More spin:Arizona Suspected Gunman Had 'Troubled Past,' But Mostly Flew Under Radar

[Jeanfromfillmore]

And the spin continues. The press is now quoting the Southern Poverty Law Center as a source of information. It seems everyone is groping and stretching to attach this guy to anyone or anything that is not to the left. It seems as though they would use magic if they thought they could stick this guy with a right/conservative organization or group. Just very telling, and becoming more transparent each day.
To them it couldn’t be that this guy was a nut job, no, he has to be a right leaning, racist, bigot, redneck, cracker, skinhead or he wouldn’t have done what he did.
I’m just waiting to see what they’ll fabricate to get their message across.

Arizona Suspected Gunman Had 'Troubled Past,' But Mostly Flew Under Radar
New details emerging about the suspected shooter behind Saturday's deadly rampage reveal a 22-year-old man with a troubled past who law enforcement say may have been influenced by American Renaissance, a pro-white publication.
A law enforcement memo based on information provided by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Fox News suggests that alleged gunman Jared Loughner -- accused of killing six people, shooting Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and wounding 12 others -- may have ties to the American Renaissance group, though it's unclear if he was directly affiliated with the publication or group.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the group as "white nationalist" whose leader, Jared Taylor, is "a kind of modern-day version of the refined but racist colonialist of old."
The memo states that there is "no direct connection" between Loughner and the group, "but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his MySpace and YouTube account.). The group's ideology is anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti-Semitic."
The memo also includes information about the suspect's mother, who works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors and notes that Loughner has multiple arrests but no criminal record.
But Taylor, a 1973 graduate in philosophy from Yale University, told Fox News on Sunday that he had never heard of Loughner until Saturday and has checked the group's records going back 20 years and has not found any subscriptions for Loughner to American Renaissance publications.
He added he has no indication that Loughner ever attended any of the group's events, which have been held on the East Coast where the organization is based.
Taylor also denied references to the group as being "anti-ZOG."
"That is complete nonsense," he said. "I have absolutely no idea what DHS is talking about. We have never used the term 'ZOG.' We have never thought in those terms. If this is the level of research we are getting from DHS, then heaven help us," he said.
Loughner lives with his parents in a Tucson neighborhood that one neighbor described as part of an area that is notorious for "stash houses" for Mexican gangs to bring drugs into the U.S. and store them.
The neighbor, who asked only to be identified as Jon, said he volunteered at a phone bank for Giffords' 2008 congressional campaign. He said none of the neighbors seem to know any member of the Loughner household, which on Sunday was cordoned off. Two run-down jalopies outside the house along with a front walkway littered with empty paint buckets and a garden hose blocked the walkway and door while the entire front yard is covered in a tangled cactus tree.
Nothing like this has ever happened in this neighborhood. "We've had a number of good DEA busts," Jon said. "It's a shock, it really is. ... It's sad, it's been a sad day."
Another neighbor directly across from the home also did not want to give his name, but said a mother, son and father live at the house.
"They weren't real friendly," said the neighbor who described himself as 60 and retired. They mostly didn't talk to anyone and mainly stayed inside. "Loners," he called them.
Another neighbor, Anthony Woods, who was three years behind Loughner in school, said the father in the household was argumentative.
Woods said the dad would complain about everything from neighbors' trash cans on the street to standing too close to his property by the fence. Woods said law enforcement interviewed the mother and father at the Loughner house Saturday night.
"They confiscated a lot of things" from the house, he said.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Saturday that Loughner had "a troubled past."
"I'm not a psychiatrist so I have no reason to believe the person was insane. Was he unstable? I would agree with that," he said.
Loughner was kicked out of Pima Community College following a series of run-ins with school officials and police at the colleges where he frequently caused disruptions in classrooms and elsewhere on campus, according to The Arizona Republic.
The tensions with school officials led to Loughner's production of a YouTube video in which he declared the college illegal, the newspaper reports.
The college said Loughner could only return if he received mental-health clearance, according to The Arizona Republic.
Loughner is suspected of posting a series of YouTube videos that show a focus on literacy and currency -- as well as his distrust in the government.
"Hello, my name is Jared Lee Loughner," one of the videos says, in words appearing on the screen. "This video is my introduction to you! My favorite activity is conscience dreaming; the greatest inspiration for my political business information. Some of you don't dream -- sadly."
The video, posted Dec. 15, later turns more political.
"The majority of citizens in the United States of America have never read the United States of America's Constitution. You don't have to accept the federalist laws," the video's titles say. "In conclusion, reading the second United States Constitution, I can't trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar. No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver! No! I won't trust in god!"
Loughner's last writing on his MySpace page was just hours before the shooting.
"Goodbye friends," he wrote. "Please don't be mad at me."
Records obtained from the Pima County, Ariz., criminal database also show Loughner was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor charge. The records suggest that Loughner paid a $20 fee and completed a court-ordered program for drug offenders.
Three months later he was cited for running a stop sign, according to court documents.
Another record shows a 2008 arrest for what’s described as a "local charge" in Marana, Ariz., 20 miles northwest of Tucson. The non-criminal charge was dismissed.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official told Fox News that the gun used in Saturday's massacre was a Glock semi-automatic 9-mm. gun with extended magazine. Witnesses told law enforcement that the magazine was high-capacity, about 12 inches long.
U.S. officials told Fox News they know where the gun was purchased in Tucson and plan on questioning the store's owner. The Washington Post reports that Loughner bought the handgun on Nov. 30 at a Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/09...#ixzz1AZDt2195

