Evan Burton Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 It's been noticed that shooting victim Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was on Sarah Palin's 'take back the twenty' 'hit list'. Co-incidence? Are the Tea Party taking more 'direct measures'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 By TERRY TANG, AMANDA LEE MYERS and DAVID ESPO, Associated Press –23 mins agoTUCSON, Ariz. – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday by a gunman who opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with voters, killing a federal judge and five others in a rampage that rattled the country and left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect over the edge. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Giffords was the target of a gunman whom he described as mentally unstable and possibly acting along with an accomplice. He said Giffords was among 13 people wounded in the melee that killed six people, including Arizona's chief federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and an aide for the Democratic lawmaker. He said the rampage ended only after two people tackled the gunman. Doctors were optimistic about Giffords surviving as she was responding to commands from doctors despite having a bullet go through her head. "With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound," said Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general who lives in Tucson. The sheriff pointed to the vitriolic political rhetoric that has consumed the country as he denounced the shooting that claimed several of his friends as victims, including U.S. District Judge John Roll. The judge celebrated Mass on Saturday morning like he does every day before stopping by to say hello to his good friend Giffords. "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," the sheriff said. "And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry." Click image to see scenes from the shooting in ArizonaThe reaction to the shooting rippled across the country as Americans were aghast at the sight of such a violent attack on a sitting member of Congress. The shooting cast a pall over the Capitol as politicians of all stripes denounced the shooting as a horrific and senseless act of violence. Obama dispatched his FBI director to Arizona. Capitol police asked members of Congress to be more vigilant about security in the wake of the shooting, and some politicians expressed hope that the killing spree serves as a wakeup call at a time when the political climate has become so emotionally charged. "It is a tragedy for Arizona, and a tragedy for our entire country," President Barack Obama declared. Giffords, 40, is a three-term moderate Democrat who narrowly won re-election in November against a tea party candidate as conservatives across the country sought to throw her from office over her support of the health care law. Her office in Tucson was vandalized in the hours after the House passed the overhaul last March as anger over the law spread across the country. Related Articles Officials: Arizona shooting suspect claims he acted alone Giffords had been target of violent threats Rep. Giffords a leading voice in immigration debate Political world reacts with shock, sadness over shooting of Giffords Full text: Obama's statement on congresswoman's shooting Factbox: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in Arizona MapPolice say the shooter was in custody, and was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Loughner, 22. Officials said he used a pistol with an extended clip to carry out the attack. U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly. The suspect's exact motivation was not clear, but a former classmate described Loughner as a pot-smoking loner who had rambling beliefs about the world. The Army said he tried to enlist in December 2008 but was rejected for reasons the military did not provide. Federal law enforcement officials were poring over versions of a MySpace page that belonged to Jared Loughner and over a YouTube video published weeks ago under an account "Classitup10" and linked to him. The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the gunman being identified by officials, included a mysterious "Goodbye friends" message published hours before the shooting and exhorted his friends to "Please don't be mad at me." In one of several Youtube videos, which featured text against a dark background, Loughner described inventing a new U.S. currency and complained about the illiteracy rate among people living in Giffords' congressional district in Arizona. "I know who's listening: Government Officials, and the People," Loughner wrote. "Nearly all the people, who don't know this accurate information of a new currency, aren't aware of mind control and brainwash methods. If I have my civil rights, then this message wouldn't have happen (sic)." Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said three Giffords staffers were shot. One died, and the other two are expected to survive. Gabe Zimmerman, a former social worker who served as Giffords' director of community outreach, died. Giffords had worked with the judge in the past to line up funding to build a new courthouse in Yuma, and Obama hailed him for his nearly 40 years of service as a judge. Giffords was first elected to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in the 2006 election, and has been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in 2012 and a gubernatorial prospect in 2014. Giffords is married to astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who has piloted space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. The two met in China in 2003 while they were serving on a committee there, and were married in January 2007. Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the Senate Commerce Space and Science Subcommittee, said her husband is training to be the next commander of the space shuttle mission slated for April. His brother is currently serving aboard the International Space Station, Nelson said. Giffords, known as "Gabby," tweeted shortly before the shooting, describing her "Congress on Your Corner" event: "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later." "It's not surprising that today Gabby was doing what she always does, listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors," Obama said. "That is the essence of what our democracy is about." Giffords has drawn the ire of the right in the last year, especially from politicians like Sarah Palin over her support of the health care bill. It's still not clear if the gunman had the health care debate in mind or was focused on his own unique set of political beliefs as witnessed in the Internet videos. Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets. Giffords' Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House voted to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window. More recently, the sheriff also said that someone in a "very angry audience" at a Giffords event dropped a weapon out of their pants. In an interview after the vandalism, Giffords referred to the animosity against her by conservatives. Palin listed Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the midterm elections because of the lawmakers' support for the health care law. "For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC. In the hours after the shooting, Palin issued a statement in which she expressed her "sincere condolences" to the family of Giffords and the other victims. The sheriff used the word "vitriol" several times to express his disgust with the political climate in the country and in Arizona, a heavily conservative state that put itself at the center of the national debate on immigration last year with a contentious crackdown on illegal immigrants. Residents and politicians here have also vocally opposed Obama and Democrats on health care. The shooting occurred at a shopping center called La Toscana Village as Giffords met with voters outside a Safeway grocery store. Mark Kimball, a communications staffer for Giffords, described the scene as "just complete chaos, people screaming, crying." The gunman fired at Giffords and her district director and started shooting indiscriminately at staffers and others standing in line to talk to the congresswoman, Kimball said. "He was not more than three or four feet from the congresswoman and the district director," he said. Law enforcement officials and reporters from around the country quickly descended on Tucson, the second biggest city in the state and home to the University of Arizona. The scene has been converted into a command post with about a dozen or so emergency vehicles and agents in FBI jackets milling about the location. Outside Giffords' office on Capitol Hill, a handful of congressional staffers could be seen walking into her office without comment, some with roller bags and one who was in tears. About a half dozen yellow flowers placed by one mourner sat outside the door. In Loughner's middle-class neighborhood — about a five-minute drive from the scene — sheriff's deputies had much of the street blocked off as curious neighbors asked what was going on. The neighborhood sits just off a bustling Tucson street and is lined with desert landscaping and palm trees. Neighbors said Loughner kept to himself but that they often saw him walking his dog, almost always wearing a hooded sweat shirt listening to his iPod. Neighbors said Loughner lived with his parents. Loughner's MySpace profile indicates he attended and graduated from school in Tucscon and had taken college classes. He did not say if he was employed. "We're getting out of here. We are freaked out," 33-year-old David Cleveland, who lives a few doors down from Loughner's house, told The Associated Press. Cleveland said he was taking his wife and children, ages 5 and 7, to her parent's home when they heard about the shooting. "When we heard about it we just got sick to our stomachs," Cleveland said. "We just wanted to hold our kids tight." High school classmate Grant Wiens, 22, said Loughner seemed to be "floating through life" and "doing his own thing." "Sometimes religion was brought up or drugs. He smoked pot, I don't know how regularly. And he wasn't too keen on religion from what I could tell," Wiens said. Lynda Sorenson said she took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus and told the Arizona Daily Star he was "obviously very disturbed." "He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," she said. In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he completed a diversion program, according to online records. "He has kind of a troubled past, I can tell you that," Dupnik said. The shooting comes amid a highly charged political environment that has seen several dangerous threats against lawmakers but nothing that reached the point of actual violence. A San Francisco man upset with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support of health care reform pleaded guilty to threatening the Democratic congresswoman and her family, calling her directly on March 25 and threatening to destroy her Northern California home if she voted for health care reform. In July, a California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics engaged in a shootout with highway patrol officers after planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group. The man said he wanted to "start a revolution" by killing people at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event. "I don't see the connection," between the fundraisers featuring weapons and Saturday's shooting, said John Ellinwood, Kelly's spokesman. "I don't know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don't see the connection. "Arizona is a state where people are firearms owners — this was just a deranged individual," Ellinwood said. Giffords is known in her southern Arizona district for her numerous public outreach meetings, which she admitted in an October interview with The Associated Press can sometimes be challenging. "You know, the crazies on all sides, the people who come out, the planet earth people," she said with a following an appearance with Adm. Mike Mullen in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was peppered with bizarre questions from an audience member. "I'm glad this just doesn't happen to me." ___ Associated Press Writers Pauline Arrillaga in Tucson, Jacques Billeaud, Bob Christie and Paul Davenport in Phoenix, and Espo, Matt Apuzzo, Eileen Sullivan, Adam Goldman and Charles Babington in Washington contributed to this report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (Reuters) - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7080AB20110109 Even before the shooting of a congresswoman on Saturday, the state of Arizona was in the throes of a convulsive political year that had come to symbolize a bitter partisan divide across