October 3, 2017

Is it strange that we have heard nothing about whether the Las Vegas shooter was a Republican or a Democrat?

I'm cynical enough to assume that when news reports don't say whether someone who's done something wrong is a Republican or a Democrat that he is a Democrat. In this case I know Paddock's brother said he had "no political affiliation." Then again, the brother seemed out of the loop (and not clearly credible).

There's also this, at Heavy, saying that "Paddock was not a registered voter, as either a Democrat or a Republican, in Clark County or elsewhere in Nevada, where his permanent residence was located. He was also not a registered voter in Florida, despite some social media claims he was a registered Democrat there."

ADDED: From "False News of the Vegas Attack Spread on Google, Facebook" (NYT):
[A] story by the pro-Trump political website "The Gateway Pundit" named a different person as the shooter, citing a Facebook page to claim the individual was "a far left loon" and "a Democrat who liked (MSNBC host) Rachel Maddow." Posters on the anonymous, anarchic 4chan.org forum likewise trumpeted supposed findings that the same individual was both the shooter and a "social democrat."...

Google said in a statement that it highlighted 4chan's "Politically Incorrect" message board, where the incorrect posts appeared, for several hours before its search algorithm replaced it with more relevant results... Facebook said its security team removed Gateway Pundit results and other similar posts from its social network, some within minutes....

Both companies are under fire from lawmakers for promoting false stories in the lead-up to last year's election, and have been invited to testify at a congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the race.
AND: From "Terrorizing if Not Clearly Terrorist: What to Call the Las Vegas Attack?" (NYT):
Was it a plot by “deep-state Democrats” (Alex Jones of the conspiracy site Infowars) or perhaps divine punishment for the “profound disrespect” shown to Mr. Trump and the national anthem (the religious broadcaster Pat Robertson)? Was it something to do with country music, given the concert crowd Mr. Paddock targeted?...

252 comments:

1 – 200 of 252   Newer›   Newest»
TreeJoe said...

Ann, he has two brothers.

One more frequently quoted, and one who gave background on him but says they haven't spoken in 10 years.

wildswan said...

By now it's clear that all the answers are in conspiracy theory territory.

JML said...

If it doesn't fit the media's narrative, there will be resistance to reporting the facts.

Original Mike said...

Is not having a party affiliation unusual? How many states require you to declare one? I don't think Wisconsin does (it's been so long since I registered I don't remember). Maybe he doesn't vote.

AllenS said...

If he actually did convert to Islam, is there anyone here who thinks that the authorities would tell you about it?

Sebastian said...

Would a right-winger massacre country-music fans?

Of course, the obvious answer doesn't logically imply that the killer is an evil lefty.

whitney said...

White people at a country music show is a targeted demographic as much as a gay nightclub a mosque or a lesbian bookstore

alan markus said...

Maybe he is "apolitical". I am in his age cohort and I know lots of people who I do not have a clue what their political affiliations are.

Original Mike said...

Scary thought; I could be a registered Democrat and not even remember it.

John Nowak said...

I'm confident that if there were evidence of him being Republican, we'd know it, while a Democrat link would be suppressed. However, that's not evidence he was a Democrat.

Did the Islam convert thing turn out to be wrong?

Michael K said...

The longer the silence about motive, the more suspicious I am.

Then there is the pussy hat video.

A little bit more leaking out but sources are unreliable. A tattoo of "13" on his neck, for example.

Sally327 said...

What little we know about this guy, it doesn't seem like registering to vote would be high on his list of things to do. He seems pretty much a cipher, would I'm guessing was deliberate on his part. The girlfriend might know something but I'm also guessing she will have nothing meaningful to reveal either.

ThreeSheets said...

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. It's entirely possible he was a mentally ill person who knew of a target and didn't much care if it was country music or other.

Motive - mentally ill
Means - weapons
Opportunity - large gathering of people in open setting planned in advance

AllenS said...

I'm interested to know if he was born on 9 Apr 1953. If so, I have a lot of info on him.

rcocean said...

i'm beginning to think they guy was just your typical Grade A, alienated weirdo. No God, no family, no friends, no interests outside of gambling and travel. Hasn't spoken to one brother in 10 years, the other brother in a year.

Just an aging loser, rattling around in his big empty house waiting for death. The kind of guy, who if he got some bad news, would just end it all and take 50 people with him.

Gospace said...

alan markus said...
Maybe he is "apolitical". I am in his age cohort and I know lots of people who I do not have a clue what their political affiliations are.


Then your discussions are like that of the last losing Democrat presidential candidate, about yoga and grandkids and other non-political things, never about issues.

At age 62, I can pretty much tell you about the political leanings of anyone I'm in contact with on a regular basis.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Any news that paints Democrats in a bad light - will be swiftly removed and labeled "fake news."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If he was a democrat, we will not learn that fact.

rcocean said...

OTOH, this guy was really motivated, wasn't he?

It must have taken months of careful planning and lots of money. I read the guy used to be an internal auditor, so I'd bet the guy had a checklist or audit program, with all the steps he was going to take.

Gospace said...

The tweet I saw, reprinted in a blog, said registered Democrat in Palm Beach County since 4/11/1984.

Laslo Spatula said...

This reminds me of the scrum in football where the teams try to recover a fumble.

Everyone is looking at the referee to see the call on who has the ball.

I am Laslo.

Greg Hlatky said...

I never thought I'd say this, but what will we learn about the shooter vs. what will we be allowed to learn about him?

rhhardin said...

I'd claim he's more interested in notoriety than anything else.

I'm rich why am I not famous.

AllenS said...

I might have worked for the government. Post office?

tim in vermont said...

Turns out that we will never hear anything more about what actually happened in Charlottesville either. McAuliffe, who made his fortune as a Clinton crony, buying a company using his connections, and selling it at a huge profit right before it became worthless, McAuliff is the one who will decide if any further facts come out, and given that the current fact set is working great for Democrats, don't expect to see anything further. None of our business what really happened.

That's how these things work.

tim in vermont said...

If I had to lay a bet, I would bet that ISIS is right. Maybe he had some kind of terminal diagnosis and wanted to save his soul through Islam. Go straight to paradise, all of the people he killed? Now his slaves!

But it would only be a bet, not an investment.

Freeman Hunt said...

"i'm beginning to think they guy was just your typical Grade A, alienated weirdo."

I don't know. His neighbors say he came over to greet them when they moved in. He seems normal to the point of boring. Except for, you know...

Michael K said...

The girlfriend, if she is smart, will stay out of the country.

My wife is looking at the pictures of the dead on TV. Young people go to these concerts.

Motive is going to be a big question.

Michael K said...

"Turns out that we will never hear anything more about what actually happened in Charlottesville either. "

That was in the control of the local officials who are all lefties.

The driver is a cipher. The organizer of the "white supremacy" rally was an Obama guy and 'Occupy" organizer.

The whole thing smelled to high heaven.

I don't know about the Vegas thing. Too many killed.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

We don't know yet. His gf is still abroad. They're still searching his properties.

It may or may not have been politically motivated. It's highly unlikely, though, that a Republican "gun nut" would have shot up a CW concert.

Bear in mind that the FBI was somehow unable to find political motives behind the baseball field shooting, despite all the evidence that the shooter was a BernieBro nutjob who specifically targeted Republicans.

rehajm said...

I'm cynical enough to assume that when news reports don't say whether someone who's done something wrong is a Republican or a Democrat that he is a Democrat.

