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OCTOBER 2, 2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:21 P.M. ET: 

VULGAR – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  Hillary Clinton said Monday that congressional Republicans and the National Rifle Association are complicit in the United States' gun violence epidemic after a lone gunman slain 59 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas.
Clinton then said "of course they are" when asked by host Igor Volsky, the vice president of progressive think tank Center for American Progress, whether those parties were "complicit" in the "gun epidemic."  "It is a sign of the deep dysfunction of this government and this Republican Party that has been taken over by extreme elements to the point that they are doing whatever they are told to do," Clinton said on the Center for American Progress' podcast, referring to the pro-gun group's influence on the policy debate in the wake of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting. "There is no room for discretion, for conscience. It is heartbreaking."  Is there no end to this woman's lack of taste?  The bodies aren't even buried and already she's politicizing the tragedy.

ANOTHER QUEEN OF TASTE – FROM FOX:   CBS has parted ways with one of the company’s top lawyers after she said she was “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican,” when discussing the mass shooting that unfolded in Las Vegas late Sunday night.   Monday night she issued a statement of apology. Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network's now-former vice president and senior counsel, said, “Earlier today I posted an indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen Paddock’s terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor do they reflect my actual beliefs — this senseless violence warrants the deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words have incurred.”  At least she apologized, but she showed the poor judgment of a certain class of people who seem to believe that they are somehow better than the rest of us.

MACHINE GUNS – Much talk on the internet and elsewhere that the Las Vegas shooter used automatic weapons.  We're lucky at Urgent Agenda to have very informed readers, some of whom are experts on weaponry, and we hear from them with additional information, which is what happened a number of times today.  We're being told by the media that the sale of automatic weapons (machine guns) is illegal. A qualified reader notes that the restrictions are more nuanced: 

           Firearms Act of 1934 – added $200 transfer tax on fully automatic weapons.  Anyone could still buy one but this would add $3,665 to the price in 2017 dollars.
          Gun Control Act of 1968 – limited sale of firearms across state lines.  This was not limited to fully automatic weapons.  I could still sell my Tommy gun to my neighbor but they would have to pay the government $200.
          Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 – made it illegal to sell a newly manufactured fully automatic weapon to a private citizen.  This law does not apply to fully automatic weapons in private hands before 1986.  This law has made the purchase price of fully automatic weapons zoom skyward.  I remember walking into a gun store in Nashville, Tennessee in 1984.  I could have purchased a World War II vintage Browning Automatic Rifle (light machine gun) for about $1,000 plus the $200 transfer fee.  I think that the going price now is about $20,000.

The Las Vegas shooter, according to late reports, used a semi-automatic rifle modified to fire automatically – meaning the operator pulls the trigger and holds it, with the weapon then firing rapidly and without interruption. 

October 2,  2017     Permalink

OTHER NEWS HAPPENING TODAY – AT 2:58 P.M. ET:  The U.S. Supreme Court began its new term today, and it may be a momentous one.   From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Disputes over a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and partisan electoral maps top the Supreme Court’s agenda in the first full term of the Trump presidency.

Conservatives will look for a boost from the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, in a year that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said will be momentous.

President Donald Trump’s travel ban appears likely to disappear from the court’s docket, at least for now.

But plenty of high-profile cases remain.

The justices will hear important cases that touch on gay rights and religious freedoms, the polarized American electorate, the government’s ability to track people without search warrants, employees’ rights to band together over workplace disputes and states’ rights to allow betting on professional and college sporting events.

Last year, “they didn’t take a lot of major cases because they didn’t want to be deadlocked 4-to-4,” said Eric Kasper, director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “This year, that problem doesn’t present itself.”

Gorsuch quickly showed he would be an ally of the court’s most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, most recently joining them in objecting to the court’s decision to block an execution in Georgia.

While justices can change over time, Gorsuch’s presence on the bench leaves liberals with a fair amount of trepidation, especially in cases involving the rights of workers.

COMMENT:   Let liberals shiver.  It's about time.  A conservative court may be our last, and best, defense against the rampaging liberalism of our universities and our media.

Eyes will be on Justice Kennedy, to see if he will retire.  If he does, Trump will have another opening to fill.  He can't do better than his first appointment, Justice Gorsuch, who is a judicial star.

