Update at 6:12 PM EDT on 13 June 2016:
The LA Times is now reporting that the information that was released yesterday, that Mr. Howell had traveled to Santa Monica with the intent of doing “harm to the parade” was incorrect. Santa Monica PD Lt. Saul Rodriguez has clarified what they know:
“It was a misstatement,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, she was given incorrect information initially, which indicated that that statement was made; however, that statement never was made. He did indicate that he was planning on going to the Pride festival but beyond anything as far as motives or his intentions that statement was never made nor did any officer receive that statement.”
—————————————————————————————————————————
Authorities have named the suspect arrested early this morning in Santa Monica for acting strangely and having both firearms and explosives in his car. His name is James Wesley Howell and, according to Jacqueline Seabrooks, the Santa Monica Chief of Police, he admitted to Santa Monica police investigators that “he wanted to harm (sic) gay pride event”. He was arrested last year for brandishing a firearm and threatening a neighbor by pointing the gun at him or her, which was pled down to misdemeanor intimidation. His facebook account is also still up and he appears to have posted extreme and alt-right memes on his page. The other major difference between Howell and Mateen is that Howell looks like this:
*
* Photo released to the public by the Santa Monica PD.
Mnemosyne
Thank god for good police work that prevented another tragedy.
SiubhanDuinne
I suppose part of it’s the undoubted trauma of being under arrest, but there is something quite terrifying (and universal) about the vacant-eyed stare we see again and again in mug shots of white shooters.
The Ancient Randonneur
Definitely has that McVeigh stare.
Booger
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, he’s probably reciting ‘Invictus’ to himself.
andy
Another goddamn three-name white boy…
Joel
The biggest difference is that the cops caught Howell, thankfully.
Omnes Omnibus
Not planning on watching them myself, but might not a Tony’s thread be a good idea tonight?
Hillary Rettig
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know. The hate seems strong with that one.
Central Planning
He looks a little like Elijah Wood
TheMightyTrowel
@Central Planning: oh thank god. I thought it was just me.
lollipopguild
This one is going to be harder for the Right-wing to explain away.
The Thin Black Duke
“A thing. Soul empty as a paper bag, eyes of clever glass.”
–John D. McDonald
Steve!
@andy: They do the three-name thing to reduce the number of innocent people who get confused with this guy and harassed.
Roger Moore
@lollipopguild:
Crazy lone wolf. See how easy that is.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: Trump issued this earlier:
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j-trump-statement-regarding-tragic-terrorist-attacks
lollipopguild
@Roger Moore: You are correct, so many on the right are living in an alternate world that they and their friends in the media have created that the actual real world that the rest of us have to live in does not matter.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman:
“Ooga booga Muslims Mexicans wall immigrants terrorists evil wall huge Obama Hillary bad Trump good.”
Did I miss anything?
redshirt
Police might have prevented an even bigger event than Orlando.
A strange blessing.
The Thin Black Duke
@Adam L Silverman:
In many a time, in many a land
With many a gun in many a hand
They came by the night, they came by the day
Came with their guns to take us away
With a knock on the door, knock on the door
Here they come to take one more, one more
Back in the days of the Roman Empire
They died by the cross and they died by the fire
In the stone coliseum, the crowd gave a roar
And it all began with that knock on the door
Just a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more, one more
The years have all passed, we’ve reached modern times
The Nazis have come with their Nazi war crimes
Yes, the power was there, the power was found
Six million people have heard that same sound
That old knock on the door, knock on the door
Here they come to take one more, one more
–Phil Ochs, “Knock on the Door”
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: I’ll be interested to see if he teleprompters this one or he does it off the cuff. I have a feeling he thinks this is a counterpunch opportunity and we’re going to see the latter. Even if they have a teleprompter cued up for him.
Adam L Silverman
@The Thin Black Duke: I still think the most powerful episode of the original Star Trek was Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield_(episode)
My favorite overall was Mirror, Mirror.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: A train wreck slamming into a car crash that sinks a ship then.