Me, too...

The pussy hat photo seems to be ignored by MSM rather than debunked.

The interviewed brother displays some duping behavior.

FullMoon said...

At age 62, I can pretty much tell you about the political leanings of anyone I'm in contact with on a regular basis.


Are you bragging, or complaining?

rehajm said...

That the Vegas police chief told us yesterday it would be months before we could discover motive was suspicious (that was quick!). Two periods of time in leftie lies: too soon to tell and what difference at this point does it make?

Robert Cook said...

"If he actually did convert to Islam, is there anyone here who thinks that the authorities would tell you about it?"

Oh, for Pete' sake! Not all violent people or groups who commit such acts are connected to Islamic extremism. The FBI lists a number of domestic terrorist groups that are not Islamist.

What makes you think he converted to Islam...because ISIS claimed credit for this atrocity? This just proves that they claim credit for any violent mass acts simply to enhance their own image, to scare the world into thinking they're everywhere and can strike anywhere. I'd guess a good number of the things ISIS has claimed credit for were not connected to them.

Otto said...

Evil is a human condition, not a political party condition as our adolescent secular culture claims.

Mike Sylwester said...

tim in vermont at 8:55 AM

Turns out that we will never hear anything more about what actually happened in Charlottesville either.

That incident is being investigated and prosecuted by a kangaroo court.

http://www.unz.com/article/anarcho-tyranny-update/

Jason said...

The pussy hat vid was taken in Reno. I saw on CNN he owned property in Reno. For what it’s worth.

Seems clear this guy made a point of living “off the grid” for many years, like his fugitive father.

FullMoon said...

The pussy hat photo seems to be ignored by MSM rather than debunked.

Someone needs to ask the girlfriend. Seems easy enough. Not a very good pic may have been blurred to make it seem like it is him. If that pink shirt and hat is found in his home....

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The democrats/media are the party of corruption. Majority of that corruption is Clinton related. mcAuliff is a money-whore Clinton crony - and next in line to be president.

FullMoon said...

Any news on his medications?

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe it wasn't political at all. Maybe it was because his girlfriend left him or he had run up huge gambling debts. Maybe he had a brain tumor like Charles Whitman, the shooter in the tower at UT Austin in 1966. Whitman seemed to be a relatively normal guy too, then he went nuts.

From Wikipedia:
"Before the attack, Whitman had sought professional help for "overwhelming violent impulses"[2] including fantasies about shooting people from the tower.[4] A small brain tumor found after his death may or may not have been the cause of these impulses."

Bad Lieutenant said...

I'd guess a good number of the things ISIS has claimed credit for were not connected to them.

I'd guess you'd be defending the credibility of ISIS if it suited your line of argument. You probably have done, but I can't offer cite so will let that be.

Robert Cook said...

Heh! It seems like everybody you guys don't like or who say or do things you disagree with are--must be--"lefies."

Delusional paranoia!

Caligula said...

It seems at least possible that he was just another of those pathetic losers who chased his gambling losses into financial ruin, and then acted out his anger at a world that let him do that.

Then again, I still think PSAs encouraging those contemplating murder-suicide to do themselves first might reduce the carnage.

bgates said...

Oh, for Pete' sake!

Cook's Political Laws:

1) The government lies to you all the time

2) Except when it absolves Islam of a connection to a violent act.

Robert Cook said...

"The democrats/media are the party of corruption."

You left out the Republicans.

The media are not a party, btw.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I bet he was a democrat. The "oh he might be non-political" = the corrupt hack press working their magic on us.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

Pat Roberston..that dumb or pure schtick?

I feel like Isis is displaying a rare bit of humor. "Abdul..can you believe these fooking rubes believe our excrement?"

About the GF. Was she with him in Vegas? You know..climbing over the weaponry stockpile en route to the shower and the Keurig?

traditionalguy said...

Best psychological analysis that I have heard is that mass shootings of strangers only has 2 possible motives: 1) a young man seeking instant fame, or 2) an older man who has a political motive against the group that he shoots.

This guy makes no sense as being apolitical. He apparently set up his professionally planned kill zone over a well known annual Country Music show's last song that was ending three days of performances.

That his banal political motive is being kept a deep secret tells us a lot.

I'm Full of Soup said...

If he had been a gambler who played the table games like blackjack or poker or craps, the casino employees would have some opinions on his behavior and his personality.

Unfortunately, according to the reports I have seen, he was one of those gamblers who mostly played the slots or video poker which involves much less contact with casino employees.

Lastly, the Wapo story I saw this morning said he has three brothers.

Original Mike said...

"The media are not a party, btw."

Now that's funny!

FullMoon said...

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe it wasn't political at all. Maybe it was because his girlfriend left him or he had run up huge gambling debts


She is out of country.He rented room in her name.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Cook, are you denying that a Bernie supporter deliberately targeted Republican lawmakers?

Maybe we're paranoid because of the left's well-documented history of violence and hatred and because of their actions in Berkeley and other venues. When people say they want you dead, believe them.

There are leftists on Twitter celebrating the death of assumed Deplorables in Vegas. Ritmo was happy Houston got hit with Irma (he doesn't know enough about Texas to realize that Houston is a Democrat city with a large minority population. His view of Texas is that it is all wall-to-wall crackas and he wants them to die or suffer.)

You are not personally vicious, Cookie. You ignore the many people on your side who are.

Robert Cook said...

@bgates:

(Hate your computer software, btw!)

The government lies to cover up their own ulterior goals, crimes, and mistakes, etc. This doesn't mean everything that comes from the government is a lie. To put it another way: The government lies all the time, but this doesn't mean the government is always lying.

But this is a non-sequitur anyway. I don't know what you mean about (the government) absolving Islam of a connection to a violent act. What has the government said to absolve Islam of this act or any particular act?

Bill Crawford said...

Is there hotel video of the hallway outside his room? Any other people coming and going to that room? Video of him hanging out with someone on the casino floor? Lobby? Bar? How many keys were issued to him when he checked in?

Hollywood gives the impression there are lots of video-monitoring taking place at casinos (see Oceans 11).

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Being mentally ill does not preclude being a leftist. In fact the two increasingly seem to go hand in hand.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The media are a party(D).

Big Mike said...

Paddock's brother said he had "no political affiliation."

That same brother also said he wasn't a "gun guy." Thirty-four guns seems like a lot for a "not a gun guy" to own. Even if he was a collector and his thirty-four guns included flintlocks and 19th century percussion firearms, one would still call him a "gun guy."

But while we many not know the political affiliation of Stephen Paddock, we do know the political affiliations of those who used Facebook or Twitter to express support for the massacre on the grounds that country music patrons are likely to have been Trump voters.

rcocean said...

"Bear in mind that the FBI was somehow unable to find political motives behind the baseball field shooting, despite all the evidence that the shooter was a BernieBro nutjob who specifically targeted Republicans."

Exactly. Although, politically motivated shooters usually leave large clues, and sometimes some sort of manifesto, as to why they are killing people.

Freeman Hunt said...

So far the overwhelming boringness of this guy makes me think that this was a Whitman-type incident, as Bob Boyd cited above. I assume they are doing an autopsy.

Brain parts that could have gone wrong, illustrated by cats.

rcocean said...

"That same brother also said he wasn't a "gun guy."

Plus, we know he was hunter and went to Alaska to do it.

His brother hadn't seen him in a year. My impression, is they probably saw each other once a year for Thanksgiving, and he didn't actually know much about the shooter.

