What hell? I just got a breaking news alert that a Congressman has been shot?

[dogmush]

Several of us on this board have said versions of "It's getting worse" and "Violence is coming" since the Oct/Nov time frame.  Why the surprise when it starts to happen? I think it likely to come from the left, simply because they are the ones without hope right now and the hopeless are more likely to resort to extremism.

I think it's likely that we are going to seem more political violence in this country.  There are a lot of crazies out there, and a whole lot of people telling them the world is ending.  SOME of them are going to believe it.

[Pb]

The shooter is just as likely to be a Republican/conservative/right winger fed up with the BS of the Republican party.  Not that political affiliations matter.

I doubt it.  I'm guessing a either crazy person or a leftist.

[Ben]

Maybe castle key or someone can weigh in: It's most likely the news getting things wrong, but I just heard mention that the Capitol Police that were there were armed with revolvers. It's been a while since I saw any of them in person, but I don't recall them carrying revolvers?

[K Frame]

Last I heard Capitol Police were still carrying Glocks or Sigs in .40 as their duty weapons.

Given that Scalise has a protection detail given his position, and they weren't at the capitol at the time, they might have been carrying off duty weapons.

[Perd Hapley]

Maybe castle key or someone can weigh in: It's most likely the news getting things wrong, but I just heard mention that the Capitol Police that were there were armed with revolvers. It's been a while since I saw any of them in person, but I don't recall them carrying revolvers?

"Revolver" is journalism for "sidearm."

[Ben]

Sorry to derail already, but:

Interviewee: "It was an AK-47"
Reporter: "How do you know?"
Interviewee: "I play video games".
Reporter: "There you have it, a high powered rifle was reportedly used".

Other reporter: "A curved magazine clip".

Other reporter: "A large gauge rifle that may have sprayed up to 100 rounds".

Argh.

[Perd Hapley]

As we know, Virginia has no background checks, and everybody carries concealed rifles.

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/874972278576033792

[RevDisk]

Several of us on this board have said versions of "It's getting worse" and "Violence is coming" since the Oct/Nov time frame.  Why the surprise when it starts to happen? I think it likely to come from the left, simply because they are the ones without hope right now and the hopeless are more likely to resort to extremism.

I think it's likely that we are going to seem more political violence in this country.  There are a lot of crazies out there, and a whole lot of people telling them the world is ending.  SOME of them are going to believe it.

Ayep.

As always, it's a mix of issues. But yes, we're going back to the good old days of hyper partisan politics and yellow journalism. Think Spanish American War type politics.

People tend to build echo chambers for themselves. Most people on the left get their news from HuffPo, MSNBC, or CNN. People on the right get their news from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox News, etc. Accuracy on either side is a joke, and even when accurate it's framed by partisan ideology. The internet offers a huge range of options for news, most of them are not used by most people.

The 24/7 news cycle is also pretty bad 99.9% of the time. Everything is Armageddon, all the time. No context is provided. News by absolutely everyone is fast and generally bad quality. Hence why stories change ten times. Because news agencies push information without actually verifying it.

The other sad aspect of the internet is... Crazy people are being told they're not crazy. No, it's not just people who identify as otherkin transpacific Apache Helicopters. But those types too. Before the interwebz, you had a large number of people with small or large mental issues and they were just crazy. Now, they can and do find other people like themselves. Who tell them they are not crazy. Add in echo chambers, it can get ugly in a hurry. People start seeing other people expressing opinions as Literally Nazis, or Literally Hitler. Or whatever their mind substitutes as being the real world absolutely worst thing that could be created by humans, such as Hawaiian pizza.

[Doggy Daddy]

Or whatever their mind substitutes as being the real world absolutely worst thing that could be created by humans, such as Hawaiian pizza.

Hawaiian pizza isn't pizza, but it's still good if assembled properly.

Now, back to the pre-veer veer.

[Ben]

And the VA Governor during a press briefing: "This is not for today's discussion, but..." Then goes into an anti-gun propaganda tirade that has nothing to do with the case.

[Perd Hapley]

...the real world absolutely worst thing that could be created by humans, such as Hawaiian pizza.

An issue we can agree on. And why do the Hawaiians get a pass on cultural appropriation?  


This should restore our faith in our fellow man:

https://news.grabien.com/story-left-wing-twitter-celebrates-shooting-rep-scalise

[Ben]

Shooter tentatively being identified as an IL resident. So much for "VA lax gun laws".

[Perd Hapley]

Shooter tentatively being identified as an IL resident. So much for "VA lax gun laws".

Some are reporting that "his" Facebook page is full of Bernie support and Trump hatred. If it's indeed his.

[AJ Dual]

Several of us on this board have said versions of "It's getting worse" and "Violence is coming" since the Oct/Nov time frame.  Why the surprise when it starts to happen? I think it likely to come from the left, simply because they are the ones without hope right now and the hopeless are more likely to resort to extremism.

I think it's likely that we are going to seem more political violence in this country.  There are a lot of crazies out there, and a whole lot of people telling them the world is ending.  SOME of them are going to believe it.

Feeling hopeless or out of power will certainly exacerbate it, but the Left has ALWAYS had the top rung of the leaderboard for body-count by orders of magnitude since the beginning of the 20th century, because it's ultimately an "ends justify the means" ideology.

This is because the Left is obsessed with the rights of groups. Which in of itself is a negative construct, and an oxymoron, because groups don't have rights. Only individual people do. Just like how we'll sometimes nitpick and tut-tut the nominal Right whenever assertions are made about States Rights, because there is no such thing as "states rights", states may or may not have "powers" but they don't have "rights".

But when you succumb to the pathology of that kind of thinking and group rights, almost any atrocity becomes possible. Because all you need to do is identify a larger needier group (in their minds at least) and any kind of deprivation, down to one's own life becomes acceptable in the name of "the greater good".

[BobR]

Bernie loving Trump hater is how the shooter has been ID'd. Just one source for now.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/17524/alleged-shooter-identified-james-t-hodgkinson-66-ben-shapiro#

bob

[K Frame]

Oh dear, how are the lefties going to spin this one?

By calling for more gun control!

[lee n. field]

Maybe castle key or someone can weigh in: It's most likely the news getting things wrong, but I just heard mention that the Capitol Police that were there were armed with revolvers. It's been a while since I saw any of them in person, but I don't recall them carrying revolvers?

Or "revolver" is used as a generic term for sidearm.

[Perd Hapley]

Or "revolver" is used as a generic term for sidearm.

That is bizarrely common.

[freakazoid]

Apparently this is his facebook, https://m.facebook.com/james.hodgkinson.568?tsid=0.009623089090398995&source=result&hc_location=ufi Which is fully of Bernie support and anti-Trump. If true, then this might be lucky for us as the shooting will get dropped from the media pretty quick.

[Jamisjockey]

Already triggered up a lefty on Facebook lol

[Perd Hapley]

Already triggered up a lefty on Facebook lol

Is he going to the gun show, to get a ghost gun?

[Perd Hapley]

The evil loser (reportedly) belonged to a number of anti-Trump, anti-GOP Facebook groups.

http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article156065789.html

[K Frame]

No! Not possible! This is the false flag!

If he were truly a Bernie supporter, he would never own, or even touch, an evil, evil gun, because Bernie says they are evil!

He was drugged by Carl Rove!

[Perd Hapley]

I really hope no one but the shooter dies...

Your wish is granted.

[Perd Hapley]

No! Not possible! This is the false flag!

Yeah, I bet Scalise is a crisis actor, just like that fraud, JFK.