Details are sketchy -- to say the least -- but apparently one congressman was wounded (Steve Scalise) as well as a couple of cops on protective duty. The suspect is said to be in custody.
Some wag said, "Well, he must be white then."
This wouldn't be the first time a congressmember was shot and wounded by the Lone Gunman, and it will be interesting to see what kind of outrage emerges from this one. Gabby Giffords was shot and critically wounded in 2011 and had to leave congress on account of her injuries, but all the outrage her shooting provoked had zero effect on her former colleagues who rather ostentatiously and arrogantly refused to consider legislation that might further restrict access to firearms for people with mental illness. As I recall -- but my memory is failing -- congress actually passed legislation easing access to guns in the wake of Gabby Giffords' shooting.
How much bigger a "Fuck you!" could they have engineered?
Shootings by these Lone Gunmen are commonplace, of course, but they almost never target people with money or power. That's why the Giffords shooting was so odd. Today's incident is also odd.
Ah, but we've been in this chaotic matrix for some time now, and these sorts of oddities are bound to become more and more common. The question is not whether they will happen -- they will -- but rather what the response of the Powers That Be will be.
If as I suspect the shooting today can be labeled "terrorism" -- even better if the shooter is brown, black, or Muslim(!) or better still a "damn dirty librul"*-- then we will see a prompt response from Power and Authority to tighten the ratchet on all sorts of irritating people and behavior.
This isn't a Reichstag Fire type incident, but given the hysterics of Our Rulers (well, some of them) over the Terrorist Threat (to themselves, of course, they don't give a shit about the rest of us) the reaction is liable to be similar.
As if we didn't have enough of that already.
It's the world we live in.
Gak.
UPDATE: * And so, here we are:
His Twitter profile shows that Hodgkinson is a left-wing supporter of Bernie Sanders who has also posted several memes on his Facebook page critical of President Donald Trump. He also called Georgia Republican congressional candidate Karen Handel a “b*tch” for saying she didn’t support a living wage during a debate with Democratic rival Jon Ossoff.http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/gop-baseball-practice-shooter-identified-as-66-year-old-james-t-hodgkinson/
What Congress will do: add money to their budget requests so as to give themselves more police/security protection everywhere they ever go, forever.
ReplyDeleteEscalate the rabid attacks against the other side, especially in public, so as to stir up the people, in the hopes that the people will blame the other side for whatever and not notice the shit Congress is actually doing in office.
What the media will do: talk about how we are one country, a good-hearted bunch, united in compassion and brotherly love during events like these.
What Congress and the media will NOT do: talk about gun control, discuss Trump's calls for violence during the campaign season, discuss the fact that more and more people are getting elected to Congress who espouse violence, discuss the fact that as Congress continues on its path to dismantling the social contract, the taking of our few social benefits (medicare, medicaid, food stamps, SS, etc.), more and more people will become agitated, desperate, angry, and crazed.
Making this two comments, because the system hates long comments.
ReplyDeleteAt a Trump rally in the northeast US during the campaign season: it's winter, less than 20 degrees outside, with a stiff breeze blowing. One lone protestor attends a Trump rally. He hasn't had time to say anything before he is identified as an Outsider by some of the crowd and they gleefully point him out to Trump. Trump orders, "Take him out! Get him outta here!" Several people surround the man, pushing him to the exit. As they get to the door, Trump says with a sly smirk, "Take his coat." They do.
*************
A freshman lawmaker reacted to the attacks in London over the weekend with a threatening social media post, calling for violence against Muslims.
The comments were made on a verified Facebook page belonging to Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.). The congressman called for hunting down and killing all “radicalized Islamic suspects.”
“The free world… all of Christendom… is at war with Islamic horror,” Higgins wrote. “Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter,” he added, saying, “every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down.”
“Hunt them, identity them (sic), and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all,” the congressman went on, later referring to suspects as “heathen animals.” [...]
Higgins was a former police captain in Louisiana before being elected to Congress in 2016. A representative from Higgins’ office told The Sentinel that the verified Facebook page, which is frequently updated, belongs to the campaign. [...]
Last month, the same verified Facebook page posted a video featuring Higgins firing an assault rifle. “On Election Day, I’m asking you to rise up and send a strong message to the socialists,” Higgins says in the video, wearing sleeveless SWAT team Kevlar.
“Tell the world that we’re Americans,” he added. “We’d rather die on our feet, than live on our knees.”
https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/06/06/u-s-congressman-calls-holy-war-islamic-horror-says-kill-suspects/
This man won his election to national office. Here's his Facebook campaign video of him with his assault rifle, asking voters to take out "socialists", whom he identifies as anyone who is not a Republican (I don't have a Facebook account, but was able to watch the video):
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=986527594783586&id=581436541959362&__tn__=%2As
Oh so true.
ReplyDeleteThere is such an inevitability about this, isn't there? We fall into the Abyss without even knowing it. Well, some don't know it, others have been pointing out what's going on -- and what's coming -- for a long time. Cassandras they are.
The thing is, the consequences of shooting Gabby Giffords amounted to greater access to guns. Of course, she was a damb dirty lib.
This time, we will probably see greater access for the Right Sort of People, and greater state and militia violence toward the Wrong Sort.
Strap in. The already bumpy ride gets bumpier.
If Sandy Hook couldn't get to these assholes, nothing ever will. Ever. I truly hate these bastards.
ReplyDeleteThey've made clear they're not going to do a damb thing about the gunz -- except maybe make them easier for the Right Sort to get and carry, including their own cowardly sweet selves.
DeleteAs for the rest of us, "Tough luck, suckers!"
And presto-chango, we have a new bill in front of Congress to make concealed carry legal in DC. Or more legal or something. So the members of Congress can carry weapons while they are out and about amongst the good people they serve. Members of Congress who support this bill are quoted as saying that the only thing that stops bad guys with guns are good guys with guns, that they need "reciprocity" from DC for being willing to come to the Nation's Capital to serve (reciprocity apparently meaning they should have the right to shoot at will and carry concealed weapons, whether the commoners have that right or not), and that they intend to start carrying weapons to their job site regardless. Great. Maybe now these fuckers can just shoot each other on the floor and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteHouse bill opens door for more legal concealed firearms in DC:
https://www.rt.com/usa/392639-concealed-carry-guns-dc-bill/
"Great. Maybe now these fuckers can just shoot each other on the floor and be done with it." Ha. Love it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Versailles, if I remember my history correctly, anybody could go to Versailles and see the King and any of the Nobles who resided there. The place was open, and there were only a few guards at the gates and entrances and inside (I think the regular detachment was 60). The guards were lightly armed; visitors and residents were supposed to be weapon-free. But of course they had their own ideas about that.
Oddly, until the Revolution, there was only one incident in which a member of the public (Damien by name) attempted to harm the King (Louis XV) when he pulled a pocket knife and may have slightly scratched the King with it as he got into his carriage in the palace forecourt.
Of course Damien suffered hideously for his crime (I recall the scene describing his torture and execution in the play "Marat/Sade" we did in college) but the point is that the rulers of the Ancien Regime did not fear the Rabble. Nor were they entirely isolated from them. Far from it. They dealt with them every day, even the King.
These days, our rulers and their owners and sponsors are so frightened of the ruled that they hide from them, cry pitifully when their own are subjected to the Rabble's wrath, and demand ever more distance and protection from the unwashed.
They are cowards.