention to what’s happening on the other side of the stage, where the really interesting story is happening. You know, like the reality that Sheriff Dupnik knew for at least the past year that Jared ...

Arizona gunman in court as Obama leads mourning
The man accused of trying to assassinate a congresswoman in an Arizona Shooting Spree that left six dead appeared in court but said nothing to shed light on his motive. President Barack Obama led the American nation in a somber minute of silence to honor the 20 people gunned down in Tucson -- where he will attend a memorial service on Wednesday, the White House announced. Flags were at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington, where hundreds of aides and lawmakers crammed the storied steps of Con...

A Very Good Question: What Does 'Civility' Mean? Exactly?
A reader writes with this "let's get specific" question: >>Seeing media and op-ed reactions to the Tucson shootings, I was struck by the fact that the vast majority of coverage seems to be along lines that do not seem particularly constructive. It has quickly become a question of whether political discourse has become too inflamed, and whether this over-the-top Rhetoric is in part responsible for the violence we've just seen. Most fair-thinking and reasonable people seem to agree that we...

Big News Events Make Blatherers of Us All
The New Yorker, reputedly one of America's smartest magazines, exemplifies (and not always in a bad way) some of the incoherence created amongst the chattering (and, alas, governing) classes with big news events that seems to DEMAND REACTION!! and yet are at the same time either too impossibly overdetermined or too obvious--like the decision by one deluded ass to open fire on a crowd--for there to be much fresh, interesting, or relevant to say, or do. First, George Packer takes one tack. Of cou...

Redstate: Outspoken Sheriff Accused Of Dismissing Loughner Death Threats
Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local Bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff's Office was informed, his deputies assured the Victims that he was being well managed by the Mental Health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Th...

What To Say?
Before stepping into this thicket, I'll begin by reviewing the apparent ground rules for discussing political Rhetoric and whether it has anything to do with the tragedy in Tucson. The acts of a mentally unbalanced man bear no connection to the political climate around him. Once you draw any such connection, then you are hurling accusations of incitement. Any critique of American political discourse must paint the excesses at both ends of the political spectrum as equal. And as soon as you try...

Tragedy in Arizona
Gabrielle Giffords was doing what members of Congress do every week: She was home in Tucson to meet with her constituents. Today, Giffords lies in critical condition in a Tucson Hospital after one of those constituents opened fire with a semiautomatic Handgun. Six people died in the attack; 14 were injured. The madness at the Tucson shopping center Saturday morning raises old and troubling questions about gun violence in America and threatens a treasured American tradition: the right of the pe...

To Understand Assassination Threat, Look Beyond Tucson
Word of the attempted Assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson Supermarket, which left her in critical condition after a bullet passed through her brain, had barely broken before speculation erupted on the motivations of the man accused of shooting her and killing six others, Jared Lee Loughner, 22. Was Mr. Loughner a conservative or a liberal? What did he think of the Tea Party? How serious was his degree of mental illness? What role, if any, did heated political rhet...

ACTION ITEM: Record attempts by Left to advance big government agenda and restrict freedoms in never let a crisis go to waste s
Tags: How have Democrats tried to use the Assassination attempt to their advantage?, Never let a crisis go to waste Rahm Emanuel, What have Democrats done to take advantage of Assassination crisis? In this thread, please chime in with instances you’ve noticed where Democrats have advocated restricting freedoms, advancing Big Government, and spending more money on pet projects in an attempt to capitalize on the Assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. This is classic Lef...

Boehner Passes First Test as Speaker in Handling of Arizona Tragedy
As news of the horrific shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords spread over the weekend, Speaker of the House John Boehner rose to the occasion, seeking to calm nerves and reassure members of Congress and their families. Aside from being the first major test handed to the newly elected speaker, Boehner's handling of the situation may have been especially important considering the target of this Assassination was a Democratic congresswoman. And while past Republican leaders would have surely express...

Jared Loughner Charged
Jan.  10, 2011  Jared Lee Loughner Charged with 5 Counts of Murder, Attempted Murder and murder involving a member of Congress.  He indicated he understood the charges in court and his lawyer spoke to him offering her guidance.  The same lawyer Judy Clarke who has defended another mass murderer the Unabomer Ted Kaczinski has seen insanity defenses before. Loughner has said nothing about why he did the murders and what drove him to trying to assassinate a US congresswoman in...

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting won't change local Tea Party
Here in Greensboro, the Tea Party is now localizing - instead of just focusing on Washington issues.    Rep. Gabrielle Giffords being shot in Tucson won't change the area Tea Party.  If conversations with two leading area Tea Party Activists are any guide, the Tea Party here will stay the same as what it was before Saturday's attempted Assassination - if not get even angrier.    In many ways, Kim Oliver and Steve Carter have little in common - other than anger agai...

Tuesday Open Thread
Tweety talks about this country’s history with political violence, including talking to a so-called leader of the Tea Party, asking him why sane people would bring a GUN to a political rally. Chris Matthews talked to Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips today, and grilled him on Second Amendment issues and the “history of violence” in America. Referencing the fondness of tea partiers for bringing guns to political rallies, Matthews asked: “Why are guns talked about so...

Was the Arizona Shooting Sheriff Dupnik's Fault?
By RightKlik It's pretty clear at this point that Jared Loughner was the Lone Wolf shooter solely responsible for the carnage in Tuscon, Arizona on Saturday. But without a shred of evidence, liberals in this country want to blame the "usual suspects," including Sarah Palin, the tea partiers and conservative Talk Radio. Let's cast the net wider. On Saturday, we began asking pointed questions about Tuscon Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: A congresswoman got shot point-blank in the head in Pima County, A...

Progressives and the Giffords Shooting: Setting New Records of Depravity
From the comments at this post: Cynthia said... I think you've missed a few bases that should be covered. Pointing the finger at the right-wing Hate Speech isn't knee-jerk and unfounded. Would you like a list of all the right-wingers who've carried out Murder in the last 10 years and how no liberals have? I think this point is pertinent, but including it takes a lot of the air out of your argument. Perhaps, as a liberal, I'm sick and tired of being portrayed as sub-human and treated as such i...

A Gnawing Worry
The papers have mentioned it mainly in passing. Had this happened a decade ago, I would not have fixed on this detail. But Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish. And her alleged assassin, Jared Lee Loughner, is reported to have admired Mein Kampf and claimed ties to the anti-Semitic Hate Group called American Renaissance. Was this an anti-Semitic attack? There is no significant evidence to conclude as much, since we know hardly anything about the suspected killer. And yet, I’m confident that I&rsq...;

Right of Revolution
In the wake of the Tucson massacre, the left is attributing the violence at least partially to a “climate of hate” encouraged by anti-government Extremists on the right—the phrasing used by Paul Krugman in his latest column—a reaction made easier by Conservatives’ frequent use of violent and intimidating Rhetoric since 2008. Conservatives have responded by alleging the politicization of a random act of violence by a lunatic, and sought to place themselves in the ra...

I Haven't Stopped Thinking About Sarah Palin's Complicity
in the Giffords shooting. There is the offensive cross-hairs campaign map to consider first. The Palin supporters have now claimed that these are surveyor symbols, not cross-hairs. You can try to run away from your part in the violence that you have incited, but if those are survey symbols, tell me the next big whopper: what did Sarah Palin really mean when she said, Don't retreat, reload. ??? Was she thinking of her stapler or the vending machines at the office? All the gun Rhetoric, all the v...