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znModeratorto intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and
There;s no reasonable way for those words to apply to Holmes, or to Dylan Roof, or to Mateen.
You;re just telling me you don’t pay close enough attention to legal language.
Terrorists act with specific goals in mind they need a government to concede to, such as the IRA wanting the British out of Ireland. The Weathermen wanted to end the Vietnam War. It is an act of war fought by other means (other than direct combat between military forces). Just pouring milk on the dictionary and watching all the ink run together isn’t analysis. Not every mass killing is an act of terrorism, and in fact not every act of terrorism involves mass killing.
Plus here’s the nutcase Mateen himself and his presumed threats before Orlando:
from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/orlando-shooting.html?_r=0
“First he claimed family connections to Al Qaeda,” which, like the Islamic State, is a Sunni Muslim terrorist group, James Comey, the F.B.I. director, said Monday. “He also said he was a member of Hezbollah,” a Shiite group in conflict with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. … He admitted making the statements his co-workers reported, but explained that he did it in anger because he thought his co-workers were discriminating against him and teasing him because he was Muslim.”
Based on those statements, I know more about the differences between and among different militant islamic fundamentalist groups than he does.
So what we have here is a sexually-conflicted man who suffered self-hatred because of all the “gays will go to hell” stuff he believed.
That is possible. It will probably become a theory.
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znModeratorREPORT: Orlando shooter was a regular at the gay nightclub he attacked, used multiple gay dating apps
Natasha Bertrand,Business Insider
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/report-orlando-nightclub-shooter-visited-222620444.html
The man police say killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning had visited the club at least a dozen times before carrying out his attack, a witness told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, may have also used several different gay dating apps, according to reports from MSNBC and the Los Angeles Times.
Three additional witnesses confirmed that they had seen Mateen at the gay nightclub more than once before.
“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” one witness, Ty Smith, told the Sentinel.
“We didn’t really talk to him a lot,” he added. “But I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child.”
Chris Callen, who performs at Pulse under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told The Canadian Press and CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Mateen had been going to the bar one or twice a month “for at least three years.”
Smith later told The Canadian Press that Mateen said that he “couldn’t drink when he was at home—around his wife, or family. His father was really strict.”
Smith and Callen say that they stopped talking to Mateen when he pulled a knife on them after they made a religious comment.
“He said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it’ll turn out,” Callen said.
Reports of Mateen’s flashes of anger and aggression align with what Mateen’s ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told CNN on Sunday night.
“In the beginning he was a normal being that cared about family, loved to joke, loved to have fun, but then a few months after we were married I saw his instability,” she said. “I saw that he was bipolar and he would get mad out of nowhere. That’s when I started worrying about my safety.”
She told reporters earlier on Sunday that Mateen had beat her and emotionally abused her while they were married between 2009 and 2011.
‘He was very creepy in his messages’
An Orlando man told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday that he had seen photos of Mateen on the gay dating apps Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Jack’d over the last several years. At least two of the man’s friends had been contacted by Mateen on the apps.
“He was very creepy in his messages, and I blocked him immediately,” the man said.
Kevin West, another regular at Pulse nightclub, told the Los Angeles Times that he chatted with Mateen on and off for a year on the gay dating app Jack’d, but had never met him in person. Incredibly, West said he met him for the first time as he was dropping a friend off at Pulse on Saturday night.
“He walked directly past me,” West said. “I said, ‘Hey,’ and he turned and said, ‘Hey,’” and nodded his head, West said. “I could tell by the eyes.”
A regular performer at Pulse told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he saw Mateen there a couple times a month, often with another man.
The reports come after Samuel King, a drag queen, told The Daily Beast that he had befriended Mateen while the two worked next door to each other in Fort Pierce. King said that Mateen had seemed generally accepting of the fact that he and his friends were openly gay. King said that he even recalls Mateen going at least once to the nightclub where King performed.
Pulse Nighclub Orlando Shooting
(REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski)
Police lock down Orange Avenue around the Pulse nightclub, where people were killed by a gunman in a shooting rampage, in Orlando, Florida, on June 12.
Mateen, a US citizen born in New York in 1986 to two Afghan immigrants, was living in Fort Pierce, Florida, when he rented a car and drove to Orlando to carry out the attack on Sunday morning. An FBI representative said that he “was organized and well prepared” for the attack, and the ATF confirmed that he was armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle and a handgun that he had legally bought a few days before.Mateen was a security guard and had a Florida firearms license that allowed him to carry concealed weapons. He called 911 during his rampage at Pulse and pledged allegiance to ISIS, while also expressing sympathy for the Boston Marathon bombers and an American suicide bomber who died fighting for Al Qaeda in Syria.
