Two shooters

Mike Cernovich explains why the “lone wolf” explanation for the Orlando shootings doesn’t hold up:

Assuming the shooter had tactical training, he’d be carrying a load bearing vest with 8 fully loaded 30 round magazines, for a total of 9 magazines (one on his weapon). That’s 270 rounds.

Mateen would also have a fully-loaded pistol with an unknown number of magazines. Let’s assume he was using a 9mm handgun, which holds a 15 round magazine, and that he was carrying 4 additional magazines. That’s 75 rounds of 9mm ammo.

In total, Mateen would have had 345 rounds of ammunition.

If you think 345 rounds of ammo is a lot, talk to some soldiers. People are hard to kill.

Also watch this video. You can hear 30 rounds go off in a matter of seconds. Yet somehow the shooter was killing people for 3 hours?

Talk to any soldier. Even at close ranges, that is not much ammo. According to the official story, Mateen averaged 3.45 rounds per casualty. That short of sheer killing power would make him the envy of even trained special operations soldiers.

If Mateen had over 345 rounds of ammo, where was he holding it?

And there is the fact that multiple witnesses have reported at least one additional shooter. Janiel Gonzalez, who was in the club, said, “I’m pretty sure it was more than one person. I heard two guns going at the same time.”

I was dubious about the official story once I heard the final numbers. 50 killed out of 103 wounded is an absurdly high fatality rate, particularly with a high-velocity rifle that shoots rounds that are fairly small in diameter and tend to go through the body. Contrast this with the massacre at the Bataclan theatre, where three attackers armed with grenades and bomb vests killed 89 out of more than 300 wounded.

Now, obviously I have zero reliable information concerning what happened in Orlando. But based on the similarity of the Pulse attack to the Paris attacks, which involved three-man strike teams, I would conclude that there are may have been two gunmen who escaped as Omar Mateen kept the police occupied. Remember that it was reported that Mateen left the club and then came back. Why leave and then go back? Also, given the ethnicity of the club-goers, it wouldn’t have been hard for the other shooters to shed their gear and pose as escaped hostages in the confusion.

Yet another Magic Dirt fail

So much for the idea that the magic dirt of the USA will turn second-generation Muslims into True Blue Americans:

Police are now saying that Omar Mateen has ties to radical Mulim leader, Marcus Dwayne Robertson. Mateen took online classes and interacted with Robertson through Robertson’s Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary, based in Orlando.

The FBI reportedly contacted Robertson and several of his associates for questioning Sunday afternoon. Robertson’s attorney failed to confirm whether his client was associated with the ongoing investigation.

The gunman also attended the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce; he was seen there two days before Sunday’s attack, in the company of Imam Shafiq Rahman. The Islamic Center is reportedly associated with the American-born suicide bomber, Monar abu Salha, who was discovered in Syria several years ago. According to Fox News, it was Mateen’s association with abu Salha that led the FBI to question him in 2013.

Donald Trump isn’t backing down in the slightest; he has even called for President Obama to resign:

Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn’t he should immediately resign in disgrace!

And finally, eyewitness accounts make what was apparent from many of the victim’s pictures:

Survivors told ABC News that the shooter asked club goers their race before opening fire and said that America “needs to stop bombing ISIS.” 

There Will Be War vol. V

Castalia House is pleased to announce the publication of THERE WILL BE WAR Volume V. THERE WILL BE WAR is a landmark science fiction anthology series that combines top-notch military science fiction with factual essays by various generals and military experts on everything from High Frontier and the Strategic Defense Initiative to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It featured some of the greatest military science fiction ever published, such Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” in Volume I, Joel Rosenberg’s “Cincinnatus” in Volume II, and Arthur C. Clarke’s “Hide and Seek” in Volume III . Many science fiction greats were featured in the original nine-volume series, which ran from 1982 to 1990, including Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Gordon Dickson, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Gregory Benford, Robert Silverberg, Harry Turtledove, and Ben Bova.

34 years later, Castalia House has joined with Dr. Jerry Pournelle to revive this classic science fiction series and make the previous volumes available to the public again. THERE WILL BE WAR is a treasure trove of science fiction and history that will educate and amaze new readers while reminding old ones how much the world has changed over the last three decades. Most of the stories, like war itself, remain entirely relevant today.

THERE WILL BE WAR Volume V is edited by Jerry Pournelle and features 21 stories, articles, and poems. Of particular note are “He Fell Into a Dark Hole” by Jerry Pournelle, “The Interrogation Team” by David Drake, “The Road Not Taken” by Harry Turtledove, “Masterplay” by William F. Wu, and “House of Weapons” by Gordon Dickson. It retails for $4.99.

In my opinion, Volume V is one of the stronger volumes in the series. I particularly like Wu’s “Masterplay”, which was influential in my subsequent decision to become a game designer. We have now published 7 of the 10 volumes in the anthology series, and expect to complete the series this year. Every fan of military science fiction will want to read all of them; for the serious collectors, Vols I and II are now available in a 700-page hardcover omnibus.

New Release subscribers, check your email, as you won’t want to miss the bonus book.