[Twoller]

When the Obamination spoke up as this being a "national tragedy", you know that other things are in the works. The presence of an extended magazine for his Glock is bound to create some leverage for the anti-gun nuts. And the fact that he is not of middle eastern descent is going to keep his presence in the media eyes for a good couple weeks, for sure. More "home grown" terrorism.

[Mikell]

Why the Tucson Massacre Has Rattled U.S. Judges

In an interview last May, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service, John Clark, said threats against judges are on the rise. "In today's world there are more individuals who are more prone to threatening judges. I think a lot of it has to do with the availability of information with the use of technology and the Internet. Individuals can find out more about particular cases and judges' decisions. They can use the Internet sources to find out more about the judge."

All the more reason to listen to the people.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...#ixzz1AZwtj9nt



http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...00.html?hpt=C2

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Sunday, January 9, 2011
Two Sicknesses On Display in Arizona
The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of several people by gunman Jared Loughner in Arizona yesterday has revealed two sicknesses.

The first and most serious is the sickness living in Loughner's head. Evidence in the form of farewell videos, internet postings, and the recollections of people who knew him reveal a profoundly disturbed person who had veered far into a paranoid world. Loughner's complaints about government mind control and other rants were not "anti-government" in any political sense, but anti-government or anarchist in the Ted Kazynski-deranged sense. We do not know Loughner's motives, but those motives whatever they were were the byproduct of Loughner's clearly delusional view of the world.

There also was a second sickness on display, and it was the swiftness and the vigor with which the left-wing blogosphere and some more mainstream Democrats immediately sought to blame Sarah Palin and right-wing "vitriol" in general for the shooting.

Within minutes of the shooting being made known, two of the highest profile left-wing bloggers, Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos and Matthew Yglesias of Think Progress, pulled out a 10-month-old electoral map used at a Sarah Palin website showing almost two dozen congressional districts being targeted, including Giffords' district. The map was similar to one used by the Democratic Leadership Committee to target Republicans in the prior election cycle, and as Howard Kurtz points out, simply typical of campaign rhetoric using military-themed language.

Markos explicitly accused Palin of having blood on her hands and Yglesias did so implicitly. Through retweets of this message and the map, the left-blogosphere (with some exceptions who took a wait-and-see attitude) took up the cudgel of turning this shooting to their political advantage. Think Progress ran updates with details on the Palin map and also an advertisement several months ago by Giffords' congressional campaign opponent also using military terminology. But clearly, Palin has been the focus, with a larger attack on "right wing vitriol."

Not surprisingly, Keith Olbermann -- one of the most hateful television personalities who names a nightly "Worst Person In The World" -- joined the chorus. Even The New York Times joined the fray, reporting on the Palin map in its initial coverage, and running a Paul Krugman blog post blaming right-wing rhetoric.

