THE LARGEST MASS SHOOTING IN US HISTORY HAPPENED December 29, 1890. When 297 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota were murdered by federal agents & members of the 7th Cavalry [....]

(Yet another external influence on my list of things-to-do.  Sigh.)

It might've been just a few hours after repeatedly hearing or reading phrases like "deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history" last night, that I thought: "Hey, wait!   Weren't there massacres of--or by--Amerindians in which even more innocent people were killed? Especially during the late 19th Century, as Union victory in the War Between the States freed U.S.-government resources to resume its goal of expansion of states "from sea to shining sea"?   "I ought to check on that soon", I idly resolved.  So I more-or-less forgot about it.  But here's the one I couldn't remember at the time:

(While reading, keep in mind that in 1858, there was a gold rush at Pike's Peak, also in Colorado.)

On November 29, 1864, hundreds of peaceful & obedient Cheyennes (i.e.: Amerindians) were massacred at Sand Creek, Colorado.  They were camping there at the direction of the nearby U.S. Fort Lyon, while waiting on further instructions from federal headquarters in Washington (D.C.).  When Colorado volunteers, led by Col. John Chivington

• , rode up to the camp, they were greeted by chief Black Kettle waving an American flag.  He assured his people that the arriving troops would not hurt them.
  
  But with no provocation and with no other justification, the volunteers opened fire.  Most of approximately 200 Cheyennes dead or dying were women or children.  Leaving unanswered the obvious question: what about the Cheyenne men?

The corresponding Wikipedia article reports lower numbers for Cheyennes, expressed as "estimated 70--163", "about two-thirds of whom were women and children" of the "70--200" total encamped.  It relies on a different source to quantify the major numerical advantage for the "volunteers", as "700", of whom there were only "24 killed"[##] (only 3.4%).

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Note *: Chivington was "a Methodist preacher", according to HistoryNet.  <http://www.historynet.com/sand-creek-massacre>.

Note #: I'm relying on notes from 7 years ago, in which the plural "hundreds" might've been justified only by the notes' number "200".  Some notes were unclearly worded, and all cite only "Marks 1998, p. 183--184".  That author's name matches a regrettably common noun, and searches for it snag a lot of completely irrelevant Web pages.  

Note ##: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre>.

Which gun looks the most dangerous?

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FGlennBeck%2Fvideos%2F10154285757793188%2F

Hopsicker: Orlando Shooting Dad a Longtime CIA Asset
Via: Mad Cow Productions:
The father of the man who slaughtered 50 people in the Orlando nightclub shooting Saturday night is a longtime CIA asset, whose TV show receives funding from the Voice of America -Dari. Pictured below is Seddique Mateen with California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher was initially elected to Congress in 1988, with the fundraising help of friend Oliver North. Rohrabacher’s decades-long involvement in “all things Afghan” eventually earned him the nickname “Gunga Dana.” Today he chairs the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.

…
Rohrabacher has stated that he sees radical Islam as the source of a major terrorist threat to the U.S. Calls to his office today to request comment on whether he views CIA assets relocated in the U.S. as a terrorist threat have not been returned.
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Ex-Wife: Mateen Was gαy
Via: New York Post:
The ex-wife of Orlando mass killer Omar Mateen claimed Monday that she believed he was ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ — as it was revealed that he frequented the gαy nightclub where he staged the nation’s worst massacre in modern times.
Sitora Yusufiy, who was married to Mateen in 2009 for three months, made the shocking claim on Brazilian television station SBT Brazil.
Her fiancé, Marco Dias, speaking in Portuguese on her behalf, said Yusufiy believed that Mateen had “gαy tendencies” and that his father had called him gαy in front of her. Dias also claimed “the FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media.”

The bombshell came as a male former classmate of Omar Mateen said he had been asked out romantically by the mass killer, who reportedly was a virtual regular at the Pulse nightclub, having visited it more than a dozen times over the years.