Definitional constraints

It’s fascinating to see both Left and traditional Right trying, and mostly failing, to understand the rise of the #AltRight:

Why didn’t Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, or some other would-be GOP darling, run away with conservative support? Again, backlash. A huge contingent of mainline conservatives don’t just hate liberals, Democrats, social programs, identity politics, and, most of all, the nagging insinuations and oppressions of political correct speech codes. They hate damn near everybody right now, especially politicians. Within that everybody, they also hate the GOP (which they erroneously call “the Establishment”), and for good reasons.

Their own party, the GOP, has slowly disenfranchized mainstream blue-collar conservatives (and middle-class white-collar ones too) politically and economically to the benefit of corporate elites. Their wages have stagnated; their jobs have evaporated; they work longer hours for less pay; their debt has increased; their opportunity has been stolen; and in return for it all, they’ve been given the roughshod heel of a rapidly progressing culture that holds them in contempt. That pinch hurts; and that contempt reciprocates; and these people are rightfully mad as hell.

Blame them for voting themselves into their misfortunes all you want (really, don’t – it just makes it worse), but since the early 1970s, the GOP elites have sung them the same misleading song: sail with us just a little farther to the right, and just a little farther now, and we’ll get to the promised land. Well, they went to the right, little by little, and now they’re lost, adrift on the far-right edge of the world. Worse, they’ve started to realize that there is no promised land over there, and the GOP elites and their big-money industry financiers have made off like bandits with the only lifeboats.

(Wherever the Overton Window currently lies, today’s American Right is pretty far outside the Right of it. The Window has, admittedly, drifted Left, which may reflect actual moral progress in a sober analysis – like one that notes that feudalism, monarchy, and slavery are all somewhere right of the Window’s current locale – but political correctness blocks much of the needed discussion on that point. Unwilling to move back within it and hating where it is now, conservatives see Trump bringing it back toward them and love him for it.)

Because the GOP has been cultivating average conservative votes while working against their interests (all the while carefully fomenting fear of outsiders and hatred of liberals, Democrats, and, to an alarming extent, minorities), Trump-supporting conservatives are stuck with a lot of hate and no good options. The Obama presidency, and the ways in which the GOP officially reacted to it, amplified this hate, and the de facto knowledge running back to at least 2012 (and maybe 2008) that Hillary Clinton would virtually certainly be the next Commander in Chief has only made it worse. They can’t vote for Hillary (#NeverHillary, “Hillary’s Worse”) on sheer principle. (Bernie would have fared as badly against them, frankly, if he ran on the Democratic ticket, especially openly as a “democratic socialist.”) They also couldn’t support the GOP that betrayed them and then, just as Obama’s presidency crept toward its end, presented only more of the same “cuckservative” candidates that lack the bravado to stamp out what they see as excesses ruining our society from the Left.

The political view from the Far Right Sea is a dismal one, then, largely bereft of hope and thoroughly haunted by carefully constructed specters and ghouls about immigrants, refugees, the Democrats, and especially Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (not to mention Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid). Knowing little more in truth about those people except that they are evil, the GOP of the last decade has kept conservatives rowing ever further right without any heed to the consequences. Just a little farther right now. We’ll shut down the government; then Obama will fall. That’s when we’ll see the promised land, you’ll see. What? You can’t see it? It’s not there (now)? Thanks, Obama. The result is that a considerable proportion of American conservatives, acting as a moral tribe, have in common nothing more powerfully than a well-groomed hatred of outsiders, whom they see as likely to destroy the fabric of America, and “liberal Democrats,” whom they rarely can tell apart from “socialist-communist-Marxists” and “tyrants.”

But how on Earth could they conclude that “liberal Democrats” are tyrants? Both words, “liberal” and “Democrat” mean the opposite of tyranny.

And “conservative” means the opposite of “doesn’t conserve anything” too. How on Earth could the Far Right possibly conclude that the behavior of liberal Democrats is not strictly constrained by what they call themselves?

It’s funny, but doesn’t the Left usually claim that the National Socialists were actually right-wing extremists despite calling themselves “socialists”? You’d think they would therefore be able to understand that Democrats are staunchly opposed to permitting the will of the people to interfere with their ideological agenda.

That being said, the author is correct to say that the more Donald Trump is called a racist, sexist, Islamophobic bigot, the more votes he will win.

Up to 37,500 views!

I expect you will understand why this announcement by McRapey made me laugh:

My piece earlier this week on Clinton and Sanders blew up a bit, with roughly 75,000 views over two days.

Ah, how the most popular blog in science fiction has fallen. Sad! As one might expect, McRapey concludes that his declining site traffic must mean that blogs, while not quite dead yet, are less important than Facebook and Twitter.

What’s amusing is how McRapey considers roughly 37,500 daily views to be blowing up, whereas the traffic here averaged 67,955 daily views in May and is currently running at a rate of 76,166 views per day in June. Whatever’s traffic is now between one-fourth and one-fifth that of VP, and the ratio is steadily falling. I will not surprised if by this time next year, it is one-tenth.

