Click here to view this media In one of the most remarkable press conferences I’ve ever seen, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik called out for an end to the violent rhetoric that leads to acting-out by people who are ‘unbalanced’ not once, but three times. Calling Arizona a “Mecca for prejudice and bigotry”, Dupnik spoke sharply about the rhetoric coming from radio and television sources. Mr. Dupnik called the shooting a “very sad day for Tucson” and a “horrendous, horrendous, senseless, unbelievable crime.” And then he blamed the crime on the rhetoric — presumably political rhetoric — in the country. “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government,” he said. “The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.” Mr. Dupnik said it is time for the country to “do a little soul searching.” He added: ” The vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business … This has not become the nice United States that most of us grew up in. ” Later, he said: “It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That’s the sad thing about what’s going on in America: pretty soon we’re not going to be able to find reasonable decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office. ” In addition to his condemnation of rhetorical violence, he gave a few extra facts about the case. He said they were investigating a package received by Rep. Giffords’ office, and that they were looking for a second suspect who he later referred to as a “person of interest”. He is described as a white male in his 50s. He also confirmed 19 injured, 6 dead. 5 died on the scene, one died at the hospital. The one who died at the hospital was the nine-year old child referred to in earlier reports. The presence of a second suspect, or involved person, suggests there is much more to this than an unbalanced person showering a crowd with bullets, but without details it’s just too early to tell. Just now on MSNBC, Eugene Robinson said that the violent rhetoric now is coming exclusively from the right wing, and they should be accountable for it.
Continue reading …FOX News cuts away from ‘Giffords vigil’ when Sarah Palin’s name is mentioned
January 9, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Fox News started covering a vigil that was happening at the steps of the capitol in Arizona in honor of Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot earlier today. As soon as a young man mentioned Sarah Palin’s name, FOX News abruptly cut to commercial. It’s sickening. FOX News will do anything to protect the investment they have made in Sarah Palin, even at the expense of Rep. Giffords. Smith: in addition we are noticing outside the capitol in Phoenix with pictures courtesy of KSAZ, which I’m told you can put up there; a vigil is taking place… Man: Gabby, we have to look into our hearts and say to ourselves why, why do I want power. Not that I want power. And I say to you Sarah Palin. {Smash Cut to commercial.} . Sarah Palin has today been under criticism because of her insane “Target Map” in which Giffords was a member of those that were put in the cross-hairs. Elisabeth Hasselbeck was one of Sarah Palin’s biggest fans during the 2008 election so it surprising to see her bash Sarah Palin over her over the top “Re-Load” Face Book chart and called it despicable. In never-thought-you’d-see-the-day news, staunch conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck went off on The View yesterday, railing against none other than Sarah Palin. Why? Because Palin, for whom she campaigned during the ’08 election, released an ad that put 20 Democratic members of Congress literally in the crosshairs. — The former Alaska Governor’s Facebook page features her political action committee’s ad targeting the 20 Democratic incumbents, with a SarahPac map marking districts where Democrats voted “yes” for health care reform with guns . — Hasselbeck also opposes health reform, but she’s actually far more upset about how people on her own side of the political spectrum are handling themselves. “I think the way some Republicans are handling this is nothing more than despicable,” she said in response to Palin’s tasteless ad. “It’s disappointing to see this coming from the Party , and I would hope that leaders like Sarah Palin would end this.” The violence that we predicted is taking place and it’s even scaring the likes of Hasselbeck. FWIW, here’s the SarahPAC graphic in question: enlarge No wonder Fox and Palin want everyone to forget. Especially Fox. There’s nothing they won’t do to protect Sarah Palin. (h/t Dave Weigel tweet)
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Click here to view this media In all the discussion of the horrific and tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona today, let’s not forget the other victims, particularly Federal Judge John Roll , who, as Dave Weigel notes was also the victim of numerous death threats for his role in a ruling involving ranchers and immigrants: Hundreds of threats cascaded into the chambers of John M. Roll, the chief U.S. district judge in Arizona, in February after he allowed a lawsuit filed by illegal immigrants against a rancher to go forward. “They cursed him out, threatened to kill his family, said they’d come and take care of him. They really wanted him dead,” said a law enforcement official who heard the calls — which came from as far as Richmond and Baltimore — but spoke on condition of anonymity because no one has been charged. David Gonzales, the U.S. marshal in Arizona, said deputies went online and found Roll’s home address posted on a Web site containing threatening comments. They put the judge under 24-hour protection for about a month, guarding his home in a secluded area just outside Tucson, screening his mail and escorting him to court, to the gym and to Mass. “Some deputies went to church more in a week than they had in their lives,” Gonzales said. It certainly raises the possibility that Roll was also a secondary target of the shooter (witnesses say he clearly targeted Giffords). More on Roll here . We’re still trying to obtain a full list of the names of the victims of today’s tragedy. Here’s what we have so far, via the the HuffPo : Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said three Giffords staffers were shot in the attack. 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. According to CNN, one of the victims pronounced dead at the hospital was a 9-year-old girl: In all, six people died and 12 were wounded in the shooting, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, according to Rick Kastigar, bureau chief for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. President Barack Obama later said Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona was among the dead. A 9-year-old girl also died in the attack, according to authorities. The child, whose identity had not been released, was pronounced dead at a hospital. We’ll update as the names become available.
