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11 Jan 2011 09:48

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U.S.: Jared Lee Loughner’s parents: Recluses, shaken to the core

  • They’re in there now … They’re both in there crying. He’s crying and hanging on to me and she’s not even out of bed.
  • Wayne Smith • Regarding his neighbors, Randy and Amy Loughner, whose son Jared is the main suspect in Saturday’s Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Smith, who is not close to the couple, nevertheless has become a rock for the couple, who has a reputation for reclusiveness, since the shooting. Smith (who didn’t even know the family’s last name until Saturday) was the one who broke the news to them. “I said, ‘Guys, I hate to be the one to tell you, but he shot a bunch of people,'” Smith said. He was there for the Loughners, who had lived in the neighborhood since before Jared, 22, was born, in their time of great sorrow. “We stood right out there and cried for an hour,” he continued. “I’m a softie.” An awful incident all around. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 11:07

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U.S.: How Congress is overreacting to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting

  • legislation Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Brady wants to make it “a federal crime to threaten or incite violence against a member of Congress or a federal official.” Aren’t the laws on the books already good enough?
  • packin’ North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler and Utah’s very own Jason Chaffetz plan to carry concealed weapons from now on. We guess that’s understandable, but still an overreaction. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 10:46

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U.S.: Bryce Tierney: A close friend discusses Jared Lee Loughner

  • Hey man, it’s Jared. Me and you had good times. Peace out. Later.
  • Jared Lee Loughner • Leaving a voicemail for a good friend, Bryce Tierney, in the hours before Loughner shot and killed six people and wounded Gabrielle Giffords. Tierney has a long history with Loughner, and notes that the suspect had some strange quirks, including an obsession with lucid dreams: “I saw his dream journal once,” Tierney said. “That’s the golden piece of evidence. You want to know what goes on in Jared Loughner’s mind, there’s a dream journal that will tell you everything.” Tierney also said that Loughner had an apparent beef with Giffords that goes back years – specifically, he asked a question at one of her events that wasn’t answered to Loughner’s liking. The question? “What is government if words have no meaning?” Giffords’ answer to that pseudo-intellectual drivel may have slowly pushed Loughner over the edge. Really. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 22:34

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Politics: Max Headroom: Sheriff Clarence Dupnik takes on “vitriolic rhetoric”

  • To simply the current societal argument going on right now: Some are arguing that the current anger and rage in our country’s politics have influenced events like the Gabrielle Giffords tragedy in Tucson on Saturday. Pima County, Az. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has perhaps been the leading voice for this kind of opinion. Many conservatives have been of the other opinion on this whole issue. This piece on Fox News, led by Megyn Kelly narrows the two points into one convenient video. Dupnik has some valid points, but Kelly arguably wins – she sticks to her guns and keeps asking for hard evidence, not speculation. She never gets it.
  • Olbermann’s repudiation hunt “If all of these are not responsible for what happened in Tucson, they must now be responsible for doing everything they can to make sure Tucson does not happen again.” It takes a few minutes for Olbermann’s main point to become clear, but when it does, it shines. The reason why it shines? Because he criticizes himself and his own side in the clip. That’s why it sticks to your bones.
  • The most heart-wrenching Story “I just assumed they got into a car accident.” When Christina Taylor Green went to witness Gabrielle Giffords speak on Saturday, she went with the kind of ambition that most nine-year-olds don’t have. And that’s what hurts the most about this incident. Gabrielle Giffords is still holding on and may make it. But her potential successor did not. You could feel it from the way her mom talks. Our heart breaks for her.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 19:56

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U.S.: Jared Lee Loughner charged: Gabrielle Giffords shooting update

  • NO the second person of interest wasn’t involved at all source
  • » Other updates: Jared Lee Loughner has been charged with five separate criminal charges, including multiple counts of murder and attempted assassination of a U.S. congresswoman – with evidence in the incident coming from, on top of other sources, surveillance tape. Loughner, by the way, isn’t talking, but he did leave a note on an envelope for investigators scoping out his home: “I planned ahead.” With the envelope was a letter from Giffords in appreciation of Loughner’s visit to a similar 2007 event as the one on Saturday. Oh, and the initial 911 call was released. Whew.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 12:08

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U.S.: Did Jared Loughner have ties to racist, anti-Zionist group?

  • claim A report from the Department of Homeland Security suggests that Gabrielle Giffords shooting suspect Jared Loughner has ties to American Renaissance, a group they called “anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government) and anti-semitic.” Hmm.
  • denial The group’s founder, Jared Taylor, denies this: “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.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 09:51

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U.S.: Posted without comment: Today’s Arizona Daily Star front page

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Jan 2011 22:20

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U.S.: To recap: Here’s what happened to Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson

  • one bullet went straight through Gifford’s brain – she’s currently getting heavy medical care
  • six number of deaths in the attack, including a judge; 13 more (beyond Gifford) were injured
  • nine the age of the youngest victim, an innocent bystander caught in the middle source
  • » A second suspect? Authorities are currently looking for a 50-year-old man who reportedly helped main suspect Jared Lee Loughner with the crime. He hasn’t been caught yet.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

08 Jan 2011 22:00

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Politics: On Gabrielle Giffords, Sarah Palin, tonal problems, etc.

  • Probably the most interesting take we’ve seen on this whole incident comes from James Fallows. “It is legitimate,” Fallows writes, “to discuss whether there is a connection between that tone and actual outbursts of violence, whatever the motivations of this killer turn out to be.” The suspect – we don’t know what was going through his head, and who knows if we will. But a generally vitriolic political environment can have an unwieldy, uncontrollable result in the wrong hands. The reason why things like Sarah Palin’s “Take Back the 20” or her congressional opponent’s gun-shooting event worry us have nothing to do with Palin having a direct role in the shooting, but with the way that general anger and rage has played an influential role in our political climate. You have to be careful with this kind of imagery. A good comparison Fallows makes is the JFK assassination, where he offers a suggestion that Lee Harvey Oswald’s motives may have been influenced by the general anger and discontent in Dallas at the time of Kennedy’s visit. Arizona has a lot going on right now. It’s fair to draw comparisons, even if on the surface, they aren’t so clear. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jan 2011 17:24

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U.S.: Why Gabrielle Giffords got into politics, in her words

  • I first got involved with politics because I was frustrated when I was opening up my newspaper every single morning and seeing my great state of Arizona continuing to be at the bottom, whether it be poor-people funding, or mental health funding, or making sure that we could preserve our beautiful open spaces and in life you can either complain about something or you can try to fix it so I decided to run for political office.
  • Rep. Gabrielle Giffords • Explaining why she chose to get into politics. This is probably how a lot of people feel. Whatever happened to the congresswoman is a significant moment, one that really makes us sad for our country at large. Look … whatever happened with Jared Loughner, whatever his motives, whatever, elected leaders should not be put into situations like this. Giffords comes from a good place. Remember that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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