Entries by michaeltuck

24 Apr, 2014

Hannity: Bundy remarks ‘repugnant’

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Fox News host Sean Hannity, once a vocal Bundy supporter, now accuses Bundy of making “repugnant” racist remarks, and says he is giving Democrats the opportunity to paint all Republicans as racist. Hannity describes himself as “pissed off” about Bundy’s remarks, and says:

His comments are beyond repugnant to me. They are beyond despicable to me. They are beyond ignorant to me.

Bundy says that he does not feel “abandoned” by Hannity and Fox News:

I don’t think I’ve been abandoned. I think maybe they just misunderstood me a little bit. But I think Fox and I, I think Hannity and I are just right on. I have no doubt he would re-support me if he understood really what’s in my heart, and I think he does understand me.

MSNBC conservative host Joe Scarborough says that conservatives who supported Bundy are now “exposed” in light of Bundy’s comments.

10 Apr, 2014

Bundy, Jones: standoff start of new revolution

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Appearing on Jones’ radio show, Bundy says the government intends to “take him down,” but he will “do whatever it takes” to fight back. Jones says of the standoff:

This could be how the shot heard round the world happens in this case or others that are happening. If they ever fire on innocent peaceful people trying to take stolen cattle and act like the mercenaries they are, this could turn into 1776 very quickly.

Bundy agrees, saying that he is “not going to stand it, I’m going to stand as long as it takes.”

13 Mar, 2014

US: plane likely crashed in ocean

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The US Navy sends the USS Kidd, a destroyer, to the western portion of the Strait of Malacca; officials say they have “indications” that the plane may have crashed in that body of water. They say if the plane went down there, it was most likely crashed deliberately. This contradicts reports that says the plane continued flying for anywhere up to seven hours after contact with it was lost, and with officials’ beliefs that the plane flew eastward over the South China Sea.

24 Mar, 2014

Relatives receive text: passengers lost

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib issues a statement saying that the flight crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean and everyone on board must be presumed dead. Family members not at Najib’s press conference receive a text message from the airline:

Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived. [W]e must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.

The airline issues a subsequent statement defending its use of text messages and saying it has tremendous respect for the family members.

13 Mar, 2014

Search involves over 110 air, sea vessels

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The search reaches its maximum point with 62 ships, 46 planes and 10 satellites being either deployed or redirected. The nations involved include Australia, China, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.

10 Jun, 2014

Buys Skype majority

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Andreessen Horowitz and other investors acquire a majority stake in the Internet communications client Skype for $2.75 billion, an investment many consider risky. Andreessen has called Skype one of the most important companies on the Internet. Two years later, Microsoft will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion.

30 May, 2014

#YesAllWomen misogyny hashtag hits million uses

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The Twitter hashtag #YesAllWomen is used over a million times as a response to the Isla Vista massacre to highlight misogyny in society. The tag originated on May 24 in a Twitter conversation involving writer Annie Cardi (@anniecardi) and another woman who has since changed her account to private to protect her identity. Rachel Sklar, founder of THEli.st, says to CNN:

There was a familiarity in that language that really hit home for a lot of women who live with this implicit threat of danger all the time. There is just an extra layer of danger implicit in being a woman that this really taps into.

Daily Beast writer Olivia Nuzzi also tells CNN the issue is not about misandry, the hatred of men:

A lot of men feel like it is wrong to paint with a broad brush, and they don’t want to be associated with this lunatic who did this mass killing. But this is a big issue. This boy was a product of this culture. And I think to talk about the culture is not misandry, it’s not wrong and we do need to talk about it. If we want to know how to end this kind of violence we need to address the culture that created this kind of violence.

Victims father criticizes politicians, NRA

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Richard Martinez criticizes politicians and guns-rights organizations such as the NRA who he claims are blocking legislation that would restrict the sale of firearms:

Where is the leadership? Where is the friggin’ politicians that will stand up and say, ‘We need to do this. We’re gonna do something.’ Those gutless bastards did nothing. And my son died because of it. And it’s outrageous. Absolutely outrageous…They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’ right to live?

State gun laws proposed

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Two California Assembly members propose new gun restrictions in the wake of the Rodger massacre. One would create a “gun violence restraining order” that could be imposed by a judge and enforced by police officers if requested by family members or friends. The current law only prohibits gun ownership if someone has been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment. Assembly member Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) explains,

When someone is in crisis, the people closest to them are often the first to spot the warning signs, but almost nothing can now be done to get back their guns or prevent them from buying more.

Another proposal would require authorities, if summoned to check on a mentally disturbed person, to check on whether that person has recently bought firearms.

‘Joe the Plumber’ attacks victims’ parents

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Samuel Wurzelbacher, who rose to fame as the conservative spokesperson “Joe the Plumber,” issues an “open letter” to Richard Martinez and the other parents of the Isla Vista massacre. After a brief expression of sympathy, Wurzelbacher tells the parents:

Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.

He then attacks Martinez for becoming a “tool” of the “gun-grab” movement:

[T]he words and images of Mr. Martinez blaming ‘the proliferation of guns’, lobbyists, politicians, etc.; will be exploited by gun-grab extremists as are all tragedies involving gun violence and the mentally ill by the anti-Second Amendment Left.

