Of course, it’s a given that the cries for tighter gun control would become ever louder and more intense after the Mandalay Bay massacre of attendees at an outdoor country music festival. It happens after every such event … although I’m under the impression that such cries were fairly muted after the attempted assassination of Republican baseball team members two months ago by a disaffected Bernie Bro named … what was his name, anyway? Oh, yeah James Hodgkinson. I had to look it up. Funny way that he went down the memory hole, wasn’t it? It was almost as if it never happened, and James Hodgkinson became an un-person in the eyes of the Establishment News Media. There are just some crises that just aren’t worth wheeling out the big anti-guns for, it would appear.
But I don’t have any problem bringing to mind Jared Lee Loughner. After he shot Representative Gabby Giffords, killed six people and wounded a dozen others, the great storm of protest about gun control arose, coeval with a twin great storm accusing eeeevil and irresponsible partisan rhetoric on the part of conservatives generally and Sarah Palin in particular of having inspired him. Well, it eventually developed that J.L. Loughner was inspired by nothing more than the voices in his head, being diagnosed by mental health professionals as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Us non-professionals just call it “bug-nutz crazy” and move on. Frankly, I’d rather have the discussion be about crazy control rather than gun control, but that is a much more difficult, complicated, and nuanced situation the control of the bug-nutz crazy among us. Easier just to hyperventilate about gun control, and how gun owners are compensating for having small pee-pees or some such pseudo-scientific twaddle. It’s nothing more than a means of easy virtue-signaling for the ostentatiously virtuous members of the Bi-Coastal Ruling Class and their coterie of sycophants.
Returning to my original thought; the newly-energized voices of celebrities, celebrated anti-gunners, publicity-whoring politicians and freelance media likely will have no better luck this time around in demanding tighter and more controls, or even outright confiscation of privately-owned firearms. Riding rough-shod over the Second Amendment would take more juice than they have at present, or are likely to get.
Because … the example that springs to mind, out of one of many is the reaction of a now-ex top employee of the CBS legal department, one Hayley Geftman-Gold, who posted in a Facebook discussion thread that she was “not even sympathetic.’”
“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing, “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters.”
Hayley Geftman-Gold, who is of such a nose-bleedingly privileged strata of the Bi-Coastal Ruling Elite that her wedding was noted in the social pages of the NY Times (the supreme chronicler of the doings of the Bi-Coastal Ruling Elite) basically felt OK with registering her dislike of a whole class of people and her indifference to their mass murder; a people of whom she ostentatiously knows nothing, and cares even less. The only surprise in this otherwise tawdry and routine spectacle is that she was fired by CBS before the end of the day. Well, obviously CBS had realized (belatedly) that writing off a good portion of the country as irredeemable deplorables, or bigoted, racist untermenschen is perhaps a bad business plan. After all, they want our money/viewership.
Alas, MS Geftman-Gold is not singular in her dismissive bigotry. She is only a minor voice in a mighty chorus, pouring disdain, contempt, and outright hatred on the working class of flyover country in general, and those who had the temerity to vote for Trump in particular and other conservatives in general. Which is a pity, since I would think that one whose nuptials were celebrated by a rabbi would be a leeeetle more aware of what results when a group of people are systematically “othered” by the ruling classes. We know now that we are hated, despised, marked out for … whatever fate dictated by the Ruling Class. And that is why the gun control that they urge will likely not go anywhere. Because we know that they hate us.
Discuss, if you can bear it.
A couple of points—
My guess is the shooter suffered from the onset of middle-aged schizophrenia, which is prevalent among these various random shooter types, having onsets common in puberty, early adulthood, and later middle age. Males seem to be more vulnerable than females, and more likely to act out publicly to the voices they have in their heads.
After all the (inevitable) whoop-de-do about gun control, it will be found that no existing gun laws would have stopped him, especially as it appears that he had the money to simply evade any provisions that would have hindered him. The obvious question, which few, if any, among the lapdog media will ever ask, is “Please describe in detail the gun law or laws that would have prevented this incident.”
Finally, you are profoundly correct when you say this is a mental health issue, not a gun issue. Our society has been very poorly served by the laws regarding mental health issues, and even worse by the mental health community, which found a new, but highly damaging, calling as advocates for allowing those with serious mental health issues to be released from confinement or treatment, and sent into the community at large to act out their issues as they wished.