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The following statement was released by one of the more prominent tea party groups in response to the Saturday shooting in Arizona that killed six people, including a federal judge, and injured 12 more, including a Democratic congresswoman. Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer issued the following statement today: “We at the Tea Party Express are shocked and saddened to hear about the terrible tragedy that took place in Tucson today. It is appalling that anyone would commit such unthinkable violence against Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford[s], her staff, a sitting federal judge and the many other victims and families impacted.
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Click here to view this media The Tucson Police Department have identified Jared Lee Loughner as the shooter in custody in today’s shooting of Rep. Giffords and Federal Judge Roll. I’ve posted a video above posted to YouTube last month by user ” Classitup10 “, who identifies himself as Jared Lee Loughner, resident of Tucson, Arizona. Here’s a screen shot of his YouTube profile: enlarge Loughner spends a lot of words in his video talking about mind control and currency, which carries echoes of Glenn Beck’s rhetoric , particularly with regard to currency and revolution. The cable news stations, including MSNBC, are already trying to spin him as a “loner” who was surely not influenced by anything or anyone other than his own thought life. Yeah, right. Meanwhile, ten victims are in the hospital, five in critical condition (including Rep. Giffords). There are six fatalities, including a nine-year old child and a Federal judge. If any “adult conversations” are to be had, I’d say they should center around the impact of a constant drumbeat of violent rhetoric on the airwaves, the halls of government, and the Internet. I’ll update this with more information as I find it. Update #1: Here’s a link to a backgrounder on Loughner. The more info that emerges, the more I’m convinced the real crime here is ignoring cries for help from people who do not appear to be living in reality. It certainly looks as though he was retreating into a world where most of us do not live.
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CNN reports that Jared Lee Loughner has been taken into custody as the suspected shooter who killed six people in Tucson on Saturday. One of our readers pointed us to a YouTube account opened in October in that name. Related Entries January 8, 2011 Were These Bizarre Videos Made by the Arizona Shooter? (Update) January 8, 2011 Gabrielle Giffords’ Favorite Quote
Continue reading …Chris Matthews is Tired of the ‘Stupid Bickering Over Illegal Immigration’ — Thinks a National ID Card Will Solve It
January 8, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Chris Matthews proves once again that he never gets tired of the sound of his own voice. While he’s correct that the topic of immigration has been used as a political punching bag by a whole lot of people who are happy with the status quo as long as the fear mongering wins them votes, I don’t see how some national ID card that he’s pushing for here is going to solve the problem of people being taken advantage of for cheap labor. The unions Tweety loves to bash and did so again here want to make sure those immigrants aren’t being used as slave labor by allowing them to organize. Matthews would rather paint them as part of the problem while he runs his mouth. Transcript via Lexis Nexis . MATTHEWS: Well, let’s get back what I think the heart of the issue. And I think we might all agree. The issue’s illegal immigration and how you look at it, politically, culturally, socially, in terms of human sympathy. Mr. King, Congressman King, wouldn’t a guy or man, a woman or a young guy, whatever, still try to get into America if they thought there was a job here, even if they couldn’t have their kid born here and become an American? Wouldn’t there still be that great draw of a job in America? Isn’t that why people come from? And if you outlaw the job hiring, the illegal hiring, wouldn’t that be a better way to stop illegal immigration, stop the illegal hiring? KING: Well, Chris, I’m for doing all things to put an end to illegal immigration in the United States. MATTHEWS: But we don’t do that. But that’s the main reason people come here. KING: And this is one of them. MATTHEWS: No. The main reason people come to the United States is to get a job. And business will not allow us to have a simple I.D. system, where people coming into the country can be checked out by an employer. If you want somebody to cut your lawn, you say, can I see your card, a simple card, so you’re not breaking the law and that person is not breaking the law? Why don`t we have a simple system like that? I don’t understand it. You can’t get served in this country if you’re not 21 years old. You have to show an I.D. card. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Huh? KING: The E-Verify system. We have a simple E-Verify system. I’m for making it permanent and mandatory. I’m for incorporating it into the Real I.D. Act, which brings the IRS into this and denies the business write-off for wages and benefits that are paid to illegals. That turns your $10-an-hour illegal into a $16-an-hour illegal and requires the IRS to cooperate with Social Security and Department of Homeland Security, Chris. MATTHEWS: I don’t think it’s working. It’s not working. Is it? KING: Well, we have got to get it implemented into law, that particular bill. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Let me go to — you know, I have a simple proposal I’m going to ask both of you guys, because I think we’re going to be arguing about this 30, 40, 50 years from now. When we’re all gone, they’re going to be arguing about it. There’s going to be illegal immigration. There’s going to be hundreds of millions of people here illegally and the conservatives are still going to say, throw them out. And nobody is going to get thrown out. And the people here illegally are just going to try to make it a decent life as best they can. We will never get any further in this debate until we agree on a compromise. Here’s a compromise. Everybody here gets to stay here. Everybody who comes in tomorrow, if you come illegally, you’re dead, you’re finished, you’re not going to get a job. What’s wrong with a real tough compromise, a real enforced system, but we don’t throw anybody out? That would be my compromise. Congressman Grijalva, isn`t that the fair way to do it? If you’re here, you stay here, we give you a piece of paper, you become an American eventually. But anybody coming in tomorrow, we’re going to have an actual I.D. card system and stop the flow. I don’t think either side really wants to end this issue. I think both sides love the argument. That’s my theory. Your thoughts, Congressman Grijalva first. (CROSSTALK) GRIJALVA: I agree. I think a verifiable identification for the ability to work here, I think processing the people that are here undocumented now and giving them the appropriate work permission is a good way to go. And then I think then you begin to understand who’s here legally and who’s not. Until you do that step, we’re not going to solve this problem. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: OK, Congressman, simple question. If we could stop all future illegal immigration starting tomorrow, they don’t come across the border — you can put the NBC cameras out there, nobody’s coming across illegally because you can’t get a job in this country anymore without an I.D. card, but the people here are allowed to stay here, what’s wrong with that compromise? KING: Well, I might be tempted by your hypothetical proposal here if I hasn’t lived through a real one. That was the amnesty act of 1986. And I had employees and I kept the records on that. MATTHEWS: They never enforced Simpson-Mazzoli. KING: No, nobody enforced it. And nobody is going to enforce the current laws we have — MATTHEWS: I know. Well, I’m talking about an enforced bill. KING: — because the executive branch doesn’t have the will. That’s the problem today. MATTHEWS: Well, look, I think we can always have excuses, but I would like to see somebody agree. I like, Grijalva, Congressman, I like the principle. If we can agree on the principle, to stop arguing about something and solve a problem. This is a manmade problem. Jack Kennedy said the problems of man are manmade. They can be solved by man. This isn’t rocket science. And it bugs me that the unions and all these other people in this country won’t solve the problem. They ought to solve it tomorrow. I’m tired of this stupid bickering over illegal immigration. Thank you, Congressman King. I don’t like your idea. But thanks for coming on. KING: Close the border shut off the jobs magnet. And look at the Real ID Act, Chris. Read that. You will like it when you do. MATTHEWS: Congressman Grijalva, thank you, sir. GRIJALVA: Thank you. MATTHEWS: And stop talking about throwing people out of the country. You will get people to listen to you. KING: You didn’t hear me say that. MATTHEWS: Up next: David Letterman’s list of what you might not know. A lot of people talk like that, too many.
