Crazy is Crazy and That is Nobody's Fault.

Today I awoke to the news that some Sixty Six Year Old nut job from Illinois decided he was going to make a point of embarrassing himself and his causes by killing or at least wounding a bunch of Republican Congressmen and Senators who get together at 7am to play baseball in Va.
It turns out that this guy was a Bernie Sanders supporter. Hence with a Congressman (Scalice-R-La.) who is the Majority Whip in the House (and thus in the Presidential line of Succession), in surgery for a gunshot wound and 3 other aides and Capital Police Officers shot, everybody decided now was not the time to come together as a nation and pray for the wounded, but instead it is time to blame each other for this idiot going off the main beam.

Frankly there are a number of things that could be going on here with the shooter, one James Hodgskins III of Illinois. He could have decided he wanted to go out in a blaze of "glory" or that he wanted suicide by cop. He could have been a troubled soul that finally lost his last marble. He could be a nut that wanted his shot for 15 minutes of fame and for everybody in the country to hear about his causes. The list of reasons this guy might have engaged this way could number in the millions, but one of those reasons is NOT because of anything any pundit, politician, or publicity seeking provocateur said.

Let's get this straight. Hodgskins didn't act because of something Bernie said or Trump said or because he didn't like the way they voted on an issue or even because in his twisted little mind he thought he was going to lose his healthcare, Viagra or library card.
He was not caused to do this because of Rush Limbaugh or Jeff Sessions or James Comey. Brexit and the Mexican wall had NOTHING to do with this. He wasn't channelling Al Franken or Elizabeth Warren. The acts this morning were the acts of a psychopath and could just as easily been caused by his bad hair day as by anything else. DO NOT SUBSCRIBE REASON TO A MENTALLY ILL PERSON.

Unless one can show a conspiracy to do this, or a contract to kill (think "button man" from the Mob) then this was a random act of crazy and looking to place blame on anybody's word is just a self interested attempt to cast dispersions on people you do not like.  Fact is nothing anyone said would have caused him to do this or stopped him. That is because his reason for doing this is personal to him. The idea that something someone said "drove" him to act is nothing more than an excuse and minimizes both the danger he was to others and it gives into him, because it gives him power he never had in life, to try to get others to change their behaviors and opinions through his actions.

Seeking to shame Tim Kaine for saying we have to fight Trump "in the streets" is not why this happened. Showing a picture of a bull's eye on Gabby Gifford's face in a campaign piece, while in extremely poor taste, did not cause her sick twist of a would be assassin to act the way he did. No, they do this for reasons if exposed we would find in the darkest corners of their twisted brains. Now is not the time (actually it is never the time) to blame the free speech of others for the actions someone takes unless they are duty bound to follow an order. (Think Army Capt. following commander's orders.)

When I see people blaming others for this tragedy because they may have "radicalized" or suggested it was okay, or made it easy for him or any of the myriad of other stupid things people have said or are going to say about this, I realize, they are not leaders. They do not understand what happened, but they are scared little people trying to convince others of their own importance to compensate for their own inadequacy to shut down their actual opposition. I am not reading them, I am not listening to them and I cannot be persuaded by their ranting. I am looking for leaders. Let's see if there are any in my Twitter Stream, or among my Facebook friends or on the news tonight. I am not planning on finding too many but I can always hope someone out there is smart enough to realize what stuff like this does to our Bill of Rights and are willing to speak out against it.

Tony(c) Award Best New Voice: Sharon And Her Blog Red Shoe Ramblings

The Tony(c) Award Winner for Best New Voice in the legal Blogoshpere goes to Red Shoe Rambling and its vivacious and energetic author Sharon.

I met Sharon through her Twitter persona No Reins Girl. Her tweets were sassy and filled with positive statement. Her Avatar was a sexy picture of a woman holding a pair of red shoes. I was hooked from her first tweet.

I got to know Sharon through her thoughtful tweeting and then learned she had just been accepted to law school and would be starting law school very soon (January). We then had the chance to speak. I learned that she was blogging and I began to follow her blog. I have not heard a voice as interesting in the law school blogosphere since Energy Spatula stopped blogging.

I am excited for No Reins Girl. She still has that unjaded view of the good lawyers can do for others. She is excited about learning about the law as an academic pursuit as well as a "trade". Her most recent post is just like her. She is already sharing what she knows.

Now don't go off thinking No Reins Girl is some kind of Cock-eyed optimist or another lil' star struck law school wannabe. Nope Sharon does not suffer fools and she has a quick wit. That means she has an ability to cut one to the quick and do it fast. I expect as she starts to deal with some of the "Law school regulars" I think we will see a lot of her more biting side come through. Always the lady though I suspect we may have to read the post a couple of times to really catch the "meaning" of the stilletto sharp sarcasm.

I also predict her law school colleagues both at her law school and on line are going to learn a lot from her. More importantly we older colleagues are going to re-learn a lot too.

The Tony(c) Award for Best New Voice on a Legal Blog for 2008 is Sharon and Red Shoe Ramblings. Congratulations and please all have a happy and safe New Year's eve.

Tune in tomorrow for the last of the Tony(C) awards the Best Criminal Law Blog.

See you in 2009.