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-Land of the Free
BREAKING: Senior Republican politician and several aides shot at baseball practice near Washington
2017-06-14
[Telegraph]
  • Several injured after shooting at baseball practice in Virginia

  • '50 shots fired by gunman with rifle'

  • House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and aides among injured

  • At 7:30 a.m. police tweeted 'Suspect believed in custody'
The Telegraph is updating this story, so check back, dear Reader.
Update from Fox News at 8:35 a.m. EDT:
The gunman was shot by U.S. Capital Police, apprehended and taken to the hospital. Sen. Mike Lee told Fox News, however, the gunman was dead. Rep. Mo Brooks reportedly used a belt as a tourniquet to stop Scalise's bleeding.

"Both @POTUS & @VP are aware of the developing situation in Virginia. Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., told Fox News he left just before the shooting. As he walked to his car, a man asked DeSantis if it was Republicans or Democrats practicing. About three minutes the shooting began, DeSantis said.
There is a lovely tweet with photograph of Congressional Democrats praying for their colleagues.
Update from the BBC at 8:55 a.m. EDT
Mr Brooks said a gunfight ensued between the shooter and the congressmen's police security detail.

CNN reports that two police officers were also shot.

Mr Brooks said the shooter was armed with a rifle and opened fire from behind the dugout, using it for protection.

The congressman, who said he took refuge behind a batting cage, described the attacker as a middle-aged white male "a little on the chubby side".
All these sources are updating, so check them all for the latest.
Update from the Telegraph at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
  • Five taken to hospital after shooting at baseball practice in Virginia

  • Gunman in hospital, shot by Capitol Hill police

  • House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and aide to Roger Williams among injured

  • Scalise shot in hip and undergoing surgery, his office say

  • Victims in stable condition
    • Update at 8:00 p.m. EDT from the Daily Mail -- as usual, with lots of pictures:
    Congress shooter was 5'6" rude loner who creeped out female bar staff at BBQ restaurant where he spent happy hours - after moving to D.C. to protest president he hated
    Posted by:Bright Pebbles

    #70  Our war is with False Doctrine, Mental midgets with psychobabble, unproven systems, and those whom destroy civilization.
    Ergo, Ideology.
    Posted by: newc   2017-06-14 23:56  

    #69  Sorry pan, but if you want to know how "radicalization" takes place it would begin with the regular destruction of truth. Your own attempt at rational discussion betrays that some of that destruction has already affected you--you referred to "radical" muslims. Sorry--they're not "radical"--that's merely part of the fiction the powers that be are selling. They are *literalist* Muslims, not "radical"--they do what they do because their holy book tells them to literally do so.

    Everyone can't be "Hitler". Islam is a morally challenged belief system (to put it mildly). Men and women are different. One can't change one's "gender"--they can only butcher their body. Its not a "clump of cells"--its an unborn child. These are only a few of the things that most people understand almost inherently, yet we now live in a society where voicing such common sense risks a public outcry.

    Truth--it always begins and ends with truth.
    Posted by: Crusader   2017-06-14 23:55  

    #68  We do not vote on OUR RIGHTS.
    Carry a sidearm.
    Posted by: newc   2017-06-14 23:54  

    #67  This is like analyzing the characteristics of a disease in order to stop it from its origins and not treat it symptomatically.

    You can bet you bottom dollar that Soros et al analyze processes to cause disruption and environment for revolution revolution to futher their ends.
    Posted by: Alaska Paul   2017-06-14 23:48  

    #66  "May you live in interesting times!"
    Oh, crap!
    Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2017-06-14 23:37  

    #65  excellent food for thought 49 Pan
    Posted by: 746   2017-06-14 23:28  

    #64  Hung out. FBI said he was sleeping in his vehicle.
    Posted by: KBK   2017-06-14 22:04  

