Toni,

I wasn't for a second suggesting that the people involved in the shooting weren't right wingers, although in the Giffords case that's debatable.

But SR was trying to tie them back to right wing politicians eg Palin, and that's spurious.

But these myths form part of the left's lexicon and becomes 'fact' through mindless repetition.

Meanwhile the Scalise shooting quietly gets the Winston Smith treatment.

Dear Hasbeen,

I too had missed this from you;

“I noticed SR mentioned Giffords and Cox, both shootings blamed on right-wing figures on totally spurious grounds. But he somehow forgot to mention the Scalise shooting which was carried out by a supporter of the somewhat far left. I don't know why SR forgot that one, but it wouldn't be because of bias or anything. No, Sireee!”

Normally you direct things right at me with an accompanying load of bluster and abuse so perhaps a sideways reference without the usual baggage was the reason for me not picking it up.

Well I'm happy to engage in a measured fashion and see how we go.

In the case of Gifford's I felt I made my point pretty clear. I raised the 'targets map' of Palin which featured Giffords among others in the cross hairs.

I will admit not fleshing out a similar argument for Cox's killer. Let's have a crack.

10 days before her murder Nigel Farage made headlines with the call that migrant sex attacks would be the “nuclear bomb” of the referendum;

““The nuclear bomb this time would be about Cologne,” he said, referring to the reports in January that hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed at the German city’s central station on New Year’s Eve. “There are some very big cultural issues,” Farage said.”

“Asked whether mass sex attacks like those in Cologne could occur in the UK, he said: “It depends if they get EU passports. It depends if we vote for Brexit or not. It is an issue.” “
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/05/nigel-farage-migrant-sex-attacks-to-be-nuclear-bomb-of-eu-referendum

Then just hours before her death he launched his 'Breaking Point” poster which caused even hardcore 'leavers' to disassociate themselves from him.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants

In the adjoining county to West Yorkshire a UKIP candidate was calling for the 'execution' of 'pro-EU politicians'.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10839448/My-rivals-should-be-hanged-for-treason-says-Ukip-candidate.html

Are you really saying these had no impact on the unstable, vehemently rightwing mind of Cox's killer?

Now how about you find a corresponding set of incendiary remarks or actions from Democrat politicians before the shooting of Scalise.

Dear mhaze,

Sorry mate, a senior moment from me. Thought it was hasbeen who posted that. I was wondering why it seemed half reasonable. Shouldn't have know, he's wouldn't have written something that long in his like. Anyway yours to address.

//But SR was trying to tie them back to right wing politicians eg Palin, and that's spurious.//

Nutters don't exist in a vacuum, mhaze. They have to get their ideas from somewhere. Where else if not from right-wing authority figures?

People in high-profile public positions of authority (e.g. politicians) should always be measured in their rhetoric, because the sort of speech that you and I might recognise as hyperbole, or black comedy, or irony or some other rhetorical device may be interpreted literally by people whose brains don't work so good.

Tony,

I would suggest that either most of the "engineers" you met are not actually engineers or that you simply couldn't understand them.

Mathematics is an important tool in engineering, but no more than that. A large part of engineering training is critical thinking to arrive at the best solutions based on the facts available which is why many engineers become successful managers and entrepreneurs, and which is sorely missing from most posters on OLO. That YAM came in the top of her class means that she is very capable of reason, and her BS statements are done to provoke a reaction.

On the other hand, linking the actions of a borderline psychotic, extremist who was a member of both BF and BNF and a Nazi admirer to a statement by Nigel Farage shows a complete lack of critical thinking. It would be easier to link the Red Brigades to Jeremy Corbyn.

I wonder if killing, maiming and general violence served up nightly on TV, in the movies and 24/7 in electronic games ever has anything to do with the mentally unstable doing something that the rest of society doesn't like?