Sally327 said...

I think Gateway Pundit has identified the wrong people before. I'm surprised it's featured as a news site on Google or Facebook, however all that works. It seems like more of an opinion blog to me but I haven't looked at it regularly for a long time. Anyway, I feel like I'd rather make up my own mind than have Google or Facebook deciding for me what is it or isn't legitimate information.

There is a whole lot of law enforcement working on this investigation, local, state, federal, so it's hard to believe there is some orchestrated conspiracy that's been put in place to prevent us from knowing the truth. That's a lot of people to keep in line. But then I don't believe there is necessarily information to be had about this guy and his motives. I think that was part of his plan, to create mystery as well as chaos and it made him feel even more powerful, he would know all and we would know nothing.

Achilles said...

He had a Facebook page. It is just gone.

He and his girlfriend were at the anti-trump protest. He clearly has a pussy hat on.

He didn't pick a country western concept at random.

They know who he is.

They have gone through all of his cell phone activity for the last several years by now. I bet there are some wonderful phone calls and texts in there. They have his browser history.

They know who he is.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The jimmy kimmel show -- an ad for the democrat party


with lies and everything.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Eric Paddock said he helped the shooter move from Florida to Vegas and claimed he only had 4-5 handguns and maybe one long gun.

rehajm said...

Unfortunately, according to the reports I have seen, he was one of those gamblers who mostly played the slots or video poker which involves much less contact with casino employees.

If the reports are true that he played $100/hand video poker and had any sort of comp history at Mandalay Bay ( at least enough to be accurately described as a 'mini whale'), most of the major casinos on the Strip will have a book on him. Comings and goings, preferences, credit history, net worth, etc.

HT said...

Yes, I think it's a little strange that we do not know if he's a Repub or a Democrat.



AllenS said...

If he actually did convert to Islam, is there anyone here who thinks that the authorities would tell you about it?
10/3/17, 8:34 AM
________

I do.


I'd guess a good number of the things ISIS has claimed credit for were not connected to them.
This is currently open to debate.


The pussy hat photo seems to be ignored by MSM rather than debunked.

"Even after the discrediting of the Geary Danley story early in the day, the amateur sleuths of 4chan continued to seize on pieces of internet ephemera that appeared to tie Paddock to left-wing causes–after discovering a 1993 NASA document listing a “Steve Paddock” as an employee, commenters linked it to a photo of a man resembling Paddock wearing a pink “pussy-hat” and NASA T-shirt."

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/02/las-vegas-shooting-fake-news-guns-215670

Bill said...

I think we should all calm down and serenely imbibe the wisdom of our celebrity betters, who are never at a loss for words at a time like this.

AllenS said...

If Stephen snapped because of huge gambling losses, then the government should confiscate all casino properties so this does not happen again.

Birches said...

Until this summer, ISIS hasn't claimed anything that they weren't responsible for Cook.

ISIS quadrupling down seems credible.

tim in vermont said...

HT, I don't know if the pussy hat guy is him, but that's no debunking. It's not even an opinion, it's just word salad you like the taste of.

rehajm said...

Even after the discrediting of the Geary Danley story early in the day, the amateur sleuths of 4chan continued to seize on pieces of internet ephemera that appeared to tie Paddock to left-wing causes–after discovering a 1993 NASA document listing a “Steve Paddock” as an employee, commenters linked it to a photo of a man resembling Paddock wearing a pink “pussy-hat” and NASA T-shirt."

Has anyone confirmed it wasn't the shooter with the pussy hat? Certainly not this story. (Him or not, implication is never evidence...)

More reason not to trust the lefty asshole media.

Bob Boyd said...

I just heard John Rich of Big and Rich, one of the country acts playing the festival when it was attacked, talking to Laura Ingram. He said he was wearing his Tom Petty T-shirt on stage that night.

David said...

"So far the overwhelming boringness of this guy makes me think that this was a Whitman-type incident, as Bob Boyd cited above."

Whitman's incident was intensely personal. He first killed his mother and then his wife. Only after that did he go to the tower to kill strangers. He left several notes, none of them political. He had been in emotional decline, seeing psychiatrists, and had a brain tumor that may have contributed to his actions. His decline and actions were very well documented by a commission appointed by Governor Connelly of Texas after the killings. It was quite clear that there had been a personal breakdown.



bgates said...

Robert, @AllenS asked If he actually did convert to Islam, is there anyone here who thinks that the authorities would tell you about it? - and your response was to find it ludicrous to doubt the authorities.

The government lies all the time, but this doesn't mean the government is always lying.

Having convinced yourself that the government is run by power-mad war criminals, how do you then convince yourself that their advocacy for Islam is a pure expression of America's best ideals rather than something more in keeping with what you see as their character?

And speaking of that advocacy, here are a few mentions I found without even using Bing:

Islam is not to blame for rise of Islamic State says Barack Obama, arguing people not religion responsible for violence and terrorism

In his first visit to a U.S. mosque, President Obama thanked American Muslims for their contributions to the nation, promised they will be treated with sensitivity in counterterrorism probes and said Islam is not to blame for terrorist attacks.

"Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism."

The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Rejahm- Good point.

The shooter was definitely a whale. Eric Paddock claimed the shooter got comped once so the shooter and Eric's family had the whole top floor of the Atlantis Casino one time for a vacation.

WisRich said...

traditionalguy said...

This guy makes no sense as being apolitical. He apparently set up his professionally planned kill zone over a well known annual Country Music show's last song that was ending three days of performances.

That his banal political motive is being kept a deep secret tells us a lot.

10/3/17, 9:23 AM

You should go find the video of the LE press conference yesterday morning if it's still available. Two separate officials, both Dem's, made reference to not making this a Republican or Democrat thing. My radar went up instantly. It seemed totally out of place.

buwaya said...

If he was politically motivated to the left, one good reason to keep this quiet is to prevent the start of a cycle of tit-for-tat political terrorism, for which the US is now well-primed.

Last Sunday could well have been Bloody Sunday of the American Troubles.

I also wonder, if he did this out of a political (or religious, if ISIS is not lying) motive, that a fellow who was capable of planning this would not have also planned the posthumous release of a political statement.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Although, politically motivated shooters usually leave large clues, and sometimes some sort of manifesto, as to why they are killing people."

True, but so do non-politically motivated shooters, don't they? (Whitman not withstanding?)

I mean, you purposely set out to commit the biggest mass shooting in US history, but you don't want anybody to know why? Even if the "why" is "my life is shit and I hate everyone and want them to die" or "the people at this concert are really evil space aliens in disguise and I am saving the world by shooting them?"

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cookie- you think the R-party is wrong, but that does not make them corrupt. Just wrong, in your eyes.

The democrat party is corrupt.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Republican or Democrat?

He could easily been registered to vote as an Independent (depending on the State I guess) In California, I used to be registered Independent, then realized I was not able to vote in any Primary elections. SO if I wanted to vote for either a particular Republican or Democrat, I wasn't able.

I don't know if this has changed or not.

Registered Independent, you can still vote in the elections for whomever you want. If this guy voted regularly for Dems, then despite his registration, he is a Dem. I suppose that voter history can be researched.

I wonder if he voted in ALL the States that he was a property owner in. I bet that the media doesn't want us to know THAT either because it may be yet another instance of nonexistant voter fraud.

