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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday June 15 2017, @09:21PM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday June 15 2017, @09:21PM (#526211) Journal

    His approval ratings haven't really moved all that much, when you think about it. The same voters who saw him through the primaries and general are still with him, for the most part. If his polls have dipped at all it's because both the Republicans and Democrats in DC have turned on him with equal fervor, whereas during the general the RNC held its fire.

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, the approval ratings for those in DC going after Trump are far lower than 37% (I've seen 47%, but let's go with yours for the sake of argument). Congress is in the single digits and gets excited if they break into the low teens. The press is at something like 24%. Next to that Trump's a frickin' genius.

    I do agree with you whole-heartedly that the people who claim to be the smartest political minds in the country do need to be told a message, which is that their even more awful performance in office (according to approval ratings) and general shenanigans don't cut the mustard anymore. Their failure to answer to the real needs of the American people made Trump possible, and make incidents like yesterday's likely if not inevitable.

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    Washington DC delenda est.
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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday June 15 2017, @09:35PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday June 15 2017, @09:35PM (#526222)

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, the approval ratings for those in DC going after Trump are far lower than 37% (I've seen 47%, but let's go with yours for the sake of argument).

    Which poll are you looking at for that? I agree Congress in general has a low polling number, but since on average people think their own congresscritter is just dandy, that may not mean as much as you think.

    However, what I do think is extremely important is that not a single political institution in this country has the support of a majority of Americans. Seriously. Not Congress, not the president, not the Supreme Court, not either major political party. That wasn't supposed to be possible in a democracy, and it definitely bodes trouble.

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