Whether this latter applies to the LV shooter is not clear at this point, as is the rather bizarre claim that he was a soldier of isis, but will be clarified, one would assume, as the investigation proceeds.
I have no confidence whatsoever that between the politicized authorities at all levels, and the utterly useless media, that much of any true significance will be available until quite some time has passed, and all the political hay that can be gathered is in the barn.
I still haven’t seen it blamed on the Russkis. I shall just wait.
I’m surprised no one has brought up the obvious solution which is to ban tall buildings. They’re directly or indirectly responsible for the worst mass killings in our country’s history. Any structure over four stories must be closed to the public, effectively limiting taller heights to monuments, sculptures, radio towers, etc. Let’s see how the Manhattan Socialists/Socialites like that.
Two comments:
1. Loughner was protected by his mother who worked for the left wing Pima County Sheriff who was the one who began the anti-Palin hysteria. He had been complained of by classmates at the Pima Junior College where his behavior was frightening others. She suppressed all complaints so he did not receive any treatment or attention from law enforcement.
2. The LV shooter might be motivated by sentiments not yet revealed, which could involve either Trump hatred or Muslim conversion.
The LV sheriff referred to being “radicalized” and why such a term?
The source is not reliable but there is video.
Also, there is the matter of the Reno demonstration video (now taken down by You Tube) and photos of a man who looks like the shooter and is wearing a NASA tee shirt. Paddock worked at NASA and had a house in Reno.
More still to learn about the motive. The girlfriend is now back and talking to the LAPD. The question is whether what she says will be revealed.
And what was in the note ?
I’ve become rather numb to all of these mass killings (guns, bombs, etc), so its hard to dredge up the required amount of outrage. Gun control? I just took my concealed carry class last week, and I’m much more in favor of restricting *other* things. Crazy people will crazy, the smart crazies will legally work their way around any barriers. The LV shooter didn’t break any laws … except for that pesky one about murder. It is worth asking whether he would have seen the festival as such a prime target if it hadn’t been held in a gun-free zone (granted, his own height advantage rendered any CCW useless, but …).
“It is worth asking whether he would have seen the festival as such a prime target if it hadn’t been held in a gun-free zone”
There is now some discussion of his attempt to book another hotel that overlooked another concert site.
Stephen Paddock rented multiple condos overlooking the annual Life Is Beautiful Festival, which this year was headlined by Lorde and Chance the Rapper, said the source, who is not directly involved in the investigation but has been briefed on its progress.
In an effort to confirm the report, The Daily Beast visited the Ogden, a 21-story luxury condominium tower with a line of sight to the concert-grounds.
“We’re not in a position to confirm or deny anything about Mr. Paddock’s dealings. I suggest you contact Metro [police]. As you know this is an on going investigation,” said Melissa Warren, public affairs officer for Fais Foley Warren, owner of the Ogden.
There is speculation that he was unsuccessful in getting the condo that overlooked the site or other plans took precedence.
You do love your wild west theme park you have created south of my border. Good guys and bad guys, guns for everyone and we will take care of our country our way.
Cool, keep it up.it’s starting to work, well it might soon. Just a few more guns, which are flowing off the shelves, and you’ll be safe.
Oi, PenGun, you’re being a bit harsh. I understand that Canadians are pretty well armed too. It’s just that, for some unaccountable reason, they are less prone to murdering each other. Is that right?
Dearieme, why do you and others do this?
You continually respond to the fish bird as if he or she is a normal, reasonable, generally thoughtful and sensible human being.
But the comment it made is clearly enjoying the sight of dozens of people killed and hundreds wounded, because that allows it to make some amused, snarky comments to demonstrate his contempt and hatred for this country.
Every time you treat it with the same respect and response that you use for legitimate, sensible people who comment here for some rational purpose, you both elevate it to a status it could never achieve based on its own callousness and hatred, and you demean this site by encouraging a worthless ghoul who would happily post a video of itself dancing and laughing amongst the corpses if it could.
Please stop feeding this particularly vicious and contemptible troll.
Why hasn’t he been banned yet? He’s giggling at our people getting slaughtered. Does whatever system you use for the comments section not*allow* for bans? Then go to Disqus like everybody else.
