MURDER IN TUCSON – AT 6:45 P.M. ET:  Obviously, all who follow the news closely have been caught up in the terrible events today in Tucscon.  Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a moderate Arizona Democrat, was holding an outdoor meeting with constituents at a shopping center when a gunman opened fire, shooting her in the head, and hitting a total of 18 people, according to news reports.  We're told that six are dead, although some reports have it at five.

Congresswoman Giffords is alive, and has survived emergency surgery.  But her prognosis is uncertain.  She is married to an astronaut.

She was one of the members of Congress reading a portion of the Constitution on the House floor this week.  She read the First Amendment. 

The shooter has been identified as a 22-year-old white male, Jared Lee Loughner, who has entries on YouTube.  He appears to be a very confused conspiracy theorist who lists both Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and "The Communist Manifesto" among his favorites. 

Events like this bring a torrent of news stories in the first hours, a requirement of the 24-hour news cycle.  Some will turn out to be wrong.  Several news outlets reported Gabrielle Giffords dead, then had to retract the story.  The wisest thing is for viewers and readers to wait for more information, corroborated, before drawing any conclusions from the deed or the perpetrator.

Obviously, the usual suspects will be out in force, spinning this horror for their own political ends.  You know how to ignore them, and they deserve mightily to be ignored.

January 8, 2010