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Will the Timeline of the Vegas Shooting Ever Stabilize?

The surprisingly malleable timeline of the Las Vegas shooting reminds me of this quotation from George Orwell’s 1984: “History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

This timeline keeps changing for reasons unexplained, and each update is creating the appearance (without the admission) that something went very wrong. The worst mass shooting in modern American history seems to have taken place without wise intervention from those tasked with stopping such things.

One of the injured has already filed a lawsuit against the Mandalay Bay hotel, concert promoters, and bump-stock manufacturers. Strangely left out of the lawsuit: the police who assume the actual responsibility for the security of such events.

As a result, in the age of instant free speech for everyone, conspiracy theories have exploded. False flag! Fake news! It’s a plot! It’s a coverup!

Jump down this rabbit hole, and you will never get out.

Why don’t people just accept the official story? What’s with the mass incredulity?

The problem is that the official story keeps changing, and promises to change again. Granted that spokesmen don’t have access to infallible truth—as much as people want them to—but the story has become adaptive in ways that raise eyebrows. Not only that: those who were actually there don’t agree on what you might suppose would be indisputable.

When Was Campos Shot?

For example, you might think it would be easy to discover whether the shooter smashed the window and started mowing down concert goers before or after he shot 200 rounds at the Mandalay Bay hotel.

If you have ever been in a Vegas hotel, you know that security is extremely tight. Cameras are everywhere. Highly trained guards watch everything. Everything is recorded. Imagine a moment in which the dude across or down the hall unloads that much ammunition through a door, creating a terrifying sound. You would know for sure when it happened, whether it was the first sound or came after smashing glass. And Jesus Campos, the security guard who was shot and miraculously survived, certainly would have radioed for help.

Knowing whether this happened before or after the mass shooting out of the window one might suppose would be settled by now.

But no.

Here is how the official timeline, as issued by Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, changed in less than a week. He also suggested to reporters, in the course of a strangely hostile press conference, that the timeline could “change even more” in the future.

But as soon as the new timeline was issued, the Mandalay Bay hotel itself told Fox News that “what is currently being expressed may not be accurate.” No more detail was added.

There’s enough here to keep conspiracy theorists busy for years to come, especially given just how quickly and intensely this event was used by the pundit class to once again drum up support for gun control.

The Error of Conspiracy

The great mistake of conspiracy theorists is to presume that there is only one overriding purpose and controlling force at work in any event. In reality, an event this huge, this confusing, and with so many moving parts, presents an infinitely complex series of purposes, motivations, and responses.

The grand theories further presume a perfect coordination between the intentions of the powerful and the outcomes in any event. None of this is the case. Most of the mistakes involving large-scale security failures trace to the exact opposite: the absence of coordination. That, in turn, is followed by the suppression of information.

What typically characterizes events like this and the response, especially when public officials are involved, is confusion, blame shifting, evasion, belligerent statements about nothing, and unsustainable assertions designed to portray official institutions in the best possible light. This happens even in the absence of anything nefarious going on at all.

This kind of incompetence is usually more than enough to account for the anomalies and changes in the official account of these events.

The Bigger Lesson

The worst part of far-flung theorizing about these events is that they overlook the bigger picture. And in this case, it is clear: the official security plan completely failed. Now, there might be perfectly good reasons for this. It is difficult to plan for a contingency that had never before revealed itself. And it is even more difficult to enact a response in the complete absence of a plan.

Even so, in all forms of publicly provided security services, there is a fundamental disconnect between the people they are supposed to serve and the institution that actually employs them. And when it comes to a conflict between the two, it’s the job and the public sector that win out.

Anyone who follows official statements after such events knows they are structured to minimize PR damage to the official institution. This is so obvious that it gives rise to widespread (and largely justified) suspicion. And when the story changes and changes to match the PR priority of the day, public incredulity overwhelms the narrative.

And what is the lesson for the rest of us? The government that has promised to protect us cannot fulfill the grandiose promise, and it is a mistake to conduct your life as if it is capable of doing so.

We don’t know how all this Vegas stuff will shake out, but the broad outlines do not look flattering for the public-sector police: it is impossible to deny that it took fully one hour and 20 minutes from the first sounds of gunfire for the cops to breach the doorway.

The private guards at the casino will likely fare better. There is a lesson here: the market is the right choice for providing security service. In the end, there is no substitute for private protection.

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Jeffrey A. Tucker

Jeffrey A. Tucker is Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute. He is also Senior Economics Columnist for Epoch Times, author of 10 books, including Liberty or Lockdown, and thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.

