UPDATE: 2:30 PM 10/2/17: The death toll has risen to 58, with more than 500 injured. Though it was first reported that Paddock was killed by police it now appears he shot himself before the police entered his room. There are still no details as to Paddock’s possible motives. The original post follows.
As I write this, the media is reporting that 50 have been killed and more than 400 others have been injured in a mass shooting at an open-air concert in Las Vegas. Police have identified the shooter as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, who opened fire on concertgoers from a hotel room in the Mandalay Bay complex overlooking the venue, killing dozens before himself being shot dead by police.
The staggering death toll, which seems sure to rise, makes this the worst mass shooting in American history. At this point we know very little about the shooter or what his motives may have been, but that hasn’t stopped 4Channers and far-right “media” sources from spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories.
We’ll know more soon enough, I assume. In the meantime, here are a few useful tweets I’ve gathered up so far.
A couple of thread on on the disinformation being spread about the shooting by many of the usual suspects.
For easier retrieval, I'm threading together the disinformation I've seen about the #MandalayBay Casino shooting in Las Vegas.
/1/
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) October 2, 2017
Here Are All The Hoaxes Being Spread About The Las Vegas Shooting #MandalayBay https://t.co/L79J6iLuqU via @BuzzFeedNews pic.twitter.com/l2p9KOt8M7
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) October 2, 2017
The execrable right-wing Gateway Pundit remains dedicated to getting everything wrong the fastest.
The @gatewaypundit wrote up Geary Danley as the #mandalaybay shooter and then deleted their post. pic.twitter.com/ocXtTOX6rL
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) October 2, 2017
Other relevant tweets:
https://twitter.com/NivenJ1/status/914795331241484288
This week Congress is deciding to end background checks for silencers. No joke. #opposeSHAREact
— Jillzie 🟧 (@jcindc2002) October 2, 2017
Here is a rundown of Nevada gun laws. It’s lawful to possess a machine gun that is legally registered https://t.co/BjdQm68crz
— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 2, 2017
Just a reminder that it's only been 16 months since the last worst mass shooting in US history. https://t.co/jHQnDy30Lv
— Abigail Nussbaum (@NussbaumAbigail) October 2, 2017
My heart goes out to all those affected by this senseless tragedy. If you’re a WHTM reader who lives in or around Las Vegas, or if you’re visiting there, please let us know how you are doing.
http://i.imgur.com/zGE9gKB.jpg
@Ooglyboggles
*happy clappy hands of glee* EEEEEEEEEEE!!! best gifs evah (until next time, anyway LOL!)
OT, but I just saw this on facebook:
Did Donald Trump Cut Funding for Obamacare Enrollment Advertising? (link goes to snopes)
The answer is yes. They asked you to copy and paste this:
“Congratulations!
Snopes verified that the enrollment period was shortened and GOP has cut by 90% the funding to advertise these deadlines.
The website for enrolling will be taken off-line every Sunday, thus making enrollment on the weekends more difficult. This is a tactic to prevent enrollment–how many websites can you think of that have scheduled downtime EVERY SUNDAY??Be sure to enroll on week days only!
Enrollment for 2018 Affordable Care Act (ACA / Obamacare) starts November 1 and ends December 15. Trump reduced the advertising funds by 90% to announce when people can enroll. Please copy and paste to circulate.
PLEASE COPY AND PASTE ON YOUR OWN TIMELINE. Then put CONGRATULATIONS so the algorithms will post it more frequently.”
I included the snopes article in the first comment, so you can see my source right away.
I’m not american, but a friend has reposted it already. If fake russian news can sway an election partly through facebook, maybe we can help make up that gap in funding?
As a web developer, what the fuck? It takes effort to take things down and nothing needs weekly maintenance for an entire day. Are they paying some devops person to go in and take the ssite down so that people can’t enroll?
Since my eyes actually glazed over during the gun debate, I’m just going to leave my opinion here without reading the rest, and be done with it.
1. I grew up in a family that owned guns, and I did get to shoot those guns on occassion. I went hunting small game a few times as a teenager*. When my kiddo hit middle school she was taught how to shoot as well.