While he’s correct to echo Mike Cernovich’s observations in stating that Facebook and Twitter tend to be more reliable drivers of short-term link traffic these days, what McRapey fails to understand is that blogs have become online community centers that are capable of supporting a broad range of activities.

Such as, for example, this Jobs Wanted notification, before I forget and it disappears too far down the email list.

  • Hiring: Intermediate/Senior Ruby on Rails developer in the Southeast USA. If you have experience working with clients, APIs and know your way around the rails framework and TDD, contact Vox who will forward me your emails. I’ll respond at which point we can talk specifics. Relocation necessary.

Also, if you are a New Release subscriber, you’ll want to check your email tomorrow. Castalia has two new ebooks launching this month, which does not count the new print and audio editions being released. And as both the Production Editor and I have concluded, one of them is right up there with Awake in the Night Land; it’s definitely one of the best books we have published, and possibly even the best to date.

#Brexit

If Oliver Cromwell were alive today, he would beseech the British people, in the bowels of Christ, to get out of the Fourth Reich while they can still do so peacefully.

Orlando shooting

 “At least 30 shot”

A mass shooting has taken place in a night club in Orlando, Florida, police confirmed, adding that there have been multiple injuries. According to social media reports, an unidentified gunman barricaded himself and hostages inside the club and allegedly shot at least 20 people.

The incident took place at Pulse night club.

Doesn’t sound like Jihad, however. Given the location, it would appear to more likely be gang-related or omega rage. Regardless, we can expect Obama to make one last big push for gun control, which, if Hillary endorses it, will help sink her.

UPDATE: it’s a gay club. So, this could finally be the Great White Religiously-Motivated Christian Shooter of whom the media has dreamed for decades. It’s already being described as “hate-fueled”, which is possible, but more likely, it’s an amped-up version of the usual gay-on-gay violence.

When I was in college, several people were shot and killed, including a State Senator, at a certain beach on the river. All sorts of lurid gay-bashing theories abounded in the newspapers, until the killer was found and turned out to be a gay college student. That’s not necessarily the case, of course, but it’s usually how these things go.

UPDATE 2: 9 dead, 24 wounded, hostages still inside, bomb squad on scene.

The #orlandoshooting thread on Twitter. The Orlando police scanner.

UPDATE 3: It’s over. Shooter is down. 50+ killed and 53 wounded.

UPDATE 4: Looks like it is jihad in America after all.

‘Islamic extremist’ slaughters 20 people after bursting into US gay club ‘wearing a suicide vest’ and shooting 42 clubbers on the dancefloor before he is killed in police shootout

The real tragedy, of course, would be if this tragic incident caused gay dance clubs to begin discriminating against Muslims.

UPDATE 5: “Orlando shooter ID’d as Omar Mateen, U.S. citizen from Port St. Lucie, FL. Registered Democrat.”

Obviously a hate-filled Southern Baptist bigot. Sad!

I also think it is important to consider the possibility that the shootings at the Pulse night club was not a case of religion-inspired anti-gay bigotry, but an anti-techno attack on electronic dance music.

No more Star Citizen refunds

Derek Smart correctly anticipated Star Citizen’s new Terms of Service:

I have been making a lot of noise about the ToS and the fact that RSI/CIG are required to provide refunds and financial accountability to backers for failure to deliver the promised game, 18 months from the expiration Feb 2015 ToS v1.2. Those clauses triggered on May 31st, 2016.

I wrote about that extensively:

A lot of Shitizens said I was wrong, that I didn’t understand it, blah, blah, blah. Yet, with the latest 2.4 patch disaster hurriedly pushed to live (conveniently ahead of E3 which they recently backed out of attending), they have done precisely as I said they would.

They released a new ToS. And if your scam alarm bells aren’t going off already, well, you may be suffering from Sunk Cost Fallacy.

And it came to pass that the new June 2016 ToS has been released with the latest 2.4 “patch” going live. I am working on a blog post for it; but the highlights are:

– You can’t sue them – like ever
– Under no obligation to deliver anything – like ever. Oh and delivery date and clause removed
– No refunds – for any reason – like ever
– Can ban your account – for any reason – delete it, and not refund you

In the meantime, if you ever want legal recourse, do NOT download the 2.4 patch and do NOT do ANYTHING on their site and/or services in which you are required to agree to this new ToS.

That sounds like a company with tremendous faith in its own offerings, doesn’t it?

And so it has come to pass

Conservatism Incorporated has marginalized conservativism:

For many decades, Conservatism incorporated has been purging those to its right. Anyone too right wing was deemed to not be a true conservative. And the purge went ever leftwards ever faster.

The alt right is those that have enemies to the left, and no enemies to the right. As conservatism purged ever more people, ever faster, it would inevitably happen that they would become a minority in the Republican party.

And so it has come to pass. The alt right outvotes conservatives.

I don’t know how many people would describe the #AltRight that way, but it’s certainly a useful way to describe the self-abnegation of the GOP establishment. I do think, however, it also should be kept in mind that many recent “conservative” policies, such as the adoption of free trade, “real” equality, and propositional America, have proved to be destructive nonsense.