The overnight shooting at the gay nightclub is the deadliest shooting in US history, with more fatalities than the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 (32 dead) and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 (27 dead).
Mateen was the subject of two separate FBI investigations in 2013 and 2014 — the first after he made inflammatory and contradictory statements about terrorism that raised concern with his coworkers, and the second after a source close to the FBI indicated that he may have had ties to the American suicide bomber who prayed at his mosque in Fort Pierce.
The director of the FBI, James Comey, said on Monday that Mateen had mentioned having links to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the ISIS in the past three years, but that the FBI investigations were closed because of a lack of evidence.
znModeratorI would call anyone carrying out mass murder a terrorist.
Then the word “terrorism” does not mean anything.
It makes no sense, for example, to say that James Holmes, who shot up the movie theater in Colorado, was a “terrorist.” And did you call the Charleston shooter a terrorist when it happened?
znModeratorIn a 2011 analysis of FBI hate-crime statistics, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that “LGBT people are more than twice as likely to be the target of a violent hate-crime than Jews or black people,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the center. Because the population of LGBT Americans is relatively small, and the number of hate crimes against that group is significant, LGBT individuals face a higher risk than other groups of being the victim of an attack. “They are more than four times as likely as Muslims, and almost 14 times as likely as Latinos,” Potok added. Sexual orientation motivated roughly 20 percent of hate crimes in 2013, according to the FBI; the only factor that accounted for more was race.
The vast majority of those crimes are not carried out by Muslim extremists, Potok said. “It’s a mix of white supremacists and their ilk and people who would be considered relatively normal members of society,” Potok said. “The majority of attacks on gay people do not come from people who are members of organized hate groups.”
znModeratorThe shooter pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS. That is terrorism.
I see a nutcase who never had anything to do with radical fundamentalist Islamic politics in his entire life who in the end made some kind of stupid statement. I just take that statement as the kind of thing a nutcase would do. He was motivated by the fact that he saw 2 men kissing in front of his son. In fact he was nutcase enough that he was shocked his son would see that, but is fine with his son knowing he’s a mass murderer. But we don’t expect logic from a nutcase.
Or you can be consistent and call the Charleston shootings terrorism, since he said he did it to start a race war and was heavily identified with white supremacists.
I call them both nutcases. You can call them both terrorists if you want to be consistent.
Oh and I grew up in Canada, which owns more guns per capita than the USA. My father paid his way through grad school by being a scout and leader for hunting expeditions. He had a nice collection of hunting rifles. He was showing me how to use a rifle when I was 10-11 or so.
znModeratorGoff took first-team O snaps in 7-on-7. Threw a nice touchdown pass to Kendricks to end the period.
— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) June 13, 2016
Another observation—UDFA WR Nelson Spruce seems to catch everything. He’s next up in our #Undrafted series on the site, dropping this week.
— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) June 13, 2016
znModeratorThe democrats are using this to try to deny our 2nd Amendment right. You know it too. It was an act of terrorism. You know that too.
See we;re not very big on the simplistic party trashing discourse. The discussion on this forum should be better than that. I get Mack’s point.
And no, you are probably the only one here who believes someone is trying to “deny rights.” You are free to assert it all you want, but, no one else “knows” that…here anyway, that’s just you who believes that.
And many people, me included, don’t think it was an “act of terrorism.” From everything I see, this is just a normal homophobe nutcase who lost it (actually he made other employees he worked with quit because of his open racism.) Some people want to make politics out of it though so to them it becomes “Islamic terrorism.” Sorry I just see another american mass killer nutcase. Like the Charleston shootings.
znModeratorThe BOR just made it clear that militias were to be a part of the self-defense of the state, for the state, by the state, and the chief way this happened back then was to put down slave rebellions.
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratified-to-preserve-slavery
znModeratorWe would just create a large and very violent black market for weapons.
When Australia banned guns the black market was exorbitant. Guns that cost 1000 here cost the equivalent of 30-something thousand there.
. How does one sink so far into the darkness of hate to the point of killing and maiming over one hundred individuals?
Who knows, but I do know it’s a lot harder to stab 50 people rather than shoot them when you’ve flown off in a rage.
And the incidents here far outnumber the incidents elsewhere, even accounting for the difference jn population sizes.
I doubt it’s only americans who fly off into hate rages.
…
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znModeratorThis is good.
