Jan 11 2011
AZ Sheriff Tries To Deflect His Own Guilt
The loudest voices trying to lay blame on conservative voices over the shootings in AZ are apparently the ones closest to being at fault. As we learned yesterday, the delusional and dangerous Jared Loughner was the product of endless drug abuse and 9-11 Truther propaganda. He was around 12 years old when 9-11 happened, but since that time he concluded that government was the culprit on that evil day and he was sent to the Earth to save us from it.
His twisted journey began long before Sarah Palin was even known outside Alaska. Loughner’s stalker like obsession of centrist Gabrielle Giffords goes back to 2007. He is more left wing anarchist than anything else.
The ones I want to question are his parents, who seemed to let their child sink into the abyss without any care or concern. Or maybe I am being too harsh, and there were cries of help – cries that were ignored:
This is the report that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been dreading since the tragic event on Saturday January 8.
…
Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Amy Loughner is a Natural Resource specialist for the Pima County Parks and Recreation.
I am with Allahpundit here in that I don’t know the veracity of this reporting. But it is trivial to determine if it is accurate or not. If there were death threats and complaints, they are in the record of Dupnilk’s office.
It explains why this weasel of a law enforcement officer keeps babbling on about Rush Limbbaugh, who clearly is not even remotely the cause of this tragedy. Remember, Giffords was a centrist who was literally in the cross hairs of both the left and right partisans. One reason this incident truly resonates down to the core of the American people is not just the horror of an innocent 9 year old killed, but the grotesque response of the liberal media and internet outlets.
We centrists, who have cleaned house on both sides of the political aisle because we want an end to the hyper partisan crap, relate to the families and victims of this crime. We have born the brunt of hyper partisan attacks from left and right for not being pure followers. We have seen the lick-spittle anger from the hyper partisans. In a lot of ways it does not matter that Jared was the product of left wing trash talking this time around. In a lot of ways the trash talking from both sides feed the madness and escalates the war of words. And without a doubt the rest of the American people who live in the center of the political maelstrom are becoming fed up with all of it.
Over the top and heated rhetoric does include 9-11 Truther crap. It needs to be purged from any serious adult consideration and conversation. Its advocates need to be shunned. As each and every part of that theory is knocked down those grasping to their egomaniac delusions keep going farther over the edge to ignore the reality and hold onto their role as savior.
Over the top and heated rhetoric includes the madness of Human CO2 driven global warming. None of the dire predictions of doom have come true. As they fall the dire predictions grow more grotesque and absurd, as do the insinuations that if you see global warming as a discredited theory you are evil and corrupt (more projection from the mad ones). This silliness is the equivalent of crying “fire!” in the global theater of Earth. It has frightened people into a panic, and yet the supposed 0.8°C rise in global temps over the last century is a fraction of the annual, seasonal and (yes) daily ranges of temperature we experience.
Over the top and heated rhetoric includes the Birther crap over Obama’s American citizenship. As each of the claims was knocked down (and I knocked down a ton of them) the Birthers simply slipped farther into madness. Now they inhabit a completely mythical reality, from which some demented soul could conclude he needs to kill someone to save the world.
Andrew Sullivan’s obsession with Sarah Palin’s family is over the top and sick – and needs to end. If you want to see warning signs, then here’s your sign. The left wing’s attacks on Palin are worse than anything Giffords had to endure, and Palin does have people stalking her. Here’s your sign.
We do need to stop the madness. Rep Giffords was right when she recently claimed we need to tone down the madness and let passions be tempered with reason and tolerance and respect. If you cannot manage these things then you don’t deserve to be in the debate circle. But each side needs to keep the quality of their voices to the higher standards. Don’t tolerate radical conspiracy theories the devolve into fantasy as they are challenged. Don’t defend them if they cannot muster sufficient evidence or proof. Don’t harass families to make a political point. Leave children out of bounds (Andrew). Hold the politicians to a high standard, and yourself.
In the end we must accept the fact that politics and diversity of opinion is not evil. Working together and compromise is not evil. Rejecting reality and intolerance surely can be.
Update: More at Patterico on the issue of whether the Sheriff is deflecting his guilt to others.
[…] …and the sheriff and his staff just told people, over and over we’ve got it under control; don’t worry about it. […]
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eric Williams, Free To Prosper and others. Free To Prosper said: AZ Sheriff Tries To Deflect His Own Guilt http://bit.ly/hNzM7A :: Strata-sphere […]
[…] at the Strata-Sphere is wondering if the Sheriff is trying to deflect blame, but agrees with AP at Hot Air. If the new […]
Although I agree that “heated rhetoric that promotes violence” has no place in the public square; I disagree that this means you can’t raise questions about things. Raising questions will eventually reveal truth or place policy that extablishes a better functioning government. I didn’t have a problem with the 9/11 truthers wanting info (I just thought they were nuts). The result was a detailed, scientific report about how the buildings fell on 9/11). I don’t have a problem with Birthers wanting info either (and, think they still have some unanswered questions). However, no one should incite violence as a means to address any issue. I think the anti-Birther movement is much more quilty of that:
http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2011/01/obama-supporters-sending-death-threats.html
In the pictures displayed on the Drudge Report that sheriff looks like an older version of the shooter. Is it possible that there is a family connection?