Continue reading …Eliminationist rhetoric and the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords: There were plenty of precursors
January 8, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media This is video of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on MSNBC on March 25, 2010, after her offices were vandalized, talking about the need for civility in our democratic discourse. There will be a lot of hand-wringing in the coming days over the shooting of Rep. Giffords this morning at a constituent event — some of it, almost certainly, from the folks at Fox, who will wonder aloud how this kind of thing could happen. It can happen, in fact, because conservatives so thoughtlessly and readily use violent eliminationist rhetoric when talking about “liberals” (to wit: anyone who is not a conservative). They will adamantly deny it, of course, but the cold reality is that this kind of talk creates permission for angry and violent people to act it out. Example A: This summer, Pima County Republicans held a “target shoot” event in support of her teabagging opponent, as David Safier at Blogs for Arizona noted at the time: enlarge There’s nothing wrong with having a gun-themed event, if that’s what you want to do. Count me out, but if you want to meet at a shooting range instead of a bowling alley or a baseball stadium, that’s your right and your privilege. There’s also nothing wrong with having a “Help remove Gabrielle Giffords” event. That’s what the R candidates in CD-8 are trying to do. But to put it all together, starting with “Get on Target,” moving to “remove Gabrielle Giffords,” then finishing with “Shoot a fully automatic M16″ . . . That goes way beyond cute and clever and moves into a frightening linkage between shooting guns and removing Giffords. Giffords, as she explained in the video above, And Logan warned that it was just a matter of time before we saw this kind of violence last spring, when a gun was found after a Gifford event. We don’t yet know why the shooter — identified as a 22-year-old man named Jared Laughner — shot Giffords and a number of other people; we’ll learn more as the day progresses. But it’s impossible to survey the events so far and not come to the preliminary conclusion that this was yet another awful act inspired by right-wing hate rhetoric. I warned against precisely this kind of outcome in my book, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right . Events like this one, explained then, reflect a particular trend that has manifested itself with increasing intensity in the past decade: the positing of elimination as the solution to political disagreement. Rather than engaging in a dialogue over political and cultural issues, one side simply dehumanizes its opponents and suggests, and at times demands, their excision. This tendency is almost singularly peculiar to the American Right and manifests itself in many venues: on radio talk shows and in political speeches, in bestselling books and babbling blogs. Most of all, we can feel it on the ground: in our everyday lives, in our encounters, big and small, with each other. When the conservative movement’s True Believers are fed a steady diet of extraordinary warnings intended to induce a paranoiac, panicked fear — They’re Destroying America! They Want to End Your Liberty! Health Care Reform is the End of America! — and simultaneously fed a diet of suggestions that the solution is simply to do away with them (see Sean Hannity’s recent bit of eliminationist “humor” ), then what other outcome should you expect? People are acting out in an eliminationist manner because they have been inundated with, and have naturally internalized, a broad range of eliminationist ideas and talking points. Such speech is being bandied about in every cultural bandwidth—from talk radio, to the local press and in letters to the editor, to blogs and national mainstream media. I’ve also explained the dynamic at work here : The critical components that distinguish irresponsible free speech from responsible are interworking pieces: whether it is intended to harm by scapegoating or demonizing, and whether or not it is provably false. In the Goldmark case, the things the Duck Club told Rice not only demonized the Goldmarks, but they were also things that were simply not true — though the tellers wished ardently that they were, they were purely concoctions of their fevered imaginations. This is true of so much far-right wingnuttery — the “Birther” conspiracy theories, the FEMA-camp claims, the “constitutionalist” theories about taxation and the Federal Reserve, to list just a few examples — and yet people believe them anyway. This rhetoric also acts as a kind of wedge between the people who absorb it and the real world. There is always a kind of cognitive dissonance that arises from believing things that are provably untrue, and people who begin to fanatically cling to beliefs that do not comport with reality find themselves increasingly willing to buy into other similarly unhinged beliefs. For those who are already unhinged, the effects are particularly toxic. All of these theories, you’ll observe, serve the explicit purpose of supporting a scapegoating narrative. And a number of them have been featured in some shape, form, or fashion, in the mainstream public discourse because they have been presented seriously for discussion by various right-wing talking heads, most notably Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs. But pointing out their ethical and moral culpability inevitably means that they immediately blame it on the “crazy” people, and who can take responsibility for “crazy” people? Back when Sarah Palin was targeting Democrats by urging her followers to “lock and load” and placing targets on a map for specific Democrats — one of them being Giffords — she denied that there was anything wrong with that. Today, that graphic (which Danny Schecter has preserved) has been taken down. A little for that, dontcha think?
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head Saturday, on Facebook lists her favorite quote as this line from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, … let us strive on to finish the work we are in, … to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Sadly relevant given the day’s events, and the fate of the author of those moving words. The full text of Lincoln’s speech can be read here . The full quote, which Giffords edited for her page, is: With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Related Entries January 6, 2011 Underwhelmer of the House January 5, 2011 The House of Professors
Continue reading …Via email: STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT This morning, in an unspeakable tragedy, a number of Americans were shot in Tuscon, Arizona, at a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded. We do not yet have all the answers. What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society. I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers.
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