Good listen.
off the net: Roman Snow
Finally had a chance to see the video on my laptop…Alexander may push McDonald out the door at the end of his contract, for practical reasons. (It sucks having so many good guys at the same positions that command playing time) …Ogletree is ready for his role…Coples is getting a rude awakening that he will have to step up…Hager may push Ayers to a backup role…Forrest may push him to the streets–I am thinking maybe Forrest was a steal…..Guys buy into Williams coaching because he cares about them as men, and it shows…Gaines is not quite ready yet, coming off injury…Chris and James were well loved, but Williams knows how to make football decisions, and separate those from loyalty decisions. I think Williams was the final say in letting them go…. Those two player decisions have a lot to do with Williams comment that this team is “FAST, maybe the fastest in the league.”… hate to say it but a Laurinitis/Long defense is not the “fastest in the league”…..this fast defense will help our young, developing offense immensely. It will shorten the learning curve.
znModeratorSo I’m not allowed to respond to your post? Every time I do I get a 403 Forbidden message.
I have no control over “403 Forbidden Message.” That’s a warning indicating the server is down or the site is temporarily disconnected from the server. It just happens now and then…and happens to me too. No mod here can generate that. It comes from way down the line, like I said (as I understand it) at the server.
znModeratorYet he is a registered DEMOCRAT. Oops.
And apparently against gun control.
znModeratorOTA One-On-One with Bradley Marquez
This one has interesting stuff about Groh and how the Rams will be using receivers.
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znModeratorOTA One-On-One with Bradley Marquez
Rams reporter Dani Klupenger chats with wide receiver Bradley Marquez in the directors chair after OTAs.
znModeratorarticle title is misleading, in the sense that the article covers a lot more ground than just the drag queen friend angle…the title should be, the guy changed across the years for some reason
…
Drag Queen: Anti-Gay Terrorist Omar Mateen Was My Friend
Omar Mateen committed the most horrific act of anti-gay violence on U.S. soil. But there was
FORT PIERCE, Florida — Years before he shot up an Orlando gay club in what became the largest mass shooting in American history, Omar Mateen regularly picked up lunch from a drag queen at Ruby Tuesday. He may have even gone to see a drag show or two, a former high school classmate told The Daily Beast.
About 10 years ago, Mateen, a few years out of high school, was working at the supplement store GNC. Samuel King, a year ahead of him in high school, was working next door at the restaurant chain. Mateen was a few years out of playing football in high school while King, who is openly gay, had long, flowing extensions, and prettier hair than most of his female co-workers.
“He always had a smile on his face,” King told The Daily Beast on Sunday. “Maybe it’s because he was working in customer service.”
play iconISIS Reportedly Claims Orlando Shooter As One Of Its OwnISIS Reportedly Claims Orlando Shooter As One Of Its Ownplay iconOrlando Gunman Is The Latest Mass Shooter To Use An AR-15Orlando Gunman Is The Latest Mass Shooter To Use An AR-15play iconPresident Obama Calls For Stricter Gun Laws — AgainPresident Obama Calls For Stricter Gun Laws — Again
After seeing the trending news story about the Orlando shooting, King posted his disbelief on Facebook. “I can’t believe i knew this dude…. He worked at GNC at the treasure coast mall when i was at Ruby Tuesday’s and he Graduated from the same high school in 2004,” he wrote. “He was a jokester and at the time didn’t have an issue with the LGBT community.”
Mateen’s father told NBC News that Mateen “got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago” and that he “thought that might be related to the shooting.”
But King saw none of that homophobia. Quite the opposite: He said Mateen knew that he and many of his co-workers at Ruby Tuesday were gay, and didn’t seem to have a problem with it. “That’s the thing that’s pinning me to the wall the most, that it was a gay nightclub,” King said. “Because he would come into the [the restaurant] and laugh with us.
“He might’ve even sat down at the bar and had a drink and laughed with the bartenders, knowing that they were lesbians,” King added.
These interactions shed new light on a man believed to be motivated by blind hatred for gay people. By the end of his rampage, Mateen had killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in the most deadly terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. During his attack on a sea of dancing young men, Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS, announcing himself as a terrorist and mentioning the Boston marathon attackers.
Yet if Mateen was a religious extremist, King didn’t know it, and the topic of religion never came up in conversations. Instead, the two men would greet each other on the street. King likely showed him, like the rest of the employees and regulars, photos in full costume from his performances.
“I can’t pinpoint a date that he went with us, but he probably gone there with us once,” he said.
Syed Shafeeq Rahman, Imam at the Islamic Center in Fort Pierce where Mateen worshipped, said he had been a sunny child who enjoyed skipping but something had changed in recent years. “He would not talk to anybody, but would just smile,” he said.
