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[Royal☭]

No, the jew in this situation is Gabriel Giffords.  The one who was shot in the face.

[Catloaf]

There have been people claiming Arizona is the center of intolerance, the mecca of bigotry. That is absolutely not true. These are people who live their lives and want to raise families," he said. "It's honestly a very special community.

Yes, because we all know that coming together around a murdered white girl means that a group can't be intolerant racists...


Sorry, but I can't help but think that the show of 'community togetherness' would significantly bigger if Loughner were brown.

[Bal]

That's pretty cynical even for me. Tucson is at least half Hispanic, and they've turned out as much as anyone in support. Giffords herself is Jewish, which is well known in the community. For once it actually isn't about that shit.

EDIT: Also, turns out everyone's hero is a gay minority

[Mongrel]

Haha, nice.

[Joxam]

He seems like a very humble man who just did what the hell he felt like he had to. Its good to see people like that in this world.

[Thad]

EDIT: DEAR EVERY SPEAKER, SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE BIBLE.

I wouldn't have used Job (really for any purpose, ever, except to illustrate that if you take the OT literally then you believe God kills innocent people's families for sport), but I really think Obama nailed it otherwise.  I'm neither religious nor sentimental, but the "jumping in puddles in heaven" thing really got me.

Anyway.  Giffords is awake, opening her eyes, focusing on objects, and moving all four limbs.  Next step is removing the breathing tube.

It's amazing, and we're all pulling for her.  It occurred to me last night that if she recovers well enough to continue to serve in Congress, she's got a lock on McCain's seat once he retires.  And I don't mean that in crass political terms; I mean that this tragedy has made Arizona and America realize what a special person she is.

[Bal]

She's also, apparently, Domino, the luck mutant.

My main problem with all the Bible content was that god damned everyone except Obama either quoted heavily, or just outright read from the thing, because the Bible is such a comforting source of peace and healing. It's difficult to convey the scorn in my voice over the internet, but be assured it was dripping with it.

[Thad]

Yeah, I didn't listen to anyone except Obama.

[Zaratustra]

She's also, apparently, Domino, the luck mutant.

No, she's...



fuck you buge

[Thad]

After blurting out crazy, incomprehensible shit in court, Loughner has been ruled incompetent to stand trial.  He's going to be hospitalized and medicated for schizophrenia.

The Sandman fan in me notes that granting lucidity to a mass murderer and forcing him to understand what he's actually done is the cruelest punishment he can receive.

[Thad]

NY Daily News has an AP story on Giffords's book.  It sounds like she's still got a long way to go but she's constantly improving and has vowed to return to Congress.

[Thad]

My first reaction to seeing the headline "White Supremacist JT Ready Opens Fire on Family" was to assume it was (1) figurative and (2) a provocative Steve Lemons headline.

After doing a double-take and realizing that no, JT Ready did in fact literally open fire on a family, the first word out of my mouth was "No."  Followed by "Fuck me."

Sweet Jesus.

GILBERT, Ariz. - Five people are dead following a shooting at a Gilbert home, and the killer is reportedly JT Ready, a well-known Neo-Nazi who was running for Pinal County Sheriff.

[...]

In what may be a quadruple murder-suicide, JT Ready presumably shot and killed his girlfriend, 47-year-old Lisa Mederos, Lisa's daughter 22-year-old Amber Mederos, Amber's 22-year-old boyfriend Jim Hoitt, and Amber's 2-year-old daughter Lilly, according to a law enforcement source. This information has not officially been released by Gilbert Police.

[...]

Ready is dead, but it's not clear whether the wound was self-inflicted, "as there is multiple weapons on scene," an official said. There were reports of a domestic violence incident between Ready and his girlfriend earlier in the day Wednesday.

...I'm speechless and have nothing to add at this time.

However, under the circumstances the "do not speak ill of the dead" guideline is suspended.

(Also suspended: Godwin's Law.  Because he was an actual Nazi.)

[Bal]

Maybe if we pool our money we can get the fuck out of here

[Thad]

For those who don't remember who Ready was (I've posted about him before but can't find them offhand), Lemons has a summary.  It's about as restrained as Lemons ever gets -- which is to say that yes Russell Pearce's name is in the headline and there is a photo of him with Ready at the top of the article.

On the one hand, yeah, I see that as a bit gratuitous.

On the other, it probably DOES bear reminding people that until a few months ago we had a friend of JT Ready's as our Senate President.  And that our legislature is currently trying to give him a quarter-million of our tax dollars so he can claw his way back into state politics.

[Ziiro]

Look. We can explain. See, it's REALLY, REALLY hot.

[Shinra]

My first reaction to seeing the headline "White Supremacist JT Ready Opens Fire on Family" was to assume it was (1) figurative and (2) a provocative Steve Lemons headline.

After doing a double-take and realizing that no, JT Ready did in fact literally open fire on a family, the first word out of my mouth was "No."  Followed by "Fuck me."

Sweet Jesus.