What a can of worms.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

buwaya said...
If he was politically motivated to the left, one good reason to keep this quiet is to prevent the start of a cycle of tit-for-tat political terrorism, for which the US is now well-primed"

That's a good point, except that I think if he was right-wing, the media would be braying the news 24/7, with no regard as whether doing so would set up a Hatfield vs. McCoys situation.

Meade said...

"If Stephen snapped because of huge gambling losses, then the government should confiscate all casino properties so this does not happen again."

At least confiscate all the decks of semi-automatic assault poker cards.

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mockturtle said...

That's a good point, except that I think if he was right-wing, the media would be braying the news 24/7, with no regard as whether doing so would set up a Hatfield vs. McCoys situation.

The headlines would have been, "Trump voter massacres 58, wounds hundreds, in Vegas".

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Cookie- you think the R-party is wrong, but that does not make them corrupt."

Well, I think the GOPe is plenty corrupt, if for different reasons than Cookie's.

If this guy does have some sort of tie to Antifa it would not only be embarrassing to the Left, but to the Republican squishes who absurdly declared that the antifa protesters in Charlottesville were like D-Day troops or "freedom fighters."

After the baseball shootings, the first thing Ryan did was appear with Nancy Pelosi and let the Dems off the hook. Did any of them protest when the FBI said there was no political motivation for the shootings? You know the Dems would still be screeching about it and condemning every single Trump voter if the shoe had been on the other foot.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

The headlines would have been, "Trump voter massacres 58, wounds hundreds, in Vegas".

10/3/17, 10:09 AM

Exactly.

Robert Cook said...

"The media are a party(D)."

No. Many who work in the media may belong to the Democratic Party, but the media are not a party. To say so is simply stupid.

Hey Skipper said...

Andreas Lubitz flew GermanWings 9525 into an Alps mountainside, killing 149 people.

One wonders why some suicidal people seem intent on taking strangers with them. But trying to apply rational thought to a suicide is self-contradicting. Sometimes, there are no answers; perhaps it is most accurate to look at this like another reasonless force of nature, like a tsunami that kills thousands.

(BTW, Malaysian flight 370 was also almost certainly a suicide.)

Robert Cook said...

"Until this summer, ISIS hasn't claimed anything that they weren't responsible for Cook."

How do you know? And if they didn't falsely claim credit for violent acts at one time, how do you know they don't now? Given their diminishing numbers, they have to find ways to appear to be as powerful as they once were.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"No. Many who work in the media may belong to the Democratic Party, but the media are not a party"

I fully agree with Glenn Reynolds' statement that the media are largely the PR Department of the DNC.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Whitman's incident was intensely personal. He first killed his mother and then his wife. Only after that did he go to the tower to kill strangers.


Has anybody checked the killer's homes and friends/family to see if any are missing or in a bad way?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"They know who he is.

They have gone through all of his cell phone activity for the last several years by now. I bet there are some wonderful phone calls and texts in there. They have his browser history.

They know who he is."

For an event of this magnitude, it is completely reasonable to think that what Achilles comments is true. It would be very odd if it wasn't
As to the ease of figuring out people's political affiliations, in my volunteer work I'm frequently in the homes of strangers, and there'll usually be some obvious tell. The black and white postcard of Obama thanking them for their contribution is a particularly common one. Sometimes it's just the nature of their possessions or something as simple as a refrigerator magnet. It isn't difficult. Liberals, in particular, are very fond of signaling.

Matt Sablan said...

"To say so is simply stupid."

-- Or a clever turn of phrase on "the Fourth Estate."

Sally327 said...

"Andreas Lubitz flew GermanWings 9525 into an Alps mountainside, killing 149 people."

He had health issues that were going to keep him from flying. I think?

I don't remember a lot of talk about his political affiliations when that happened. But maybe that's more of an American thing.

mockturtle said...

This reminds me of the scrum in football where the teams try to recover a fumble.

Everyone is looking at the referee to see the call on who has the ball.

I am Laslo.


Yep.

Bob Boyd said...

The problem is Progressivism, which is based on the idea that leaders need to lie to the people for the greater good as defined by the leaders.
It's amazing how the "smart" people can't understand that when you keep lying, no one will believe you anymore. They're just baffled. "Why are they hostile to expertise?" they ask.
The Democratic Party has lost so many elections that it has essentially become a regional party. Do they say to themselves, we need to change our platform and policy prescriptions to things the voters like? No. Their answer is, We need to get more control over the information Americans see and hear. That's what they consider Progress apparently.

Matt Sablan said...

"Bear in mind that the FBI was somehow unable to find political motives behind the baseball field shooting, despite all the evidence that the shooter was a BernieBro nutjob who specifically targeted Republicans."

-- In fact, they specifically said that the Scalise shooting was not terrorism.

Michael K said...

They know who he is.

They have gone through all of his cell phone activity for the last several years by now. I bet there are some wonderful phone calls and texts in there. They have his browser history.

They know who he is.


Yes and pretty soon, it should begin to leak. I suspect the answers are not helpful to the left or we would have heard it by now.

eric said...

Blogger Sally327 said...
I think Gateway Pundit has identified the wrong people before.


I don't read gateway pundit because it spams me with ads when I go there.

However, every news outlet has made this mistake. In gateway pundits defense, they had the wrong guy up for 10 minutes. As soon as they realized the mistake, they took it down. 10 minutes.

The left is trying to use this mistake to tar gateway pundit as fake news all the time.

Don't fall for it. If getting it wrong for 10 minutes is grounds for being dismissed as fake news, can we get rid of the New York Times now please?

mockturtle said...

The FBI should be abolished as a waste of taxpayers' money. They are either clueless or disingenuous in almost every situation and, in any case, useless as teats on a boar.

walter said...

exiledonmainstreet said..."No. Many who work in the media may belong to the Democratic Party, but the media are not a party"
--
Media has managed to use events of the day to fade, fade away their getting caught in real election collusion with Dems.

walter said...

(Sorry..quote was from Cookie)

wildswan said...

This horrible person has the MO of James Hodgkinson. Part of that MO is that they are the type to be manipulated. I think this guy expected to be joined by a team. That's why so many guns and no note. But when the team didn't come, he went ahead anyhow. Because he was crazy.

CWJ said...

Bill Crawford @ 9:28 finally hits the nail on the head. Las Vegas (and casinos generally) is probably the most monitored city 24/7 in the US. There's got to be footage of this guy all over the place. In particular, my wife wants to know how he went about stockpiling his room with dozens of weapons without attracting attention. My vote - duffel bags multiple trips.

walter said...

I see FB SJW Berners pointing to supposed reluctance to call the shooter a terrorist more evidence of racism...as well as saying Repubs want to protect the shooter's 2nd amendment rights but squelch Cappy's 1st.
Sound familiar "Howard"?

walter said...

(Maybe Howard is meeting his Soros deigned posting quota in less "hostile" territory)

Matt Sablan said...

"In particular, my wife wants to know how he went about stockpiling his room with dozens of weapons without attracting attention"

-- I bet casino security is asking their staff that very same question.

Quaestor said...

Robert cook wrote: Many who work in the media may belong to the Democratic Party...

That ain't too bright, either. It's like a Polish Jew remarking to coreligionist, "Ya know, some of those Nazis don't like us."

Sally327 said...

"There's got to be footage of this guy all over the place. In particular, my wife wants to know how he went about stockpiling his room with dozens of weapons without attracting attention. My vote - duffel bags multiple trips."

