USA-Aviation:WestJet pilot's eyes burned by laser on flight from Newfoundland to Florida

WestJet pilot's eyes burned by laser on flight from Newfoundland to Florida

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/westjet-pilot-eyes-burned-by-laser-1.5144981

USA: The GOP’s loyalty to the NRA rises above keeping weapons from suspected terrorists - by Bob Cesca

This clearly was not what the US founding fathers had inmind

In the months following the Sandy Hook massacre, the FBI received word of a New York-born man named Omar Mateen, who, according to The New York Times, had been bragging to co-workers about his affiliations with terrorist groups. During the following year,

Mateen was again the subject of an investigation — this time in pursuit of allegations that he was linked to “an American who went to Syria to fight for an extremist group.” An FBI official characterized Mateen’s contact with the Syria-based suicide bomber as “minimal.” Consequently, Mateen was removed from the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database.

One of many tragic roadblocks that led to the massacre in Orlando.

Consequently, Mateen easily purchased an AR-15 style rifle just a few days before using it to unleash a nightmare of cinematic proportions. Throughout the weekend, with bodies strewn on the floor of the Pulse nightclub, nearly every political debate on social media and elsewhere orbited around who or what was to blame for Mateen’s act of terror, beginning with Mateen himself and descending through a crowd-sourced list of usual suspects.

We’re all familiar with the roster of shibboleths emerging from all sides of the debate, but if you happened to have opposed a 2015 law, known as Senate Amendment 2910, banning suspects on the federal terrorism watch list from buying firearms, deflecting blame to Mateen’s alleged ISIS connection is probably not your best option.

Making this all about terrorism, as Donald Trump has, only serves to emphasize the GOP’s inability to pass 2910. Sure, the conservative entertainment bubble will allow it. Trump will clearly dedicate his pathetic, clown-haired blurts to blaming terrorism while playing the Obama-is-a-secret-Muslim card. Rationality and logic, on the other hand, won’t allow such contradictory gibberish.

The GOP refused to act on 2910 because, in the face of the National Rifle Association’s Mafia-like extortion tactics and raw spending power, the Republicans chickened out and, save for one senator, voted in lockstep, 54-to-45, to strike down 2910.

The party that practically branded the concept of patriotism, along with its branding of 9/11 and the war on terror, collectively decided that banning suspected terrorists from purchasing AR-15s and the like is a bridge too far. It’s okay, of course, for your civil liberties to be annihilated in pursuit of smoking out the evildoers.

Fifteen years ago, a would-be terrorist tried to blow up an airplane by igniting explosives in his shoes, and totally botched the whole thing, yet, as a result, we all have to practically strip naked before boarding an airplane. Meanwhile, in the wake of San Bernardino, where an AR-style rifle was used, the GOP chose to do… nothing.

Even with a menu of numbers and facts to the contrary, we’re told we should focus exclusively on ISIS and whether Obama spoke the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” If this was exclusively about terrorism, how the hell can Trump and the others reconcile the party’s opposition to 2910, not to mention other sensible gun restrictions?

The answer is simple: they continue to operate with impunity by shoving the story through the meat grinder of Fox News and AM talk radio, producing enough reasonable doubt in the form of distracting zingers to obfuscate the path to accountability.

And so we can expect that nothing will happen. Again. Nothing will happen, including accountability where accountability is clearly due.

Read more: The do-nothing-about-guns party: The GOP’s loyalty to the NRA rises above keeping weapons from suspected terrorists - Salon.com

USA: 1,000 mass shootings in 1,260 days: this is what America's gun crisis looks like

Sunday’s attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida was the deadliest mass shooting in American history – but there were five other mass shootings in the US during that weekend alone.

“We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world,” Barack Obama said after the San Bernardino attack in December 2015.

Data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive via the crowd-sourced website ShootingTracker.com reveals a shocking human toll: there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident, not including the shooter – on five out of every six days, on average. (Updated on 13 June 2016)

• US mass shootings becoming more frequent – and more deadly

Read more: 1,000 mass shootings in 1,260 days: this is what America's gun crisis looks like | US news | The Guardian

USA - Massacre: Orlando Gay Nightclub Shooting: 50+ Casualties After Gunman Opens Fire - by M.Grimson, D Wyllie and E.Fieldstadt

At least 50 people are dead and more than 50 others wounded after a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday morning.

The massacre is the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States.

Officials said a hostage situation developed after the gunman stormed the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a.m.

The shooter was identified by several law enforcement sources as Omar Mateen, 29.

He was shot dead about three hours later when a SWAT team entered the club, police said. A handgun and AR-15-type rifle were recovered at the scene, according to police.

The law enforcement sources told NBC News that Mateen was born in New York in 1986 and was listed as living at a residence in Port St. Lucie, about 125 miles south of Orlando.

Mateen had active security officer and firearm licenses, according to Florida records, and his family said he worked in security. Marriage records show he was married in Port St. Lucie in 2009, and a relative said he had a 3-year-old son.

The incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism, officials said.

Mir Seddique, Mateen's father told NBC News, "this has nothing to do with religion." Seddique said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting.

"We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country," Seddique said.

Meanwhile, a man who answered the phone at Mateen's address, Mustafa Abasin, told NBC News: "We are in shock and we are sad." He would not say how he knew Mateen, but said he was helping investigators.

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., whose district includes the area of the massacre, said the attack was "more likely than not ideologically motivated."

"It's no coincidence that the attack took place where it did and where it did," he said. "It might be that we've seen the commission of an awful hate crime."

Grayson said investigators were searching Mateen's home and combing the nightclub. Processing the gruesome scene would "take hours," Grayson said. "There is blood everywhere."

Police said Mateen was a U.S. citizen, but some of his family members are not. They would not say where those family members were from, and while they have not confirmed that Mateen was Muslim, several Muslim groups rebuked the attack.

Note EU-Digest: If it happens to turn out to be an  ideologically motivated terrorist attack it shows once again the cowardliness of these deranged killers. This massacre also highlights the urgent need for gun control in America and better screening of security personnel before putting lethal weapons into their hands. Either way - we can only hope that the investigation into this hideous crime comes up with answers very soon.

Read more: Orlando Nightclub Shooting: Mass Casualties After Gunman Opens Fire in Gay Club - NBC News