October 2,  2017     Permalink

AT 11:55 A.M. ET:  There is no significant new information to report on the Las Vegas mass shooting, except for the update of the tragic casualty toll:  Now we know that at least 58 were killed, and more than 500 wounded or injured. 

The president and first lady will visit on Wednesday, which is appropriate.  The usual suspects have come out of the woodwork to try to make some political gain from the tragedy, which is awful. 

We should note that the type of weapon used by the murderer has been completely banned in the United States since the early 1930s.  You cannot legally purchase an automatic weapon, a machine gun.  At this time we have no idea where the gunman got his. 

FURTHER LAS VEGAS UPDATE – AT 9:24 A.M. ET:  Las Vegas police have upped the number wounded or injured to 400 plus.  The death toll remains, publicly, at 50 plus.

Fox reports:  "Police initially sought a woman believed to be Paddock's roommate, Marilou Danley, as a 'person of interest.' Detectives later made contact with her, and 'do not believe she is involved with the shooting on the strip.'" 

The motive of the killer, Stephen Paddock, is still unknown.  Paddock committed suicide as police were closing in on him.  He had reportedly set up cameras to alert him when the police arrived.

We'll keep following.

LAS VEGAS UPDATE – AT 7:44 A.M. ET:  MORE THAN 50 DEAD AND MORE THAN 200 WOUNDED OR INJURED IN LARGEST MASS SHOOTING IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

We are updating our earlier report on the horrific mass murder in Las Vegas.  From CNBC: 

At least 50 people are dead and more than 200 wounded after a gunman opened fire at a concert in Las Vegas, police said Monday, in what was apparently the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The shooting took place at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival across the road from the Mandalay Bay hotel, near McCarran International Airport, on the south side of the Las Vegas Strip.

The suspect was identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, according to NBC News. It said he had no known connection to terrorism.

Videos posted on social media showed large crowds ducking for cover amid sustained bursts of shooting, apparently from a semi-automatic weapon.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that the shooter was apprehended on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay where he died. Lombardo said he does not believe there are any more shooters.

Lombardo said he believes a woman who had been traveling with Paddock, Marilou Danley, has been located, as were two vehicles associated with the shooter: a Hyundai Tucson and a Chrysler Pacifica, both with Nevada number plates. Danley has been taken into custody, according to NBC News.

COMMENT:   Aside from contemplating the sheer horror of the attack, and feeling for those directly involved, attention will now turn to Stephen Paddock, the alleged mass murderer.  What was his motive?  He has no known connection to terrorism, but that's hardly proof of anything.  We can offer no theory, nor should we. 

We continue to follow.  Brace yourself for a probable higher death toll.  Brace yourself as well for the inevitable attempts to politicize this monstrous crime.  All we want is facts.

October 2,  2017     Permalink

OCTOBER 1,  2017

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

We scrubbed "Short Takes" tonight in order to monitor the horrible mass shooting in Las Vegas. This is being written at 4:45 a.m. ET.

For those of you just awakening, a gunman employing what apparently was a fully automatic weapon (machine gun) opened fire on an outdoor music concert about 10:08 p.m., Las Vegas time.  The gunman was on the 32nd floor of a nearby hotel, and fired down into the concert.

The police report that more than 20 people were killed and more than 100 wounded or injured.  Those numbers will likely increase.

The assailant was killed by a police SWAT team.  It is believed by police that he was the sole shooter.  He is described only as a Las Vegas resident.  Although authorities have his full identity, they are not yet releasing it.  A police spokesman said he was with a female companion, described as a small Asian woman named Marilou Danley.  She is at large, and a hunt for her is underway.  A hunt for two vehicles is also underway.

At this time, police say, they do not know the "belief system" of the dead assailant.  The basic facts point heavily to a well-planned terrorist attack, but that is our speculation. 

We will continue to monitor.

October 1,  2017     Permalink

TRUMP LAYS DOWN THE LAW – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  Secretary State Tillerson said yesterday that the U.S. has several lines of communication open with the North Koreans.  Now the president is very publicly telling the secretary not to waste his time.   Is the president real, or is this a little bit of the good cop/bad cop routine?  From Fox: 

President Trump on Sunday sounded a war drum over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un refusing to de-escalate his nuclear weapons program, telling Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to stop wasting time negotiating with Kim because the U.S. “will do what needs to be done.”