This is intolerable. Stop tolerating it.
1. I don’t see why we should consider blaming mental illness unless we have some actual evidence. I don’t see why that is somehow a more viable theory than the other one being dismissed out of hand by those desperate for it not to be true.
1a. In related news, why should I believe that the authorities are telling the truth about the recent Philippines casino massacre?
2. Don’t LV hotels have security cameras in the elevators and hallways? Surely they should know by now who this guy was with his last few days.
Don’t feed the troll.
Re the hotel, perhaps there is video and other evidence. But 1) it’s evidence, 2) the police and FBI are probably still investigating leads and 3) the hotel probably expects a lot of litigation. So whatever info is learned from the cameras may not get publicized for a while.
Why do I tolerate Penny as a commenter on my posts, and not ban him, or creatively edit his posts, as I could easily do? I cannot speak for the other contributors – we all have our own standards for coping with trollage.
Well, I mostly ignore him. Attention to any troll only encourages them … although as a writer, I also have other means of mocking people who have drawn my ire. I find that an air of amused disdain works very well, when the occasion demands. This is a blog, after all – not a college.
Look at this video and tell me if there were two shooters.
The problem with the theory is that there was no hole in another window.
Still, it sure sounds like there were two.
Or is it an echo?
I ask from ignorance: do the windows on such hotels open, or does one have to break a hole in them?
I’m not following the story closely but I’m mildly surprised that nobody has said the usual “we’ve got his computer and are studying his use of it”. Or is that now viewed as being so obvious that it’s not worth saying?
My own feeling – and it is just a feeling – is that I’d be more inclined to believe the local cops than, for instance, the FBI.
Has anyone yet blamed Russian hacking?
I’m sure his computers and any other electronic devices were the first thing they went after. They just aren’t telling us about them.
I’m usually not the best with reading faces, mannerisms, etc, but I could tell from the sheriff’s press conference that he wasn’t letting on about what they know from the note on the table.
The other thing I noticed was the question about the gun buying spree beginning in October 2016. That date is important.
“I understand that Canadians are pretty well armed too.”
Indeed! In this part of the world there are 30-06 rifles with scopes hanging on many walls in houses my carnivore friends own. My friend Dave runs an ammo outlet and has a pile of guns. He used to run the Thompson Mountain combat range where wannabe combat shooters could work out.
We don’t think they are a useful tools for society in general and perhaps that is most of the difference. The idea of having guns to protect yourself is discouraged, as in any sane modern society.
This means it’s somewhat safer for buglers, but a lot of us don’t think shooting them is a good idea anyway.
I do love the old zen parable where the master hears someone in his orchard at night and finds a guy stealing fruit. The master went and got a ladder so the guy would not hurt himself getting down out of the tree he was in.
I do love my religion.
“But the comment it made is clearly enjoying the sight of dozens of people killed and hundreds wounded, because that allows it to make some amused, snarky comments to demonstrate his contempt and hatred for this country.”
Not at all. I am appalled like anyone else. Although we have crazies going off the rails all over the world, your culture entourages this madness. I do have great contempt for anyone who make killing people a normal way of doing business, and your recent history does imply just that.
People who know about ISIS are taking their claims seriously: https://twitter.com/rcallimachi
People who don’t know anything about ISIS aren’t. Who cares?
The MSM is in the latter category. No surprise. Unfortunately the FBI is as well.
It’s infuriating that an attempted mass murder of GOP politicians, and the largest mass shooting in history, only get 3-4 days of coverage, before they’re bumped to second tier story status, but Charlottesville gets weeks and months at the top.
“I’m usually not the best with reading faces, mannerisms, etc, …”: aye, I thought they all seemed a bit tight-lipped. So he’s not a Trump supporter then, or even a Republican.
We’ve pretty much concluded, Dearie, that he was most definitely not a Republican, a Tea Party sympathizer or a Trump supporter. Any whisper of a shred of an indication that he was, and it would have been three-inch tall screaming headlines since Monday afternoon.
Now, I’m seeing things about the FBI conducting a wide search for accomplices.
Also, He may have planned to survive and escape.
The note “was not a suicide note.” A laundry list ?
$5 says penny kept the fruit.
