Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent- If anyone is responsible for the recent shooting of Congressman Scalise and others on that Alexandria, Virginia ball field on Flag Day and Donald Trump’s birthday, it is not only the shooter, but most certainly the media and its influence over him. He definitely got his ideas from somewhere, and they were evident from his face book page where he described the president as a traitor, a destroyer of democracy and “It’s time to destroy Trump & Co.” postings.

Most of James Hodgkinson’s ideas were implanted in his mind through the mainstream media, Democratic leaders, books, newspapers and other individuals of the same mindset. With the media’s constant recycling of the same old stories of Trump’s relations with Russia and the threat to American democracy, it is a wonder his retaliation didn’t occur sooner than it did. It was only a matter of time before a left-winger such as Hodgkinson would take the media’s continual bantering seriously, which he did at the cost of his life and through his assassination attempts on Republican members of Congress.

Hodgkinson’s provocations were the result of people like Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore, Bill Moyers, Rachel Maddow, Senator Bernie Sanders (whom he supported), Congressman Elijah Cummings, former secretary of Labor, Robert Reich and the usual list of Democrat celebrities and politicians, all of whom have called the president a traitor, accused him of serving Russian interests and conspiracies and that American democracy has been destroyed. Hodgkinson held these individuals in high regard. Rachel Maddow’s program was one of his favorites and the best book he ever read was Robert Reich’s Aftershock. He even wrote letters to the editor of his Illinois roots newspaper, the Belleview News Democrat, and related his leftwing thoughts and likes to the editor.

It is obvious that many people on the left have abdicated true communication and reason for force, and Hodgkinson was just one of many who have crossed the line and gone postal in their political beliefs and misguided interpretation of government and democracy and how it all is supposed to work. As long as people like him are continually fed a diet of leftist rhetoric, they will likely react in a violent manner. He did not just magically come up with his views. He indoctrinated himself in them. Unable to think for himself and apply critical thinking skills, his lifeline was left wing rhetoric from all the usual sources.

The media will continue to have its manipulative impact on those incapable of understanding what the true aim of a Constitutional Republic is and what the rule of law entails. Without acceptance of the truth, including election outcomes, they will continue to stew in their juices and create havoc in one way or another.

Until such time that civilized unity becomes part of the news cycle, present media and news outlets and others in print media should be boycotted, and left wing politician counterparts need to go the way of the dinosaurs, removed from office or put behind bars as examples to other leftist sympathizers. If not, those with Hodgkinson mindsets will continue on their path of vengeance and their own revolutions.

Gastonia, NC Correspondent– The shooting of U.S. Rep. Scalise was a heinous act perpetrated by a disturbed and damaged individual, and I believe that he was influenced not by the mass media, but by social media. As I’ve harped on at length in the past, Facebook, Twitter and the rest have become hotbeds of lunacy, where every malcontent can find those of similar ilk, who hear the same voices in their heads and who style their tinfoil hats the same way, to support their twisted worldviews.

I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook both for amusement and for business, and the group names I see in the profiles of people who request membership to pages I control never cease to amaze me. There are ones dedicated to target shooting pictures of famous people, including politicians. There are ones devoted to Photoshopping the faces of political figures into pornographic pictures. I could go on, but I just ate and the whole thing is making me feel a bit queasy.

Where the mass media does bear guilt is in the making of these killers into celebrities. We learn their names, their family details and all the elements of their lives and personal histories. Every nutjob who wants a moment in the spotlight knows that he’ll have his face on Fox, CNN and the other networks for well more than his allotted 15 minutes.

There’s a fine line in the journalism business between reporting the facts and glamorizing the killers, and too often the networks march across that line in lockstep. They compete to see who can find the most obscure or shocking facts about the suspect, and interview anyone with even the most remote connection to him. By the time the whole sorry mess is over, we know as much about the killer as the victim, and that should never be the case.