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posted by takyon on Wednesday June 14 2017, @04:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-baseball-jokes dept.

A gunman opened fire at U.S. Congressmen and others who were gathered at a practice this morning for the Congressional Baseball Game. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and at least four others were reportedly injured. The gunman, who has been identified by unnamed sources as James T. Hodgkinson III, was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries:

A gunman unleashed a barrage of gunfire Wednesday at a park in Alexandria, Va., as Republican members of Congress held a morning baseball practice, wounding at least five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.).

The suspected gunman is James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois, according to multiple law enforcement sources. President Trump announced that the gunman, who was wounded in a shootout with officers, has died at an area hospital.

The wounded also included two Capitol Police officers and a congressional aide, according to one law enforcement official and witness accounts.

Congressman Scalise was shot in the hip and is in stable condition.

Hodgkinson's motive may have already been identified by the media:

A Facebook page belonging to a person with the same name includes pictures of Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, and rhetoric against President Trump, including a post that reads: "Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co."

Charles Orear, 50, a restaurant manager from St. Louis, said in an interview Wednesday that he became friendly with Hodgkinson during their work together in Iowa on Sanders's campaign. Orear said Hodgkinson was a passionate progressive and showed no signs of violence or malice toward others.

Also at LA Times, Reuters, The Atlantic, The Hill, and CNN.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:12PM (7 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:12PM (#525518) Journal

    "Durr, it works both ways says" the radical centrist.

    "Both the nazis and the people who really don't want to live in a society run by nazis are exactly the same. " He said, very centeredly. "People who don't want to roll over and die for some of the worst scum ever created by a political system, really ought to reflect on what would happen if the people who already want to kill them for existing also wanted to kill them for opposing them"

    Look, I get it. That question bothered me in January, 2016, but as I started seeing actual fucking neo-nazis popping up all over the place, being given completely undue weight in every fucking debate, I started to ask myself, "Where would I have gotten up and fought against the things I heard in 1930s Germany?" and didn't like the answers I saw.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:16PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:16PM (#525519)

    OK, Che, see you on the barricades, right?

    That's one deadly killer keyboard ya got there, Fidel.

    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:30PM (5 children)

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 14 2017, @05:30PM (#525530) Journal

      Oh, so now in order to be manly, I've not gone far enough. I love that little bait and switch.

      No, I don't actually want to maximize violence, but I've reached the point where I was more-than-willing to condone it for anyone attemtping to bring an end to liberal democracy in the name of protecting a fragile ego from entirely due criticism about bigotry. You guys get rid of your fucking goddamn nazi problem, and I'll go back to pretending you're decent human beings who are merely wrong about some things.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:21PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:21PM (#525569)

        The propaganda has intimately tied them together, their nazi problem is too widespread. The only solution is for the non-nazi conservatives to join the right-leaning liberals in a new party. Democrats and Republicans need to have their super majority swept out from under them. I have not identified as Democrat for a long time, it is too much of a burden being required to maintain certain beliefs in order to belong to a club.

      • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:41PM

        by Arik (4543) on Wednesday June 14 2017, @06:41PM (#525593) Journal
        "No, I don't actually want to maximize violence, but I've reached the point where I was more-than-willing to condone it for anyone attemtping to bring an end to liberal democracy in the name of protecting a fragile ego from entirely due criticism about bigotry."

        So what you're saying is, punch an anti-fa?

        Really I think you're just trying to be provocative.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @07:29PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 14 2017, @07:29PM (#525620)

        You guys get rid of your fucking goddamn nazi problem

        Not the greatest video but it certainly puts "muh white supremacist" [youtube.com] argument in context.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday June 14 2017, @11:46PM (1 child)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday June 14 2017, @11:46PM (#525734) Homepage Journal

        Our only nazi problem is from the left. Racist, sexist, anti-speech, authoritarian, violent... Yep, that spells fascist to me.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @12:03AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 15 2017, @12:03AM (#525742)

          OMG! I just never thought about it like that

          You good sir have shown me the way. I go forth this evening a changed man and shall walk with my head held high. No more will I accept these socially pressured bonds! I am going to go dust off my neighbor's Trump sign, mow his lawn and get him a muffin basket to apologize for disagreeing with him. I'm going to donate money to Trump's 2020 campaign because truly I am now antifa.

          Thank you Mighty Truth Bearer, please spread your message far and wide so others may learn from your wisdom.