It's Vegas, tons of people everywhere, coming and going. No one is going to monitor some old guy staying in one of the suites. And someone would have to have been watching him continuously to pick up on the number of bags and multiple trips. And maybe still not have thought they had something they should investigate.

They're watching, all the time, but not for that kind of activity.

Michael K said...

Here is some video suggesting that they knew about where he was pretty quickly

A SWAT team blew the door to his room. I don't think it was an hour as some are saying.

I also wonder at the number of guns. It seems they would increase the risk of detection.

Also, I would sure like to hear what the girlfriend knows.

rehajm said...

"In particular, my wife wants to know how he went about stockpiling his room with dozens of weapons without attracting attention"

Most strip hotels you have to schlep across the casino floor with all your luggage to reach the elevators to the rooms. I can't recall what happens at Mandalay. I know when Four Seasons was still inside the building (is it still?), one of the selling points was you didn't have to do that...

Modern ARs break down very small. You could easily stash a few of them in one checked bag and wheel it across the floor none the wiser...

brylun said...

Who ya gonna believe, ISIS or your own lyin’ FBI’s?

CWJ said...

Sally,

There's "monitor" and then there's "notice." You don't have to be monitoring the guy to notice something suspicious. But I take your point.

holdfast said...

Figure an AR with optic weighs around 10 pounds (really less, but work with me) - you could break down five of them into upper and lower halves, wrap with plenty of bubble wrap, and have a suitcase that weighs around 50 pounds (the checked baggage limit for domestic flights), which would attract no attention in a hotel. Ammo takes less space but weighs a lot (it's like it's full of lead) - but you could easily take 500 rounds of 5.56mm in a day pack without attracting any attention - five trips like that and you'd have 2,500 rounds. Assuming he kept all the stuff stashed in his luggage until the day of, there's not reason that staff would notice, though they would probably think he was a chronic packrat.

Karen said...

I read that to carry on a shooting spree of that kind with automatic weapons requires massive strength and training and that this guy would be unlikely to be able to carry it off. Does anybody know what it takes to fire those big weapons?

rehajm said...

I read that to carry on a shooting spree of that kind with automatic weapons requires massive strength and training and that this guy would be unlikely to be able to carry it off. Does anybody know what it takes to fire those big weapons?

Something like this would do...

buwaya said...

"Does anybody know what it takes to fire those big weapons?"

Its been 40 years since I shot an M-16 in auto, but I recall it quite well. It does not take much strength at all. Tiny Filipino girls can do it with no problems.

It does take practice to be reasonably accurate but that may have been irrelevant in this case.

Matt Sablan said...

"Does anybody know what it takes to fire those big weapons?"

-- The average weapon, remember, is built for the average fighting man. So, while an older person might need to have kept in better shape than average, or take advantage of tripods or bracing, there's no reason to think that a person with some training/equipment would be unable to fire the weapons.

Big Mike said...

There's got to be footage of this guy all over the place. In particular, my wife wants to know how he went about stockpiling his room with dozens of weapons without attracting attention. My vote - duffel bags multiple trips.

The Mandalay Bay has a convention center that routinely hosts conventions and large conferences. My vote is for large, wheeled, aluminum cases of the sort that someone setting up a booth would use to haul his equipment. I checked the Las Vegas convention calendar so I know for a fact that there was a good-sized building trades convention at the Mandalay Bay the week of the shooting.

Michael K said...

My 11 year old grandson could shoot an AR 15 on a range with good accuracy .

Of course it was single shots but the recoil is not much.

buwaya said...

The worst problem in the military is not shooting the things but carrying them, along with all the gear people seem to like to haul these days.

I recall back in the late 70's-early 80's, you would see the Filipino soldiers armed with M-16's or M-14's, manning checkpoints and on patrol, wearing t-shirts and flipflops, the only piece of uniform being their trousers, and no belting or pouches. They kept a couple of magazines in their pockets. Now that was "light infantry".

James K said...

" prevent the start of a cycle of tit-for-tat political terrorism, for which the US is now well-primed"

This sounds too close to the D/MSM response to an Islamic terror attack, which is immediately to express their highest concern for the Muslim community and all the reprisal attacks that will happen--as if such attacks are commonplace.

Big Mike said...

@Karen, what you were told stopped being true about fifty years ago. An AR weighs about six pounds, not counting ammo (more if you pile on the accessories like laser sights). Most of the recoil is absorbed by the spring loaded buffer tube inside the stock, and perceived recoil is further reduced by having the shoulder stock aligned with the barrel and receiver. If shooting a 7.63 NATO round there'd still be some kick, but the 5.56 or weaker .223, not so much.

mockturtle said...

buwaya observes: It does take practice to be reasonably accurate but that may have been irrelevant in this case.

Indeed. This was more strafing than shooting.

Big Mike said...

7.62

walter said...

So did the woman shouting they were all going to die exist?
Hard to imagine security just dismissing her and letting her walk.
"Oh honey..don't be silly. Go home and sleep it off"

Darrell said...

Other unanswered questions--

The Hispanic woman, middle-aged 5'5" that told several woman that everyone there was going to be killed by "them." "They are going to kill you all."

The Australians that say that there were multiple shooters and that a security guard was shot to death outside the room. The Aussies were staying on that floor.

walter said...

And..even if she was telling the truth, seemed like the GF was let go quickly.

Darrell said...

I read that golf bags were used for the multiple trips to the vehicle.

Matt Sablan said...

"So did the woman shouting they were all going to die exist?"

-- Most recent report is concert security didn't ever respond to her/hear about her until the Internet said she existed. Subject to change, of course.

Darrell said...

-- Most recent report is concert security didn't ever respond to her/hear about her until the Internet said she existed. Subject to change, of course.

The security guy that walked the woman (and possibly a Hispanic man that was hanging around her) out of the area probably didn't report the incident so he isn't likely to come forward now. I watched two separate interviews with two separate women who were clear on what the Hispanic woman said. And this occurred 45 minutes to an hour before the first shot was heard.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Darrell said...
I read that golf bags were used for the multiple trips to the vehicle.

Perfect way to do it. Plenty of people bring clubs to Vegas to play golf. Leave in the morning with a golf bag, come back a few hours later with a golf bag with rifles in it. No one at the hotel would even begin to notice anything.

Anonymous said...

It's hardly a conspiracy theory to suspect that the media is not sharing news that doesn't fit their narrative.

They do that a lot.

Static Ping said...

As usual that happens with these sorts of events, the reports are going to be confused. There will be real news mixed in with misunderstandings, conjecture, educated guesses, political spin, hoaxes, and outright nonsense. In some cases even facts are going to be misleading to the full picture. It is unwise to follow the news cycle, other than for the essential information that you need, in the several days after the events. While this particular example points out the Gateway Pundit and 4chan, it is not limited to them. The more standard news sources are going to be passing on lots of bad information for days and weeks to come. The New York Times, in all its self-righteousness, is certainly not immune to this, especially since they are basically well-regarded hacks.

Bob Boyd said...

The fact that it was a country music show may have been irrelevant to the shooter. He may have picked that particular concert for purely tactical reasons.
How many outdoor events of that size are held within easy range of a corner hotel suite in the state of Nevada in a given year?

Achilles said...

The Cracker Emcee Activist said...

"They know who he is."

For an event of this magnitude, it is completely reasonable to think that what Achilles comments is true. It would be very odd if it wasn't.

I am guaranteeing to everyone here they have transcripts of every cell call and land line call he made and every electronic communication he made for at least two years, probably posted on a series of poster boards with a lot of highlighter marks, up in a work room right now.