He had one unmodified full-auto weapon. They will not tell us the make and model. All they do is concentrate on the bumpfire-stock-equipped AR-15’s, which sets off my BS alarms big time. (Full disclosure: I worked as a tech pubs guy and process analyst in SillyCon valley for 20 years and I am hypersensitive to such black spots where information ought to be). And which also not-necessarily-coincidentally leads to this great national outcry to outlaw the horrid things.
Either local LEOs and the Feds are conspiring to help the gun control Democrat agenda (which is plausible, unfortunately) or the make, model, and serial number of that full-fun shooting iron are (a) terribly important to the investigation or (b) terribly embarrassing to the powers that be, or (c) varying proportions of all of the above. (/Pages Subodai Bahadur for his input on any of these points, should he desire to hold forth).
The milfags (military personnel) on the weapons board of 4chan had it pegged as a belt-fed M249 SAW by the night after. The RoF oscillates in at least one of the video clips we watched together. Heat buildup that causes the bolt carrier group to expand and reduce the rate of fire by friction and/or a belt tensioner (whatever that may be) adjusted by an inexperienced end user (or a f*ckup, in military parlance) could cause that. Bumpfire stocks tend to accelerate the RoF in long bursts. Watch YouTube videos to satisfy yourself.
PenGun… if we lose a big chunk of a city to the Chinese or the Norks or the Ummah and you jeer and crow and masturbate as per usual, there will be consequences. If the horror takes place in Texas, that will facilitate things.
Stone out.
@VeryRetired: Well it’s nice to know that at 65 I am just at the “on set of middle age!”. he he Now if I could just convince the rest of my body that those old sports injuries and such were not to make an appearance for another twenty years or so.
I agree with your post, especially the last sentence. It is sad that we cannot trust the media, our justice system, reports from the police even though we can give allowance for keeping things close to the vest during the investigation. But as for getting the truth, I know I don’t hold much hope for getting the real story. The media, they won’t dig. Where are the “investigative” reporters of yesteryear? Anyway, all this makes the Second Amendment that much more important to the average citizen as that is the last stand that any of us can take against any type of force aimed against us. So when the pols, and pundits cry “More gun control”, I go out and practice with both hands. That my friend is true gun control.
“The media, they won’t dig.”
Ben Rhodes is a vile scumbag but he had the modern media pegged perfectly: “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”
Some things the media has to rely on the investigators, like what weapons he had, which ones were fired, etc., but I read somewhere that the shooter owned something like 27 houses. There are public records easily available online. Where are the stories investigating what he bought, where, when, etc.? I assume the feds are doing this, but this can be done by anyone.
It seems quite safe to say at this point that the guy was a long-term smuggler of drugs and/or guns, used gambling to launder money/cover his tracks, and his terrible liar brother and many others knew and helped. The problem is that as days go by and the authorities don’t say anything, many people will start to believe things that are much more speculative/crazy.
“The problem is that as days go by and the authorities don’t say anything …”: still tight-lipped
“many people will start to believe things that are much more speculative/crazy.” They should just grow up and cultivate patience.
Canadians are definitely more violent than Americans. Per capita and by demographic they kill more and at closer range, preferring bludgeoning instruments. Sickening really.
“They should just grow up and cultivate patience”
This is 2017. That’s not how the world works anymore.
I’m not conspiracy minded. But I do believe 100% that at least 3/4 of the foreign policy/defense establishment (and 100% of the MSM) would believe it better to cover-up an ISIS attack of this magnitude than admit it was them. If it seems like they’re not releasing everything, and pretty soon, it’s going to start throwing up all kinds of red flags. If the guy was just a loner who snapped, they should basically know that by now, and be able to dump everything they have, which I guarantee includes massive amounts of video evidence. If they can’t do that, then what are we supposed to believe?
“Canadians are definitely more violent than Americans. Per capita and by demographic they kill more and at closer range, preferring bludgeoning instruments. Sickening really.”
If that were true it would simply be a continuation of humanities ‘game of thrones’, which we have played since we could pick up a club.
The ability to kill 60 people and wound another 600 is another order of violence and is only possible because technology is our real club. The problem with an armed society is it’s so easy to kill someone with a gun. A club requires intent and a lot of up close and personal work, and because of this is far less likely to ever be a real problem for society.