    #63  OK, so you are either trolling my comments or you missed the point completely. Your muzzie comment leads me to believe you missed the point. I'm not giving the dems a break here, They and the media are responsible for this. I'm trying to look past this, if we do we will find some of the same root causes that align with radicalization of muslims in America, its the same root cause that promoted Nazism, the fascism of the antifa thugs, and the KKK. Yes every group I listed, except the muzzies are liberals, so the fuck what? We can start shooting liberals. What we have to do is interrupt the ability of preaching hate to get to a wide public. My comments are more about what it takes to motivate someone to action and an opinion on how this guy got radicalized enough to be willing to die for his cause. Liberalism is not a disease, this guys actions are a product of motivating events. I believe the 24 news cycle and the radical language from our attention whore political class led to this. Again, I don't argue that the left is much further down the road to radicalization and civil war than the republicans. My point also is that the right is not very far from the returning fire mode. The actions of the press and the media are textbook methods of instigating a civil war. Separate the people into two groups, dehumanize the other side, make their beliefs a disease, make them the fault for everything wrong, the instruction manual is fairly simple. Read Jacques Ellul, the propagation of men's minds. It is a study of WWII and how men were motivated to fight. I was hoping on a discussion on how to silence the hate rhetoric from our so called leaders, how to reduce the influence the press has on our society. How to prevent the narrative from driving us into civil war. But I guess finger pointing is the easy button. Its the same with the muzzies. I'm not giving either a pass, the radical is our enemy, because they are acting. I want to get at the controllers, the motivators, and when America has a sound discussion on that, we will be a better nation. Understanding the motivation for the hate from the left and the hate from the muzzies happens the same way. Its not about hug and welfare and empathy, this is about understanding the process of radicalization and discussing way to shut it down, before loonies like this take action.
    Posted by: 49 Pan   2017-06-14 21:53  

    #62  Trump hater who hung out at YMCA near baseball field weeks before shooting Rep. Steve Scalise

    Hodgkinson was married to Suzanne Hodgkinson. He also has a daughter and grandchildren and was from Bellville, IL. What did he tell his wife about why he was staying at the YMCA during these weeks in DC? Just seems odd.
    Posted by: JohnQC   2017-06-14 20:53  

    #61  Drat...I intended to hit Preview instead of Submit.

    Goodness, this behavior is almost EXACTLY the same avoidant behavior with regard to the facts that happens when there is a Muslim terror incident: focus condemnation and warnings on the victims and intently ignore what the FACTS tell us.
    Posted by: Ptah   2017-06-14 20:17  

    #60  49 Pan: I agree that the situation is deteriorating, but how do you expect to successfully address it apart from the facts?

    The situation has deteriorated to the point that both sides will only listen to their leaders. As my link showed, there have been abundant opportunities for Democrat leadership to condemn violence perpetrated by their constituents, but with the (issued just today) condemnation by Bernie Sanders, they have not. Now, if you would please provide a link showing that Republicans and Jacksonian Democrats have instigated violence, THEN we'll certainly demand strong language condemning such violence, as well as issuing it ourselves.

    As it stands, the facts show that the violence has been initiated entirely from the leftist Democratic side, with the SOLE instance of active self-defense coming from the Berkeley riot AFTER the police deliberately withdrew equal protection under the law. For the most part, this shows remarkable constraint without any need of admonishment from their leaders. Equivocations and avoidance of the facts is the moral equivalent of you saying to them "YOU didn't build that character. YOU are totally devoid of internal moral strength. YOU need powerful leaders such as US to keep YOU on the straight-and-narrow."

    Posted by: Ptah   2017-06-14 20:13  

    #59  One potential drawback of Congressman carrying, is that they may well shoot each other during arguments.
    Might be a feature, not a bug...
    Posted by: Glenmore   2017-06-14 20:09  

    #58  One potential drawback of Congressman carrying, is that they may well shoot each other during arguments.

    98% of the time I really can't see how this is a bad thing..... ;)
    Posted by: DarthVader   2017-06-14 20:08  

    #57  I've added a Daily Mail article about Mr. Hodgkinson as an update to the original post. An interesting man.
    Posted by: trailing wife   2017-06-14 20:07  

    #56   One potential drawback of Congressman carrying, is that they may well shoot each other during arguments.
    Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-06-14 19:54  

    #55  WaPo again:
    Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), a member of the GOP baseball squad who was on the scene during Wednesday morning’s shooting, said Congress should explore allowing lawmakers to carry weapons to defend themselves.

    “If this had happened in Georgia, he wouldn’t have gotten too far,” Loudermilk told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. “I had a staff member who was in his car maybe 20 yards behind the shooter, who was pinned in his car, who back in Georgia carries a 9-millimeter in his car. . . . He had a clear shot at him. But here, we’re not allowed to carry any weapons here.”

    WaPo did point out that Alexandria VA has few restrictions on gun ownership or possession, but bans firing guns (except by LEOs in performance of their duties).
    Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-06-14 19:53  

    #54  Sorry Deacon: extra spaces were included: Fixed Link.
    Posted by: Ptah   2017-06-14 19:06  

    #53  Rex nailed it in #48. The left and its leadership/media team (which comprises more than 90 percent of what gets aired or published) is pushing for outright war against Trump and conservatives. The GOPe is sitting on its hands and pretending they don't see this.

