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ALISON AND ADAM AND THE MONSTER
boblonsberry.com ^ | 08/27/15 | Bob Lonsberry

Posted on 08/27/2015 7:28:19 AM PDT by shortstop

He waited for the cameraman to turn back.

He wanted the audience to see her die, and the cameraman had panned to the right, to show the resort, so he lowered the gun and waited for him to turn back.

Then he opened fire.

Some fat loser named Vester who wanted to kill some white people and settle some scores and make a name for himself.

He was “Bryce” on TV. And he was Bryce on Twitter as he posted the video of himself gunning down three innocent people, unloading his Glock into them and America's consciousness.

Camera in the left hand, gun in the right hand, nothing in the soul.

Two hours later he sent off his manifesto to where his talents never took him – network headquarters in New York. He ranted and raved, complaining of being wronged, of being overlooked, of being disrespected. And he talked about payback. A white guy killed some black people; and now a black guy was going to kill some white people.

“You want a race war?” he wrote. “Bring it!”

And over an incomprehensible morning, he fled. Swapping out cars and taking to social media and fleeing to who knows where.

But they were on him, and they got the second license plate, and a reader picked it up, and as the troopers closed he took the coward's way out.

Two hours later he was in hell.

And America is in shock.

Because at a certain level, the TV people are our friends. The folks from town who come into the living room or dance on the phone, telling about the weather and the robbery and the school board election. The people whose faces and voices and styles become familiar and fond. Strangers, in a way, but family in another way.

People who, annoying or frustrating at times, are actually in our service, performing a role foreseen and protected by our Constitution. We are better when we are an informed people, when we have the facts, and when the light of scrutiny is shined into the crevasses of power and intrigue. Done right, the news inspires as well as informs, and leaves us better and freer.

And the people who deliver the news become trusted confidants.

They are petty celebrities, and part of a place.

And an attack on them is an attack on a place.

And yesterday was an attack on America, and an American institution.

Long threatened by angry crowds, pelted by the occasional bottle or rock, screamed at by various bad guys and stonewalled by countless politicians, there has always been the undercurrent of risk. The uncertainty about who is going to do what when.

No matter the media. Reporters with microphones or notepads are just as vulnerable and as frequently targeted as reporters with cameras and lights.

But it had always been just below the surface, understood and warily watched for by many reporters, but unknown to the general public.

But now it is known, and it can never be unknown.

And the horrifying specter of monkey-see, monkey-do now stands in the shadows. Schools were never shot up, until one was. Movie theaters were never shot up, until one was.

Reporters were never murdered, until two were.

And one wonders if the sick lust for attention that marinates in the minds of the evil and ill will see in the butchery of yesterday not horror but inspiration. How long before someone else craving attention and notoriety, for personal or philosophical reasons, recognizes the power of the live shot and the vulnerability of the news team.

Evil like his was not unforeseen.

The federal government has warned of it in past terror alerts. If terrorists believed killing service members and police officers would strike at the American people, certainly – the reasoning went – they would recognize the same in an attack upon the press.

But this wasn't a terrorist, it was a narcissist.

And two people just starting their careers and their lives are gone, wiped out for no reason.

While America watched.

And America learned.

Anew, the value of human life.

And maybe for the first time, the importance of local reporting. No matter the medium or the mode of delivery, in the paper or on the phone, on the car radio or the bedroom television set. We are curious about our world, citizenship requires understanding, knowledge is power.

And each day an army of people goes out to gather that knowledge and deliver it to us. They serve a valuable role in a free society.

And like other defenders of freedom, sometimes their duty brings risk.

And it may even bring death.

I think America has realized that, and the journalism trade has realized that, and the future will worry about that.

But people like Alison and Adam will still get up every day and go out and do what they do. And like any number of other useful vocations, they will face danger in doing so, and press on undeterred.

Because that's who they are.

And that's who we are.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: brycewilliams; flanagan; lonsberry; roanoke; vester; vesterflanagan; vesterleeflanagan; virginia; wdbj
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To: tuffydoodle

Terry McCauliff the MSM and all the Democrats are........................but that’s who they are: Political opportunists, extraordinaire..................


