On Wednesday night my regular midweek date with Tucker Carlson was delayed by the latest press conference from Sheriff Joe Lombardo in Las Vegas. The Sheriff was most intriguing, although I confess to a certain impatience with the showboating politicians who followed. I have no idea why at a press conference intended to update journalists on relevant developments to a police investigation senators and county commissioners are allowed to butt in for me-tooist self-promotion. These two things belong at separate events.
Be that as it may, and further to my earlier remarks, Tucker and I discussed some of the ways the story had evolved, and some of the ways it hadn't - including the all but total lack of an Internet presence by the killer. Click below to watch:
Some viewers pointed out that Stephen Paddock played mainly video poker. I'm aware of that, and that's not what I was referring to - obviously you don't need to "bluff" with a machine. I was referring to studies that showed pathological gamblers "conceal" and "bluff" in the rest of their lives, too - with their near and dear ones, for example, as this man appears to have done with his girlfriend. That's to say, his known life - his routine, his habits, his associations - was a kind of bluff, as the Sheriff's remarks about his "secret life" suggested. Whether or not he sat at gaming tables regularly, a thought occurred to me during the Sheriff's press conference that this man's "weirdly blank" public profile (as I put it) is closer to something like a contract killer than a mentally disturbed guy who suddenly snaps. I'm not saying this particular accountant is literally the eponymous accountant of Ben Affleck's recent movie, but there is a level of efficiency and organization here that separates Sunday night's carnage from almost all other single-shooter attacks.
So as the days go by this seems less and less like a lone wacko who suddenly cracks up.
As always, Mark Steyn Club members who dissent from my take should feel free to clobber me in the comments.
I'll be back on air tomorrow morning, Friday, with Steve, Ainsley and Brian on the curvy couch at "Fox & Friends", live coast to coast at 8.30am Eastern/5.30am Pacific. And Steyn Club members should keep an eye out this weekend for the latest of my video poems - because, as I always say, video poetry is where the big bucks are.
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