Recent co-workers described Mateen’s demeanor as aggressive and anti-gay. Daniel Gilroy, who worked with Mateen at the security company G4S, told Florida Today that he was “unhinged and unstable.”
“I quit because everything he said was toxic, and the company wouldn’t do anything,” Gilroy told the news outlet. “This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people.”
He said Mateen stalked him with dozens of text messages a day, but the company didn’t take action because Mateen was Muslim.“When I saw his picture on the news, I thought, of course, he did that,” fellow security guard Eric Baumer told Newsday. “He had bad things to say about everybody—blacks, Jews, gays, a lot of politicians, our soldiers. He had a lot of hate in him. He told me America destroyed Afghanistan.”
Indeed, it was a co-worker’s tip that set off an FBI investigation into the man in 2013. “The FBI first became aware of him in 2013 when he made inflammatory comments to co-workers alleging possible terrorist ties,” Ronald Hopper, an assistant agent in charge of the FBI’s Tampa division, said at a press conference. The ties were unconfirmed.The following year, the agency investigated his potential links to an American suicide bomber in Syria, Moner Abu-Salha, but found the connections negligible. Mateen was still able to purchase both weapons he brought to the attack legally last week, according to Trevor Velinor, an assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Tampa.
Mateen had worked at G4S since 2007, and cleared their security checks when he was hired and again in 2013. The company said they were made aware that Mateen had been questioned by the FBI in 2013 and knew that the investigations had closed.
“We were not made aware of any alleged connections between Mateen and terrorist activities, and were unaware of any further FBI investigations,” G4S communications director Monica Lewman-Garcia told The Daily Beast in a statement.
Mateen had a gun because of his work as a security officer.
G4S provides guards to more than two dozen juvenile detention centers in Florida, and Mateen’s ex-wife told The Washington Post that he’d worked at one such facility near their Fort Pierce home. A spokesperson at the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center directed queries about Mateen to the State of Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The agency directed inquiries to G4S, which did not return requests for comment.
But the company’s employees have been accused of abusing children in the centers where they work. A male Palmetto Youth Academy guard was arrested in 2014 on charges that he sexually assaulted two teenage boys, ages 15 and 17. A judge set his bond at $250,000, but the disposition of the case remains unclear. A female employee in Tampa was accused of engaging in sex acts with a boy that same year.
“I’m amazed at the amount of violence that goes on over there, both against staff and other inmates,” Assistant State Attorney Vicki Nichols, Martin County Florida’s juvenile prosecutor, told the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers of one facility that employs G4S guards.
Residents of Mateen’s quiet neighborhood, made up largely of retirees, construction workers, and families with toddlers, were shocked by news of his rampage on Sunday. The Woodland Condominium complex where he lived was roped off with yellow police tape as the FBI and local authorities investigated the gunman’s residence.
The area has many Hispanic immigrants, residents gathered outside the complex said, but doesn’t have a large Middle Eastern or Muslim community.
Esmeralda Gonzalez, whose parents live adjacent to the gunman’s parents said that she hadn’t seen Omar but his father “seems really nice.”
“You see it in the news and all the sudden it happens right next to you. My mom is scared and wondering if they should sell the house,” she told The Daily Beast.Mateen’s father Seddique Mir Mateen did appear to have extreme views, however. In videos on his YouTube channel he has previously paid tribute to the Afghan Taliban.
Early Monday, he posted a new video in which he described his “sadness” over the death of his son. “I did not know and did not understand that he has anger in his heart,” he said. “Only God can punish homosexuality… This is not an issue for humans to punish.”
The 29-year-old Mateen, who has a 3-year-old child, married Sitora Yusufiy, an immigrant from Uzbekistan in 2007. The couple officially divorced in 2009, but Yusufiy told reporters on Sunday that they only lived together for a few months, during which time he beat and emotionally abused her. From her home in Colorado, Yusufiy told reporters on Sunday that Mateem was bipolar and abused steroids.
“A few months after we were married I saw his instability, I saw his bipolar, and he would get mad out of nowhere, and that’s when I started worrying about my safety,” she said. “Then after a few months he started abusing me physically, very often, and not allowing me to speak to my family, and keeping me hostage from them.”
At Mateen’s regular house of worship, the Fort Pierce Islamic Center, Imam Rahman assured visitors that the community had no idea about the storm brewing in the gunman’s heart—or the FBI’s investigations into him.
Meanwhile protesters outside called for authorities to shut down the Islamic center, with some driving by urging people to “burn it down.”
Rahman, also a medical doctor, said that Omar Mateen attended the mosque service Friday night with his young son curled up next to him. “He was the last to arrive and the first to leave,” he said, but recalled nothing else about Mateen wasn’t regular in his attendance.