much of America.The motives of the alleged shooter, who wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people in Tucson, are not known and they may not be political. But after an acrimonious election in November that followed months of bitter exchanges, politics looms large in the wake of the shooting and a local sheriff pointedly blamed hateful political rhetoric for inciting violence. "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told a news conference. "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry." The spark in Arizona's political firestorm was the border state's move to crack down on illegal immigration last summer, a bill proposed by conservative lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer. The law known as SB 1070 "superheated the political divide more than I've ever seen it in Arizona," said Bruce Merrill, a longtime political analyst and pollster at Arizona State University. A majority of Arizonans supported it, but opponents and many in the large Hispanic population felt it was unconstitutional and would lead to discrimination. As the law went into effect, Congressman Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and opponent of SB 1070, closed a district office in Yuma after staff found a shattered window and a bullet inside. Giffords favored a softer approach to illegal immigrants and was expected to push for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress that was sworn in this week in Washington. ANGRY RHETORIC ABOUNDS Other issues divided Arizona. There was also anger over the economic crisis. The once-booming desert state was one of the places hardest hit by America's mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis. Add to that rage over policies by Democratic President Barack Obama, namely his healthcare reform passed last year, and the rising national debt -- both issues that rallied conservatives in the last Elections, especially those tied to the Tea Party movement. "I feel huge sorrow, that's just been building in southern Arizona for some time, this hate, hate, fear, somewhat around SB 1070, somewhat around healthcare reform. It definitely heated up when President Obama was elected," said Molly McKasson Morgan, 63, who participated in Tucson politics and knew Giffords... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Thorne Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Alleged assassin Loughner's Youtube videos are full of references to mind control, funnily enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) Is the American right literally painting targets on the heads of prominent young Democrats before they can even run for president? http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Giffords_Worried_about_Sarah_Palin_Putting_Her_in_Crosshairs_110108Giffords Worried about Sarah Palin Putting Her in Crosshairs Saturday, January 08, 2011 Giffords Worried about Sarah Palin Putting Her in Crosshairs Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), was shot through the head on Saturday, January 8. Back on March 22, 2010, just hours after Giffords voted to pass the health reform bill, the glass door of her office in Tucson was smashed The following evening, Sarah Palin revealed her list of 20 Democratic members of Congress she urged her followers to defeat. She illustrated her list with a map of the United States that displayed a rifle scope on top of each of the 20 districts she was targeting. One of the targeted districts was that of Gabrielle Giffords. Palin also tweeted, “Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!” Unfortunately, it was Giffords who got it right and Todd who got it wrong. Here is the MSNBC interview. Giffords’ comments about Palin appear at the 2:20 mark. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Talks Palin Cross Hairs It isn't even noticed or commented on, in Jean Meserve's commentary that no description of the "second person" has yet been released by authorities! Police 'actively pursuing' second person in Tucson shooting - CNN.com Jan 8, 2011 ... AZ shooting suspect may have had help. Rep. Giffords reads the 1st .... CNN's Jessica Yellin, Susan Candiotti, Jeanne Meserve, Dana Bash and ... http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/08/arizona.shooting/index.html Edited January 9, 2011 by Tom Scully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Burton Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) Seems this guy was over at ATS as well: http://www.abovetops...hread591520/pg1 http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread592730/pg1 Edited January 9, 2011 by Evan Burton added second URL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Going by the videos, Gabrielle Giffords seems a sensible politician. It is interesting that at his press conference, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik seems to be blaming Sarah Palin for the shooting. Statements from the police also suggest that they don't believe this is the work of a lone-gunman. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12143774 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Going by the videos, Gabrielle Giffords seems a sensible politician. It is interesting that at his press conference, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik seems to be blaming Sarah Palin for the shooting. Statements from the police also suggest that they don't believe this is the work of a lone-gunman. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12143774 They will fully embrace the LN option, and the real target was the judge. Cermak...I mean Giffords, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The media is already stressing that the judge was until recently under the protection of federal marshalls because of his role in a controversial immigration case. In the Cermak shooting, the state of Florida and the governor played the Jack Ruby role, dispatching the LN gunman in record time.... Thank heavens for all guns, all the time, and liberal use of capital punishment as a deterrent. Michael Moore compared Canadians to Americans in his documentary, "Bowling for Columbine". We Americans are a sick bunch, at least in the gun totin', bible thumpin', capital punishment happy, red states. The state of New York has done a remarkable job reducing gun violence through strick gun control laws and no executions since 1963. Texas has done the exact opposite. What must people in saner societies, in Canada, the UK, and Australia, really think of us? You're probably too polite to share your bluntest opinions. If I think our image and attitude is awful, and I live here, what must you think? Sarah Palin is a terrorist who is seriously regarded by too many as a presidential contender. Obama's disregard for enforcing the law, the provisions of the Constitution, and human rights principles makes him closely resemble former president Cheney. What would be the most persuasive reason for any intelligent, left of center oriented, anti-war, none gun totin' American to continue to live in the U.S.