“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” tweeted Trump, using his nickname for Kim. “Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"

Trump, a prolific tweeter, has been on a twitter tear this weekend, with nearly two dozen tweets since Saturday morning, most slamming San Juan Puerto Rico Mayor Yulin Cruz, a Democrat, for being critical of the administration’s hurricane response effort on the U.S. island.

On Sunday, Trump returned to Kim and his pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, despite more U.S. and international economic sanctions that reportedly are having a severe impact on the rogue nation’s economy.

Trump and Kim have for months engaged in an escalating war of words, as North Korea appears to be conducting numerous underground nuclear bomb tests and launching intercontinental missiles,in an attempt to land a nuclear warhead on another country.

COMMENT:  Meanwhile, the U.S. is reported to be building its forces in the Korean peninsula area.  My own hunch is that Trump's tough talk is an attempt to add to the sanctions, to make sure the Norks understand that we have military options that we are willing to use.

It might be very good psychological warfare.  We won't know for a time.

October 1, 2017       Permalink

AND TERROR IN CANADA – AT 12:18 P.M. ET:  Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's multiculturalism and boastful "understanding" of other peoples, Canada is not off the target list.  From Fox:   

A police officer was stabbed and at least four people were injured by a speeding U-Haul truck in events that police in Edmonton, Canada, said were being investigated as acts of terror.

One suspect was in custody, said Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht, adding that police believe the suspect acted alone.

The chaos began outside Commonwealth Stadium, where a Canadian Football League game was being played. Police say a white Chevy Malibu rammed a traffic-control barricade and sent an officer flying.

Knecht said the driver then got out and attacked the officer with a knife. The officer was stabbed multiple times before the suspect fled on foot, the Edmonton Journal reported.

The officer was not critically wounded, the Globe and Mail reported.

A few hours later, a U-Haul van was stopped at an impaired driving check stop and the driver sped off with police in pursuit.

Police say the U-Haul hit and injured four pedestrians before it rolled and the suspect was arrested.

“There were people flying and everything,” witness Kim Anderson told the Edmonton Journal.

“I’m shocked — I just see people flying.” 

Knecht confirmed that an ISIS flag was discovered inside the van, the Edmonton Journal reported.

COMMENT:  Now let me get this right:  An ISIS flag was discovered inside the vehicle, but the politically correct police believe the guy acted alone.

Well, unless ISIS and this guy came up with the exact same flag design, said guy did not act alone.  He was radicalized by someone.  Never believe this "lone wolf" rubbish that gets put out after one of these attacks.  No such thing.  No one gets up in the morning and decides to become a radical Islamist.  He was influenced and taught.

October 1, 2017       Permalink

MORE TERROR IN FRANCE – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  A new attack, this time in Marseilles, kills two.  Of course we must understand that this is Trump's fault.  From AFP:

MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — A suspected Islamist knifeman killed two women at the main train station in the French Mediterranean city of Marseille on Sunday before being shot dead by soldiers patrolling there, local officials and police said.

One of the victims was fatally stabbed while the other had her throat slit by the assailant who is believed to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) at the start of his rampage, a source close to the investigation told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Soldiers posted in the station as part of a special force set up to guard vulnerable areas in terror-hit France responded to the stabbings in front of the station and shot the man dead, local officials said.

Armed police were deployed afterwards and the grand and ornate rail terminus in the bustling heart of France’s second-biggest city was evacuated, stopping all train traffic on one of the country’s busiest lines.

“Two victims have been stabbed to death,” regional police chief Olivier de Mazieres told AFP, referring to the attack which occurred at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT).

The latest deaths came with France still on high alert and in a state of emergency following a string of attacks in recent years by extremists linked to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda.
Since 2015, a total of 239 people have been killed in France by jihadists, according to an AFP count before Sunday’s incident.

COMMENT:  There are some signs that France is waking up to the reality of a society constantly threatened by terror.  But in Western Europe, "waking up" takes a very long time.

October 1,  2017     Permalink