6.28 pm. Andrew Sprung:

It appears to me that this unfortunate insane individual is of no party or clique.

6.23 pm. I retitled this post once it emerged that Giffords might survive. But others have been killed, including a child and a federal judge, John Roll. And there's a context there as well:

In February, when U.S. District Judge John Roll presided over a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit filed by illegal immigrants against an Arizona rancher, the Marshals Service was anticipating the fallout. When Roll ruled the case could go forward, Gonzales said talk-radio shows cranked up the controversy and spurred audiences into making threats. In one afternoon, Roll logged more than 200 phone calls. Callers threatened the judge and his family. They posted personal information about Roll online. "They said, 'We should kill him. He should be dead,' " Gonzales said.

5.47 pm. A reader writes:

I'm a licensed psychologist with 20 years experience. I've watched the Jared Loughner Youtube videos. They show evidence of delusions of persecution. Loughner's less than coherent language also suggests a formal thought disorder. While Loughner can't be diagnosed without a full exam conducted in person, there are significant indications in the videos that he suffers from a psychotic disorder. I would not rule out drugs as a factor, but he is within the age range that psychotic patients often suffer their first psychotic break. If I had to guess, I'd go with paranoid schizophrenia. If that's the case, his politics are irrelevant. He may not even be fit to stand trial unless and until his psychotic thinking is brought under control with medication.

I have no expertise in this at all, but my impression of his writings and web presence does indeed suggest to me that some mental illness is probably a key part of this. But this does not exonerate violent or excessive rhetoric from the far right or far left: it's precisely the disturbed who can seize on those kinds of statements and act on them. The danger of violent rhetoric, especially involving gun violence, is its interaction with the disturbed. That was Pelosi's message last year.

5.44 pm. The last image Loughner attached to his alleged MySpace page on Christmas Eve (under the headline "My countdown: No one read this! Jizz stain"):







5.41 pm. The ironies mount: here, via OTB, is Giffords reciting the First Amendment only two days ago:

5.35 pm. From the in-tray:

Your knee-jerk reaction to attach that madman to the tea party is disgusting. You are vile Sullivan, absolutely vile! May God damn you with a bullet of your own.

After today, it's harder to ignore threats of violence from the far right, isn't it? That a reader responded to this live-blog by hoping that I be shot is a sign of where we've come. Especially since the writer is also simply wrong. My first take was "Not exactly a Tea Party purist." But the currency stuff is weirdly out there.