Everything hurts.
Everything hurts. HG

In Case You Weren't Following the News: An anti-gay terrorist armed with an assault rifle opened fire inside Pulse, a LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Fla, which was hosting a Latinx night, around 2 a.m. on Sunday. Forty nine people were killed and another 53 were injured. Police killed the bigoted shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen.


As of the 165th Day of 2016: There have been 136 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. This attack is the most deadly mass shooting in the United States since the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, during which about 300 Native Americans were killed.

Seattle Mourns: Last night, a vigil honoring the victims at Cal Anderson Park drew in a crowd of thousands of attendees, including state legislators.

Both Murray and Washington Governor Jay Inslee called for action to address gun violence, but focused mostly on solidarity and resilience rather than policy.

"The greatest way we can honor those whose lives were lost," Murray said, "is to recommit ourselves to hope." (You can read the mayor's full remarks here.)

"Hatred is a common virus," Inslee told the crowd. "It affects us all."

The response to the shooting, Inslee said, "cannot be inaction in the face of intolerance. It cannot be passivity in the face of gun violence."

Check out Kelly O's powerful photos from the vigil here.

The Victims Ranged from 19-50 Years Old: The City of Orlando has released a list of some of the victims' names, which will be updated as next of kin are notified. According to the most recent list, the youngest victim is Jason Benjamin Josaphat.

Investigating Terrorist Ties: According to KPLU, government officials said Mateen called 911 before the attack and pledged allegiance to Daesh, the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

Tampa FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Ronald Hopper identified the suspect as Omar Mateen — a 29-year-old U.S. citizen born in New York.

Hopper said the FBI had previously carried out two separate investigations of Mateen. They interviewed him twice in 2013 "when he made inflammatory comments to coworkers alleging possible terrorist ties" — but were "unable to verify the substance of his comments." He was interviewed again in 2014 over possible ties to U.S. suicide bomber Moner Mohammad Abusalha — but they determined the contact was "minimal" and did not constitute a threat.

As a number of activists have already said: Daesh and violent homophobia do not represent Islam. "The LGBTQ community and the Muslim family are not separate ... We mourn together," Sonja Bashar, who is Muslim and queer, said during last night's vigil in Seattle.

Speaking of Daesh: Although the terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack, some experts are questioning whether the organization was actually involved. From Mic:

The statement of responsibility does not indicate ISIS had any prior knowledge or involvement in the planning of the Pulse killings. Terror organizations have an incentive to take credit for attacks in which they have little or no direct involvement for the purposes of boosting their own infamy. In this case, it's clear why the group would want to claim responsibility.

From Rukmini Callimachi, the New York Times' al-Qaeda and ISIS correspondent:


A Soul-Crushing Call to Change Our Gun Laws: Christine Leinonen, the mother of Christopher Leinonen who was inside the club and was waiting to hear whether he was okay, gave an absolutely heartbreaking interview on ABC yesterday.

“Please," she says, sobbing, "can we do something with the assault weapons so that we can stop this club [of people affected by gun violence] from getting any new members... We’re on this Earth for such a short time. Let’s try to get rid of the hatred and the violence. Please."

Update, 12:25 p.m.: Christopher Leinonen has been identified as one of the 49 victims of the shooting.

Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda Paid Tribute to the Victims at the Tony Awards: "Love is love is love is love is love.”


In response to Sunday's tragedy, Hamilton's cast did not use their prop muskets during their performance at the Tonys. The Broadway show won 11 awards last night.

There Was Another Shooting Yesterday, Too: This time in New Mexico. Five people were killed. Four of them were children.

On a Somewhat Lighter Note: Microsoft bought networking site LinkedIn for $26 billion. But the tech giant still dodges taxes. In the words of Heidi Groover: "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH LIGHT RAIL THAT COULD BUILD?"

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