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2 comments

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  • Violence is not an accepted norm in America ,the same as racism. The American mass killing machine? How many tragedies can be listed since 911, so many years ago. Economics lurks in the aftermath. American tragedies are profitable.
    Many Americans are unable to accept an ongoing psyop at face value, blurring the lines of foreign policy, America has become it’s own foreign nation the inside aggressor, there is so much fake news, fake operations. fake deaths even, power and control, tin foil hats with massive contracts, everything from Sandy Hook,”Sandy Hook massacre, lead to support for legislation to make the public mental-health system more proactive (and more coercive), Psychiatry after mass tragedy is profitable. But that legislation is controversial among mental-health practitioners, and has been bogged down in Congress” gun control, to gosh only knows, more photos appear of the staged actors. photo recognition of fake Actors go viral on social media for many of the same tragedies, more fear mongering to socially control the masses, home of the brave,there is a tragedy about once every few months, sometimes weeks. It is getting Americans accustomed to desensitization in the name of creative economics, an ongoing lesson on how it is to live in the same land as a global citizen, say that of Israel for example, Pakistan, mass violence is a contract deal,tragedies happen daily.
    Americans get traumatized into taking more pills to make more profits for Big Pharma. Survival gear sales are up. Cannabis stocks go up as more and more need State medical cannabis for trauma PTSD, access few Veterans get. More military more private security contracts, more surveillance,,more security, more Police. to make” America safe again.” How does destructive economics become an accepted norm with so much violence ? except it may be staged violence.
    America will become one big family military camp with reruns of Mash. A”psychological operation” this is not common to the typical every day murders. America is looking more and more as an insane asylum,kill or be killed mentality and that is not a game of Russian roulette. More and more military protection contracts,destructive economics is profitable,this is more weapon sales in protection, as cold war Russia, Nato does not want a new cold war with Russia, is it any wonder anyone whom still wants to live there, let alone visit America unless a high security military camp is your idea of Disney Land. Once the dollar crashes, America will be auctioned off very cheap and the trauma and looting continues with destructive capitalism. Where did the Trillions of dollars go anyway? Destructive capitalism is an industry in itself.
    There will always be news within news, a story within a story. It is one big contract deal and the rate of tragedies, destructive capitalism is not nation building, it is profitable.
    From an economist perspective, this is “Creative destruction” nothing is being recreated unless it has a tragedy,the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one, is becoming an accepted standard in America,violence is merely a casualty. Multi Death Incorporated is a Global Empire.America is the bully on the block inside America. Destructive capitalism is the lowest or the low as there are some that die in imposed tragedies.
    Casino owners are getting a rebuild, is getting a new Casino with a hefty security contract, all of Vegas may need additional security, there will be a future movie contract. Celine can do a benefit show for the families and so on. Why do the windows have 9 11 ,will there be a new board game? One needs entertainment in a military camp while gambling. All you conspiracy theorists and tin foil hat wearers can be all you can be.
    Guantanamo detention camp is still in existence, that is a free trip to Cuba where most Americans are not welcome,was the shooter a group of terrorists or were there more planned attacks.? Is it a Saudi or Libonese Prince whom owns American media or a Zionist organization? Follow the money trail, that is a full time job in itself. Another contract for brave Americans.
    Whom has vested interests in America, what special interest groups hell bent on taking down America, a beautiful country with beautiful people. Militant Authoritarians,International groups whom do not have any regards for human rights or the Bill of Rights, Constitution whatsoever. Patriotism shall come at a very high price.
    A Government or corporate-sponsored psyop operation, usually taking the form of a “terrorist attack” or “crazed gunman on a spree”, a few days later more gun men appear, the story unfolds,with the intent of panicking the public into demanding more Police and laws inhibiting freedom”. More security contracts.Americans are more educated,intelligent than what their Government gives them credit for, We live, Obey, Consume , burp and a private prison is waiting. Casinos are the next form of elite prisons.Social engineering of the masses at a high profit margin.
    A common American suburb can have a military tank rolling down the street at any moment to have Americans” feel safer.” Welcome to Vegas with flashing neon lights with American Woman blaring in the back ground.
    This does not help the tourism industry of Vegas, is a planned agenda unfolding it becomes so obvious” dumb and dumber” can figure this one out, it seems as if Trump is building a wall to keep Americans inside subservient, not to keep Mexicans out. Keep America strong and free with destruction contracts , hey it worked in Iran. Vegas is the last place on the list.

