Sarah Palin and coincidences - Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in Arizona

Sarah Palin doesn’t believe in coincidences. She wrote these words in Going Rogue and repeated them in her speech at College of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Going Rogue:

Palin posits her faith as the pillar of her career, as if her successes have unfolded according to a grand divine plan. Her selection as McCain's running mate was a "natural progression," she writes in one section. "I don't believe in coincidences," she writes in another.

Live tweet of speech at Ozarks:

Palin is talking about work ethic & pushing one's self to better their lives. "I don't believe in coincidences," she said.

Today, one such coincidence came true.

(UPDATE: According to latest news, Rep. Giffords has survived the attack,

the surgery was successful)

We don't know yet if the shootings were politically motivated, but in a country where carrying a gun is fiercely protected by the Constitution and where weapons are too easily available, publishing a picture depicting crosshairs and making a list of targets is incredibly irresponsible.

I drew attention to the fact that Sarah Palin doesn't believe in coincidences because, according to her own rhetoric, this violent act would translate as "One down, nineteen to go."

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Note by Patrick:

Here is the link to Sarah Palin's infamous "cross-hair" facebook post.

It's also worth revisiting our post on Palingates from March 24, 2010.

Regina wrote back then:

This is frightening. It started with bricks, now they're cleaning their rifles, ready to reload.

The sight of blood seems to excite Sarah Palin, be it the blood of wolves, bears, moose or caribou.

She has moved to human targets... Sarah Palin needs to stop, sit down and shut up.

Here is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on MSNBC in her own words about the Tea Party-threats against her, the violent atmosphere which is being created and the attacks against her office:

Short link to the youtube clip for tweeting:

http://is.gd/ko7bo

This is a chilling interview.

Rep. Giffords even mentions Sarah Palin and her cross-hair target list in this interview.

The interview aired on March 25, 2010.

Rep. Giffords:

“Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there are consequences to that action.”

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Here is the live stream from MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From the police press conference:

"There were several prominent individuals in the crowd."

"There was a poster for Gabrielle Giffords and several flyers."

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The latest reports say that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is still alive.

There are reports that Palin's infamous "RELOAD" tweet has beeb scrubbed, is this true?

This one:

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MORE UPDATES:

Regina wanted to post this earlier, but it got lost because I edited the post at the same time as her:

Sarah Palin was quick off the mark:

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More details about the shooter which have been discovered:

Jared Loughner has been named as the shooter, though it appears that there was at least one more shooter.

He has a youtube account, and it appears to me that this second youtube account which contains only one very, very creepy clip which he favorited in the other account also belongs to him.

He clearly is severely mentally disturbed and does seem to have distinct anti-Government views, also strong views about a "new currency" (gold), which is also a very popular theme in militia-circles. Due to the fact that he cites some "left-wing books" in his youtube profile and somebody else (who hasn't seem him since 2007!) said that he was "left-wing and quite liberal", it now appears that the "meme" by the right-wingers, expressed on websites and comments is that the shooter was just another "evil liberal." This is pure nonsense, and dangerous as well, as the views expressed in his youtube clips have nothing to do at all with being left-wing and liberal, and he cites "Mein Kampf" amongst his favorite books as well.

EDIT: New information confirms that Jared Loughner was not a liberal, but could be more described as a "libertarian", which is a completely different thing.

This didn't stop Sarah Palin's propaganda battalion at Conservatives4Palin to immediately start spreading the false meme that the shooter was a liberal, treating it as a fact, of course:

In his youtube clips, he seems to be obsessed with grammar, mind control, the constitution, federal government and a "new currency." An example (without sound):

Screenshots from his youtube clips:

Jared Loughner also had a myspace-profile, but it was scrapped virtually immediately!

This is a screenshot from his scrapped myspace-profile:

EDIT: Please note that I have removed the screenshot of a facebook profile which I had posted here earlier. It was suggested that the profile picture might not have been Jared Loughner.

In addition, please note that there are "rumors"about a "Palin and Tea Party" related facebook profile floating around, but this was a fake facebook profile which was created yesterday for a "Jared Laughner" by some angry person, after the name of the shooter was first reported as "Laughner."

Here is a genuine picture of him which was published by an online news site:

It's an unspeakable tragedy that this has happened.

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More screenshots from his scrubbed myspace-page have been saved.

This is the most chilling picture he had in his account:

He left this message on myspace very shortly before the shooting, earlier today:

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UPDATE:

According to the latest news, Rep. Giffords has survived the attack, the surgery was successful.

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Sarah Palin was very proud of her "bullseye tweet":

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UPDATE:

CBS News published an excellent article about the shooting and the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin.