Each one of those transcripts will have a note: "XX% voice match."

He was a successful Real Estate Agent. He didn't live "off the grid." He wasn't a recluse. It is impossible to be a good real estate agent without talking to people all the time. They are on their phone all day every day. There is most likely a stack of transcripts in that work room where they piled up Real Estate transaction calls that are not of interest to the investigation.

There isn't a successful Real Estate Agent alive today that doesn't have a social media/online presence. Especially ones that are on video wearing a pussy hat.



buwaya said...

"How many outdoor events of that size are held within easy range of a corner hotel suite in the state of Nevada in a given year?"

Quite a few I think.
There were several at Mandalay Bay.

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/las-vegas/every-outdoor-summer-concert-in-las-vegas
https://www.tripsavvy.com/rock-of-vegas-2134425

HT said...

There's video of the shooter from 3 years ago at Mandalay Bay, slipping and then being tended to. He asked for them to cover medical expenses in the tens of thousands of dollars, but was denied, I think by a court eventually.

Achilles said...

A Note on the pussy hat video: If it was some guy that looks like him on video all alone that is one thing. But when you are on video with a known relation and that person is also a strong match it becomes something totally different.

Too many democrats are running around right now saying don't make this political. The 2 democrat politicians at the news conference that jumped in oddly highlight this.

He had a video camera in the room to video tape himself. I bet the 2 democrats that were with the police at that news conference know what is on that video. He wasn't going out quietly. He picked a place everyone in the country thinks is full of Trump supporters.

They are working very hard to cover this up. Look for some shorts on the stock market from Google and Facebook execs. They know what he is too.

buwaya said...

An aspect of insanity in this case was the excessive number of firearms.

I can see wanting two, for the sake of cooling. These things will overheat, they are not really meant for sustained shooting.

And a spare besides in case of a jam or other technical problem, as fixing jams would be a waste of time.

And a couple of other weapons, maybe, more suitable for secondary situations, such as a pistol or shotgun.

But two dozen weapons were not necessary for his purpose, if his purpose was just to kill people. Maybe he wanted to die with all his favorites at hand, in attendance at Gotterdammerung.

Bad Lieutenant said...

They are working very hard to cover this up. Look for some shorts

Dirty ones, when the truth comes out.

Bob Boyd said...

"Look for some shorts on the stock market from Google and Facebook execs."

You'll have to explain for some of us.

FullMoon said...

HT said...

There's video of the shooter from 3 years ago at Mandalay Bay, slipping and then being tended to. He asked for them to cover medical expenses in the tens of thousands of dollars, but was denied, I think by a court eventually.

10/3/17, 12:40 PM

WRONG INFO.

NBC NEWS SAYS:Security video from the Cosmopolitan Hotel shows Paddock slipping and falling on Oct. 30, 2011, as he walked from a hotel shop towards a high-stakes area in the casino. Paddock said he had slipped in a puddle of liquid and sued the hotel in 2012, initially asking for $100,000, according to the attorney for the hotel, Marty Kravitz.

HT said...

Sorry about that, thanks for correcting.

Achilles said...

Karen said...
I read that to carry on a shooting spree of that kind with automatic weapons requires massive strength and training and that this guy would be unlikely to be able to carry it off. Does anybody know what it takes to fire those big weapons?

He was shooting 5.56 or 7.62 39. My guess was 5.56. He was not shooting 7.62 NATO(51)/.308 at least on that clip. I finally saw a video on instagram. The half second differential in report and impact sounds is obviously from distance.

5.56 with 55 grain ball rounds don't really kick. They were honestly intended to wound rather than kill.(It takes 4 people to care for a wounded soldier and 1 to carry a dead soldier) They are also much lighter. It would take support and mass to rapid fire 30 rounds accurately like I heard but as I said in the other thread he was terrible. 7.62 31's are generally ~150 grain. It takes a solid man to shoot those accurately at the rate I heard. Even the people shooting at us fired in bursts and they were generally bad too. The 50 second clip I heard sounded more like an AR.

But at 400m that would be impossible to shoot like that accurately. He was just spraying. It may be callous to say but we are lucky only 59 died. He had 72 minutes shooting at fish in a barrel. 72 minutes... I can't believe it took that long to get there. 2 or 3 things done differently and we are adding 0's to the total.

Michael K said...

But two dozen weapons were not necessary for his purpose, if his purpose was just to kill people. Maybe he wanted to die with all his favorites at hand, in attendance at Gotterdammerung.

I agree and the number of weapons does not match the suspicions of leftist sympathy.

Maybe he had grudge against the hotel but it would seem an odd way to indulge it.

It is reported that he had nitrogen based fertilizer at his house. Bomb material. A little diesel fuel and BOOM!

A better way to deal with the hotel. Much still to be learned. I wonder if we will hear it ?

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

"7.62 31's are generally ~150 grain. It takes a solid man to shoot those accurately at the rate I heard."

That is why the M 14 was abandoned by the Army. The ammo was too heavy and the rifle could not be fired on full auto with any control.

The Thompson, which is heavy as hell, did not shoot that fast and was still hard to control.

The Army learned from the AK 47 and the German StG 44 to go for smaller rounds and less recoil.

Yancey Ward said...

The lack of information in the media is the tell here. There basically only two possible explanations- either the shooting really was apolitical and done by someone not interested in politics at all, or the information is defaming to the left.

I still go back to the Reno video- I have watched that several times with the frame frozen- it is very, very likely to be the same guy in the one known photograph of Paddock- the whispy chin hair is quite noticeable in both along with the seemingly identical head shape and hairline. Add to that his connections to NASA, and I find it persuasive.

Like a few commenters above have pointed out, Achilles in particular, the authorities already have pretty much every single electronic communication he has made in the last year or two- they have searched his house and computers and they really do know pretty much everything you can know about this guy from his belongings and contacts. The dam will break within the week- one of those two explanations for the information drought will be proven.

tim in vermont said...

I am guaranteeing to everyone here they have transcripts of every cell call and land line call he made and every electronic communication he made for at least two years, probably posted on a series of poster boards with a lot of highlighter marks, up in a work room right now.

That's not that easy to do, keep a copy of every phone call all of the users in the United States made for years so it is handy to go look it up. Only if he was under surveillance. Otherwise it is possible that they have the phone numbers and times of all of the calls he made, and his location, but more likely for something like 6 months. If they have the contents, it will only be by dumb luck. It is still expensive to store that much data, and to what end?

The NSA might keep data that far back, but I don't think the NSA has probes in every cell tower in the United States. Local calls might never make it to a central location to be recorded, only checks to see if the caller's credit is good, or notifications of his location so they they can get the calls to his phone if somebody calls him. You should be paranoid about what they can and can't do, but not that paranoid.

tim in vermont said...

What people are suggesting is that there is an almost complete duplicate infrastructure to the telephone network in the United States, just for the purpose of surveillance, which brings no benefit to the network operators, BTW.

FullMoon said...

Michael K said...

It is reported that he had nitrogen based fertilizer at his house. Bomb material. A little diesel fuel and BOOM!


Hilarious. Nitrogen based fertilizer one of most common.

I have a postage scale: DRUG Paraphernalia

Oxy/acetylene torch: EXPLOSIVE DEVICES!

Ammunition and misc galvanized pipe: BOMB MAKING MATERIAL !!

Internet access: DEVICE FOR POTENTIAL COMMUNICATION WITH ISIS !!

