Orlando / Pulse Mass Shooting Thread

[elfismiles]

Grayzone Project
New Documents Reveal Orlando Shooter Omar Mateen's Allegations of Disturbing Racial Harrassment by Police Co-Workers
Another mass shooting conveniently attributed to terror contains elements of workplace racial harassment.
By Max Blumenthal / AlterNet
August 1, 2016
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-projec ... ing-racial

[Grizzly]

Where are the 911 calls? Where is a timeline? Where is a ballistics report on which victims were killed by Mateen, which were injured or killed by police bullets?
Where is Omar Mateen's wife? Week 7. Still missing?

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/com ... l_missing/

[Nordic]

What does this have to do with Trump or Hillary or Putin?

[Nordic]

Well this is interesting.

From Michael Parenti just now on FB:

Cowardly Cops by Michael Parenti

One night in June 2016, in Orlando, Florida, an individual named Omar Mateen, acting on his own, seriously wounded 53 people and murdered 50 others in the Pulse, a gay nightclub. An additional two hundred or more terrified patrons managed to flee the packed premises while Mateen walked around knocking off his victims.How could he have done it? How could one terrorist, acting alone, kill or seriously wound a hundred people? Answer: he had a whole three hours, from 2:02 a.m. to 5:15 a.m., to stroll leisurely around the dance floor, hallways, drinking enclaves, and toilet stalls, killing people with casual impunity. Some of the patrons hid themselves for hours, repeatedly calling 911 or sending messages to friends and family, desperately pleading for help.

The police, it seems, did nothing of note to deter the murderer. Cops started arriving at 2:04 a.m. Moments later, they entered the club and exchanged fire with Mateen, or so the authorities claimed. He somehow survived these firefights unscathed. Oddly enough, so did the police.

In fact, gunfights never took place. Mateen himself made a 911 call at 2:35 a.m. He talked over the telephone several times more with the authorities for a total of 29 minutes. By then the cops were surrounding the Pulse in substantial numbers.

While dozens of victims lay seriously wounded, police officers refrained from making any coordinated advances into the nightclub. Mateen remained untouched by the police. And causing the killer no trouble, the police remained untouched by Mateen. At about 5:15 a.m., while patrons were still playing dead or crawling their way over bleeding bodies in daring attempts to reach safety, Mateen killed himself.

Many questions remained unanswered. Why did the police fail to take decisive action? It was one murderous terrorist against a whole regiment of cops. How was Mateen able to carry the day and kill so many patrons? Were the cops doing anything?

Mateen’s suicide took place at 5:15 a.m., three hours too late. Orlando's police chief and other officials never explained why they failed to storm the club. Instead they showered themselves with praise. “From the beginning,” SWAT commander, Mark Canty said, “officers were running inside and trying to save people.” (Why did they fail so thoroughly?) The police also were “setting up outside the club trying to figure out how to get people out.” (Three hours to figure out how to get people out?)

Police Chief John Mina insisted that the police used the three hours “to rescue patrons” “get the lay of the building,” “put resources into place,” “determine where people were hiding,” “usher them out,” and “talk to the gunman.”

The police carried out “a three-hour standoff,” the press called it. In other words, they did next to nothing for three hours. They did eventually get around to using explosives to try blowing a hole in the outer wall of the club, but they could not sufficiently breach it. They mustered up an armored vehicle to ram the building repeatedly and unsuccessfully, unable to find vulnerable walls where victims might be located. The nightclub also must have had an evacuation plan filed with the local fire department. This went unmentioned.

A SWAT team finally raided the club, using armored vehicles and explosives designed to distract and disorient the killer. The New York Times incorrectly reported that this belated activism by the police brought on “a shootout with Mr. Mateen, leaving him dead” (N.Y. Times, 13 June 2016). This statement again leaves the impression that there was an exchange of fire between the assassin and the cops. In fact, Mateen killed himself and only after this fact was reported did the SWAT team go swarming into the club.