Wurzelbacher goes on to claim that Rodger was almost certainly “an Obama voter,” and concludes:

I cannot begin to imagine the pain you are going through, having had your child taken away from you. However, any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.

Friends recall lonely social outcast

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Rodger’s friends describe him as a lonely social outcast fixated on blaming women for his problems and reluctant to accept advice. Andi Chan recalls:

Me and my friends tried to help him. He doesn’t like to talk or hang out.

Rodger frequently expressed his desire to dominate or even kill people, Chan recalls:

We all thought he was insane but we were used to it. Maybe in his mind he really wanted to do that.

High school classmate Patrick Connors says Rodger was always treated as an “oddball,” and was often the target of mockery and practical jokes:

We said right from the get-go that that kid was going to lose it someday and just freak out. Everyone made fun of him and stuff.

Memorial service

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Over a thousand students and community members gather to mourn the victims of Rodger’s shooting spree. The gathering begins at the center of the UCSB campus and moves to a nearby park. Chancellor Henry Yang says:

We know there are many more difficult days ahead of us. We will continued to draw strength and support from each other.

Family offers condolences

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Attorney Alan Shifman, representing the Rodger family, says Elliot’s father Peter Rodger believes his son is the shooter. (At this time, Elliot Rodger has not been publicly identified as the killer) Shifman says the family is staunchly against gun ownership, and they do not know how Rodger obtained his weapons:

The Rodger family offers their deepest compassion and sympathy to the families involved in this terrible tragedy. We are experiencing the most inconceivable pain, and our hearts go out to everybody involved…My client’s mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from ever happening again. This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses.

Sheriff: spree ‘work of a madman’

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Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown says that Rodger’s knife- and gun-fueled killing spree is “the work of a madman” and says the videotape he posted the day before the massacre is a “particularly chilling one, in which he looks at the camera and talks about what he is about to do.” UCSB student Kyley Scarlet, who lost two sorority sisters to Rodger, says she is horrified by the video:

It’s hard thinking my actions, being part of a sorority, led him to do this. When I saw that video, I was shaking and crying.

Victim’s father blames lack of gun laws

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Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher Michael-Martinez was killed in a delicatessen by Rodger, says in an interview that he holds politicians and gun-rights advocates responsible for the death of his son:

When will this insanity stop? … Too many have died. We should say to ourselves ‘not one more.’ … Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights, what about Chris’ right to live? When will this insanity stop?

Eyewitnesses: police shot Rodger

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Two eyewitnesses, both UCSB students, give a different story from the official police report that Rodger killed himself. Tyler Jordan says police officers shot Rodger:

The suspect looked like he jumped out of the car and was gunned down by IVFP.

Niklas Svennefiord says he saw the final exchange from his home, and corroborates Jordan’s story, adding:

I heard a couple gunfire shots — I thought they were fireworks — so I didn’t think about it, but I was pretty startled and then I heard a car hit into another car so I look up into my little window that’s in my shower and I see a guy try to flee and the cops shoot him.

29 May, 2014

Kills self after brief gun battle

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Rodger fires at four sheriff’s deputies running across Little Acorn Park in response to the shootings. The deputies return fire, striking his car. Sheriff Bill Brown believes one of the bullets strikes Rodger in the left hip. However, Rodger continues driving, backtracking down Del Playa, where he hits another cyclist. The cyclist lands on Rodger’s windshield with such force that he caves in the windshield. Rodger loses control and crashes into several parked cars. Deputies rush to arrest him, and drag him from the car, but find him already dead with what Brown later calls an “apparent gunshot wound to the head.”

In total, Rodger kills seven people, including himself, and injures thirteen more. Deputies find three semi-automatic handguns in his car and 400 unspent rounds. All are later determined to have been purchased legally.

Fires at multiple targets, hits cyclist

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Rodger, having already killed six poeple, drives off, firing at two people on the sidewalk and even driving on the wrong side of the road to try to shoot them. He then tries to shoot a woman on Del Playa Drive. He exchanges shots with a sheriff’s deputy before driving further down Del Playa, where he strikes a cyclist. Turning onto another road, he then shoots at several pedestrians, injuring three of them. UCSB student Brad Martin later says his girlfriend narrowly avoids being shot:

She is absolutely hysterical, and so she tells me that these guys pulled up and said ‘hey what’s up.’ She turned and looked and they had a gun and she wasn’t sure if it was a real gun or a fake gun or what type of gun it was. She said the next second he raised it up to her face … and she turned around and started running. That’s when she heard ‘bang bang bang’ right behind her as she was running, and she could feel the wind hitting her hair from the power of the gunshot from less than five feet away from the car.

(Martin is incorrect in stating that Rodger was not alone.) Bicyclist Nick Pasichuke later recalls being struck by Rodger’s car:

There was a guy driving a BMW. [H]e aimed his car at our group of friends and gunned it into us. I have two broken legs and need surgery. The police said I flew roughly 50 feet into a busy intersection. This is all so crazy.

Other witnesses later say that Rodger yells at his victims as he shoots at them.

Kills man in deli

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Rodger goes inside a delicatessen near the Alpha Phi sorority house and guns down UCSB student Christopher Martinez, who dies of his wounds. Four police officers respond to the shooting, and see Rodger flee the scene in his BMW.