    The left should be *very* careful what they wish for.
    Posted by: Crusader   2017-06-14 18:51  

    #52  Ten Times Democrats Glorified Violence Against Republicans Since Election Day
    Posted by: Anomalous Sources   2017-06-14 17:58  

    #51  
    Posted by: Anomalous Sources   2017-06-14 17:45  

    #50  The left should be careful. Remember what William Tecumseh Sherman said.
    Posted by: Jomong Bourbon9156   2017-06-14 17:44  

    #49  49Pan or when smart bots are used to hunt. Not hard to do.
    Posted by: 3dc   2017-06-14 17:36  

    #48  WTFF, we know what the cause is and we've been pointing it out for months now, and quite vociferously these past few weeks. The problem is The Left has not even paused in their push to overturn the will of the people. And right on time, BLMs Shaun King blames the shooting on White People. The violence is going to continue because The Left insists on it. Fresh off of attacking an elected official for his Christian faith, Bernie Sanders this Saturday called PDT "the worst and most dangerous president in the history of our country" Fast forward to today. Of course, if WE want to end the violence, we can always just surrender.
    Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-14 17:27  

    #47  Ptah, We can point fingers at each other or we can find the root cause and go after it. I don't argue the daily caller, what I'm concerned about is how they were motivated to get there. ALL revolutions are started this way. Finding the trigger point and stopping it is the goal. Stopping it after lead flies is war, and war is always the result of failure see and fix a problem early. We are at the cusp, some say past it, of a real shooting war inside America. It does not matter who starts it, if we can see it coming we should try and remove the drivers. Toning down our leaders rhetoric and shutting down the press's over dramatization of our leaders remarks will go a long way to keeping people in a more rational state. The power of propaganda is driving this, Antifa and the rest. When the right feels threatened enough to act it will get unbearably ugly. The right own the guns and vets, if they/we act the brutality will be unacceptable. We have to diffuse it before we feel the need to act with the same violence they are using, because with shooing over 50 rounds, this lib only hit 5, it would have been a blood bath if the 3% guys had done it. We need to end this before it gets to that.
    Posted by: 49 Pan   2017-06-14 17:04  

    #46  Congressmenmay start packing
    How will they get a carry permit in DC?
    Posted by: Glenmore   2017-06-14 17:03  

    #45  ptah's link
    Posted by: Cholutch Stalin8357   2017-06-14 16:58  

    #44  Sen.Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says Virginia shooter apparently volunteered on his presidential campaign, adding that he's 'sickened by this despicable act.'

    Somewhat similar to the actions of Ms. Winner at Fort Gordon. Do we have a pattern ?
    Posted by: Besoeker   2017-06-14 16:43  

    #43  shooter was asking whether Congressmen were Republicans or Democrats

    Some pictures showed guys wearing t shirts or baseball uniform jerseys that said "Republican." I'm going to guess the Democrats had similarly labelled attire. But the guy had to ask...
    Posted by: M. Murcek   2017-06-14 16:11  

    #42  Militant Democratic Party. An ideology of violence. Lies. Prosecution by inuendo on the Hill. Violence in the streets of the right.

    Fire Mueller or the Democratic anti¬right hunting season continues.

    Bernie adamently went after the Christian right by going after a President Trump Christian department nominee. Restore the Ten Commandments which says do not lie, do not bear false witness, do not murder or our Judeo Christian civilization will continue to spital down into uncivilized violence.
    Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135   2017-06-14 16:10  

    #41  The link doesn't work ptah.
    Posted by: Deacon Blues   2017-06-14 15:55  

    #40  Rep Claudia Tenney (NY) has received threatening email after shooting. "1 down, 216 to go".
    Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-14 15:33  

    #39  "I have to believe this, the other option is not imaginable."

    But it is the truth. The left has open called for fighting republicans in the streets. They openly post pro assassination images. Punch them and get in their faces. #Resistance They side with the violent thugs that tear up colleges. They call off police to allow the people on the right to be beaten. This is the course they are plotting.

    Civil war is most likely inevitable and remember who pushed to get there.
    Posted by: DarthVader   2017-06-14 15:23  

    #38  36 49-Pan:

    Here is a link to a Daily Caller Article on violence against Republicans.

    For our enlightenment, please post a link to an article detailing physical violence initiated by Republicans within the same time span used in the article.
    Posted by: ptah   2017-06-14 15:22  

    #37  "I have to believe this, the other option is not imaginable."