We’re learning a lot about the character of the GOP politicians who have endorsed and stood by Trump.
Boidica
You know, even if I bought Trump’s premise that radical Islamic terrorism is gonna kill us all, I still have no reason to believe he has a clue let alone a plan on how to stop it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Adam L Silverman: You just like seeing George Takei without a shirt on.
Which is understandable.
Peale
@Boidica: no Muslims allowed in, those who are here will be forced to go back to their country of origin. It’s a simple plan.
The Thin Black Duke
@Adam L Silverman: I remember. And the damned thing is, although it was almost fifty years ago, it’s still relevant. As with Rod Serling, Roddenberry used sci-fi as a vehicle to tell stories he couldn’t get pass the censors. And my favorite episodes were the ones written by Theodore Sturgeon, “Amok Time” and “Shore Leave”.
? Martin
That Santa Monica guy is one weird looking radical islamic terrorist.
Peale
@Boidica: basically, overreact to every situation, make it a personal response, promote as much fear as possible of your erratic behavior.
? Martin
@Peale: I wonder what our aryan certificates will look like, other than being very classy. And will we atheists be deported as well for failure to have a Christian religious leader vouch for our attendance?
Adam L Silverman
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: That’s the Amok Time.
lollipopguild
@Adam L Silverman: The Trouble with Tribbles, especially the part where Scotty explains that the bar fight happened not after the Klingons insulted Capt Kirk but after they insulted the Enterprise.
Adam L Silverman
@lollipopguild: That’s a good one too!
lollipopguild
@Peale: What if their country of origin is America?
lollipopguild
@dmsilev: I do not know if I have met a Ooga Booga Moslem Mexican. Do they have seperate mosques?
fuckwit
Fucking America.
Guns, God, and Gay-hating.
gbear
He looks like he’s pissed off that he didn’t get to kill or injure hundreds of people.
trollhattan
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
More of a Yeoman Janice fan myself. Alway wanted to play checkers on her hairdo. RIP Grace Lee Whitney.
Amaranthine RBG
@andy:Yeah, what is it white people and their names, anyway?
Peale
@lollipopguild: if you are not certain of your TRUE country of origin, one will be chosen for you. Now whether or not that country actually wants you to be foisted on it, is another story. I think we’ll see something like refugee camps for Americans in other countries. Which is innovative, really. I never thought I’d see that, but then driverless cars are almost here.
Peale
Do we have any instances where these assault weapons have been used to protect anything? Stop a burglar? When in civilian hands? Just wondering. It’s like they’re either on the gun range or being used in robberies or killing unarmed people engaged in such criminal activity as attending school or dancing in a club. But I’m willing to be informed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Peale:
Trump isn’t going to win.
Woodrowfan
@Adam L Silverman: “Mirror Mirror” is great, but my favs are “A Piece of the Action” and “The Doomsday Machine.” The former is still funny and the latter is still tense…
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
And Mateen’s ex-wife reports that he abused her. And several of George Zimmerman’s exes reported abuse.
Here’s a crazy idea: maybe if our legal system took those crimes seriously enough to keep guns out of the offenders’ hands, we might miss out on a tragedy or two?
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I saw something, without a link to where it originated, that the speculation is that Mateen did all his shooting right away and then holed up and nothing happened for the next several hours until SWAT breached and entered. If events did happen that way then the blue on green (lae enforcement on population) injuries should be very low to non existent. But, as I wrote earlier today, we won’t know till the After Action Review and autopsies are completed.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: Is “play checkers on her hairdo” the new hiking the Appalachian Trail?
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: There are some. I’m not going digging right now though to try to find any reporting about it. The weapon of choice for most crimes are handguns. And the defensive choice for most people also tends to be a handgun because they’re convenient. Even the people that subscribe to home carry (carrying a gun all the time one is at home) or who have cached weapons around there house tend to rely on handguns, because they’re easier to conceal and secure. Usually if you see a long gun used in a self defense scenario it is because the person was at home and was able to either “fight” their way to their rifle or shotgun or because they have the long gun staged in a tactically advantageous place for what they think are likely self defense scenario.