“One hundred and thirty people came Friday so I don’t notice,” Rahman said.
Fellow members of the mosque said they knew little about Mateen. “He wasn’t rude, but he wasn’t very friendly either,” said Mohammad Jamil. Sometimes he would come for prayers in his security uniform and Jamil noted he was very muscular. “He would say, hello, but that was about it.”
As tradition, the women and small children gathered in a separate room for their feast. The mood was somber and Lucy Haq, a member, said the crowd was lighter than normal. She said that Mateen and other radical Islamic terrorists like him hurt all Muslims. “What they are doing is not Islam,” she said.
Rahman, who has been Imam at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce since 2005, said Mateen was sporadic in his attendance to prayers. He might come for prayers two or three times in a week and might not show the following week.
Mateen’s father, by accounts was more outgoing. Rahman said the elder Mateen was in the insurance business and offered his services to fellow worshippers and he offered to help with any problems. “He said he knew police chief and authorities and he could help us if we ever had problems.
“Always told if anything bad was happening we could contact the father and he would take care of it,” Rahman said.
Rahman said the center did not promote violence and that Mateen did not get his radical ideas from the center. “We do not want these things to happen. We condemn radical Islam.”
The FBI has not talked to Rahman. “What could I share with them? I have nothing because we did not know. Of course we would have called them. In our religion it says he who kills one person kills all mankind.”znModeratorThis thread got into the gun control aspect of it. There’s another thread that focuses on the politics of it. As in, basically, there were none (generally speaking). The shooter was not an Islamic fundamentalist and this had nothing to do with those guys (ie. Islamic fundamentalists).
znModeratorFather Of Orlando Gunman Reveals Motives For Fatal Nightclub Shooting
https://www.yahoo.com/news/father-orlando-gunman-reveals-motives-154936794.html
Police continue their investigation into the Orlando shooting that left 50 people dead and more than 53 injured at Pulse nightclub in Florida. Amid the tragedy, the father of the gunman–who has been identified as Omar Mateen–has revealed his motives.
Mir Seddique told news sources his son was not driven by religious ideology, but instead, he grew irate after witnessing two men kissing in Miami a few months before the shooting took place.
Understanding the severity of the situation, Seddique offered his apologies to all of the victims. “We’re apologizing for the whole incident,” he wrote in an official statement to NBC. “We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country. This had nothing to do with religion.”
Authorities have previously reported Mateen is suspected to have acted alone when he opened fire with an assault weapon and handgun on the nightclub. Mateen is cited to have strong convictions of the Islamic faith. Suspicions of terrorist activity heightened following an ISIS news agency taking responsibility for the attack, as reported by CNN. The gunman also allegedly pledged his allegiance to the organization. Mateen’s connection to the terrorist group has not been confirmed thus far however, despite claims formed by the FBI.
Stay tuned as the story continues to develop.
znModeratorFather of Orlando Shooting Suspect: ‘I Don’t Think He Was Radicalized’
The father of Omar Mateen, identified by officials as the shooter who killed at least 50 people at an Orlando gay nightclub early Sunday morning, said if he could ask his son one question, it would be: “Why?”
In an interview with ABC News at his home in Fort Pierce, Florida, Seddique Mateen said he was shocked and saddened to learn that his only son was the man authorities say is behind the carnage at Pulse nightclub.
“I didn’t see anything irregular with him. I saw him yesterday [Saturday] afternoon,” Seddique Mateen said. “It makes me upset, it makes me mad that I didn’t see anything unusual.”
Seddique Mateen and his wife were born in Afghanistan, and moved to the United States before having children. His son was born in New York and grew up in St. Lucie County, Florida. Seddique Mateen told ABC News his son was a family man and a devout Muslim who never showed any signs of extremism, violence or hatred.
“I don’t think he was radicalized,” Seddique Mateen said. “That’s what my gut feeling tells me.”
In an interview with ABC News, Omar Mateen’s ex-wife said he was religious but showed no indications of radicalism. Sitora Yusufiy said she was shocked by her former husband’s attack.
As a husband, however, she said Omar Mateen was abusive and mentally unstable. When he was angry, he would sometimes rant about homosexuals, Yusufiy said.
“He would be perfectly normal and happy, joking, laughing one minute — the next minute his temper … his body would just [go] totally the opposite,” Yusufiy, 27, told ABC News. “Anger, emotionally violent and that later evolved into abuse, to beating.
In the four months that they were married, Yusufiy said he cut her off from her family and regularly beat her. She said her family “rescued” her from the abusive marriage while visiting.