    Believe it. It's amazing how often your enemies will tell you exactly what they are up to. The problem, often enough, is that we fail to believe anyone would be so malignant. Well, some are.
    Posted by: Iblis   2017-06-14 14:58  

    #36  So one more observation. This shooter is a 66 year old housing inspector. By all accounts a rational man. So we have to drive into the question of what drove him to pick up arms and sacrifice his life for this cause. Now the Troll answer is he a lib, or Bernie socialist, or Antifa. But this does not get to any root cause. So again We have to look at what drove him, and what drives the others to action. Men are all rallied into action, even crazies have the voices in their heads that rally them. Give me liberty or give me death is a rally term that turned into a battle cry. Men are driven to action when they feel threatened or something they love and value is threatened. The threat can be real or perceived, but it has to be believed. This guy believed what his leaders were saying, they. In short trusted their leaders to lead. The Antifa crowd believe capitalism will end the world, environmentalists believe Trump will kill the planet, and the right believes the Dems are all self-serving and evil. All of which are perceptions, not true, and all did not just happen but were driven by people of power and respect. But all are narratives driven from someone or some group supported by our collective leaders in DC. The DC shooter is not a nut, or crazy. He is a fool, or as they say, useful idiot.
    In short I believe our media is seditious, trading our national health and security for advertising dollars and click bait, and our political leaders are attention whores that are so self-absorbed they do not realize the course they have set America on. Again, peeling back the hate and disgust for our political elite, I do believe they all started with noble intentions. I have to believe this, the other option is not imaginable. So this all goes sideways as our media drives a 24 hour news cycle. They need controversy, political controversy. There just are not enough plane crashes to fill the news cycle. So let’s drive 24 hour politics on the news. When there is nothing of interest, let’s talk abortion, gun control, race relations, get the public lathered up. Now with the increased political coverage the politician are drunk with exposure. You see it with other celebrities, the more exposure they get, the more self-serving they become. We are reaching an apex here with our current leaders. Their elitism in unabashed, they are glowing in the spotlight and saying whatever will keep the light on them. In that they have forgotten the very principles of leadership that they were elected to perform. They have developed an outlandish new form of MOB rules with the media. We hired them to serve us, to go to DC and make our nation function as fair, as honest, as strong, and as cheaply as humanly possible. We did not send them there to be divisive, hateful, and to dehumanize people who disagree. Our political class must learn to better manage this media spotlight. They must learn to tone down the rhetoric. Or we will enter into the next Civil War.
    Posted by: 49 Pan   2017-06-14 14:46  

    #35  Consider what is required to be a true Bernie-Bro. Then, recall the events of Portland just 2 weeks ago.
    Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-14 14:16  

    #34  if he's a "Bernie Bro" shouldnt he be hunting Killary and the Democrats who shut down his bid to be the democrats Presidential contender.
    Posted by: 746   2017-06-14 14:13  

    #33  ...as long as it isn't Hillary.
    Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-06-14 14:13  

    #32  McAuliffe/Harris 2020!

    er, or is it Harris/McAuliffe 2020?
    Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-06-14 14:12  

    #31  p.s. Hey (fake-Ayn) Rand, wanna bet some left wing site has already proclaimed "Let this be a warning to all you Rethuglicans - if you keep supporting Trump-Hitler's racist, sexist, Zionist, Islamophobic, pro-Russian policies - that's what you'll get!"?
    Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-06-14 14:12  

    #30  We Lose 93 Million Americans A Day to Gun Violence

    Terry McAuliffe
    Posted by: Beavis   2017-06-14 14:09  

    #29  “We were like sitting ducks,” Senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky, told Fox News.

    You are sitting ducks because you believe that Democrats have the same respect for the old rules: both written and unwritten that you have. But they have an entirely different playbook - look up Khmer Rouge, senator.
    Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-06-14 13:52  

    #28  I understand that liberals, progressives and such don't like to be confused with facts but it wasn't the Republicans who cheated Bernie out of the election. Just sayin'.
    Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-06-14 13:42  

    #27  Parallels the attempted assassination of Andrew Jackson.
    Posted by: Iblis   2017-06-14 13:39  

    #26  This is how it starts.

    Damn.
    Posted by: The peanut gallery   2017-06-14 13:37  

    #25  Congressmen may start packing & wearing body armor now.
    Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-06-14 12:59  

    #24  There can be no unity when one side is all about Resistence! and delegitimizing their opponents, while indulging themselves with a relentless stream of assassination pr0n. The rhetoric from the Left has been over the top since the campaign. They have brought this upon the nation because they last an election - not in response to any perceived right-wing provocation
    Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-14 12:54  

    #23  From the twitter (?) feed on the facebook page (at the link) -
    “We were like sitting ducks,” Senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky, told Fox News. “Without the Capitol Hill police it would have been a massacre.” Paul told CNN, “When you have no way to defend yourself … the field was essentially a killing field.

