Note left at scene
Law enforcement officials say Mercer left a note at the scene of the killings. They say the multi-page typed note was a philosophical rant of someone who was mad at the world. The officials say Mercer lamented the fact that he did not have a girlfriend.
[He] felt the world was against him [and that he would be] welcomed in Hell and embraced by the devil. He wrote that he was ‘in a bad way. He was depressed, sullen. He said he had no life. He felt the world was against him.
Weapons purchased legally
The ATF Bureau says thirteen weapons, six from the school and seven from Mercer’s residence, were purchased legally. All of the weapons were traced to a federal firearms dealer. Seven of the weapons were purchased by the shooter or his family members in the last three years. Law enforcement also recovered a jacket with steel plates and additional magazines.
Criticizes McCarthy
Trump says he is not sure if McCarthy would make a good speaker, due to McCarthy’s comments about the Benghazi committee and its effect on Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers.
Certainly he’s not off to a great start. I watched that (comment), actually, and I was a little surprised by it. … It would have been nice if he didn’t say it, certainly, because then there would be no dispute…I would like to see someone that’s very tough and that can negotiate with the Democrats, and I don’t know that he’s that person. We need somebody that’s a very, very tough, smart, cunning person. I don’t know that that’s him, and obviously this statement hurt him pretty badly in the eyes of some, unfortunately.
Umpqua killings ‘horrible’
On Morning Joe, Trump says that while the Umpqua College killings are ‘horrible,’ it will be difficult to stop such events.
You’re going to have these things happen and it’s a horrible thing to behold, horrible…It’s not politically correct to say that, but you’re going to have difficulty and that will be for the next million years, there’s going to be difficulty and people are going to slip through the cracks. What are you going to do, institutionalize everybody?
Met gay couple on US visit
Francis met with Yayo Grassi, a gay U.S-based Argentine caterer, Grassi’s male partner of 19 years, Iwan Bagus and three other people for 15 minutes at the Vatican Embassy in Washington during his visit to the US on Sept. 23. Grassi has known the pope since Francis taught him literature and psychology at a high school in Argentina in the 1960s and has stayed in touch. Vatican spokesperson:
As noted in the past, the pope, as pastor, has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue
Grassi:
What I can say is that he met with me knowing that I am gay, and we had an extraordinary, very moving conversation.
Admired Roanoke shooter
In a blog under the name Lithium_Love, an online identity linked to Mercer, he expresses admiration for Roanoke shooter Vester Flanagan.
People like him have nothing left to live for. On an interesting note, I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are… A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.
Shot seven times
Family members say Mintz, and army veteran, was shot seven times while trying to save other students during the Umpqua killings. He was shot in the back, abdomen and hands, and has two broken legs, and has been in surgery since the shooting.
[He] tried to protect some people. We were told he did heroic things to protect some people…We’re not sure how his legs got broken. He was on the wrestling team and and he’s done cage-fighting so it does not surprise me that he would act heroically…It was a great, great shock … We’ve all been sitting on pins and needles and praying very hard.
A message on Mintz’s Facebook:
This is Chris’s friend, Chris asked me to thank everyone for their support, he is grateful and keeping our community and all victims in his thoughts.
Davis meeting not an endorsement
The Vatican says the pope’s meeting with Davis was not an endorsement of her decision to refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The Vatican wanted to “clarify” what happened “in order to contribute to an objective understanding of what transpired.”
The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects…Pope Francis met with several dozen persons who had been invited by the Nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City. Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness and availability. The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family.
Mercer identified as gunman
0 0 Mark Devlin Mark Devlin2015-10-01 20:55:142015-10-01 20:55:14Mercer identified as gunmanObama comments
Obama offers his condolences to the families of those who were killed.
[America] will wrap everyone who’s grieving with our prayers and our love. [But] our thoughts and prayers are not enough…Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this. We’ve talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun…Each time this happens I am going to say that we can actually do something about it but we’re gonna have to change our laws. And this is not something I can do by myself.
Will send back Syrian refugees
At a New Hampshire rally Trump says that if he’s elected president he will send back Syrian refugees taken in by the U.S. because they may be Islamic State militants in disguise.
I’m putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration. If I win, they’re going back…They could be ISIS, I don’t know…This could be one of the great tactical ploys of all time. A 200,000-man army, maybe. That could be possible.