Althouse commenter: RIGHT WING NUT-JOB !!!


Wife and kids: POTENTIAL CO_CONSPIRATORS !!!!

tim in vermont said...

BTW, all of that infrastructure would be explicitly for the purpose of breaking the law and spying on Americans.

Achilles said...

FullMoon said...

Hilarious. Nitrogen based fertilizer one of most common.

Not Nitrate(NH3) Nitrogen. You have to go to Canada or have a business purpose/license to buy it.

When I was mixing fertilizers I had to use Calcium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate. It made it difficult to get the right PH/NPK CPM balaces. Nitrate nitrogen would have been very convenient but you can't really get it anymore.

Achilles said...

tim in vermont said...
What people are suggesting is that there is an almost complete duplicate infrastructure to the telephone network in the United States, just for the purpose of surveillance, which brings no benefit to the network operators, BTW.

We were able to do it in Afghanistan and Iraq. The only thing holding us back was interpreters.

We can probably manage it here.

Bob Boyd said...

To me the rate of fire sounded a little slow for a full auto M16 and a lot of it went on for long, uninterrupted bursts. A 30 round mag dump with a full auto M16 or AR-15 only takes 4 or 5 seconds. If he was changing mags or weapons, wouldn't there'd have been frequent pauses? Makes me wonder if he had something belt-fed. I guess he could have had some kind of drum magazines.
Idle speculation at this point. I suppose we'll find out eventually.

Achilles said...

tim in vermont said...
BTW, all of that infrastructure would be explicitly for the purpose of breaking the law and spying on Americans.

Everyone. Americans are just the easiest.

Achilles said...

Bob Boyd said...
To me the rate of fire sounded a little slow for a full auto M16 and a lot of it went on for long, uninterrupted bursts. A 30 round mag dump with a full auto M16 or AR-15 only takes 4 or 5 seconds. If he was changing mags or weapons, wouldn't there'd have been frequent pauses?

I heard long pauses. He was bad at mag changes or was dealing with jam's. The pauses were longer than the bursts.

Michael K said...

"Hilarious. Nitrogen based fertilizer one of most common."

My point was that I've read that he had a lot. Why ?

If he was mad at the hotel, like McVeigh was mad at ATF, he had other options.

My wife is now telling me that it is being reported that he sent a lot of money overseas. Maybe to the girlfriend.

Achilles said...

WRONG AGAIN.
Reports he was real estate investor.. you got a link to agent license in any state he lived in?


Oh god... I think you are being serious too...

Fine he only bought and sold his own properties. He lived on a mountain and talked to no one.

FullMoon said...

"Hilarious. Nitrogen based fertilizer one of most common."

My point was that I've read that he had a lot. Why ?

Maybe he had a large lawn. Maybe it was on sale.

You have a lot of ammo. Why? You gonna shoot a lot of people?

My point is, a lot of things can be made to sound ominous. How much did he have? A five pound bag, or a fifty gallon drum? Any diesel fuel?

Michael K said...

FullMoon is going full on expert on us.

OK there are other blogs.

AllenS said...

Achilles said...
He lived on a mountain and talked to no one.

That statement has some thread winning aspects to it.

FullMoon said...

Achilles said...

WRONG AGAIN.
Reports he was real estate investor.. you got a link to agent license in any state he lived in?

Oh god... I think you are being serious too...

Fine he only bought and sold his own properties. He lived on a mountain and talked to no one.

10/3/17, 1:43 PM


No link, then? Now you say he lived on a mountain and talked to no one? You are full of bad info.
Oh, wait, I get it, you are saying I am the fool for pointing out that there is a diff between investor and agent? And that you posted bad info without googling.
Here is a clue: I can make a phone call and buy a property. I am an investor. I can call a guy to sell my property, or to show me properties for sale, he is an agent.

FullMoon said...

Michael K said...

FullMoon is going full on expert on us.

OK there are other blogs.


Yeah, just point out where I am wrong. Excuse me if common sense offends you.

Come back when your FBI daughter gives you inside info.

Bob Boyd said...

Achilles said..."I heard long pauses."

I watched a couple more clips and I see what you're saying. I guess it depends on which clip you're watching.
In this one for example, there are bursts that last 10 or 12 seconds without pause:
http://time.com/4964875/las-vegas-shooting-video/

James K said...

He had 72 minutes shooting at fish in a barrel. 72 minutes

From what I understand, the shooting went on for much less than that, and the last 30 minutes or so involved a standoff with police on the 32nd floor. Obviously information is sketchy, and I don't have a link handy (someone at Richard Fernandez's site attempted to transcribe police audio), but my sense is that if the shooting had continued they would have stormed the room, but since it stopped (other than what was directed at the door), they took more precautions. I'm sure we'll learn more in due time.

Jim at said...

As I said yesterday, it doesn't matter what his political affiliation is.

A bunch of country music lovers - largely Trump supporters - were murdered. And it was by a gun.

And as evidenced by their numerous comments since the event? That is good news to the left. They got what they wanted.

Jim at said...

"I think Gateway Pundit has identified the wrong people before."

Yes. Jim Hoft has had credibility problems for quite some time.
He simply isn't reliable.

tim in vermont said...

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock wired $100,000 to an account in his live-in girlfriend’s home country of the Philippines in the week before he unleashed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, according to multiple senior law enforcement officials. But while officials have confirmed that Marilou Danley was in the Philippines on Sunday when Paddock opened fire on a crowd attending a country music festival on the Vegas Strip

Go figure.

tim in vermont said...

We were able to do it in Afghanistan and Iraq. The only thing holding us back was interpreters.

We can probably manage it here.


You have zero idea what you are talking about. Technology completely different, and those networks were not designed for a free country. You can bet that Argentina, for example, can do that, but they have less capacity in their phone system as a result. In command economies these things can be done.

Everyone. Americans are just the easiest.

I'm not going to argue with you, you believe what you want to believe.

tim in vermont said...

Boston 25 has pictures of the weapons for you gun nuts:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-03/first-pictures-emerge-vegas-shooters-weapons

Via ZeroHedge, but there is a link to Boston 25 news.

Darrell said...

FullLoon said Sure, and the hispanic woman was going to stay and be killed , except security forced her to leave. And, if she told the two women they were going to die, she was wrong, wasn't she? Oh, she meant all 22.000 people were going to die?

Got to work on your reading comprehension. It was an hour before the first shot--who says she wasn't planning to leave before the shooting began. Secondly, the suspicion would be that she is somehow implicated in the crime, have aforeknowledge. That would get you prosecuted in most States if you didn't try to warn AUTHORITIES. I wonder why she doesn't go to the FBI now? Gee, it's a mystery. So you now fall back on the ol' "if 22,000 people didn't die she must not have known what she was talking about" excuse. Yeah, right. Nothing to see here. You convinced me.

Michael K said...

"(someone at Richard Fernandez's site attempted to transcribe police audio)"

The Daily Telegraph has it but it is probably edited. Now I can't find it on the site.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"You have zero idea what you are talking about. Technology completely different, and those networks were not designed for a free country. You can bet that Argentina, for example, can do that, but they have less capacity in their phone system as a result. In command economies these things can be done."

Oh, please. OK, not the actual content of his conversations, but certainly who he called or texted. To say nothing of anything on his laptop. Quite apart from the murders, if he had automatic weapons, there are whole government agencies pissing themselves to find out who he contacted to obtain them. Achilles original point is almost undeniable. He wasn't "off the grid" They know who he is.

tim in vermont said...