“After being abused and after trying to do that and see the good in him, I can honestly say this is a sick person. This was a sick person that was really confused and went crazy,” she said.
When she left Omar Mateen in 2009, Yusufiy assumed the “horrible mistake” she had made was long behind her. He had tried to contact her through Facebook a year ago, she said, but she blocked him. Then she turned on the news today.
“I thought I had closed the chapter on this horrible mistake that I had gotten myself into and forgot all about it and we’re free from it. But this is the most shocking, heartbreaking experience,” she said.
Seddique Mateen said this is the first he’s heard about his son’s abusive behavior toward Yusify. Omar Mateen later remarried and had a 3-year-old son with his new wife. Seddique Mateen said his daughter-in-law is “a typical American” and “a nice lady” who also never showed any signs of radicalism.
Seddique Mateen told ABC News he’s unsure of his son’s possible motive for the attack at Pulse nightclub, which bills itself on its website as “Orlando’s Premier Gay Night Club.” He said he and his wife raised their children to always be accepting of others.
“I didn’t raise him that way,” Seddique Mateen said. “We gave him enough love and care and education that he knew better.”
Omar Mateen started taking hostages shortly after he entered Pulse nightclub, according to officials. He later died in a gunfight with a SWAT team, authorities said.
Law enforcement officials said the shooter called 911 to pledge his allegiance to the Islamic State group after the attack began. ISIS supporters have cheered the massacre online and an ISIS communique referred to the shooter as an ISIS “fighter,” but there’s no evidence that the jihadist group directed or had prior knowledge of the attack, terrorism observers told ABC News.
“At this time we’re looking at all angles right now,” an FBI official said. “We do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings towards that, that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say definitively, so we’re still running everything around.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating Sunday morning’s shooting as “an act of terrorism.” It said it will determine whether it is “domestic or international” terrorism.
znModeratorAmerica’s gun problem, explained
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/3/9444417/gun-violence-united-states-america
znModeratorNothing stupid about it since it is democrats that will try to use this to deny law abiding citizens their 2nd Amendment right.
Sigh.
znModeratorWhat is your offseason improvement program-goal ?
To eliminate off-seasons.
Football, 24/7, 365.
.
znModeratorAnd why couldnt he drop the weight?
The impression I get from this is, it’s not “couldn’t”, it’s “didn’t.”
————-
Why do you think that? Seems more like ‘couldn’t’ to me.w
vI wouldn’t say couldn’t because he did last year.
But in any event, it just randomly strikes me that we have a different discussion if we used: mustn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, shan’t, daren’t, hadn’t, hasn’t, needn’t, doesn’t, can’t, won’t, and/or oughtn’t.
Football can be so complicated.
.
znModeratorAnd why couldnt he drop the weight?
The impression I get from this is, it’s not “couldn’t”, it’s “didn’t.”
znModeratorMy heart goes out to all those directly affected.
America has a sickness, and one of the symptoms is that assault weapons are sold to the general public.
Yes.
/
znModeratorFrom Trump people the shooter is another registered democrat.
Thanks. We needed more “Trump’s circle says stupid things about this” samples.
Btw on this:
The stupid governor of Texas quoted “reap what you sow” on this one.
Actually it was the Lt. Governor.
I won’t go “crazy man” on everyone and blame all of Texas.
Texas Lt. Gov. Faces Backlash for Tweeting ‘A Man Reaps What He Sows’ Bible Verse After Mass Shooting at Orlando Gay Club
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-lt-gov-faces-backlash-173008312.html
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has faced a social media backlash for what some perceive as anti-gay commentary after Sunday’s mass shooting at an popular Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub .
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” Patrick tweeted Sunday morning , hours after a mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse which left, at least 50 people dead and 53 injured . Officials have called the attack the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Patrick posted the same verse to his Facebook page soon after. Both posts were deleted before noon. It was not immediately clear if Patrick was commenting on the Orlando shooting. Representatives from his office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. Many users on both platforms read Patrick’s quotation as anti-gay, as that verse (and the one succeeding it) have frequently been quoted as evidence of Christianity’s intolerance of gays. “You’re such a poor example of Texas, and of Christianity. May those affected my this morning’s violence be protected from the thoughtless words of idiots like you,” one Facebook user commented on Patrick’s post.
Another wrote , “What a horrific post. Disgusting. But then, I guess you failed to remember that the entire book of Galatians was written to the CHURCH, and that Paul’s anger was to the bigotry and selfishness within the Christian church at Galatians. In other words – he was talking about people like you.On Twitter, businessman and sometimes Shark Tank guest Chris Sacca responded , “You pervert Christianity in a way that would make Jesus cringe. Where is your compassion?”