Adam L Silverman
@Woodrowfan: I love both of those two as well.
Adam L Silverman
@Tara the Antisocial Social Worker: I agree with you 100%.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: This is not a criticism of anyone here, but the variety of subject matter nerdery tonight is breathtaking. What weirds me out is that the two main themes: comics/graphic novels and Broadway are almost completely outside my wheelhouse.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Okay. I’ll note it for the files. I do cop to bring up the Star Trek thing in this thread, but it was actually on topic.
As for musicals, I’m right there with you. Though I am an opera fan. Other than the one question about the Joker in regards to coulrophobia in the earlier open thread, I’ve not seen any other comic book stuff. But I’ve been in and out. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve spent way to much time on the site today! And, like most of us, it wasn’t planned that way when I got up this morning.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: “disgracefully”? President Obama “disgracefully” refuses to go ape-shit on Radical Islamist Terrorists?
OK. Now I hate him. Der Drumpf. I’ve been amused, I’ve been disgusted, I’ve been appalled. But now…The Hate.
@Tara the Antisocial Social Worker: You mad, impetuous fool…seriously, hitting the “suicide prevention” and the “anti-domestic abusers” angles might be the first serious ways in…
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
Of course.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I agree with Josh Marshall on this one:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/don-t-be-so-sure–2
Trump is going to do his usually BS and its not going to get him what he wants.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Why did it take you so long? Liberal male WASPs got there soooooooooooooooooooo early. Do.Not. Associate.That.Fucker.With.Me.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I..Wha’? What took me so long to get to The Hate? Or to the Star Trek thread?
And why would I associate you mit dem Drumpf, for all love? What have you done?
Juju
@trollhattan: That was a cool do. I wanted my mom to get her hair done that way, but she never did.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Your response to Adam. Moi? I’ve known Trump for who he is since Graydon Carter and Garry Trudeau beat him to shit in the ’80s. Those norms were already established.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: It won’t the 2nd Amendment absolutists/maximalists have talking points/an argument for both suicide prevention and for domestic abuse. As always the real action is in the comments!
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/04/robert-farago/cdc-study-suicide-rate-increase-tied-opiate-ods/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/04/daniel-zimmerman/quote-day-71-11/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/01/robert-farago/gun-control-advocates-changing-target-to-suicide-prevention/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/01/robert-farago/quote-of-the-day-the-depressing-truth-about-guns-and-suicide/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/03/foghorn/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-gun-rights-for-domestic-abusers/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/03/robert-farago/new-york-yankees-pitcher-aroldis-chapman-ive-disarmed-domestic-abuse-accusation/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/02/robert-farago/due-process-for-accused-domestic-abusers-with-guns-nope/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2016/01/daniel-zimmerman/va-gop-trades-reciprocity-for-disarming-domestic-abusers/
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/07/robert-farago/americans-for-responsible-solutions-supports-zero-tolerance-for-domestic-abusers-act/
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, you…now you *know* what I am going to be doing for THE REST OF THE NIGHT…going down the gun zealot rabbit holes.
Seriously, if I were ever to run for public office myself and could afford to hire you as a consultant, it would probably be to instruct me in the fine art of dealing with gun zealots while trying to get meaningful firearms legislation passed. And by meaningful, I mean feasible.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’m not sure anything that’s meaningful is currently feasible in the US at the Federal level and in at least 1/2 to 2/3 of the states. And the reason its not feasible is that its not acceptable. It won’t play in Peoria as they used to say. Take Secretary Clinton’s statement today. She concluded with a statement about the need to keep weapons of war out of the hands of terrorists and criminals and off our streets. Fairly anodyne. Go read the comments on the statement at the firearms sites. I’ve already gotten an email from one firearms group (I signed up for the emails because they’re hysterical) that is basically just a complete grift. All they seem to do is fundraise. Anyhow it was all about how yesterday’s shooting in Orlando was going to be used to round up everyone’s guns immediately.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Hey, Hi! Wanna talk theater and then politics and shit? Yes?
