[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Some months ago I posted here that I, after many years as a PC/Windows user, had bought my first Apple computer, a MacBook Pro. I asked for suggestions on how to make the transition go smoothly, and I was grateful for all the comments and amused by many of them, particularly those that suggested I had made a mistake.

Those who commented on that earlier post may be interested to know that though I strived mightily to adapt to the new operating system and all its quirks, I found the experience frustrating most of the time and maddening some of the time. After much exasperation I surrendered, older and wiser for the experience. I’m now running Windows 7 on the machine and having no difficulties.

–Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

This is a new blog designed to point out where the hate is really coming from these days.  For instance, it has this passage from a New Jersey Education Association Memo:

“Dear Lord, this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer, Michael Jackson, and my favorite salesman, Billy Mays… I just wanted to let you know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor.”

When this whole left-wing hatefest first started to erupt, Ann Althouse wrote the following:

Ah, now you see why the accusations backfire (if I may dare to use that word): the occasion has been created for conservatives to list every violent-sounding thing any liberals or lefties have ever said about anything.

This new blog should be considered the backfire.

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

It’s just one paragraph, but it is very biting.  So let me give you a link.  I guess it is fair to question whether any of us, me included, can make any sense of this guys mentality.

While we are on the subject, this AP article discusses the insanity defense.  It is important to remember there is a difference between “clinically insane” and “legally insane.”  Legal insanity applies generally solely to situations where your insanity really makes it so you have no chance of understanding what you are doing or stopping yourself.  I discussed the insanity defense in relation to another incident the media rushed to politicize, here.  Contrary to what you might think from courtroom dramas, it is almost always a loser as a defense.

Finally, via Mediaite, there is the allegation from a former girlfriend, that the shooter is faking insanity.

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

Someone from the Pima Sheriff’s Department called me yesterday regarding my open records act request. He told me that everything had already been released and was on their site.

I said that I had seen the information they had already released, and I couldn’t find anything that discussed death threats by Jared Loughner, as the sheriff himself had discussed in his press conference. The representative told me that they had released everything they had except for certain videos and pictures that the FBI had taken for evidence. I asked where the reports of death threats were, and he said that he believed that those were contained in reports from Pima Community College, which he said he believed had been released as well.

I asked him to memorialize what he had told me in an e-mail, which follows:

Patrick,

Per our conversation, the 911 calls, radio logs, PCSD case reports & all informational media releases are available on our website: www.pimasheriff.org. Items that are not available are photographs, videos and any items of evidence. All evidence was seized and sealed by the FBI. Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Deputy Jason S. Ogan
Public Information Officer
Pima County Sheriff’s Department
(520) 351-3121 Office
jason.ogan@sheriff.pima.gov
www.pimasheriff.org

The reports from Pima Community College have indeed been released and are here. A quick read-through shows one report mentioning Loughner’s having talked about “killing people” — not enough, according to the report, to justify police contact:

Is this what Sheriff Dupnik was talking about when he said: “As we understand it, there have been law enforcement contacts with the individual where he made threats to kill”?

Or are there other reports not being disclosed?

Maybe when people like Chris Matthews get the sheriff on their show for an interview, they could ask him relevant questions like that, instead of questions like “Do you think that talk radio caused this?”

Journalism instead of tabloid trash, in other words.

Nah.

Big Media appears to assume the answer is no.

But I’m hearing he was.

Are we assuming he wasn’t because people are denying it? OK. And this is believable … why?

I am sure we will hear more in coming weeks and months. If and when we do, remember this post.