[Reader-list] Fwd: follow-up on newtown massacre

[A. Mani]

________________Forwarded message _______________
From: Sekhar Ramakrishnan <rr6 at columbia.edu>


On 17 Dec 2012 at 1:31, Sekhar Ramakrishnan wrote:

> http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/15/1341551/newspaper-runs-gun-ad-next-to-coverage-of-connecticut-shooting/
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/opinion/collins-looking-for-america.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/world/asia/man-stabs-22-children-in-china.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/opinion/krugman-the-gops-existential-crisis.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/us/politics/redistricting-helped-republicans-hold-onto-congress.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/nyregion/controversial-group-has-new-anti-jihad-subway-ads.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/us/pasadena-church-criticized-for-hosting-muslim-convention.html
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/school-yoga-class-draws-religious-protest-from-christians.html
> http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/14/1337221/a-timeline-of-mass-shootings-in-the-us-since-columbine/

> The relevance of the Connecticut massacre to the right
> wing in the US is the latter's responsibility for making
> guns, including semiautomatic ones, more and more easily
> available.

I was apparently more right than I thought. The shooter's mother herself
was a rightwing nut, along with others in her family, and rich to boot
(the house valued at $1.6 million, presumably spoils of divorcing a GE
executive). She no doubt contributed to her son's craziness.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/wow_waiting_for_the_apocalypse.php
digging up information from a local newscast about the crazy mother (the
newscast itself made nothing of it),

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/us/politics/bloomberg-urges-obama-to-take-action-on-gun-control.html
on Obama's speech in Newtown,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/nyregion/in-newtown-conn-a-stiff-resistance-to-gun-restrictions.html
about how much Newtown loved guns making even mild restrictions
impossible,

http://nomoremister.blogspot.in/2012/12/meet-our-morally-superior-gun-overlords.html
a blog post responding to the story above,

http://nomoremister.blogspot.in/2012/12/how-you-know-that-aspies-and-video.html
on the equivalence sought to be made between guns and video games,

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/17/1347291/top-conservative-magazine-newtown-massacre-is-the-price-we-pay-for-the-second-amendment/
adding another instance of craziness on the US right wing,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/us/lanza-used-a-popular-ar-15-style-rifle-in-newtown.html
about the gun used by the killer (who had two additional semiautomatics as
well as many unused magazines of bullets),

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/17/the-morning-plum-is-god-guns-and-gays-losing-its-peril-for-democrats/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/17/why-dems-shouldnt-fear-politics-of-gun-control/
two blog posts about the politics of gun control, pointing out how
opposition to gun control is mainly among white working-class men, the
group that is most hostile to Obama, and

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/sunday-coverage-of-newtown-school-shooting/
with the full text of Obama's speech at the interfaith memorial service in
Newtown

contain the material below. Not below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftlT41LpIOY has Obama's 18-minute speech.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/south/12009331593026/gunman-s-aunt-speaks-out-about-the-conn-shooting/
has a 2-minute video interview with the killer's aunt talking about the
crazy mother. Bizarrely enough, the reporter shows the aunt talking about
preparing for doomsday with weapons and then says no one can understand
what made the killer do what he did.

http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/errors-in-newtown-shootings-coverage-reflect-growing-pressures/
has a good essay by nytimes's Public Editor Margaret Sullivan on the many
errors in initial reporting on the massacre ("the gunman´s name, about his
occupation, about how he got into the building," and also about the
killer's mother's connection with the school).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248782/Adam-Lanza-How-classmates-remember-genius-turned-heartless-killer.html
has a photo of the killer's affluent home.

We also learned today that the killer and his mother had no link to the
school he attacked:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/nyregion/friends-of-gunmans-mother-his-first-victim-recall-her-as-generous.html

>  News reports on Friday suggested that Ms. Lanza had worked
>  at the elementary school where the shooting occurred, but
>  on Saturday the school superintendent said there was no
>  evidence that she had ever worked there.
>
> The authorities said it was not clear why Mr. Lanza had gone
> to the school.


Sekhar

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Best


A. Mani



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