Free Republic

In the aftermath of any mass shooting -- and, grotesquely, there are many from which to choose -- our national conversation is almost immediately polluted by all-consuming political demagoguery, often before the facts of the case are established. We've developed a post-shooting playbook, under which millions of Americans rush to ideological battle stations to rage at each other, long before they've completed the human process of grappling with heartsickness. It should go without saying that citizens of all political stripes and backgrounds are horrified by the senseless and tragic loss of life -- yet it must be said, because the...

The true character of a leader is often revealed during terror and tragedy. There was unfortunately plenty of both in Las Vegas overnight, but President Donald Trump’s message to law enforcement has provided a glimmer of optimism on a very dark day. Late Sunday night, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers from a high vantage point in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. In the chaos, at least 58 people were killed and hundreds were wounded. The president has made several statements since the tragic event unfolded, but one of the most candid was a phone call...

If only Stephen Paddock had been a Muslim … If only he had shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas … If only he were a member of ISIS … If only we had a picture of him posing with a Quran in one hand and his semiautomatic rifle in another … If all of that had happened, no one would be telling us not to dishonor the victims and “politicize” Paddock’s mass murder by talking about preventive remedies. No, no, no. Then we know what we’d be doing. We’d be scheduling immediate...

Photos have emerged of two of the 23 rifles found inside Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock's hotel room, which he used to rain down death on a crowd of 22,000 attending a music festival on Sunday. The startling pictures, obtained by Boston 25, show two semi-automatic AR-15-style assault rifles. One appears to have been modified with a 'bump stock' that would essentially render it fully automatic - allowing Paddock to unleash hundreds of rounds per minute. The weapon also has a holographic sight and an over-sized magazine, meaning that the multi-millionaire shooter would have been able to fire in longer...

After federal officials announced today that they saw no nexus to international terrorism in the Las Vegas Strip massacre, the Islamic State doubled down with their claim that Stephen Paddock was theirs -- even granting the Mesquite, Nev., resident a nom de guerre. ISIS claimed through their Amaq news agency this morning that the "Las Vegas attacker is a soldier of the Islamic State who carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting coalition countries." They claimed he had converted to Islam recently. They issued the claim in various languages, without evidence to back it up. The special...

I can place Stephen Paddock in Dubai, UAE in May, 2016 with 100% confidence. Significant? Should I contact someone, like the FBI?

STEPHEN PADDOCK Born on April 9, 1953 Birth Name Stephen Craig Paddock Occupation Accountant / Auditor Net Worth $5,000,000 USD Hometown Sun Valley, California Parents Benjamin Hoskins Paddock(father) Girlfriend Marilou Danley Cause Of Death Suicide Siblings Eric Paddock (brother) Bruce Paddock (brother) Profiles Stephen Paddock Instagram Stephen Craig Paddock (April 9, 1953 - October 1, 2017) was an American mass murderer who committed a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1, 2017, that left over 58 people dead and over 515 others injured. He resided in Mesquite, Nevada and was the partner of Marilou Danley Las Vegas Mass...

Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel opened his program Monday with a ten-minute political rant about Sunday’s mass murder in Las Vegas, saying “now is the time for political debate” about gun control. Dismissing as inadequate calls for prayers for the victims by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Jimmy Kimmel Live host said: “they should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country.” Kimmel railed against lawmakers who “won’t do anything about this because the NRA has their balls in a money clip,” insisting...

The Islamic State reinforced its earlier claim of responsibility for the atrocity with another communique Monday night, which named Stephen Paddock "Abu Abdul Bar Al-Amrekini" and said he had carried out surveillance of the concert arena opposite the hotel..... ....various Middle East sources said overnight Monday that he had been in contact with certain quarters in the region, and claimed the FBI has photos recording his visits.......

Video showing w protestor who looks to be the Las Vegas shooter at a Reno anti-Trump prosest.

RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have received the thoughts of a professional who asks to remain anonymous, a professional in analyzing the personalities, mind-set and so forth of people like our shooter here in Las Vegas. And I just want to share with you his thoughts. He’s requested anonymity, and I’m happy to offer it and provide it. You might have heard of him. He’s a writer. But he has researched this for his work. And basically he thinks that an element of this, not the explanation total or complete, but an element of this is that too many...

The shooter in Sunday night’s mass slaughter of 59 concert goers in Las Vegas, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, a man with no criminal history, is now being investigated for possible ties to Islamic terrorists. At least 527 people were injured in what was described by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as a well-coordinated attack. ISIS claimed credit in an Arabic-language website, but authorities immediately tried to debunk the claim saying they had no evidence to support it. “We will investigate that down to the end,” but thus far nothing has been found to connect Paddock to international terrorism, Lombardo...

<p>A retired accountant opened fire from a hotel room above a packed outdoor concert in Las Vegas, killing at least 59, wounding 527 more and triggering a stampede as the panicked crowd scrambled for cover amid the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.</p>

Scary stuff!

My assumptions:(1) The shooter's location should have been immediately apparent to LEOs.(2) The volume of shooting and the mass casualties should have given LEOs an extreme sense of both importance and urgency.A 72-minute response-time does not correlate with either (1) or (2).In my absence of information, it smacks of LEO commanders carefully planning a tactical approach, getting all the details right before proceeding, when in hindsight what was needed was a quick rush of the door--in seven minutes, not seventy-two. What am I missing?

Full title: CBS fires vice president who said Vegas victims didn't deserve sympathy because country music fans 'often are Republican' CBS has parted ways with one of the company’s top lawyers after she said she is “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican,” when discussing the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Las Vegas late Sunday night.  “This individual, who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS. Her views as expressed on social media are deeply...

I don't see how someone that is purportedly normal snaps and decides to take out that many innocent people. What if he wasn't the real shooter? What if he's shot and left behind so that the real sniper can just make his escape? If his room adjoined any another rooms, they should be looking at the adjoining room occupants, and studying the hallway cam footage for the comings and goings from those rooms. I hope they are already looking into this. I just don't want someone that is capable of this level of evil to still be breathing.

Two Nevada gun shops confirmed Monday that they sold firearms to Mandalay Bay shooter Stephen Paddock in the last year and said he passed all required background checks. It was unknown if the weapons Paddock bought from the gun shops, New Frontier Armory in North Las Vegas and from Guns and Guitars in Mesquite, were used in the casino massacre. David Familglietti of New Frontier said Paddock purchased a rifle and a shotgun in the spring, and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were interviewing the employee who handled the sale. "The rifle was not fully...

The man who opened fire on an outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip late Sunday, killing at least 58 people and wounding 515 more before he was found dead in a 32nd floor hotel room, has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, the Clark County sheriff said at a news conference Monday. ♦64-Year-old “Ordinary Guy” ♦No violent criminal background. ♦Paddock was a licensed pilot, owned two airplanes and had no criminal history beyond a citation that was handled normally. ♦Lockheed Martin said in a statement that Paddock worked for a predecessor company of theirs for three...

Caleb Keeter, who performed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, tweeted: "I’ve been a proponent of the 2nd Amendment my entire life. Until the events of last night. I cannot express how wrong I was." Josh Abbott Band guitarist Caleb Keeter took to Twitter on Monday morning to share his thoughts on gun control in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting that left more than 50 people dead and 500 injured.