A gunman in a Las Vegas hotel opened fire on an outdoor concert on Sunday night, killing at least 50 people and injuring more than 200 before dying in a standoff with police. Firing from the thirty-second floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, a single gunman named Steven Paddock, age 64, directed his shots down into a crowd attending a country music concert. From recordings of the event, it’s clear that the weapon involved was fully automatic, as hundreds of shots were fired at a rate of many shots per second.
What witnesses described as “hundreds” of shots rang out just after 10 p.m. as Jason Aldean performed on the final night of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. The music stopped, and concertgoers paused for a moment, some thinking that the noise was just firecrackers. Then hundreds began fleeing in a panic as they heard another burst of gunfire. There do not appear to be any other known gunmen, or any other threat. Earlier rumors of additional shooters or possible explosives appear to be false.
Paddock is a Las Vegas local with a few encounters with local police in the past. Numerous firearms were found in both the white terrorists’ home and in the hotel. I would expect it is more likely that the KKK is involved than ISIS.
President Donald Trump made it public on Sunday that he has some significant disagreements with his own secretary of state. In two tweets, Trump told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that he was wasting his time trying to launch any type of negotiations with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un. It marked a public undercutting of the top American diplomat only a day after he told reporters that the United States has direct contact with some North Korean officials to explore whether any type of negotiations would be possible.
Ravens players booed for kneeling BEFORE anthem. This was never about the flag. This is racists trying to silence black athletes' First Amendment rights. pic.twitter.com/946eGnoZm4
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) October 1, 2017
Before the performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at today’s game between the Ravens and Steelers, the P.A. announcer at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore asked fans to join and “pray that we as a nation embrace kindness, unity, equality, and justice for all Americans.” When players knelt to observe the prayer, a cascade of boos rained down upon them from the stands.
So I guess these Ravens fans are either opposed to prayer or equality or both. Because the players were not “disrespecting the anthem or flag” since they stood for that. Yeah, it was never about the flag.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told a group of high school students “that they don’t have a right to health care, food and shelter,” WISN reports.
Said Johnson: “I think it’s probably more of a privilege.”
He added: “Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Past that point, we have the right to freedom. Past that point is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us to afford those things.”
I would argue that in order to live, you need food, water, shelter and healthcare. But I commend Johnson for finally be truthful about how all Republicans feel.
Nice analysis. Early TV coverage of the Puerto Rico disaster was muted. Trump missed it and hit on NFL instead.https://t.co/IaOGzUMSpG
— Bob Toomey (@bob_toomey) October 1, 2017
Appearing on Fox News, Trump FEMA administrator Brock Long defended the Trump team’s continued slow response to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico by claiming the relief effort is “the most logistically challenging event the US has ever seen.” There is no doubt that the response to Hurricane Maria is challenging—but to call it the “most logistically challenging event” the nation has ever seen is a difficult notion to defend. Just in 2010, we helped another island nation, Haiti, recover from a devastating earthquake. We landed on the moon! We fought two simultaneous wars that were across two fucking oceans from our shores. We supplied Berlin via airlift. We can do anything when the desire is there. And that is the scandal here. Not that Puerto Rico is challenging, but that the Trump Administration doesn’t care to take up the challenge.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who announced last week that he won’t seek re-election next year, told NBC Newshe will not vote for a tax reform package if “we’re adding one penny to the deficit.” He added: “I am not going to be for it, OK. I’m sorry. It is the greatest threat to our nation.”
“Republicans on Capitol Hill are focused on one thing this week: the budget. The House and Senate need to pass budgets — and sign off on a single product in conference — in order to get a bill ready to pass tax reform,” according to Jonathan Swan. “House GOP leaders have the votes needed to pass their budget this week, according to sources throughout the conference.”
“The Senate will have a tougher time with its Budget, which is being marked up in committee this week. Senators Bob Corker and Pat Toomey struck a budget deal that pleasantly surprised tax reform advocates – but with 52 Republicans every vote is on a razor’s edge. Republicans are paying close attention to the perennially-challenging senators: John McCain, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul.”