Numerous sources also are reporting that Judge John M. Roll, who was killed, had been the subject of threats because of an immigration ruling, but by all accounts Roll was not targeted and was at the event in a shopping area purely by coincidence. [Update: The Criminal Complaint filed this afternoon indicates Judge Roll intended to attend the event to speak with Giffords or her staff, but there is no indication Loughner would have known that.]

Yet not a single person pushing the blame-Palin line has offered a shred of evidence that Loughner ever saw Palin's electoral map, was motivated by it, was right-wing (anectodally it appears Loughner was quite left-wing as of a few years ago), was motivated by right-wing radio, or did any of the things being assumed by the left-blogosphere, the mainstream media and some Democratic politicians.

Not a shred of evidence connecting Loughner to Palin, the Tea Parties, or the right wing, yet the left-blogosphere, mainstream media and Democratic politicians have erupted into a frenzy of name-calling directed at Palin and those who oppose Obama's agenda.

Who knows what evidence will come forward in coming days, but based on what we know now, the attempt to blame Palin and opponents of Obama for the shooting is every bit as delusional as Loughner's attempt to blame government mind control.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have seen this type of reaction. The meme that opponents of Obama are crazy and dangerous has been an explicit Democratic Party campaign strategy for over two years. Here is just a partial list of events in which the left-wing and Democratic Party media operation has immediately blamed right-wing rhetoric, only to be proven wrong when the facts finally came out: Bill Sparkman, Amy Bishop, The Fort Hood Shooter, The IRS Plane Crasher, The Cabbie Stabbing, and The Pentagon Shooter.

The facts will come out about the shooting and murder by Loughner. Until then, we'll be subjected to the sickness of people who seek to use the crime to their political advantage and who will worry about the facts later on, if ever.

In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased and those injured.

Update: Congresswoman Giffords took part in the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House last week, an event which was denounced by the left-blogosphere and some Democrats as a stunt and a reflection of a fetish:
Interestingly, Think Progress posted this video on its YouTube channel back in November, of Democratic pollster (and former Hillary Clinton campaign manager) Mark Penn arguing that Obama needed "another Oklahoma City" in order to reconnect with the people: The manner in which the left-wing is seeking to exploit this crime reflects an attempt to replicate the political success Bill Clinton had after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Indeed, Politico reports (h/t Gateway Pundit) that a Democratic strategist is advising as follows:
One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”
Update No. 2 - Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, whose press conference yesterday has been widely cited as proof that right-wing vitriol led to the killings was just interviewed by Meghan Kelly on FoxNews (approx. 4:45 p.m.) and for the first time was forced to commit as to whether he had any evidence that Loughner actually listened to or was influenced by such political rhetoric. Dupnik admitted "it's just my opinion period" and that "I don't have that information yet."

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.co...n-arizona.html

[Jeanfromfillmore]

This was a post I found on an article in the LA Times. Something to think about.

When Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 30 others in the Ft. Hood massacre, the media was ever-so-careful to point out that this was the act of *one* deranged individual, and that his actions should in no way be an indictment of the Muslim faith. However when another deranged individual, Jared Lee Loughner, goes on a killing spree, the media is only-too-happy to automatically link and indict conservatives, the Tea Party, the midterm elections, and any other “injustice” it can think of to lump in. People are dead, though that won’t stop The Left from exploiting this horrible tragedy for their own political spin.

[Rim05]

There also was a second sickness on display, and it was the swiftness and the vigor with which the left-wing blogosphere and some more mainstream Democrats immediately sought to blame Sarah Palin and right-wing "vitriol" in general for the shooting.

I must disagree with you. I would not call it a sickness, I would call it 'remembering what that person said'. Palin has said many dumb things that were to incite her followers. When she posted that congressional map with the cross hairs of her targets, I was amazed that no one of the right did not tell her to TONE IT DOWN.
Michelle Bachmann, is another inciter. Look at her eyes and her out of control manner.

I will name a few of the worst ,
1. Sara Palin
2. Michelle Backmann
3. Glenn Beck
4. Rush Limbaugh

There are many more. People should be more aware of what their words can do to an already out of touch mind.


This is not just about the GOP. Everyone is screaming about Freedon of Speech, I think they forget about being responsible.
I look at the picture of that little girl and words are beyond me.