Many of the patrons who escaped with their lives were not at all complimentary toward the police performance---or nonperformance. Norman Caisano, a besieged patron, hid for a long stretch of time, then wended his way to the club entrance. When he poked his head out the police shot at him. “I started crying and yelling, 'I'm a victim, I'm a victim, please, I'm hurt, I'm injured, I've been shot twice.'” (N.Y. Times, 21 June 2016)

Jeannette McCoy, who escaped early on, was furious at the timidity displayed by the officers. She wanted Mateen dead but “they gave him so much time,” she complained scornfully (ibid.).

No information was released telling how many rounds were fired by how many police, hitting how many patrons. SWAT commander Canty doubted that any fatalities or wounds resulted from police bullets. Members of his team, he said, “are trained to kind of identify the targets” (ibid.). Kind of?

One has to wonder why police in America are provided with so much training at the shooting range, along with arsenals of deadly weaponry, only then to demonstrate an unwillingness to use the weaponry when facing a lone murderer. Hundreds of police departments around the country, bankrolled by the Pentagon and federal government, are provided with huge arsenals that include the very best pistols, automatic assault rifles, head-to-toe body armor, helmets, bulletproof face visors, batons, grenades, grenade launchers, flash bangs, Tasers, mace, teargas, gas masks, gas guns, door smashers, wall crushers, armored vehicles, tanks, helicopters, and surveillance drones.

In Orlando, at the Pulse nightclub, all these weapons and devices seemed to have gone largely unused. Most unused of all were the police themselves.

The cowardly performance in Orlando reminds us of the nonperformance at Columbine High School in 1999. Two students killed twelve other students and one teacher, and wounded 21 other students. The wounded teacher was pulled into a classroom by students. They blocked the classroom door with a desk and chairs and made repeated rescue calls to the police---who were standing nearby out on the Columbine campus.

The entire massacre lasted fifty minutes. But it was not until three hours after the killings started that the police dared to venture into the school. By this time the teacher had bled to death---as had some students.

One bitter Columbine parent later commented, “Not one policeman had the courage to go in.” Indeed, not one dared to engage the two student killers. Three hours and sixteen minutes after the two perpetrators turned their guns on themselves, the police tip-toed in only to find the assassins long dead in the library.

One SWAT officer who participated in the Columbine police “operation”' justified its invincible inertia: “They [the two students] could have had bombs,” he said. In fact, the Columbine killers did have bombs which they had no luck in setting off despite being given all the time in the world.

Today the police continue to perform fearlessly against unarmed individuals. “Suspects” supposedly finger their waistbands in a threatening manner, or respond too slowly or too swiftly to a cop's command, or when getting out of their cars or not getting out of their cars, or some other innocent but fatal action or inaction. Nothing much has improved in recent years. Unarmed citizens continue to get shot by the cops with outrageous frequency. And while they are shy about confronting killers in nightclubs or schools, SWAT teams are still smashing their way into the private homes of innocent people, sometimes targeting the wrong address.

There are seventeen occupations more dangerous than law enforcement, including loggers, roofers, garbage collectors, taxi drivers, bartenders, farmers, miners, and construction workers. Cops are quick to act in situations that are one-sided, bearing no real threat from the victim who is pinned face down on the ground or handcuffed against a wall, or being choked in a police pileup, or running away in terror, or standing still with hands in the air, On such occasions the cops are likely to come charging with guns blazing.

In 2015, an average of three people a day were killed by police in the United States, most of them unarmed, a high percent were African-American or Latino. In 2016, routine murders by police continue to average about three a day.

In July 2016, in North Miami, Florida, Charles Kinsey, a 47-year-old, Black man, who worked as a caretaker for an autistic non-White patient, was on a city street with the patient when police came charging upon the scene. As the fearless officers drew their weapons, Kinsey told them there was no need for guns. He laid himself and the patient down in the middle of the street. He extended his arms to show his empty hands, at the same time trying to calm his terrified patient. But the police began firing a storm of shots, three of which struck the caretaker's leg. When Kinsey asked, “Why did you shoot me?” the officer responded, “I don't know.”

Let me offer a reason why the cop found it easy to shoot. Kinsey was lying on the ground, unarmed and threatening no one---so unlike Mateen in Orlando or the two kids in Columbine, and very much like the other innocent, harmless victims who are rubbed out on a daily basis in America. Cowards kill. And uniformed cowards kill the worst when it’s so frequently safe to do so.