So even though I have personally used guns, do you want to know the amount of times that I’ve ever seen a situation where a AR-15 was reasonably needed in civilian life? Zero.
There is zero need to own an AR-15 in civilian life.
2. Time to stop depicting people who own guns as dangerous “alpha males”‘, whether they’re being glamorized, or demonized. Liking to shoot guns, or hunt, or pose for selfies, does not make anyone a dangerous badass. Neither does parading around with a gun on your hip.
Time to start laughing at these losers, and treating them like the pathetic wannabes that they are.
*Which was fun until I hit something, then I felt HORRIBLE.
@ Still Fiqah,
#1 – But we could go to “two feet” now! My drinking bud here said, re Tom Petty, Not LUCKY! As Lucky, he did recommend to Bill that his car might be too far gone and he might want to consider “Cutting a hole in the floor boards and making it into a Flintstones car.”
– TP as “Lucky” on King of the Hill.
HA! 🙂
Besides being a great musician, he was great on that show too 🙂
#7 – Running Down a Dream is indeed one of the best driving songs ever!
Luck be with you this time too, Tom, we hope you pull through and get well!
What a day.
@Kupo: I wonder how much money is being wasted taking something down and putting it back up every Sunday.
I mean, I know they don’t *actually* care about cutting spending if they can hurt people they don’t like, but….? This has to cost something. And be really annoying for the employees who need to do it!
Thank you for the cute animals @Ooglyboggles!
@wwth – yay for kitties!
Ugh, the Healthcare Marketplace is going to go down *EVERY SUNDAY*?!?!?
Gee, my job just got so much easier *sigh*. Yes, I sell health insurance, and people who qualify for Tax Subsidies HAVE to be processed on the marketplace site. And few people are going to want to walk away from thousands of dollars of tax breaks just so they can enroll right now (although some people also might not have a choice either).
Did I mention I fucking hate Trump and the Republicans lately?
Congress let CHIP expire.
Trump proclaimed today as Child Health Day and that he’s committed to “protecting and promoting the health and well-being of our Nation’s young people.”
Because the fucking pro-life party are a bunch of fucking hypocrites bought off by the NRA and corporate pimps.
I don’t fucking want to hear about these craven ghouls paying lip service to the sanctity of life and Christian morality and values when they’re willing to let that sanctity be bought to whomever bids the highest.
I am so fucking disgusted right now.
@PoM
This again… :p
@Ooglyboggles
Those are some happy Corgies! This is why I love my local dog park.
this weekend was the absolute worst.
The corgies going around in an endless circle makes me smile and smile.
@ Skeptic
The first stone tools that we know of for sure were made by Homo erectus not sapiens. They were what are colloquially called hand axes. I actually got to hold one, once. They were beautifully if simply made and fit well into my hand. They were butchers’ tools, not weapons. In fact, even after people started making actual stone weapons, most stone tools were not weapons. They were used for cutting a bunch of stuff, including everything from meat to various roots, digging, harvesting grasses, scraping hides, etc.
@Kat
Yes. My little dachshund/Jack Russel LOVES to be chased around the dog park.
http://i.imgur.com/Om4lHiQ.gif
@Peevee
You’re being unfair to the flesh eating undead, comparing them to Republicans.
Such majestic animals, descended from the mighty wolf.
@PeeVee: I hope Petty’s alive too, but the situation reminds me unpleasantly of Carrie Fisher’s. 🙁
Tom Petty was apparently brain-dead when they found him. They tried but …
@Dali, no disrespect to the flesh eating undead; they’re not cowardly at all. Just hungry.
@Nequam, I really don’t know all that much about how long one can last brain-dead while not on life support; sigh. I know it’s most likely inevitable, though.
If he must go, it seems like he will go peacefully and without pain, which isn’t so bad as these things go.
@PeeVee
Well..based on the average supporter of 45, apparently one can survive for quite a while if one is brain-dead and without life support.
Okay, one person (at least) has had a change of heart about guns
Guitarist says Las Vegas concert attack changed his mind on gun control
‘I’ve been a proponent of the [second] amendment my entire life,’ said Caleb Keeter on Twitter after shooting at festival. ‘Until the events of last night’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/las-vegas-gun-control-caleb-keeter-josh-abbott-band