    Posted by: Bobby   2017-06-14 12:47  

    #22   Heavy.com explored his Facebook page. Definitely a Bernie bro.
    Posted by: trailing wife    2017-06-14 12:34  

    #21  WaPo: Charles Orear, 50, a restaurant manager from St. Louis, said in an interview Wednesday that he became friendly with James T. Hodgkinson, whom law enforcement officials identified as the shooter, during their work in Iowa on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. Orear said Hodgkinson was a passionate progressive and showed no signs of violence or malice toward others...“He was more on the really progressive side of things.”

    The Post reached out to Orear after seeing that he liked one of Hodgkinson’s Facebook post.
    Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-06-14 12:33  

    #20  So my knuckle dragging perspective: Congress and the media have blood on their hands. We are lucky as hell that this was not some 3% guy or there would be a body count. Congress has the opportunity to drive a narrative here. For the last two years they have rode the media wave dehumanizing everyone on the other side, driving us to Antifa and now this. The left and the right have both done this and fed the fires. They have spun the American people into a frenzy. The media drives it 24 hours a day. We will see more and more of this until our leaders show unity. Showing unity is how we stop this impending civil war. Our self serving leaders need to stand up and show unity, be representative of "we the people" and reach compromises. Gun laws wont fix this, only narratives and calm leadership can do this.
    Posted by: 49 Pan   2017-06-14 12:31  

    #19  Shooter is evidently a Bernie Bro
    Posted by: lord garth   2017-06-14 12:25  

    #18  Paging Dr Newton. Dr Isaac Newton to the white courtesy phone.
    Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-06-14 12:20  

    #17  Yep Raj, its war.
    Posted by: DarthVader   2017-06-14 11:44  

    #16  My Congressman also. Today's MSM reporting will be in Standard 911 Format: "Terrible tragedy .. BUT..." With everything before BUT being mere padding. Also, I wonder if Steve now qualifies to have a ship named after him.
    Posted by: Matt   2017-06-14 11:41  

    #15  Fair to say the they just declared civil war on the rest of us?
    Posted by: Raj   2017-06-14 11:41  

    #14  Shooter is James Hodgekinson, who:
    On March 22 he wrote on Facebook, “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
    Posted by: Mugsy Glink   2017-06-14 11:36  

    #13  If you have a weak stomach don't read the leftist twitter comments. Very repugnant.
    Posted by: Deacon Blues   2017-06-14 11:24  

    #12  Glenmore, there were reports that the gunman repeatedly fired into the air. Likely to get people to scatter.
    Posted by: Pappy   2017-06-14 11:18  

    #11  More people should be carrying concealed, and to quit being sheep for the slaughter. When you incite people to do crazy stuff like antifa, this is what you get.
    Posted by: Alaska Paul   2017-06-14 11:14  

    #10  From the descriptions of the shooter's behavior I'm gonna guess: a radicalized leftist who only recently became familiar with firearms - just familiar enough to be a threat. Had the shooter actually known what they were doing, we'd be looking at something even more horrific than what it already is. =
    Posted by: Rex Mundi   2017-06-14 10:53  

    #9  My Congressman. His security detail deserve a lot of credit - two handguns vs semiauto rifle.
    One has to wonder how the shooter managed to manage only a few hits out of 50 or so shots with a rifle at fairly short range.
    Posted by: Glenmore   2017-06-14 10:37  

    #8  check out..
    Posted by: 3dc   2017-06-14 09:27  

    #7  Buy ammo stocks this am?
    Posted by: 3dc   2017-06-14 09:25  

    #6  Time for national concealed carry?
    Posted by: 3dc   2017-06-14 09:25  

    #5  Where was Kathy Griffin when it happened?
    Posted by: Iblis   2017-06-14 09:08  

    #4  Just saw on the TV, the shooter was asking whether Congressmen were Republicans or Democrats.
    Posted by: JohnQC   2017-06-14 09:05  

    #3  Nobody get ahead of ourselves. They targeted GOP, so could be liberal or conservative.
    Posted by: Charles   2017-06-14 09:02  

    #2  Anyone doing the assassination "Chic" should now be considered a domestic terrorist and dealt with accordingly.
    Posted by: DarthVader   2017-06-14 08:57  

    #1  Assaults on Trump supporters during the primary and election season, stoking of hate, et al. Pretty much the Bleeding Kansas phase. For the Left there never is a 'going back'.
    Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-06-14 08:49  

    00:00