I’m just going to say it: Tucker Carlson and Fox News inspired the Buffalo shooter with their repeated Great Replacement Theory nonsense.
Politico’s email this morning:
Ten people were killed and three more wounded in a mass shooting in and around a Buffalo supermarket Saturday, the latest burst of violence to shatter a community and singe the American fabric.
Local authorities took a teenager into custody and accused him of the massacre, which they described as “straight up a racially motivated hate crime” that intentionally targeted Black people — who made up 11 of the 13 casualties. He pleaded not guilty after being charged with first-degree murder. It was the country’s deadliest mass shooting this year. Read The Buffalo News’ Lou Michel, Ben Tsujimoto and Maki Becker for the latest details on the scene and in the city
The suspect, who had previously been investigated for reportedly threatening a school shooting, also is believed to have posted a manifesto online detailing his plans to target Buffalo’s Black population. NBC’s ace disinformation reporter Ben Collins breaks down the document, in which the author “claims that he was radicalized on 4chan while he was ‘bored’ at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.”
The manifesto includes racist and antisemitic arguments, memes and debunked statistics. It leans heavily on the false, once-fringe white supremacist “replacement theory,” about white people being replaced. Pieces of the rhetoric — largely fears about demographic change as a political tool — have entered the mainstream via TUCKER CARLSON and other segments of the American far right; they’re now believed by about one-third of the country.
They’ve got culpability and they know it.
Mock Paper Scissors 
Say it- Republicans have always been pro-gun because their goal is to take and hold power by force.
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White supremacy was the reason we have a Second Amendment: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/second-amendment-slavery-james-madison.html
White supremacy, not slavery, was Americas original sin and remains so to this day. The party labels have changed but that portion of the US population that deems themselves superior and our rightful rulers based on the color of their skin remains huge; and has great power in this country.
They would absolutely re-instate slavery if they could; and have greatly expanded it in the last 50 years: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/884989263
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Ya know what gets me? All my lily-white friends “marking” themselves “safe” (on Facebook, of course) from the “Tops shooting” … they’ve never been to that Tops! I’ll bet the house they’ve never been on that block of Jefferson Avenue, if they’ve been on Jefferson Avenue AT ALL! Meanwhile, NOT A WORD of support to the families who lost loved ones yesterday!
I am grieving for my city & in so many ways.
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It’s really hard when someone outside of your community attacks. I hope that you can find some peace with your friends. It’s harder when you suddenly know who they are.
Maybe gather some like-minded white pals and to shopping there. Solidarity breaks down walls.
Rgds,
TG
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I used to go to Buffalo quite a bit on business for my old Company. I rather liked it. (“Frank and Teressa’s Anchor Bar” and all that). Sorry to see this madness erupt there.
This is at least the third instance in the MAGA Era of a white teen murdering black people because of their skin color. The Church shooter in South Carolina, Mr. Rittenhouse, and this A-hole.
Chief Justice Roberts was right. Racism isn’t a problem in our country any longer.
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This latest shooter is described by the Associated Press as an 18 year old teenager, while that same news service described Michael Brown as an 18 year old man.
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Rogers and Hammerstein put it much more succinctly in “South Pacific”
This is why they want to ban books and saying “gay”…you have to be taught to tolerate, too…
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Oops, wrong place, this is a comment on Claude’s, below!
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Oh, absolutely are they to blame with all their incitive hate speech, 100f’ing%. They ought to start prosecuting muthafk’rs like Carlson (and Carlson included). Whipping up life v. death frenzies, deliberately, via calculated lies and disinformation. That punchable face should be in prison. No doubt that 18 yr old had mental issues and Carlson & Co. preyed upon exactly that to incite violence and mayhem. This shit makes me vomit.
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Claude
I’m careful about saying that a shooter has mental issues; that gives them a sympathy break that they probably do not deserve. This guy knew exactly what he was doing, planned it, had a manifesto, filmed it, and waited for the outcome. Some people were born with bad souls.
Rgds,
TG
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People become, they evolve into -and it’s not a pre-fabbed paint-by-number.
A baby is innocent. But, let’s say that baby is left unattended, neglected, hungry, in pain, emotionally starved (-or any combination) … well, there begins what you would call “the bad soul” where everything thereafter is seen through bitter-soaked eyes/mentality, self centered and focused only only on his/her needs, wants and desires. It can be so subtle (the bad path)
I’m calling the murderer mentally derailed while not at all sympathetic to him or rendering him any less responsible for his actions -and/but he/his responsibility is not the subject here -it’s violent inciters such as Carlson and friends, their culpability KNOWING how mentally deficient/gullible their audience is. Their spew is INTENTIONAL. We all know their are mental defectives/grenades out there and these bastards (Carlson, et al) are deliberately, purposefully pulling the pins and pulling triggers within sickos via lies and mis/disinformation and should be held accountable, 100%, as well (as the muderer).
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Culpability yes, Knowledge, no. NFW would that ever cross Carlson’s consciousness.
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He knows exactly what he’s doing. He just doesn’t care that it has real-world consequences beyond his ratings and paycheck.
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We don’t disagree, The only way that he would care is if some evidence emerges that ties his comments directly to the state of mind of this shooter, and creates a basis for civil liability against him and Fox.
The same can be said for the Murdochs and Fox’s management.
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