The former classmate said he would hang out with Mateen, hitting gαy bars after attending class at Indian River Community College police academy in 2006 — and one time Mateen asked him out “romantically,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

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MATEEN WORKED FOR DHS CONTRACTOR G4S, THE PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM THAT TRANSPORTS AND RELEASES ILLEGAL ALIENS INSIDE THE U.S.
See: Homeland Security Using Private Contractor Vans to Transport and Release Illegal Aliens Inside the U.S.
I just hope that the punchline to this absurd joke isn’t a mushroom cloud.
Via: Independent:
The global security firm and employer of the man who killed at least 50 people at a gαy nightclub in Orlando has said it is “shocked and saddened” by the mass murder and is working with law enforcement.
Omar Mateen worked with private security group G4S Secure Solutions as a private security officer in Florida. The role requires 28 hours of classroom training by a licensed instructor.
Officials said he had two firearms licenses, a security officer license and a statewide firearms license, all expiring in September 2017.
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Mateen Interviewed by the FBI Twice, Had Been On Terrorist Watch List, Shares Name with FBI Informant in Another Florida Terrorism Case
Mateen (more on the name in a minute) was suspected of being a terrorist and had contact with a ѕυιcιdє bomber… Despite these factors, he was taken off the terrorist watch list and issued a security guard license.
Fascinating.
Mateen was a mentally ill cop poser (see the image below) with multiple contacts with the FBI.
Now read this piece in the New Yorker about the FBI manufacturing terrorism cases:
But Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who researches national security law at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, told the Times, “They’re manufacturing terrorism cases.” In too many instances, he said, “these people are five steps away from being a danger to the United States.”
In the same article, we learn that there was an FBI informant named David Mahmood Siddiqui in another Florida terrorist case:
This is not the first time that the F.B.I. has attracted criticism from national-security experts and civil-liberties groups for generating terrorism cases through sting operations and confidential informants. In “The Imam’s Curse,” published in September, I reported on a Florida family that was accused of providing “material support” to terrorists. In that case, a father, Hafiz Khan, and two of his sons were arrested. The charges against the sons were eventually dropped, but Hafiz Khan was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. At Khan’s trial, his lawyer, Khurrum Wahid, questioned the reliability of the key informant in the case, David Mahmood Siddiqui. Wahid accused Siddiqui, who’d had periods of unemployment, of lying to authorities because his work as a confidential informant was lucrative. For his role in the case, Siddiqui had received a hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars, plus expenses. But in a subsequent interview with the Associated Press, Siddiqui stood by his testimony and motives: “I did it for the love of my country, not for money.”
Several years ago, our lone wolf shooter, Mateen, changed his name.
It turns out the he added Mateen to his original name, which was Omar Mir Seddique.
According to Wikipedia, Seddique is another English spelling of Siddiqui.
Reuters notes:
In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Seddique Mateen, also known as Mir Siddique, said his son’s rampage had “nothing to do with religion.”
What are the odds that an FBI informant in a Florida terrorist case shares the same last name as the perpetrator of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history—also in Florida—a lone wolf cop poser with multiple acknowledged contacts with the FBI, who was formerly listed on the terrorist watch list and associated with a ѕυιcιdє bomber… while holding a valid security guard license?
Coincidences.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI twice and had once been on a terrorist watch list.

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Omar Mateen Wearing NYPD Shirt
Hmm.
Via: Daily Mail:
mateen_nypd
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Updates: Orlando Sentinel
—
Via: Los Angeles Times:
50 people are dead and at least 53 injured in the deadliest shooting in American history after a gunman took hostages overnight inside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the city’s mayor Buddy Dyer said.
The gunman has been identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a U.S. law enforcement official said.
He was killed by law enforcement. He had an assault rifle, handgun and another “device.”
Mateen lived in Fort Pierce, Fla., the law enforcement official said. Fort Pierce is about 120 miles south of Orlando on the state’s Atlantic coast.
The FBI says they cannot rule out terrorism as a motive.

Is this the image of an alligator biting prey in shallow water?