  • Violence is not an accepted norm in America ,the same as racism. The American mass killing machine? How many tragedies can be listed since 911, so many years ago. Economics lurks in the aftermath. American tragedies are profitable.
    Many Americans are unable to accept an ongoing psyop at face value, blurring the lines of foreign policy, America has become it’s own foreign nation the inside aggressor, there is so much fake news, fake operations. fake deaths even, power and control, tin foil hats with massive contracts, everything from Sandy Hook,”Sandy Hook massacre, lead to support for legislation to make the public mental-health system more proactive (and more coercive), Psychiatry after mass tragedy is profitable. But that legislation is controversial among mental-health practitioners, and has been bogged down in Congress” gun control, to gosh only knows, more photos appear of the staged actors. photo recognition of fake Actors go viral on social media for many of the same tragedies, more fear mongering to socially control the masses, home of the brave,there is a tragedy about once every few months, sometimes weeks. It is getting Americans accustomed to desensitization in the name of creative economics, an ongoing lesson on how it is to live in the same land as a global citizen, say that of Israel for example, Pakistan, mass violence is a contract deal,tragedies happen daily.
    Americans get traumatized into taking more pills to make more profits for Big Pharma. Survival gear sales are up. Cannabis stocks go up as more and more need State medical cannabis for trauma PTSD, access few Veterans get. More military more private security contracts, more surveillance,,more security, more Police. to make” America safe again.” How does destructive economics become an accepted norm with so much violence ? except it may be staged violence.
    America will become one big family military camp with reruns of Mash. A”psychological operation” this is not common to the typical every day murders. America is looking more and more as an insane asylum,kill or be killed mentality and that is not a game of Russian roulette. More and more military protection contracts,destructive economics is profitable,this is more weapon sales in protection, as cold war Russia, Nato does not want a new cold war with Russia, is it any wonder anyone whom still wants to live there, let alone visit America unless a high security military camp is your idea of Disney Land. Once the dollar crashes, America will be auctioned off very cheap and the trauma and looting continues with destructive capitalism. Where did the Trillions of dollars go anyway? Destructive capitalism is an industry in itself.
    There will always be news within news, a story within a story. It is one big contract deal and the rate of tragedies, destructive capitalism is not nation building, it is profitable.
    From an economist perspective, this is “Creative destruction” nothing is being recreated unless it has a tragedy,the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one, is becoming an accepted standard in America,violence is merely a casualty. Multi Death Incorporated is a Global Empire.America is the bully on the block inside America. Destructive capitalism is the lowest or the low as there are some that die in imposed tragedies.
    Casino owners are getting a rebuild, is getting a new Casino with a hefty security contract, all of Vegas may need additional security, there will be a future movie contract. Celine can do a benefit show for the families and so on. Why do the windows have 9 11 ,will there be a new board game? One needs entertainment in a military camp while gambling. All you conspiracy theorists and tin foil hat wearers can be all you can be.
    Guantanamo detention camp is still in existence, that is a free trip to Cuba where most Americans are not welcome,was the shooter a group of terrorists or were there more planned attacks.? Is it a Saudi or Libonese Prince whom owns American media or a Zionist organization? Follow the money trail, that is a full time job in itself. Another contract for brave Americans.
    Whom has vested interests in America, what special interest groups hell bent on taking down America, a beautiful country with beautiful people. Militant Authoritarians,International groups whom do not have any regards for human rights or the Bill of Rights, Constitution whatsoever. Patriotism shall come at a very high price.
    A Government or corporate-sponsored psyop operation, usually taking the form of a “terrorist attack” or “crazed gunman on a spree”, a few days later more gun men appear, the story unfolds,with the intent of panicking the public into demanding more Police and laws inhibiting freedom”. More security contracts.Americans are more educated,intelligent than what their Government gives them credit for, We live, Obey, Consume , burp and a private prison is waiting. Casinos are the next form of elite prisons.Social engineering of the masses at a high profit margin.
    A common American suburb can have a military tank rolling down the street at any moment to have Americans” feel safer.” Welcome to Vegas with flashing neon lights with American Woman blaring in the back ground.
    This does not help the tourism industry of Vegas, is a planned agenda unfolding it becomes so obvious” dumb and dumber” can figure this one out, it seems as if Trump is building a wall to keep Americans inside subservient, not to keep Mexicans out. Keep America strong and free with destruction contracts , hey it worked in Iran. Vegas is the last place on the list.

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