@DanPatrick You pervert Christianity in a way that would make Jesus cringe. Where is your compassion?
— Chris Sacca (@sacca) June 12, 2016
Patrick, a Republican, opposed gay marriage and has spoken out against the White House’s requirement that students be allowed to use the school bathroom that matches their gender identity.
Authorities do yet know a motive for the shooting, and an FBI spokesperson said Sunday morning that this is an ongoing investigation and wouldn’t classify it as a terror or hate crime. The father of the reported suspect told NBC News that it “has nothing to do with religion,” and instead pointed toward his son’s recent anger at seeing two men kissing.znModeratorOrlando Shooting Suspect Omar Mateen’s Ex Wife Says He Was Violent and Unstable
https://www.yahoo.com/news/orlando-shooting-suspect-omar-mateens-175248182.html
The ex wife of suspected Orlando gay bar shooter Omar Mateen claims her former spouse beat her during their relationship.
In an interview with the Washington Post in which she remains anonymous, the woman said Mateen was violent and emotionally unstable.
The 29-year-old died Sunday morning after police believe he killed at least 50 people during an early morning assault rifle attack at Pulse nightclub.
“He was not a stable person,” the ex-wife told the Post. “He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.”
The attack is being called the worst ever mass shooting in America’s long history of gun violence.
The ex wife, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear for her personal safety, said she married Mateen about eight years ago after meeting him online.
When they first met, “he seemed like a normal human being,” the woman said.
However, after she said violence became the norm in the home, the woman’s family flew to Florida to help her get out of their Fort Pierce home.
The woman said she fled with none of her possessions. She said, in the wake of the attack Sunday, that she feels lucky to be alive.
Mateen was born in New York to parents from Afghanistan, the woman said.
Mateen’s father disavowed his son’s alleged actions. In an interview with NBC News, the father described an incident in Miami in which his son became enraged after seening two men kiss.
“We were in downtown Miami,” Mir Seddique said. “He saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kids and he got very angry. They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, ‘Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that.’ And then we were in the men’s bathroom and men were kissing each other.”
znModeratorThe stupid governor of Texas quoted “reap what you sow” on this one.
Let’s hope it holds true for him saying that.
znModeratorGreg Robinson doesn’t ‘want to put any limitations on myself’
Ryan Black
http://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Greg-Robinson-doesnt-want-to-put-any-limitations-on-myself-45755164
Greg Robinson has just one objective for himself in the coming season.
“Really just to step up and be a leader, be there for the team,” Robinson said in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Rams’ official website. “Like I say, I don’t want to put any limitations on myself, so the sky is the limit. I think this is going to be one of the best years that I have. It’s all about how I prepare myself. I really look forward to it. I think it’s going to be special.”
Robinson, who was taken with the No. 2 overall pick by the Rams in the 2014 NFL draft, has appeared on the offensive line for all 32 regular season games the past two seasons, making 28 starts. But last season was a struggle, he admitted, due to the number of injuries suffered elsewhere on the line. Week to week, Robinson said he “didn’t know what to expect” as far as who may line up beside him.
That’s why things have been a work in progress since they reconvened for their organized team activities, known as OTAs for short.
“Everybody is still getting back into the groove of things; I feel like we’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “We’re not quite there, but the beauty of that is we don’t play until September.”
By that time, Robinson hopes to be noticeably slimmer. His goal during the offseason was to drop 20 pounds. Thus far, he’s only lost five.
“But I’ve got a little time,” he said. “I’ll probably work on it a little more in the rest of this offseason when I leave here. It’s really just critiquing and being aware of what I put in my body. I don’t think it’s going to be much of a challenge. I think I can do it.”
Robinson played at Auburn from 2011-13. After redshirting during his freshman season, he went on to make 25 starts at left tackle the next two seasons, including all 14 in the Tigers’ SEC championship campaign in 2013.
znModeratorI like to keep up with ex-Rams, to an extent anyway, and for a short while anyway, even if they were short-lived Rams.
Welker’s Rams career was as brief as those can get. He ranks with Lloyd as one of the recent Rams short-lived “Merc” receivers. Another is Marc Clayton.
znModeratorRams’ Todd Gurley the next big thing in Southern California sports
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gurley-719034-rams-california.html
OXNARD – If, as the saying goes, stars are made, not born, what about those who are relocated?
Todd Gurley is poised to be the next big thing in Southern California sports. The Rams running back still might go unrecognized walking down local streets, particularly when his trademark shoulder-length dreadlocks are pulled back, but given his recent face time on national TV, that seems certain to change.