GILBERT, Ariz. - Five people are dead following a shooting at a Gilbert home, and the killer is reportedly JT Ready, a well-known Neo-Nazi who was running for Pinal County Sheriff.

[...]

In what may be a quadruple murder-suicide, JT Ready presumably shot and killed his girlfriend, 47-year-old Lisa Mederos, Lisa's daughter 22-year-old Amber Mederos, Amber's 22-year-old boyfriend Jim Hoitt, and Amber's 2-year-old daughter Lilly, according to a law enforcement source. This information has not officially been released by Gilbert Police.

[...]

Ready is dead, but it's not clear whether the wound was self-inflicted, "as there is multiple weapons on scene," an official said. There were reports of a domestic violence incident between Ready and his girlfriend earlier in the day Wednesday.

...I'm speechless and have nothing to add at this time.

However, under the circumstances the "do not speak ill of the dead" guideline is suspended.

(Also suspended: Godwin's Law.  Because he was an actual Nazi.)

So, if he wins the election, under Arizona law does he go free?

[Bal]

No no, he simply has to perform his duties from beyond the grave.

[Thad]

Argh.  Yet another fucking article that uses stupid phrases like "the National Socialist Movement, a group with white-supremacist views" instead of just fucking pointing out that "Nazi" is an abbreviation of "National Socialist".  For fuck's sake.

I mean, you know, it's great that you're finally putting the phrase "Neo-Nazi" in headlines about Ready himself (and all it took was for him to murder a house full of people), but referring to the Nazi Movement as "a group with white-supremacist views" is a bit of an understatement.  I don't think this is a trivial semantic nitpick here; I think it's okay to describe a Nazi organization using the word "Nazi".  I mean, are you worried that you might offend Nazis?  Or do you just not know what "Nazi" means?

Hugo Mederos, of Florida, told the Republic that the victims were his former wife, Lisa Mederos, 47, their daughter Amber Mederos, 23, her boyfriend Jim "Jambob" Hiott, 24, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, and Amber’s 16-month-old daughter Lily.

[...]

Morton told the Republic that Ready moved in with Lisa Mederos, but Amber Mederos, her daughter and fiancé had left the family home because Ready was "cruel and controlling."

Morton said Ready had once said of Lily, who was half-Hispanic, “she's 50 percent ugly,” the paper reported. “That's how he described her," she added.

...I'd say something insulting here, but I really don't know how you can even gratuitously insult the guy at this point.  "Baby-murdering Nazi" isn't even gratuitous, it's just a statement of fact -- in fact it even DOWNPLAYS how reprehensible a person he was by not mentioning the OTHER three people he murdered.

Really, I mean, you can call this guy a motherfucker and I don't think anyone'll timidly raise a hand and say "Excuse me, but I don't think there's any evidence that he ever actually fucked his mother."

...anyhow.  I'd been wondering about the family situation -- whether Lisa's kids were okay with the whole "dating a Nazi" thing.  Apparently they were not.  I wonder what happened, why they were there that day -- a million damn what-ifs.  Wish they hadn't been there.

(Not, of course, to say that Lisa deserved to be murdered either, no matter how questionable her taste in men.  But it's even sadder that a family that made a conscious effort to get away from him wound up this way.)


Oh, and just in case your jaw's not already on the floor, you may be wondering how Ready's racist buddies have reacted to the news.

A Facebook page entitled "JT Ready for Sheriff" carried a message from the administrator noting unconfirmed reports that "a cartel assassination squad murdered JT Ready and several of his friends and family this afternoon in Gilbert Arizona," according to Reuters.

I'll be honest: I did not see that coming.  I figured they'd be tripping all over themselves trying to distance themselves from him and swear up and down that he was never REALLY one of them.  I did not expect they'd go full-on Animal Farm and blame it all on Snowball.

[Shinra]

You know I'm not usually one for the tinfoil hat, but specifically using the phrase National Socialist to describe this guy and his views feels like a dig at the concept of socialism more than an attempt to be politically correct.

[Thad]

Maybe if it were Fox (who I'm expecting, at any moment, to emphasize that Ready was running for Sheriff as a Democrat).  But given that it's MSNBC I find it a little harder to assume that sort of subtle bias.

Plus I've been seeing that kind of crap in stories about Ready for years.  I think the reporters legitimately do not know that "Nazi" is an abbreviation and that using it to describe National Socialists isn't any more of a controversial accusation than referring to your television as a TV.

I think it's symptomatic of a news media that's more concerned with being "fair-'n'-balanced" than with stating actual facts.  Responsible Reporters are wary about throwing the word "Nazi" around, because it's (1) a pretty serious thing to accuse someone of being and (2) a term that gets thrown out gratuitously ALL THE TIME, to the point that yes we have a two-word expression to describe it.  I think this gets in the way of them referring to ACTUAL NAZIS as Nazis.

(Similarly, if a politician lies, you will never see a reporter -- and I mean a REPORTER, not a pundit -- refer to it as a lie.  It's always a "misstatement" or "questionable claim" or some other euphemism.  Even if it is unambiguously a lie.)