“PenGun”¦ if we lose a big chunk of a city to the Chinese or the Norks or the Ummah and you jeer and crow and masturbate as per usual, there will be consequences. If the horror takes place in Texas, that will facilitate things.
Stone out.”
ROTFLMFAO for the “Stone out”.
You are a fool. I take no delight in the horror this world serves up on a daily basis. I actually have to be a bit careful, too much horror, you know dead babies etc, largely created by the USA in one way or another, can hurt me, as I do make it my business to pay attention.
It would delightful to take some of that out on a fool who got in my face. Bring it!
“Bring it!”
Dang!! Penny is feeling frisky. Can I BRING the popcorn? If penny is going to bring a knife to a gunfight,
I sure don’t want to miss it.
I am not certain, but the sentence: “If the horror takes place in Texas, that will facilitate things.”
suggests to me that penny might misunderstand Phil’s meaning.
“The ability to kill 60 people and wound another 600 is another order of violence and is only possible because technology is our real club”
It was an anomaly made possible by the unique set of circumstances of the murderer and Las Vegas. This is why it’s so shocking. He definitely could not pull it off in Chicago or Boston, and that’s probably what he quickly discovered while planning.
There are hundreds of millions of firearms in America, but the ones used to commit murder are only a tiny percentage overwhelmingly used by certain racial groups. On the other hand, Canadians beat each other to death almost 1000 times more often than Americans. That is when they’re not killing each other with crossbows.
So it is true that if Canadians has more access to guns they would probably annihilate each other, while America with freedom to posses guns has built the greatest civilization in history.
“I sure don’t want to miss it.”
It would be classic. I am actually good at combat, but gun fights require guns and I don’t have one. I used to know where there was a 50 caliber machine gun and 6000 rounds, but I doubt it’s still buried there.
If you have the stones my dagger and 2′ 1/2 extension, dual wield, martial arts madness, is coming along, very slowly. ;)
“So it is true that if Canadians has more access to guns they would probably annihilate each other, while America with freedom to posses guns has built the greatest civilization in history.”
We did invent hockey it’s true. I think perhaps ‘greatest’ is in the eye of the beholder, but that’s pretty well universal anyway.
You know you can put pretty well anything into Google and get results for that string. Oh yeah, obviously, you do know. ;)
“I am actually good at combat……..I used to know where there was a 50 caliber machine gun and 6000 rounds”
Obviously, if you engage in combat with automatic weapons hurling 50 inch bullets, you would have to be good :)
Let me also point out that between the two of us, you are the one with a fetish about engaging in mortal combat.
Perhaps you should seek help from a mental healthcare provider. I think I detect issues with anger management.
In case it escaped you, BRING popcorn => spectator.
I am also skeptical that we’ll ever know the real story. I do understand that this is a massive investigation
(27 houses and 20 overseas cruises in the last few years) and his “weirdly blank” social media history (mine would be too) make it much more difficult to easily discern a motive. I’ll give the authorities more time, but if they continue to stonewall beyond another week or so, I’ll be convinced they’re hiding something.
I don’t know if it is accurate or not, but it has been reported that he claimed $5 million in gambling income in 2015. And he seemed to particularly favor video poker. If those are both true, that raises some big red flags for me. It would require extraordinary skill to generate that kind of income solely by gambling and, by my back-of-the-envelope calculations, almost impossible to achieve playing video poker. By all accounts, he was a careful and cautious gambler–always strictly limiting his losses. As one of his acquaintances pointed out, “He was the kind of gambler casinos hate”. Nothing indicates that he made the number and size of bets that could generate that kind of income. And someone winning that much in one year would almost certainly be known to the casinos.
Where did that money actually come from? I’ve read some pretty wild speculations: accountant for the Mob, accountant for drug cartels, drug smuggling, gun-runner, even contract killer. I certainly don’t know. Right now, there are far more questions than answers…
“they kill more and at closer range”: so Canadians are braver, then, eschewing the coward’s trick of killing at a distance.
I think Brian’s analysis above is the most plausible I have heard up until now – “It seems quite safe to say at this point that the guy was a long-term smuggler of drugs and/or guns, used gambling to launder money/cover his tracks, and his terrible liar brother and many others knew and helped. The problem is that as days go by and the authorities don’t say anything, many people will start to believe things that are much more speculative/crazy.” I don’t necessarily believe that the brother helped, but he probably knew. It would take ten seconds looking at the murderers tax returns to figure out what this guy was doing with his life. Are there W-2’s? Well? Pretty simple. Some people know some not so good things for certain people and are holding them back.