“Carl’s Jr.,’’ teammate Benny Cunningham said with a wry grin after a recent practice.
That’s his new nickname. You should call him that. He will like that.’’Gurley has received copious good-natured ribbing for his role as as a burger-pitcher. In the commercial, Gurley – who speaks only a few words – is greeted by an agent and selfie-taking admirers as he coolly strolls through an office while wearing a hat with a generic “L.A.” logo.
“Welcome to California, Todd Gurley,’’ shouts the agent, played by actor/comedian Jay Mohr.
And welcome, perhaps, to a void that needs to be filled, that of major Southern California sports icon.
Kobe Bryant has retired after an iconic 20-year career with the Lakers. Clayton Kershaw arguably is the best pitcher in baseball, but many viewers can’t even watch Dodgers games. The Angels’ Mike Trout is highly marketable but seems reticent to display charisma in a public way. The top players for the Kings and Ducks are more likely to pitch products in Canada.
Chris Paul is a contender, but at best he’s a very good player on a good Clippers team, and that franchise still is attempting to dribble out of the Lakers’ shadow.
The throne has been vacated, and Gurley can fill it. He’s telegenic, intelligent, community-minded and is coming off a 2015 rookie season in which he rushed for the third-most yards in the NFL (1,106).
It also doesn’t hurt that Gurley is represented by Roc Nation Sports, the agency founded by music star Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.
“The region is looking for someone to embrace,’’ said David Carter, executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, “and not only because football is back but because Kobe Bryant’s presence will be diminished. And as long as the Dodgers struggle to get their bearings on TV, their stars will not have as constant a light shone on them. All of this makes his timing ideal.’’
There’s only one question: is this market ready to accept Gurley as a hometown hero? As of now, three months before the start of the NFL season, Gurley remains an outsider, and something of a quiet one.
Bryant arrived as a teenager and grew up here. Shaquille O’Neal and Manny Ramirez were imported, but announced their arrivals with boisterous enthusiasm. Gurley? He’s been placed gently on Southern California’s porch like a FedEx package from St. Louis. The locals are just beginning to unwrap him.
It’s a slow roll-out. At first glance, Gurley, only 21, certainly doesn’t scream “Hollywood.’’ In public and interview settings, he is good-natured but quiet. His social-media postings don’t reveal much, and his next inflammatory or self-congratulatory quote will be his first.
This doesn’t surprise those who know Gurley well.
“He’s very intelligent, and he’s never going to fly off the handle,’’ said Bryan McClendon, Gurley’s running backs coach for three years at Georgia. “He puts thought into everything he does, and he definitely thinks before he talks and acts.’’
In the next breath, though, McClendon describes Gurley as “almost too silly at times,” at least among those with whom he feels comfortable. Clearly there’s another side to Gurley. When will Los Angeles see it?
This is a Maryland native who became revered in Georgia, a chameleon who counts country singer Luke Bryan and rapper Waka Flocka among his friends. Gurley is the focal point of the Rams’ offense, and at least until rookie quarterback Jared Goff develops, the face of the franchise.
Yet rarely is Gurley’s the team’s most prominent voice.
“I just kind of do my game,’’ Gurley said. “I feel like sometimes I can be a natural leader more in terms of being in the weight room, working hard. Guys see that and they feed off of that. So, basically what I’m doing is not doing anything extra and making sure I’m holding myself accountable as well as my teammates.’’
There’s a quiet, steely confidence that is almost Bryant-like.
Some NFL pundits mocked the Rams when they used the No. 10 overall draft pick on Gurley in 2015, five months after he suffered a torn ACL. As a rookie, Gurley not only earned the starting job but finished behind only Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson and Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin for most rushing yards.
There was no bragging and no I-told-you-so from Gurley. At OTA practices this month, Gurley has talked only of improving and seems far more comfortable praising others than himself.
“When he first came in, he kind of kept to himself, but that’s how it is with everybody,’’ fellow Rams running back Cunningham said. “Once they get comfortable around the guys, you kind of see the true personality come out. He will let you all catch that one day. Hopefully you guys will catch the real Todd.’’
It’s there. Last year, Gurley filmed a candy commercial in which he wore a tutu and sang, “I’m A Little Teapot.” Gurley, quietly, has been a fixture at Rams community events over the past couple months. He might not yet be showing that Hollywood sizzle, but it’s early.
Gurley recently dropped the veil a bit. Asked, at the end of a relatively bland interview, to review the burger he endorsed in the commercial, Gurley raised his voice and perked up considerably.
“The burger was excellent. Go get one,” Gurley said, then added with a big grin, “There’s (a restaurant) right up the street, so I don’t want to hear any excuses.’’
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