The leading candidate to replace Tom Price seems way less inclined to sabotage Obamacare: https://t.co/GjtrstgWNt pic.twitter.com/6seZvltqrG
— Slate (@Slate) October 1, 2017
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has been one of the most vocal opponents to President Donald Trump within the Republican Party. And now he is making it clear that he could be willing to leave the GOP if things keep going down the current path. “If the party can’t be fixed, Jake, then I’m not going to be able to support the party,” Kasich told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “Period. That’s the end of it.”
.@SenSchumer criticizes @realDonaldTrump and his response in #PuertoRico: POTUS should "roll up his sleeves" instead of tweet. #Maria pic.twitter.com/w6Ez1r2eQq
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 1, 2017
“The Supreme Court, which was shorthanded and slumbering for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, is returning to the bench on Monday with a far-reaching docket that renews its central role in American life,” the New York Times reports.
“The new term is studded with major cases likely to provoke sharp conflicts. One of them, on political gerrymandering, has the potential to reshape American politics. Another may settle the question of whether businesses can turn away patrons like gay couples in the name of religious freedom.”
True statement. "The president is waging a war on the media as part of his war on the public’s collective memory." https://t.co/0Pa7lEBo2U
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) October 1, 2017
So, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, expired at midnight on early Sunday morning. So Republicans have now taken away healthcare from sick and dying kids. The ads write themselves.
New: Trump knows people thinks he crazy and tells staff to scare people w it…https://t.co/TdMetYKehk
— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) October 1, 2017
Stan Collender: “While they say they expect that some Democrats will support the tax cut, the decision to exclude them from the planning process — the Big Six consisted of four congressional Republicans and two members of the Trump administration — means that it is anything but bipartisan. Because of that, and given the lack of any economic imperative and the substantive problems with the proposed tax cut (especially that it would harm taxpayers in blue states), House and Senate Democrats are far less likely to support the plan in its current incarnation than Trump, Ryan and McConnell are hoping.”
“That will make every GOP vote critical to passing the Trump tax cut and, as of a last Friday, significantly large groups of Republicans in both houses of Congress had already made it clear that they could not vote for the plan as drafted. Without any Democrats supporting the bill, McConnell will only be able to lose two Republican senators and still pass the bill. As of last Friday, there were more than two who were expressing doubts about their support.”
I have no more words. My heart hurts. What happened in Las Vegas is just part of living in the USA. Nothing will be done. I knew that when our response to 20 dead 6 year olds was a shrug.
Agreed, nothing will be done and contributions to the NRA and gun sales will surge. Post Sandy Hook I gave up on rational gun control, the slaughter of children passed by as if nothing happened. The NRA will lay low for a bit and then be back with an assortment of excuses and propaganda as will the politicians of both parties that they own. Sort of gives the lie to the old expression “this too shall pass”, because no, it won’t.
Guns don’t kill people. White male rage kills people.
REALLY?? The liberal left is the haters. You should be ashamed of yourself. Racist!
White men as a group are responsible for the vast majority of mass shootings. That’s a fact. If any other group (black, women, Muslims, Asians, LGBT,etc.) had these numbers we would be discussing gender, culture, race, religion, sexuality, etc. and writing laws banning these groups from owning guns so fast your head would spin.
Why are you in denial?
Did I say liberal or conservative? White. Male. Rage.
@Alby
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/church-shooting-tennessee.html?mcubz=0
No matter who is doing the shooting, something has to be done. Of course on your end, “White male rage kills people.”
@Pandy
Yes, that is true. But, who cares. THE most important issue, is how is it going to be stopped!! YOU fail to focus on that!
Welp, we could start discussing and studying why white men are prone to mass shootings. Which could, you know, help stop this.
It’s not going to be stopped unless and until guns are outlawed for most people. Since that’s not going to happen, nothing will change. Bill O’Reilly, for one, just acknowledged that all these gun deaths are the “price of freedom.”
Why do you hate freedom, Anono?
Don’t even own a gun. Never have, never will! Don’t listen or watch O’Reilly. Your in that Assume, category Alby, focus on the first 3 letters.
Another brilliant essay from America’s top public intellectual, Ta-Nehisi Coates:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46084-we-should-have-seen-trump-coming
@ Delaware Dem “I would expect it is more likely that the KKK is involved than ISIS.” YOUR HEARTLESS
Wow, prayers go out to the people that have lost their lives or those who have lost loved ones.