Adam L Silverman
I’m done for the day. I’m going to rub doggy bellies, tune out, and then rack out.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Adam…just as a “thought exercise”, as odious men have said to me…what would happen if someone finally just cracked and said, “that’s right – that’s right – we’re coming to taken them away, ha ha, YOU WERE RIGHT. Because you’re obviously all deranged and shouldn’t HAVE guns”. //
@Omnes Omnibus: I…uh…OK? Was this in response to my response to your having seen “Comedy of Errors”?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Adam L Silverman: I agree that gun regulation is going to be a very, very difficult slog unless and until Democrats have large majoriies in the Federal and state legislatures. Maybe big enough to pass constitutional amendments. It’s a long battle.
But things can be done before then. Licensing, registration, mandatory training, etc., are things that can be considered before actual banning of sales, or requiring that they be stored off-site, or whatever. Those would be difficult as well.
Before that, I think taxes on ammunition would make sense and would be an easier sell. $115 for 300 rounds – $0.38 each – seems awfully cheap.
How about a $0.50/ea tax that increases 50% a year for the next 10 years? Yeah, it would cause a run on ammo, but if it causes a shortage, then that’s a good thing. If it causes a run on ammo sales, then it will raise a huge amount of money that could be used for lots of beneficial things.
Taxes on cigarettes went up a huge amount, and people still buy them. But it has made it much less appealing for youngsters to start. If 300 rounds of ammo for a guy’s penis extender cost $1500 instead of $115, maybe he’d think again about the wisdom of buying it.
None of these things will be easy, but if they were easy they would have been done already. We need to be willing to work for the future we want to see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: You don’t want to make threats that you’re not going to follow through on.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Grr. I guess I said a bad word, relating to a male organ. Help?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: All of what you suggest are feasible and suitable, but not acceptable. And they’re not acceptable to the people that matter: legislators at the Federal and state levels and state governors. Almost everything you’ve suggested are going to require legislative action or executive regulations. You’re not going to get the legislation through and in at least 1/2 the states you won’t get executive branch action either.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: It you want to see it that way.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Adam L Silverman: It’s not going to happen until it does. Cigarettes used to be nearly untouchable, too. Tobacco built this country, after all…
Yes, it will be difficult. But we need to try. The things I outlined like ammo taxes are “simpler” than going directly after the 2nd Amendment or going directly after Heller v DC. Yes, they’ll be hard, but they won’t be struck down by the courts.
Another thing that might work is public shaming or similar moral suasion. I have no objection to trying that, too. With Hillary in the White House, women may feel empowered enough to put their foot down and say to their gun-owning SO’s – “get rid of the guns or else”. I think that things like that eventually worked to help create the 19th Amendment. But I dunno…
The thing I don’t want to have happen is for us to give blood once, attend memorials and vigils once, donate to our favorite groups once, and then forget about the issue until the next massacre. It needs sustained effort.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Then I am confuze. Bear, Little Brain, etc. etc.
Miss Bianca
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I have been thinking that moral suasion – a public health/shaming campaign along the lines of the tobacco and MADD campaigns – might be what it takes to crack this thing open.
NotMax
Oh, my.
/George Takei.
pleaded down
r€nato
I don’t understand the problem here.
A gun is just a tool, amirite? That’s what I’ve been told by countless ammosexuals.
A gun is just a tool. This guy was walking around with his tools and got arrested. An American can’t walk around carrying tools any longer!!!
#IWantMyCountryBack #ColdDeadFingers
First they came for the carpenters, but I wasn’t a carpenter…
Just Some Fuckhead, Clinton Supporter
Obama could stop this by calling him a radical Islamist terrorist. Those words, in that order.