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UPDATE:

The "Coalition to stop gun violence" shows a shocking timeline on their website, providing details about politically charged gun crimes and other violent acts, as well as examples of violent political rhetoric. The starting date of the timeline is June 26, 2008, when the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision embraced the National Rifle Association's contention that the Second Amendment provides individuals with the right to take violent action against our government should it become "tyrannical."

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UPDATE:

Note by Regina: I have created a short video which I hope encapsulates our feelings about these events and makes it easier to share them.

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UPDATE BY PATRICK:

Anyone who thinks that this incident will stop Sarah Palin and her fanatic followers is sadly mistaken. Palin and her fans are pathological - rationality or reflection plays no role, but only obsession with their own importance and power.

Sheya from the C4P-site "PalinTV" tweeted this two hours ago:

I doubt very much that this is a "minority opinion." As usual, these people see poor Sarah as a victim.

C4P was quick to spread the lie that the shooter Jared Loughner was a left-winger, a liberal (see my comments and links above). Also, in an appalling interview with Palin's "facebook manager" Rebecca Mansour, Palin's fanatical cheerleader Tammy Bruce ranted over and over again about "disgusting", "reprehensible", "sick", "depraved" liberals who had the audacity to hold Palin responsible for creating an atmosphere of violence.

Sarah Palin won't be stopped by this. Only the exposure of her twisted personality and of her many scandals will finally be the end of her political career. I know that this may be hard to believe, but I am convinced that it's the truth.

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UPDATE:

There is a new development - the Christian Science Monitor and other websites report:

A possible link between Jared Lee Loughner, the primary suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and American Renaissance, the publication of an anti-immigration group, offers potential new insights into what may have caused the 22-year-old Arizonan to carry out the attack, which killed six people and wounded more than a dozen outside a Tucson, Ariz. stripmall on Saturday.

The shooting attack gravely wounded Representative Giffords and killed her aide Gabriel Zimmerman, US District Judge John Roll, a nine-year-old girl, and three others. The hail of gunfire shocked the nation and reinvigorated scrutiny of rancor and anger-fueled debate in American politics.

On Sunday, Fox News quoted a Department of Homeland Security memo that states Mr. Loughner is "possibly linked" to American Renaissance, which DHS says promotes views that are "anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG [Zionist Occupational Government], anti-Semitic." Both Giffords and Mr. Zimmerman are Jewish.

American Renaissance is the publication of the The New Century Foundation, described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "self-styled think tank." The ADL, on its website, calls American Renaissance a "white supremacist journal and companion Website" that "promotes pseudoscientific studies that attempt to demonstrate the intellectual and cultural superiority of whites and publishes articles on the supposed decline of American society because of integrationist social policies."

EDIT: "American Renaissance" strongly deny that there is a connection between them and the shooter Jared Loughner.

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UPDATE:

The website "bluewavenews" published a good overview about violent Tea Party rhetoric in light of the current events:

Tea Party Rhetoric: “Nothing better than a dead liberal”

This clip speak for itself:

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UPDATE:

Here is a copy of the original federal "Criminal Complaint" against Jared Lee Loughner.

He bought the gun only on November 30, 2010.

Excerpt:

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UPDATE:

Tina Dupuy ("Sarah Palin's enemy list") published a very good new post: At Least Stand By Your Free Speech

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We have received a recording of 911 calls related to the shooting in Arizona. Please be aware that these calls are distressing to listen to.

One caller describes that the shooter Jared Loughner was wearing a "beanie, a hooded sweatshirt and jeans."

Listen here:

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UPDATE:

The ADN posted very graphic pictures from the scene of the shooting.

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Dave Weigel published an excellent take-down of Sarah Palin's "reload-rhetoric" and the "surveyor marks" defence of her fans and her staff:

Among the people who gave the impression that these were targets: Sarah Palin. When she announced the list in a tweet, she wrote "don't retreat, instead - RELOAD!" I'm not an expert surveyor, but I'm not sure what sort of tools need reloading. Jonathan Martin points out that after the election, Palin tweeted about her success (18 of the seats went to the GOP) by saying "remember months ago 'bullseye' icon used 2 target the 20 Obamacare-lovin' incumbent seats?" Throughout 2010, when Palin was criticized for the target map, she either didn't respond or mocked the "lamestream media" for interpreting her gun metaphors as calls for violence. At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, for example, she got big applause when she said "Don't retreat, reload -- and that is not a call for violence!" The media wasn't going to force her to stop using the gun line.

Palin doubled down, and she had a lot of support from conservatives for doing so, because a lot of them considered the "target map" criticism a bad faith attack on her. Were some of the attacks in bad faith? Maybe. But Gabrielle Giffords had specifically raised her concerns about the target map. Palin had many, many months to stop using the "reload" line, or to identify the targets as "surveyor's symbols," and she didn't do that.

Following the suggestion of one of our readers, I tweeted:

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