I also believe that the fact that nobody is releasing any information on the makes/types of weapons used means there is something REALLY embarrassing to someone in power in there. The fact that they are concentrating on the bump stock issue also tells me that this is a coordinated effort between the cops and anti gun folks to get those legislated out of existence.
“Let me also point out that between the two of us, you are the one with a fetish about engaging in mortal combat.
Perhaps you should seek help from a mental healthcare provider. I think I detect issues with anger management.”
I was threatened, well he did try, I responded. I have not laughed or jerked off to the horror that we get new every day and to be told that I do, that does make me very slightly angry, as it should.
“Radical Democrat Terrorism”
They won’t say the words.
The FBI still calls the Ball Field terrorism an “assault”.
The Washington Post, where “Democracy Dies In Darkness YadaYadaYada”, completely omitted the D.A.’s finding of political terrorism from their story, the most salient fact in the D.A.’s new report. The Post even categorized the story under local Public Safety, like a vicious dog or a malfunctioning traffic light.
The State’s Attorney:
“The evidence in this case establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect, fueled by rage against Republican legislators, decided to commit an act of terrorism as that term is defined by the Code of Virginia. See Va. Code 18.46.4.
In pertinent part, the Code of Virginia defines an “Act of Terrorism” as “an act of violence… committed with the intent to intimidate the civilian population at large or influence the conduct or activities of the government of the United States, a state or locality through intimidation.” …….
I’m not saying they should whip up hysteria or put the gun in Pelosi’s hands (as they did with Palin); I’m asking that they tell the simple truth, just like Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian L. Porter did.
These are the institutions we used to count on to tell us the motives of the Vegas terrorist. If we ever find out what those motives are, it will be in spite of the FBI and the Washington Post, not because of them.
Because their motives come first.
PS: What if…he had a Fast and Furious rifle?
Well, the story is basically gone from the news now. Apparently they’re never going to tell us anything. Already, if you try to google for information on a fully automatic weapon being used, all you get are stories about these bump stock things. There’s no way anyone should vote on any gun control regs without a full report about what exactly this guy used, how many rounds from which weapons, etc. This is all a complete outrage.
PS. The F&F connection seems like a darn good bet, given that it’s very difficult to imagine this guy’s life story doesn’t heavily involve intimate connections with the cartels those guns were given to. That would be a big, big problem for the establishment, because I bet even now the name recognition for that disgrace is extremely low among the public. As they say, the MSM has done a great job of covering that story. With a pillow.
Brian I agree with you. The silence on this story is deafening.
“The silence on this story is deafening.” The Waco de nos jours.
Very odd. The official story on the shooting of the hotel security guard has now been reversed. He was (new story) shot before the slaughter of the festival crowd began, and so was able to tell the police where the shooter was even before he started shooting at the crowd. It would seem the police then did bugger all for the best part of an hour. I can see why that grave dereliction of duty was covered up with the first story but it does mean that that first story may well have been a conscious lie. After all the police must have kept a record of when they were informed that there was a gunman in the hotel who had shot the security guard through the room door.
The new story now makes it a mystery why the shooter stopped shooting at the crowd. No wonder conspiracy theories flourish.
This whole Las Vegas thing has been nothing but materiel for conspiracy theories, Dearie. The only question now is this lack of information being put out by the authorities because of incompetence on their part, or is something to do with the gunman or his guns horrifically embarrassing to them.
I suppose “fog of war” is quite a good excuse/explanation for what happened on the evening.
It won’t wash for what’s happened, or not happened, since.
Even Captain Louis Renault might be shocked by what was going on in that hotel room.
We are being lied to but it’s OK because “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
Friday is supposed to be the next presser.
Think it will happen?
Sgt Mom: “The only question now is this lack of information being put out by the authorities because of incompetence on their part…”
The authorities are only half the problem. The professional paid media is leaving the job to pajama boys — of which only a fraction are “reliable”.
Things I’ve seen that the big media SHOULD be finding, or debunking:
The gunman’s Facebook postings and photos, showing political leanings.
