Blood Libel

AZ sheriff knew in advance about Loughner
Even as Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik launched into yet another rampage against Rush Limbaugh yesterday, new information has emerged showing that the sheriff knew in advance about Jared Lee Loughner and the danger he posed.  According to a special report, Pima County Sheriff's Office records indicate that deputies had been called numerous times to the Loughner residence to address complaints by neighbors and others who were clearly frightened by Jared Loughner's growing anti-social, psych...

Arizona Sheriff, College Refusing To Release Public Records About Tucson Shooter
In response to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, among others, blaming Conservatives and Talk Radio for creating an “atmosphere” that inspired Jarred Loughner to his Saturday Shooting Spree many have questioned whether or not Law Enforcement and other government officials in the Tucson area might not have had enough information on Loughner to have identified him as a threat before he hurt anyone. It’s a valid question worth asking (certainly more valid than blaming Rush Limb...

Palin talks "accountability," doesn't take any
It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Sarah Palin is a Daisy Buchanan for our time -- a careless person, indeed, who tosses around words or images with nary a thought as to their effect, before she retreat...

Enough AlreadyIt Is Time for Sheriff Dupnik to Go
Since he first opened his mouth on Saturday night to address the nation about the terrible shootings at a Tucson Safeway, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been inaccurate, deceptive, and completely biased in his handling of the case. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik must resign. Never have we witnessed a prominent public figure so inaccurately and viciously politicize a national tragedy like Sheriff Dupnik did this week. And in all of his statements he has either been wrong or misdirected. This bitter part...

Palin lashes out at blood libel critics over Arizona shooting
TUCSON,Arizona — Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Wednesday lashed out at critics for Manufacturing “blood Libel” with claims she bore some responsibility for the attempted Assassination of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In a lengthy video posted on her Facebook page, Ms. Palin rejected charges she has stoked political anger to dangerous levels and urged Americans to reject calls from those “seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults....

Arizona: Lets start thinking about locking up lunatics
If any blame attaches to others, it is to authorities who had notice of his madness and did not do enough to confine him or prevent him from buying a gun. The Pima County Sheriff, who was quick to suggest the attack was among the "consequences" of Republican Rhetoric, also reported that the shooter's bizarre behavior was brought to the attention of authorities. Arizona reportedly gives authorities more leeway than most states to put such an individual under restraint or at least prevent him from...

NewsBusters Publisher Bozell Condemns Death Wishes Against Conservatives from Liberals in the Media
The so-called ‘news’ media have zero currency in this debate because we have documented the Left using hateful, vicious language far worse than any conservative. Their attacks on Conservatives are untrue and utterly hypocritical. If they really cared about the effects of political Rhetoric, they would have gone after any number of those left-wingers who have directly incited violence – starting with the man with the world’s biggest audience: President Obama . After all, h...

Does Moderation Work?
In The Conversation, David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns every Wednesday. Tags: Gabrielle Giffords, Tucson shooting Susan Walsh/Associated PressGabrielle Giffords, a moderate in the most immoderate state in the union. Gail Collins: David, we can’t not talk about the shootings in Tucson. I know you’ve been wanting a more moderate and sane political dialogue. But I am sorry to admit that one of my thoughts is that the aftermath of Tucson proves h...

Is Tucson Sheriff Dupnik covering something up?
Sheriff's Department and community-college officials in Pima County are refusing to release a wide range of public documents about the man charged in Saturday's shooting rampage that left six dead and more than a dozen wounded. The Pima County Sheriff's Department and Pima Community College have declined to release documents that could shed light on run-ins they had with 22-year-old Jared Loughner in the months prior to the shooting. The Arizona Public Records Law requires that records be "open ...

Climate-blaming Sheriff with departmental climate to hide?
Climate-blaming Sheriff with departmental climate to hide? Speaking of television, according to a post linked by Michelle Malkin, it turns out that Jared Loughner did not watch TV. Nor did he listen to the Talk Radio said to have created a "climate" which was responsible for his actions. Friend says Loughner "did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn't listen to political radio. He didn't take sides. He wasn't on the left. He wasn't on the right." Over to you, Sheriff Dupnik... Dupnik, o...

The Arizona massacre libel
Image by Getty Images via @daylife Charles Krauthammer: The charge: The Tucson massacre is a consequence of the "climate of hate" created by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Glenn Beck, ObamaCare opponents and sundry other liberal betes noires. The verdict: Rarely in American political discourse has there been a charge so reckless, so scurrilous and so unsupported by evidence. As killers go, Jared Loughner is not reticent. Yet among all his writings, postings, videos and other ravings - and in all...

How We Enable Crimes of Insanity
The deranged expression on the face of Jared Lee Loughner in the Mug Shot released by the police—taken within hours after he allegedly killed six innocent people and wounded 14 more, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords—suggests that we may never fully understand whatever illness afflicts him. The law requires us to assess his mental state and motivations, but we might do better to analyze our own craziness. That doesn't mean trying to determine whether events like the Tucson massacre...

Sarah Palin's 'blood libel' error sets the stage for unifying Barack Obama speech in Tucson
There is much to agree with in Sarah Palin’s statement on the Tucson tragedy. She’s right to say that “our exceptional nation, so vibrant with ideas and the passionate exchange and debate of ideas, is a light to the rest of the world”. She’s right to laud “the tenacity of those clinging to life, the compassion of those who kept the Victims alive, and the heroism of those who overpowered a deranged gunman”. The notion that criminal acts “begin and...

