I'm sitting in my hotel in Sierra Vista, Arizona, about to partake in a one-week UAV course. As such, I've spent over twenty-four hours in transit from Munich, and subsequently missed many of the details regarding yesterday's tragic shooting incident which killed six people and wounded an additional twelve in Tucson, Arizona. Among the dead are a Federal Judge, the Honorable John McCarthy Roll; and a nine-year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, who was recently elected to her student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the intended target, was shot through the head, and was recently listed in critical condition.
Thus, I've spent the morning catching up on the details. Strangely enough, I first heard about the incident last night in O'Hare airport from Jeff Schogol at Stars and Stripes, who did some excellent research (what else would you expect from the Rumor Doctor) and determined that the shooter had not been a veteran of Afghanistan, as had been initially reported. According to Army sources, Jared Lee Loughner had attempted to enlist, but his application was denied. In accordance with the Privacy Act, the Army was not able to disclose its reasons for rejecting Loughner's application.
Subsequent media coverage has begun to focus on the fear-mongering and vitriolic rhetoric which seems to have gripped America's political discourse as of late. If only there were someone who could rally Americans to bring sanity and reason back to the national debate...
Thus, I've spent the morning catching up on the details. Strangely enough, I first heard about the incident last night in O'Hare airport from Jeff Schogol at Stars and Stripes, who did some excellent research (what else would you expect from the Rumor Doctor) and determined that the shooter had not been a veteran of Afghanistan, as had been initially reported. According to Army sources, Jared Lee Loughner had attempted to enlist, but his application was denied. In accordance with the Privacy Act, the Army was not able to disclose its reasons for rejecting Loughner's application.
Subsequent media coverage has begun to focus on the fear-mongering and vitriolic rhetoric which seems to have gripped America's political discourse as of late. If only there were someone who could rally Americans to bring sanity and reason back to the national debate...
3 comments:
...for the past two years, many conservative leaders, activists, and media figures have made a habit of trying to delegitimize their political opponents. This relentlessly hostile rhetoric has become standard issue on the right... (On the left it appears in anonymous comment threads, not congressional speeches and national T.V. programs.)
Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me? Ordinarily, I'd work myself into a lather and start collating the links to drop a ten-ton bullshit flag on the dreck in your link. But I'm downrange, I'm tired, and I've got a lot of shit to do when the sun comes up in two hours. I'll just say that a little nine-year old girl is dead--among others--and the (lefty)media has already begun playing buzkashi with her corpse. It's disgusting.
You missed the fun on Twitter. I took it out on both extremes. Suffice to say that, instead of bringing a country together, it seems to have driven people further apart. And that's sad.
Here's actually a better link which says, in essence, that we might be best to blame the shooter and not the commentators.
http://www.lineofdeparture.com/2011/01/08/making-sense-of-a-senseless-act/
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