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/861252/Las-Vegas-shooting-latest-news-Mandalay-Bay-Route-91-Marilou-Danley

Maybe somebody can point out the tells where the young lady was lying!


Oh, please. OK, not the actual content of his conversations, but certainly who he called or texted.

All I was saying.

if he had automatic weapons, there are whole government agencies pissing themselves to find out who he contacted to obtain them.

See link above to pics of the weapons, via zerohedge. It looks like legal stuff, but I don't really know.

Michael K said...

Here is the audio of the police.

It doesn't sound like it took an hour but it may be edited.

tim in vermont said...

I think that stuff should be as illegal as Tommy Guns, but that's just me.

FIDO said...

IF it is true that this is a Democrat (I lean that way, but all I have to support that contention is the deafening silence by the media on this...so far)

What would be the repercussions of the Dems having had, not one, but TWO shooters trying to killer Republicans/Trump supporters?

I mean, they already have an incredible about of inconvenience leveled against their fellow Americans, have had ridiculous levels of property damage and violence, apologized for by the Twitter feed and inaction of Democrat politicians which allow it to happen.

How do Independents and Republicans react to SEVERAL attempted mass murders specifically by the Sore Loser Party?

It would not be pretty. Not pretty at all.

I would guess that if the Democrats quickly start to shut up about gun control, he was a Dem. The FBI is...questionable in their allegiance. And that is a sorry thing to be true.

The Dems better pray he is not a Democrat.

Big Mike said...

Maybe he had a large lawn. Maybe it was on sale.

It's not hard to find a satellite view of his development on Google maps. He lives atop a mesa and the development features largish houses on small(ish) plots of ground. The soil looks arid and rocky; even Meade might be challenged to make anything grow.

ccscientist said...

I would bet he was targeting deplorables but the media have no interest in finding out. this would absolutely blow up the narrative.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Impossible to tell if they're automatic or semi-automatic from photos. You can buy belt-fed .30 caliber machine guns that have been rebuilt to only function as semi-autos.

Michael K said...

It sounds like he left a note. That should be interesting.

A note left by the gunman may offer clues to his reasons for slaughtering country music fans at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.

There is a photo of the table with the note on it. Maybe it is a shopping list.

Michael K said...

"How do Independents and Republicans react to SEVERAL attempted mass murders specifically by the Sore Loser Party?"

ANTIFA in Berkeley has been following around UC college Republicans.

One girl had her car beaten on in a gas station.

A pattern is emerging, maybe.

tim in vermont said...

Impossible to tell if they're automatic or semi-automatic from photos.

Go to the news video, there is a lot of info there. Bump stocks were mentioned, whatever they are.

tim in vermont said...

What would be the repercussions of the Dems having had, not one, but TWO shooters trying to killer Republicans/Trump supporters?

You are already forgetting the church shooter in Tennessee who looks like he was avenging Dylan Roof and going after white Christians?

What worries me is the hate on their side. We want to defeat them politically, they fucking hate us. It is clearer every day. Not most Democrats, but the white left? Hatred is they stock and trade.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I am guaranteeing to everyone here they have transcripts of every cell call and land line call he made and every electronic communication he made for at least two years, probably posted on a series of poster boards with a lot of highlighter marks, up in a work room right now.

That's not that easy to do, keep a copy of every phone call all of the users in the United States made for years so it is handy to go look it up. Only if he was under surveillance. Otherwise it is possible that they have the phone numbers and times of all of the calls he made, and his location, but more likely for something like 6 months. If they have the contents, it will only be by dumb luck. It is still expensive to store that much data, and to what end?



Pen registers, yeah, can we go home now?

Big Mike said...

@tim, at least three of us have linked to videos showing bump stocks in action. They cost (according to the video I linked) about $350 and bolt onto an AR type of rifle in a matter of minutes. Basically it turns a semiautomatic rifle into a fully automatic rifle. They're perfectly legal; I'm not sure why.

tim in vermont said...

A pen register, or dialed number recorder (DNR), is an electronic device that records all numbers called from a particular telephone line. The term has come to include any device or program that performs similar functions to an original pen register, including programs monitoring Internet communications.

This supports my claims. Not sure why you would bring it up. I just said they are not recording the contents of your calls unless they have you under surveillance, at least domestically. If he called overseas, they might have that. They probably have information going back a ways on him as to whom he called and texted. Not the contents of his calls.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Please note:

You can't use a bipod if you are going to use a "bump stock" to turn a semi-auto into a noob auto... It doesn't work that way...

ZeroHedge commenter; cum grano salis

In fact ZH thread seems to think this was a thing...multi shooters...different floor...Paddock a patsy. [eyeroll] [but then again...?]

I sure hope this gets well and truly investigated down to the ground and there is no BS.

Bad Lieutenant said...

This supports my claims. Not sure why you would bring it up.

I support your claims. Frankly even if the NSA has everything on "tape," they wouldn't out themselves so fast over a few hundred KIA/WIA. I assume Achilles meant pen reg, which is Hoover era stuff.

tim in vermont said...

I think there is a lot to do about these for all intents and purposes "automatic weapons" without eviscerating 2A, and I hope Congress does it. It might mean that if there are guns out there that are easily convertible to automatic weapons, they need to be modified to prevent it.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Tim, really, kindly, save your breath. No doubt it speaks well of you as a person, to struggle for an answer, but it's a red herring.

Please don't make judgments in the belief that you have information. You have no information. We have no information. There is no data to draw conclusions. We don't even know the bump stocks were used. We don't know what WAS used.

Meanwhile, there is no solution for the 'problem' of slam-fire, bump-fire, slide-fire; if you don't have the stock, you can do it by HOOKING YOUR THUMB IN YOUR BELT LOOP. Or by holding it correctly. Or, you get a little motor from Radio Shack and set up a cam to cycle the trigger.

Look for the man, not the weapon.

tim in vermont said...

Reuters reported that “two senior US officials said on Monday that there was no evidence that the shooter who killed at least 50 people in Las Vegas was tied to any international militant group

There are two ways to prove a negative, theoretically, and through exhaustion of all of the cases. We KNOW it's not theoretically impossible that he was in contact with ISIS, and that was some pretty quick footwork to go over all possible evidence in almost no time, even prior to investigations, or even talking to his girlfriend or those people who warned of the killings 45 minuted before they happened, who have not shown up to give evidence yet.


HOOKING YOUR THUMB IN YOUR BELT LOOP.

Then it's a defective design and needs to be changed.

tim in vermont said...

They are not different than a model of a car with brakes that can fail.

Achilles said...

tim in vermont said...

You have zero idea what you are talking about. Technology completely different, and those networks were not designed for a free country. You can bet that Argentina, for example, can do that, but they have less capacity in their phone system as a result. In command economies these things can be done.

Believe want you want to believe. Kinda funny though.

I will go a step further for the non sheeple. Everyone he communicated with has their communications stripped out too. Particularly the Woman. They probably went through her just as thoroughly. $100,000 wire transfers are suspicious. Common contacts between the two will get thorough run throughs. She will have no secrets. The interview will be to see if she is lying or willing to cooperate.

They will just go back 1-3 months on most depending on depth and duration of contact. If they find things that are interesting they go back further and start pulling their contacts. They will have a massively broadwarrant. Within days they will have what looks like a spiderweb ball. You can drag it around and expand different nodes. Looks cool. Totally creepy. They can do this for anyone.

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