Palin proves her presidential potential
Sarah Palin today released a video expressing her grief over Saturday's shootings in Tucson and within minutes, it was analyzed, questioned, and picked apart. All of the questions have been asked. Should Palin have ended her recent video right after her expression of sympathy? Should Palin have addressed the criticism by liberals and the lame-stream media at all? Should Palin have released the video today? Should Palin have used the term 'Blood Libel'? What does this video tell us about her pres...

The inherent contradiction in Sarah Palin's "blood libel" Facebook post
Today Sarah Palin ended her silence on the Arizona shooting with a long Facebook post.  Two words out of the over 1,000 word post are getting all the attention.  In the middle of her message Palin claims that the media is conducting a "blood Libel" campaign, which would presumably make her the Victim.  The term "blood Libel" has historically been used in reference to a false accusation against Jews which involves the Murder of Christian Children for religious rituals.  Congre...

No More Mister Nice Blog
WILL PARTISAN BICKERING SEND A CRAZY MAN TO THE CHAIR? Lefties have been looking for ties between Jared Loughner's state of mind and recent expressions of right-wing rage; the right, in response to this, has lashed out, aggressively attacking commentators and others -- including Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik -- who've criticized the right. And now along comes Limbaugh. The soundbite from Rush Limbaugh's Tuesday Radio Show that's Michelle Malkin: Arizona sheriff may be worst in U.S.
There are many heroes who showed indomitable courage and grace under fire during this weekend's horrific Tucson massacre. Blowhard Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik was not one of them. If the White House has any sense, President Obama will stay far away from the demagogic Dupnik and his media entourage when he visits Arizona on Wednesday to memorialize the Victims. Indeed, if the White House is truly committed to unifying the country, it will explicitly disavow Dupnik's vulture-like exploita...

A Fool With a Badge is Still a Fool
Michael Reagan, FloydReports.com When a would-be assassin shot my Dad, President Ronald Reagan, nobody questioned the fact that the shooter was certifiably nuts. Authorities recognized that fact and put him in a mental institution as his obvious disturbed mental state demanded. Now we have another attempted killing of a public official, Arizona’s widely admired Rep. Gabby Giffords, and just about everybody recognizes the fact that the shooter, one Jared Loughner, is crazy as a loon. Moreover...

A Thank You Call to America’s Worst Sheriff
The worst sheriff in America, Pima County's irresponsible Clarence Dupnik, has accomplished notable achievements in the past. For example, he assisted in the non-prosecution of fellow moonbats who threw pies at Ann Coulter when she tried to speak at the University of Arizona. When SB1070 passed with the overwhelming support of Arizona citizens alarmed by the inundation of the state by Illegal Aliens, this sheriff of a border county refused to enforce it. But only after ignoring numerous warnings...

ADL says Palin wrong to use anti-Jewish term
The Anti-Defamation League is criticizing Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood Libel" to describe criticisms in the wake of the Arizona shootings that her Rhetoric may have contributed to a culture of violence. The term refers to the false accusation that Jews took the blood of murdered Christian Children to use in religious ceremonies. The statement from Abraham Foxman, ADL National Director: "It is unfortunate that the tragedy in Tucson continues to stimulate a political b...

Sarah Palin and blood libel
**Posted by Phineas (Note: This is an update I appended to an entry on Sarah Palin’s Speech this morning on the Tucson massacre. Rather than append it to ST’s post , because of its length I thought I’d give it its own entry.) Sigh. How predictable. Now the reactionary Left (and some on the Right , who should know better) are going after Palin for her use of the phrase “blood Libel.” Give me a break. While originally used to specifically refer to a horrid slander aga...

Palin Hits Media for Manufacture of Blood Libel; Calls Their Attacks Mindless Finger-pointing Facebook Video 1/12/11
Sarah Palin: “America’s Enduring Strength” from Sarah Palin on Vimeo. Here is video of Gov. Sarah Palin - released on Facebook - in which she responds to the Tucson Mass Shooting that took place this past Saturday. Palin said it is “incomprehensible” that a “single bitter man” took the lives of six people, and wounded so many others - including Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Palin said she has listened with “sadness” to...

GOPers Steer Clear of Palin's "Blood Libel" Comments
Sarah Palin dropped her latest rhetorical bombshell on Tuesday Morning, claiming, in a widely circulated video, that media reports highlighting incendiary right-wing Rhetoric (hers in particular) in the wake of the Tucson shootings was comparable to "blood Libel." Palin lobbed the term—which has historically referred to the claim that Jews used the blood of Christian babies to make matzoh—just as the House was convening in Washington for the first time since Saturday. Hours...

Joe Peyronnin: Palin Speaks!
After remaining largely silent following the Tucson shootings Saturday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has spoken. But instead of a healing address from her heart, Palin's remarks were mostly a counteroffensive reflective of her favorite slogan: "Don't Retreat. Instead - Reload." In fairness, Palin did express her sympathy, "My heart broke for the innocent Victims... we do mourn for the victims' families as we express our sympathy." And she called for all Americans to "honor those precious...

Sen. Gillibrand To Az. With President To Address Shootings; Condemns Sarah Palin's "Vitriol"
Among the dignitaries who will pay their respects to the Victims of alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner's Tucson Shooting Spree along with President Obama today: Our own junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand is slated to first visit the University of Arizona Medical Center to visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ husband, staff, and other Victims and their loved ones. The senator is a close Capitol friend of Giffords, who is expected to recover well after being shot in the head a...