41 posted on 08/27/2015 7:59:02 AM PDT by Red Badger (READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Rather, starting with the HOUSE OF GOD.


42 posted on 08/27/2015 7:59:38 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Califreak
That almost made me throw up. Megyn Kelly’s demeanor and the dad and the boyfriend who were so cool, calm and collected and didn’t start the crocodile tears until the “Gun Problem” was being discussed. This is why so many people believe these events are false flags or staged to forward an agenda. If something like that happened to someone I love I would be far too wrecked to go on national teevee crying about gun control laws. Megyn was almost demonic in that segment. What she did to DT was nothing compared to her tone last night.

MeGYNOCOLOGY Kelly is emblematic of the problem in the Republican party.

They are trying to out-Democrat Democrats.

Within 5 years I guarantee that the Republican party will be the party of universal gun control.

43 posted on 08/27/2015 7:59:58 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Ok. We won't call them 'Anchor Babies'. From now on, we shall call them 'Fetal Grappling Hooks'.)
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To: shortstop

“And the horrifying specter of monkey-see, monkey-do now stands in the shadows.”


Racist


44 posted on 08/27/2015 8:00:20 AM PDT by saleman (?)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
It takes the right wing to pin the killings on his gayness ....

I didn't blame his gayness. I said he was a gay reprobate. Those two things stand alone.

That being said, homosexuality is a mental illness. It was only through bullying and vicious attacks on people in the psychiatric profession that it was removed from the books as a mental illness. These attacks were by the homosexuals themselves. Thus, now we're left with mentally imbalanced people who tend to lash out violently at those they've perceived to have slighted them. And a considerable amount of the population supports and perpetuates their illness.

45 posted on 08/27/2015 8:00:36 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Judgement starts with the house of God.


46 posted on 08/27/2015 8:00:48 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Califreak
Whereas Megan Kelly had no problem exploiting the situation, compare and contrast how Sarah Palin examined the incident.
47 posted on 08/27/2015 8:01:43 AM PDT by Bratch
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To: Lazamataz

And in 5 years I see a new conservative party coming to life, leaving the GOP in the dustbin of history.


48 posted on 08/27/2015 8:02:41 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: shortstop
But this wasn't a terrorist, it was a narcissist racist.
49 posted on 08/27/2015 8:05:25 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: Biggirl

Which is another SOMEONE ELSE...


50 posted on 08/27/2015 8:05:39 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: IYAS9YAS

And why bring it up in the context unless it is to blame the killings on it.

Fish, or cut bait.


51 posted on 08/27/2015 8:06:18 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: shortstop

Babies in America were never butchered and sold for parts, until they were. Where’s the media?


52 posted on 08/27/2015 8:06:56 AM PDT by antidisestablishment
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To: HiTech RedNeck

What do you think caused him to kill?


53 posted on 08/27/2015 8:08:04 AM PDT by saleman (?)
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To: Yogafist

You could buy dynamite at the hardware store back then.


54 posted on 08/27/2015 8:10:09 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: saleman

What causes other murderers to want to kill?


55 posted on 08/27/2015 8:13:16 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

NO! US!


56 posted on 08/27/2015 8:13:32 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

The ENEMY.


57 posted on 08/27/2015 8:14:36 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Califreak

Ok, I scanned the segment, it wasn’t quite as bad as you made out... and that Dana chick was awesome.


58 posted on 08/27/2015 8:14:44 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Ok. We won't call them 'Anchor Babies'. From now on, we shall call them 'Fetal Grappling Hooks'.)
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To: saleman

I think you are getting at “oh, it must have been the gayness.”

How about the enticement of the same devil that beckons fallen humanity (of which you are a member too, as also am I) into evil hateful things?

An arsonist could set a fire in the kitchen and a fire in the basement and the one would not need to be the cause of the other.


59 posted on 08/27/2015 8:15:55 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Biggirl

In fact, you and I... is not the body a temple of God?


60 posted on 08/27/2015 8:16:28 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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