~O~
Michael Parenti's most recent books are Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life and Profit Pathology and Other Indecencies.

[elfismiles]

"Twilight Zone" indeed ...

Drudge headline:

TWILIGHT ZONE: ORLANDO TERRORIST'S DAD FOR CLINTON!
CHEERS HILLARY AT RALLY
SAID GOD WILL PUNISH GAYS
SUPPORTED TALIBAN

Orlando shooter's father attends Hillary Clinton rally in Kissimmee (VIDEO)
Seddique Mateen seen sitting right behind Clinton
Tory Dunnan
12:16 AM, Aug 9, 2016
1 hour ago



KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Hillary Clinton spoke to a crowd in Kissimmee, just south of Orlando. She was supposed to be talking jobs, but started the speech off paying tribute to those affected by the Pulse Nightclub shooting.

"I know how many people, families, loved ones, and friends are still grieving, and we will be with you as you rebuild your lives."

RELATED: Get the free WPTV app for breaking news, alerts | Follow WPTV on Facebook

WPTV happened to notice the man, who has a mustache and was wearing a red hat, behind Clinton. It was Seddique Mateen , the father of Orlando mass shooter Omar Mateen.

Watch the story below:



NewsChannel 5 asked Mateen what he was thinking about when Clinton spoke about the Orlando incident.

"We've been cooperating with the federal government, and that's about it," he said. "Thank you." Mateen didn't want to answer any other questions, but just hours later, we ran into him by chance at a rest stop on the way back to West Palm Beach. He wanted to do an interview and show us a sign he made for Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions," he said.

We asked what went into his decision to go to the event right near Orlando, where the Pulse Nightclub shooting happened.

"I spoke a lot about that and wish that my son joined the Army and fought ISIS. That would be much better," he said.

When questioned whether Clinton's campaign knew he was going to the event and sitting directly behind the presidential candidate, Mateen said, " It's a Democratic party, so everyone can join."

Finally we asked if he thought some people would be surprised to see him there, especially given the proximity to Orlando.

"Why should they be surprised? I love the United States, and I've been living here a long time," Mateen said.

Copyright 2016 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.wptv.com/news/state/orlando- ... -kissimmee

[elfismiles]

ME confirms death of Pulse shooting survivor at birthday party
Friends tell News 6 Chris Brodman died in Tampa
By Troy Campbell - Reporter
Posted: 5:50 PM, September 12, 2016
Updated: 10:46 AM, September 13, 2016
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/pulse- ... riends-say

[Wombaticus Rex]

Via: https://info.publicintelligence.net/FL- ... cripts.pdf

SUSPECT: Hello.

NEGOTIATOR: Hello, Omar. This is Andy
from Orlando Police.

SUSPECT: Mm-hmm.

NEGOTIATOR: Tell me what's going on right
now, Omar.

SUSPECT: Yo, the air strike that killed
Abu Wahid a few weeks ago --

NEGOTIATOR: Okay.

SUSPECT: That's what triggered it, okay?

NEGOTIATOR: Okay.

SUSPECT: They should have not bombed and
killed Abu Wahid.

NEGOTIATOR: I understand.

SUSPECT: Do your fucking homework and
figure out who Abu Wahid is, okay?

[MacCruiskeen]

There`s no end to their vindictiveness:

Omar Mateen's widow arrested



Keep a close eye on the quality of the "evidence" they`ll bring against her. I suspect she`s been arrested for doubting his guilt. We`ll probably never see her again.

Will they arrest the child next, or will they be content to orphan him? Stay tuned.

[Elvis]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/orlando-shooting.html
The attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in December also stated their allegiance to the group.

Ack! There it is again. Talking about the Orlando shootings, NPR's "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep recently repeated this same disinformation — and what else can it be except deliberate disinformation? (Not on Inskeep's part, he's just an idiot.)

I rushed to email him a correction, but paused and thought, eh. why bother. But really, how can a friggin' NATIONAL NEWS ANCHOR have missed Comey's announcement which was The News all day that day? There's another question I have for NP-fucking-R.