I wonder how SAFE, Sarah, Rush or Glenn would be in PIMA County, with this sketchy sheriff?
I wonder how many counties across the USA have sheriff’s who may allow…”a crisis to occur” for political gain?
Disturbing…Dupnik has removed a sense of security for ALL Americans with his hate filled rhetoric against a group of people.
In some aspects Dupnik is no different than a KKK card carry sheriff in Alabama back in the 30s…HMMMMM
The picture of this kid’s home life that is emerging seems sad. Apparently the mother worked for the county at a $25/hr job. Dad stayed home and drank beer and hadn’t worked in years and rarely left the house.
It seems that his mom was the only responsible adult in the house. Judging from how the dad appears to have interacted with neighbors over the years, and assuming that sort of interaction was typical with that gentleman, there might not have been a lot the mom felt she could do.
I feel sorry for the whole family, to tell you the truth.
even a bad home life doesn’t bring on schizophrenia, which the voices in the head seems to indicate.
What’s so pathetic is that this kid was kicked out of college for being a danger to everyone around him, and yet 30 days later he was allowed to buy a Glock with a 31 shot clip – nothing in his record to indicate that there was anything wrong.
The more I am learning the more it appears this kid was trying to fight it off. “How do you know words really mean anything” could almost be taken as a way of rationalizing ignoring the voices he was hearing, as to say maybe those words don’t mean anything, therefore, no words really mean anything. And then it seems he tried to rationalize it as “lucid dreaming”. The voices must be a dream that he was experiencing while awake”. Yet another way to rationalize the voices. Then he apparently went to someone who advertises herself as a medium who communicates with the dead in order to get some idea that he might not be the only one hearing those voices.
And finally, it came down to “government mind control” using words.
What bothers me most of all is when he began telephoning death threats and the Sheriff’s office was assuring people that the kid was under treatment when clearly he wasn’t. Maybe the parents promised to take him to therapy but the kid talked them into believing they were just pranks. If he entertained thoughts of someday joining the Army, having a schizophrenia diagnosis pretty much puts the end to just about any career. Maybe he thought he could beat it.
Then finally he says he is tired and can’t rest. I don’t doubt that someone “hearing” voices constantly could be driven completely mad by them. That is, unless the whole thing was an act to set up an insanity defense, but who thinks four years in advance about stuff like that?
“What bothers me most of all is when he began telephoning death threats and the Sheriff’s office was assuring people that the kid was under treatment when clearly he wasn’t. ”
If this is true, then Mr. Dupnik is in a heap of trouble. That may be the line of defense that the parents use. And if more indicators that the Sheriff knew about this kid are revealed, I bet he will resign in disgrace…
And also look for the now discredited elements of the MSM to whitewash and protect Dupnik at all costs.
AJ this is such a good blog you have created – always good and especially comforting in this time of heightened irrationality. Thanks to you and to all the intelligent commenters.
AND …. I wish there were a BUTTON down at the bottom of every set of comments to “Home” or “Top” so we didn’t have to scroll up up up. Index fingers getting tired.
Thanks again: knowledge brings peace. Sometimes I think uninformed people get angry and yell when their knowledge runs out and all that they have left is their ire to try to win over an opponent. Keep the knowledge coming.
People need to know that Zamudio, one of the heroes who held the shooter down, carried a gun. People need to know that little Christina’s father courageously came out for maintaining our freedoms, not for curtailing them. And of course people need to know that the shooter was over-the-top weird and had been sending out signals of his weirdness for years.
And the shooter’s mother worked for Pima County Parks Department, is that correct? O’Reilly discussed this on his show last night….and why did Jared’s records show NOTHING when the record search was done for the purchase of the gun?
IS IT COMING ARMS
I do need to start by saying that what happened it Arizona is a senseless tragedy but there is some good that seams to have come from it. FEAR the long lost missing part of the equation that swings the counter weight back in the direction of liberty.
It is not a scientific poll (recently confirmed by poles) but I have been asking people if they would acquit or would hang a jury if someone shot the right politician many said they would. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” John F. Kennedy I have been advocating for this discussion for over a year. We can not let one or two states control the hole country by their senators subverting the rules that have served us well for more than 230 years. The few comments I received about fling the flag upside-down as a sing of distress or talking about the Jefferson solution WERE give 2010 elections a chance. The tyrants did not get the message and Jefferson is not the only one with the same message. I think at this precise time with a back drop of this tragedy a DISCUSSION may be as effective as action. Just like the doctrine of mutual destruction protected us for over fifty years. So, not like the democrats that create danger for the opportunity. But out of this danger find the opportunity have the discussion that some are right now trying to make illegal. Do not waste the crisis. (“When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.”) John F. Kennedy Add the missing part fear that like leaven a small amount dose to hole loaf. Just talk about it.
What is tyranny?
Has it been practiced recently?
By who?
Have they been informed that their action are tyrannical? This is a requirement that Jefferson insisted on.
How are they informed?
Have they agreed to relent?
Have their actions followed is there fruit ?
If not then consider the words of the founders.
Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.
George Washington
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson
Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.
Thomas Jefferson
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
John F. Kennedy
Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James Madison
We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.
James Madison
The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.
John Adams
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Barack Obama
My guess is because they only check for violent crimes, felonies, and current warrants. Getting busted for a pipe with residue probably isn’t enough to deny anyone a gun permit.