Charon detailed images
NASA releases detailed photos and a flyover animation of Charon, taken by New Horizons when it made its close flyby of Pluto on July 14. Scientists say they expected to find a long-dead world pocked with craters, but instead the surface plays host to mountains, a red north pole and a host of other geological features including a canyon more than 1,000 miles wide that stretches across the moon’s Pluto-facing side, and perhaps along the far-side of the world. That canyon is probably four times longer than the Grand Canyon is on Earth, and twice as deep in some places.
We thought the probability of seeing such interesting features on this satellite of a world at the far edge of our solar system was low, but [we] couldn’t be more delighted with what we see.
‘Privacy is a fundamental human right’
In an interview with NPR, Cook says that Apple is committed to its customers’ privacy.
We do think that people want us to help them keep their lives private. We see that privacy is a fundamental human right that people have. We are going to do everything that we can to help maintain that trust…Our view on this comes from a values point of view, not from a commercial interest point of view. Our values are that we do think that people have a right to privacy. And that our customers are not our products. We don’t collect a lot of your data and understand every detail about your life. That’s just not the business that we are in.
Blames Walker’s death on reckless driving
In response to Meadow Walker’s suit, Porsche blames reckless driving and excessive speeding for the crash that killed Walker.
As we have said before, we are saddened whenever anyone is hurt in a Porsche vehicle, but we believe the authorities’ reports in this case clearly established that this tragic crash resulted from reckless driving and excessive speed.
Quits Twitter and Gawker
On the Re/code Decode podcast Dunham tells Swisher she has quit Twitter and Gawker citing verbal abuse and body-shaming.
I don’t look at Twitter anymore. I tweet, but I do it through someone else. I really appreciate that anybody follows me at all, and so I didn’t want to cut off my relationship to it completely, but it really, truly wasn’t a safe space for me.
She says the decision was prompted after she posted a picture of herself in her boyfriends’ shorts:
It wasn’t a graphic picture. I was wearing men’s boxers, and it turned into the most rabid, disgusting debate about women’s bodies, and my Instagram page was somehow the hub for misogynists for the afternoon.
She also says she has stopped reading Gawker and Jezebel:
I used to read Gawker and Jezebel in college and be like, ‘I can’t wait to get to New York where my people will be to welcome me.’ And it’s like, it’s literally, if I read it, it’s like going back to a husband who beat me in the face — it just doesn’t make any sense.
Secret meeting with Pope
Davis’ lawyers claims that she had a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican Embassy in Washington D.C on Sept 24. Davis says she was “humbled” and never thought she would be granted an audience. She and the pontiff hugged, and he presented her and her husband with two rosaries, which she is giving to her parents, who are Catholic.
Who am I to have this rare opportunity? I am just a county clerk who loves Jesus and desires with all my heart to serve him. Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable. He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to ‘stay strong’.
Joins Twitter
Snowden joins Twitter. He only follows a single account, the NSA.
Can you hear me now?
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2015
Comments on gay marriage licences, abuse victims, women priests
While returning from his visit to the US, the pontiff tells reporters aboard the papal plane that anyone who prevents others from exercising their religious freedom is denying them a human right.
If a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right…It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right.
He also says he says he understands the anger of people abused by clergy.
I met a woman who told me ‘when my mother found out that I had been abused, she became blasphemous, she lost her faith and she died an atheist’. I understand that woman. I understand her. I pray for them. And I don’t judge them.
Francis also rules out the idea of the Catholic church following the Anglican example of women priests.
Not because women don’t have the capacity. Look, in the church women are more important than men, because the church is a woman. It is ‘la’ [female] church, not ‘il’ [masculine] church. The church is the bride of Jesus Christ. And the Madonna is more important than popes and bishops and priests.
‘I’m a Laker’
In the midst of recent speculation, including that of Coach Jackson, that he would finish his NBA career elsewhere, Bryant states that he doesn’t plan to play for anyone but the Lakers.
A lot of players want to go to different teams or contend to win championships. I’m a Laker, man. I’m a Laker for better or worse…How many times do I have to say that? Dude, I bleed purple and gold.
Putin, Obama meet
Obama meets Putin for the first time in more than two years. On the biggest issue that divides them in Syria, the U.S. still insists Syria’s future cannot include Assad, while Putin appears to only want to bolster the standing of his longtime ally, casting him as the best defense against Islamic States militants. Putin:
Strange is it may seem, there were many common points. There were also disagreements which we agreed to work together. I hope this work will be constructive.