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Burton Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 I really like Americans but cannot understand why people think they need guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Going by the videos, Gabrielle Giffords seems a sensible politician. It is interesting that at his press conference, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik seems to be blaming Sarah Palin for the shooting. Statements from the police also suggest that they don't believe this is the work of a lone-gunman. http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-12143774 And now the copy-cats will come out of the woodwork, just as they did after the incident at the Hinkley Hilton. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I really like Americans but cannot understand why people think they need guns. The most enthusiastic guns rights advocates (second amendment to the bill of rights is the right to bear arms, but it was never interpreted as a universal, non-militia reference, until the two Bushes stacked the Supreme Court with non-revisionist, revisionist extremists to gain that ruling...) claim they have to keep their guns to keep government "in check". They keep it in check but pushing it into the execution business, and by cheering as it stomps on every amendment and article in the Constitution, except....the second amendment. Is Belize really all its cracked up to be, as far as a refuge for Americans seeking political asylum? I am hoping it is... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize Supreme Court: 2nd Amendment Supersedes Local Gun-Control Laws - TIME Jun 29, 2010 ... The decision that the Second Amendment applies to state and local gun-control laws is a big deal. But it's not clear how many such laws will ... http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2000454,00.html http://nadler.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1582&Itemid=132Friday, 07 January 2011 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who has served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties since 2007, responded to news that the Republican-led Judiciary Committee will change the name of the Subcommittee to the “Constitution Subcommittee.” He issued the following statement: “Once again, the new Republican majority has shown that it isn’t quite as committed to the Constitution as its recent lofty rhetoric would indicate. Today, it has yet again shown its contempt for key portions of the document – the areas of civil rights and civil liberties – by banishing those words from the title of the Constitution Subcommittee. In 1995, when Newt Gingrich became Speaker, one of the Republicans’ first acts was to change the name of that Subcommittee. For anyone who thought the change was merely for rhetorical purposes, our experience over 12 years of Republican rule showed just how hostile they are to individual rights and liberties. With this move, we can only assume that they are intent on more of the same. It is going to be a long and difficult struggle to protect these cherished rights and liberties from assaults by the Republican majority. “Republicans have made a great deal of noise in recent days about standing up for the Constitution. But, in less than 48 hours, they have already revealed their true intentions. In addition to reading selectively from the Constitution on the House floor in a much-exalted ceremony on Thursday, Republicans also blatantly violated the Constitution by allowing two of their Members to vote without having been sworn-in, and introduced unconstitutional legislation aimed at bypassing the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause. And, with the Subcommittee name change, they are again telling Americans that only some parts of the Constitution matter. Fundamental rights and liberties appear to have been dropped from the Constitution by far-right ideologues. “As the incoming Ranking Democratic Member on the newly renamed Constitution Subcommittee, I will resume my role leading the fight against the anti-civil liberties and anti-civil rights agenda of the extremist Republican majority.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Seems this guy was over at ATS as well: http://www.abovetops...hread591520/pg1 http://www.abovetops...hread592730/pg1 Evan, I don't see it. Did the guy who shot up Arizona contribute to either of those threads on the moon landings? BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Burton Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Erad3 seems to be the same person, as they were talking about exactly the same things, using the same language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Knight Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 BBC were using feed from a local TV station from the shootings. Last night around 2AM UK time, that station was reporting Gabrielle Gifford dead for a while (ticker across the screen). BBC also reporting that Gifford had been targeted before - her office trashed and some other attacks on her body. The judge was being reported as a bystander, and Gifford as the target.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn Meredith Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 His middle name "Lee" jumped out at me and according to Jack White his last name sounds like the word "loner" ...On his utube there is mind control stuff....All this is starting to take on a deeper politcal meaning than just the tea party hate stuff... I agree Evan, the whole gun thing has always given me the creeps. Gun violence in this country has been out of control as long as I can remember. I am a former Canadian but I am sure I would feel the same about the gun craze no matter where I was from. Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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