newtown

Ke$ha Disowns 'Die Young' in Wake of Newtown Massacre, Then Deletes Tweet

Rich Juzwiak · 12/19/12 12:05PM

Ke$ha's recent single "Die Young" is suffering an early death from radio airwaves, since right now no one wants to hear someone gleefully singing about dying young, even when it comes in the form of a hyperbolic simile ("Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"). The song has lost millions in audience impressions since the tragedy, a lite version of the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum that banned 165 songs (including John Lennon's "Imagine," Elton John's "Daniel," and Alanis Morissette's "Ironic") from the radio in a fit of post-9/11 sensitivity.

The NRA Has Finally Broken its Silence After the Newtown Massacre

Jordan Sargent · 12/18/12 08:38PM

The NRA hasn't said a word since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary — until now. The nation's most powerful pro-gun organization has emerged with the official bullshit it would like to spoonfeed you in the wake of arguably the worst mass shooting in American history. Everyone got their bibs tucked in?

What We Know from Last Night and this Morning: Lanza Forced His Way into the School

MTanzer · 12/15/12 11:04AM

Over the night, a bunch of news has trickled out of Connecticut. A press conference held by state police managed to establish a few new facts. The press conference was led by Lieutenant J. Paul Vance and the biggest nugget of new information he gave reporters was that the shooter, Adam Lanza, forced his way into the school.

Connection Between Nancy Lanza, Mother of Newtown Shooter, and Sandy Hook Elementary Still in Question

Jordan Sargent · 12/15/12 12:40AM

There are now conflicting reports as to whether Nancy Lanza — the mother of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza and the woman believed to be his first victim — taught at Sandy Hook Elementary, where Lanza killed 26 others, or if her relationship with the school was much more nebulous. It had been reported for much of Friday that Nancy taught at the school — and that Adam may have targeted children in her classroom — but that hypothesis got much murkier late Friday night.

Nate Silver: Pro-Gun is Winning

Jordan Sargent · 12/14/12 11:47PM

One major way in which conservatives have been successful in changing policy in America over the last decade or so is by changing the way in which we talk about issues in the first place. The most obvious example is global warming, which slowly morphed into the much more cuddly "climate change" early in the Bush administration. Well, according to New York Times stat guru Nate Silver, one area where conservatives have been very successful in corrupting public conversation is gun control, where they've slowly shifted our vocabulary since the Clinton administration.

Executive Director of Gun Owners of America Says Armed Teachers Would Have Stopped Newtown Shooting

Jordan Sargent · 12/14/12 10:55PM

Well, you knew this one was coming. Do you think that the root of today's massacre in Newtown, Conn. is that there are too many guns available too easily in a country that worships gun ownership and glorifies gun violence? Well, there's a buuuuuuuuuunch of people who think that the root of today's massacre is that not enough guns are available easily enough to a country that doesn't value "bearing arms" as much as it should. One of them is Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, who tossed out this old bullshit today:

First Two Victims Identified as Sandy Hook Principal, Psychologist Who Immediately Confronted Shooter

Jordan Sargent · 12/14/12 07:56PM

The first two victims in the Sandy Hook massacre have been identified: Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach. The Wall Street Journal spoke to Diane Day, a school therapist at Sandy Hook, who was in a room with Hochsprung and Sherlach when the shooting first occurred, and she provided some new details as to what happened when the shots broke out:

Here's How TV News Dealt With All the Confusing Breaking Information About Today's Sandy Hook Shooting

Kate Bennert · 12/14/12 07:30PM

Which is to say, here's how everyone dealt with all the confusing information surrounding the Sandy Hook shooting this afternoon. There were tentative reports, and then confirmed reports, which were then supplanted by new reports, and the details are only beginning to fall into place now. We do know, however, that there was a shooter and that they killed a lot of people with guns, which is more than enough information to start a discussion.

Here's the First Photo of Newtown Shooter Adam Lanza, Plus More Details of His Relationship With His Mother

Jordan Sargent · 12/14/12 06:40PM

This is the first photo (undated, but not current) of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza, via ABC. We know that Lanza, the suspected Newtown shooter, had a mother, Nancy, who taught at Sandy Hook Elementary. Though it has not yet been confirmed by police, the AP is reporting that Nancy was the unnamed adult victim found dead later this afternoon. More details have now emerged regarding the relationship between Lanza and his mother.