Jared Loughner , who pled guilty today to several murder charges in relation to the shooting of Gabby Giffords, said he picked his target off a "target map" posted on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page.
I mean that proves it, right? Sarah Palin set this off, and thus shares some of the blame. And as much as I hate to admit they were right, and I...
...just pulled a patented Aaron “Worthing” Walker headfake on you. No, that story is fictional, but it was based on another story that really did happen. From the Washington Examiner:
Southern Poverty Law Center website triggered FRC shooting
The Family Research Council shooter, who pleaded guilty today to a terrorism charge, picked his target off a "hate map" on the website of the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center which is upset with the conservative group's opposition to gay rights.
Floyd Lee Corkins II pleaded guilty to three charges including a charge of committing an act of terrorism related to the August 15, 2012 injuring of FRC's guard. He told the FBI that he wanted to kill anti-gay targets and went to the law center's website for ideas.
At a court hearing where his comments to the FBI were revealed, he said that he intended to "kill as many as possible and smear the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in victims' faces, and kill the guard." The shooting occurred after an executive with Chick-Fil-A announced his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Indeed that “hate map” is still up, here. As is their page denouncing the FRC, here. And you can read Professor Jacobson’s able denunciation of that, here.
There has never been one piece of evidence suggesting that Sarah Palin’s map motivated Jared Loughner. There was not one piece of evidence that supposedly heated rhetoric led to Loughner’s crime. And yet for several weeks if you didn’t know any better, you would think Palin personally met with Loughner, handed him the gun and told him that if she killed a Congresswoman she would sleep with him.
And indeed that claim that Palin was somehow uniquely hateful or violent in her rhetoric ignored the heated rhetoric on the other side. How many years did they denounce Bush in ever more deranged terms, so that we mocked it as “Chimpy McHitlerburton.” Or try this. Do a google search for the phrase “NRA blood on their hands” and peruse over a million hits. Republicans are supposedly in a war on women because most are pro-life, they want to push grandma off a cliff, and on and on. Or for that matter, look at the sheer mindless hate directed at Palin herself! There is plenty of hate coming from the left these days, plenty of heated rhetoric. And if people are truly motivated to violence by that sort of thing, the Democrats provide plenty of fuel for the fire.
So all those people who blood-libeled Sarah Palin after the Loughner murder, are they going to go after the Southern Poverty Law Center? Is the SPLC going to face enormous public pressure to shut down their Hate Watch map?
No, not likely.
Now from my perspective I don’t believe in this entire exercise. There is no one to blame for Corkins’ crime but Corkins himself. But the left doesn’t play this game. They blame Sarah Palin for the shooting of Gabby Giffords (and Loughner's other victims) and the question is simply this: do they really believe it? If they do, then they will demand that the SPLC take this “hate map” down.
And if they don’t, they will do what they are doing right now: pretend the story doesn’t exist. And then we will know this claim for the cheap and insincere blood libel that it is. And hopefully less of us will fall for it in the future.
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My wife and I have lost our jobs due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up to ten years. I know that claim sounds fantastic, but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these claims using documentary and video evidence. If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin accountable, please hit the Blogger’s Defense Team button on the right. And thank you.
Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates. And you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent History here. And you can read a little more about my novel, here.
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Disclaimer:
I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct. In some cases, the conduct is even criminal. In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system. I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence. This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.
In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him. Do not call him. Do not write him a letter. Do not write him an email. Do not text-message him. Do not engage in any kind of directed communication. I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.
And for that matter, don’t go on his property. Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him. Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision. Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).
And do not contact his organizations, either. And most of all, leave his family alone.
The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report. And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request. That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.
And let me say something else. In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above. But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.
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