Now here, both "attackers" "stated their allegiance." And that's in the New York fucking Times.

[Elvis]

Who's going to write the letter to the Times? I'm very busy this week. Next week probably too.

[Elvis]

http://www.mockingbirdpaper.com/content/my-guns-saved-my-life-when-state-and-liberals-left-me-die

Author: Gerry Bello

Diane Feinstein is another leading liberal gun control advocate. Her husband is a billionaire who has directly profited from drone strikes on schools all over the middle east. Her core constituency is San Francisco, which has seen a recent uptick in the shooting of unarmed black men by police. She was mayor there before she was Senator. As Senator she is the head of the intelligence committee. She makes the rules which govern who gets put on what list.

Fun fact: Sen. Feinstein is licensed to carry and packs a semiauto.* She just doesn't want you or me to carry a handgun.

*This came out when the Goldman Sachs execs were getting nervous and started outfitting themselves with concealed carry rigs (the ones who didn't already pack heat, anyway; they're gangsters, after all right?).

[Iamwhomiam]

The NY Times will be out of business or sold by the end of the year, though they might make it through this, to next.


Edited to add,

She just doesn't want you or me to carry a handgun.

That's not an accurate description of Feinstein's position on gun control, Elvis.

[Elvis]

She just doesn't want you or me to carry a handgun.

That's not an accurate description of Feinstein's position on gun control, Elvis.

I've heard her make some pretty explicit comments—not precise policy statements—saying as much (i.e. essentially advocating a broad prohibition of handguns), but then I'd expect her to exaggerate this or that angle depending on her audience. (The "Clinton snowflakes"—funny epithet for a real faction—tend to favor a complete ban on the icky things; "what good are guns?" etc.)

[Iamwhomiam]

She did attempt to ban the AR-15 stylized semi auto rifles, though, and does want better controls placed upon handguns as well as seeing the "gun show loophole" eliminated. More too, of course.

[MacCruiskeen]

There`s no end to their vindictiveness:

Omar Mateen's widow arrested



Keep a close eye on the quality of the "evidence" they`ll bring against her. I suspect she`s been arrested for doubting his guilt. We`ll probably never see her again.

Will they arrest the child next, or will they be content to orphan him? Stay tuned.

NYT, Jan. 17, 2017:

[...]

Prosecutors, who plan to pursue the case in a federal court in Florida, gave little new information, leaving unclear what evidence they had or why seven months had passed before charges were filed. Ms. Salman, who was arrested on Monday and has a young son fathered by Mr. Mateen, has been living with relatives in Rodeo, Calif., northeast of San Francisco.

Visibly shaking in a mustard-yellow and gray jail uniform, Ms. Salman stood in court Tuesday and, in a barely audible voice, told Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu, who had to ask her to speak up, that she understood the charges against her. Only when she was led from the courtroom did she raise her head and let her eyes search the packed gallery. On Wednesday, the judge will consider whether to grant bail.

[...]

At the time of the Pulse shooting, Ms. Salman was at home in Fort Pierce, Fla., a two-hour drive from Orlando, but the indictment charged that she had been abetting her husband’s plans since at least late April. Prosecutors say she knowingly misled the F.B.I. agents and Fort Pierce police officers who interviewed her.

The indictment also says the government wants her to forfeit more than $30,000, which may be connected to the jewelry she has said her husband lavished on her in the final days of his life.

In interviews last year, friends and acquaintances described Ms. Salman as a relatively naïve young woman, a doting mother who could have unwittingly witnessed the buildup to her husband’s attack. The daughter of Palestinian immigrants, she struggled in high school, they said, but earned an associate degree at a community college before meeting Mr. Mateen, a son of Afghan immigrants, on an Arab dating website.

“I was unaware of everything,” Ms. Salman said in the Times interview last year. “I don’t condone what he has done. I am very sorry for what has happened. He has hurt a lot of people.”

She said that she had known her husband was viewing jihadist videos, but that she had disapproved and forced him to turn them off so that their son would not see them. She said that the drive to Orlando had seemed innocent, and that the ammunition purchase was unremarkable for a security guard who practiced at a shooting range.

[...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/us/w ... .html?_r=0

They're gonna crush her.