Tracing the gunman’s pilot records and part-ownership of a private aircraft, now wholly-owned by an “indicative” corporation.
General symptoms of pharmacological dependencies and discussions with medical advisors on how family history needs to be considered when making current prescriptions.
Discussion of casino video coverage, and how it focuses on “high rolling” habitual gamblers, and the curious incident of such recordings NOT barking in the nights following the shooting.
Sane bloggers are expressing reservations.
http://claytonecramer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/more-oddities-about-vegas-shooter.html
Oops. I do apologise: I mean of course *other* sane bloggers.
Hey, if we all get to speculate, I will dive in too. Somewhere in prior commentary about weapons seen in the hotel room photos,
some sharp eyed commentator noted the existence of a 7.62×51 Nato caliber rifle (Sig Sauer I think he said). I will pose that
this rifle and the note with some ballistic calcs. were intended for the targeted fuel storage tanks, and were targeted before
the crowds below. The ballistic drop when shooting from on high down below is different from shooting from below on high. Someone
versed in the calculations could probably get a close enough number for the task in this case (not me). Probably easier and a
better approach would be to head for shooting-allowed canyon country with a range finder. Find a cliff with a 300′ or more drop,
set up some targets and see what you have to do to get some hits with the bump stocked rifle. Easy-peasy.
As far as the police response goes, I won’t criticize it. Imagine trying to breach a barricaded door and conduct a frontal
assault against someone firing 5.56 Nato rounds full-auto wearing only ballistic armor. Then imagine that when it is
7.62×51 Nato and you are contemplating mass suicide. Just thinking about it would be pants-filling. A military unit with
hard armor and shaped charges could do it I’d think, but not much less. Or an Apache gunship. And that would take time.
My $.02
I’m baffled by the shooting at the tank of jet fuel. Jet fuel is essentially kerosene, not much different from diesel fuel. Not particularly easy to get to burn and no chance of an explosion if all it’s doing is spilling onto the ground. Hell, driving a jet into a skyscraper gives you a fire rather than an explosion.
When I was a lad and drove a tractor powered by “paraffin” (i.e. kerosene) you could get the fuel to explode in the engine cylinders, obviously, but we had to use petrol (gasoline) to get the engine started and warmed, and then we swapped to the main fuel.
Did the shooter confuse jet fuel with aviation gasoline? What sort of engine did he have on the two planes he’d allegedly owned? Was he influenced by Hollywood films where all sorts of things will explode or burst into flames for a trifling investment in bullets?
Paddock is known to have owned two aircraft. One of them was a 2004 Cirrus SR20. N5343M registration #. Single engine, 4 seat. There are websites that track aircraft ownership.
https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N5343M
It was owned by Paddock, but is now owned by Volant LLC.
Here is Volant’s own website:
http://www.volant-associates.com/
By their own admission, these are spooks.
This information comes from a blogger known as “‘Ol Remus”. It is NOT classified, it is publicly available. Our media, and to every appearance law enforcement agency [note that I am a retired Peace Officer] is doing their damnedest to not look at evidence.
Sometimes things look like material for conspiracy theories, because there is a conspiracy involved.
Let me toss in something that is very carefully not being talked about.
Every public area in a Vegas casino/hotel; hallways, lobbies, ELEVATORS [regular and freight], stairwells and fire escapes, and ALL access points to outside are covered constantly by security cameras. The data is kept for a period of time in case something comes up. I think this qualifies. While they are admitting now that apparently Paddock used the freight elevators to get the arsenal and ammunition up, there are a lot of other data points that deserve attention.
Another point that was brought up by another blogger, whose name I cannot remember off the top of my head. Paddock and any theoretical accomplices rigged cameras to cover the approaches to the room. One was in a room service cart in the hallway. While that is an interesting hiding place; it is pretty much SOP to clear used room service stuff from the hallways as soon as possible. The 32nd floor was not used exclusively by Paddock, and you don’t want clutter in the view of other guests.
How would Paddock know that it would remain? Would management leave it there cluttering up the hallway where other guests could see it? Who ordered it left there? Why?
There are other questions, but that will do for now.
Thanks, SB – I was waiting for you to weigh in. More than a week … and still speculation, guesses and theories.