As Orlando faces it's own terror crisis in the midst of the Pulse Club bloodbath, we are left reflecting on the similarities with San Bernardino's mass shooting last year.
Brian Rokos reports with San Bernardino Sun: "
The similarities between the mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando are numerous, right down to the killers in both cities renting a car before going on their rampages."
"All three shooters — Omar Mateen in Florida and husband-wife team Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in San Bernardino — were apparently self-radicalized after being exposed to propaganda from the Islamic State."
"Mateen phoned a 911 dispatcher around the time of Sunday’s attack that killed 50 at a gay nightclub to pledge allegiance to ISIS, NBC News reported. Malik pledged loyalty to ISIS in a Facebook post shortly after the Dec. shooting that killed 14 people at the Inland Regional Center."
SEE ALSO: Orlando terror attack: Live updates -- L.A. Times; Orlando mass shooting brings back memories of Dec. 2 for San Bernardino County -- Doug Saunders and Joe Nelson in L.A. Daily News. Sacramento stands with Orlando during downtown ralley - Stephen Magagnini and Tyler Foggatt in The Bee.
After Orlando's terror attack, authorities almost stop the Gay Pride Parade in L.A but instead allowed the march to go on.
Brittny Mejia, Hailey Branson-Potts and Frank Shyong in L.A. Times report: "Amid heightened security in the aftermath of a shooting in Orlando, Fla., thousands poured into the streets of West Hollywood on Sunday for an L.A. Pride celebration charged with a new resolve."
"Crowds converged on Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards, waving rainbow flags, brandishing “We love Orlando” signs and chanting slogans. Cheerleaders in drag raising awareness for HIV readied their pompoms and a group of lesbian motorcyclists revved their engines."
“When our community comes under attack, what do we do?” some shouted, with others yelling the reply, “Stand up, fight back!”
SEE ALSO: Victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre: Who they were -- L.A. Times; Around the world, condemnation of the Orlando massacre -- AP in L.A. Times; Man with weapons was headed to L.A. gay pride parade -- Joel Rubin, Hailey Branson-Potts, Zahira Torres and Frank Shyong L.A. Times. .
It turns out the FBI was aware of and had interviewed the Orlando shooter in the years leading up to Sunday's hellish assault on a gay nightclub in Florida.
Matt Dixon and Mark Caputo with Politico write: "In the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history, a suspected terrorist who had been investigated twice by the FBI in recent years stormed a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, shot and killed at least 49 people and injured as many as 53 others before he was gunned down early Sunday in an intense firefight with police, authorities said."
"Authorities identified the shooter as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old son of Afghan immigrants who was born in New York."
"FBI special-agent-in-charge Ron Hopper told reporters that Mateen had been interviewed twice in 2013 after he made comments to co-workers about potential ties to terror groups, and another time in 2014."
SEE ALSO: Orlando gunman's father used to host TV show in San Fernando Valley -- Dakota Smith in Daily News.
And in true political fashion, neither candidate lacked in response time for developing an angle to push in regards to Sunday's mass murder.
The Chronicle's John Wildermuth reports: "The sorrow and horror of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando quickly gave way to presidential politics Sunday, with both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton pushing their own views of the tragedy."
"For both sides, the massacre has changed, at least for now, the focus of the presidential race. As dozens of shooting victims fought for their lives, each campaign worked to turn the new narrative to its favor."
"For Trump, who has often talked about barring Muslims from entering the country, the news that 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants, had walked into the Florida nightspot and gunned down 50 people was an “I told you so” moment."
Legislation to push for stricter gun regulation saw advocation quickly after the Pulse nightclub shooting early Sunday.
Seu-Min Kim and Burgess Everett in Politico report: "Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is introducing legislation that would restrict people convicted of hate crimes from owning firearms after Sunday’s massacre at an gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 50 people, including the shooter, and injured more than 53 others."
"Casey’s bill would toughen current federal law barring people convicted of a felony from purchasing or owning a gun by applying those same restrictions to those who have been found guilty of misdemeanor hate crimes. The senator will formally unveil his new legislation at a news conference in Pittsburgh later Monday."
"Authorities are still investigating the motivations that drove Omar Mateen to open fire at Orlando's Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning, but officials have said Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State shortly before the massacre. Meanwhile, Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, said in an interview with NBC News that his son would get “very angry” watching gay men kiss in Miami."
Many, infuriated with the Stanford rapist's lenient sentencing, are calling for Judge Persky's removal from position. But just how feasible is a Judicial Recall?
Eli Hager in Capitol Weekly reports: "A day after Judge Aaron Persky, of California Superior Court, sentenced a Stanford University athlete to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction, calls for his ouster grew deafening."
"Prosecutors had recommended that the defendant, Brock Turner, a star swimmer, be sentenced to six years in state prison, and public sympathy for the victim was running high, especially after she delivered an impassioned 7,000-word statement in the courtroom and online."
"After the sentencing last Thursday, hundreds of thousands of people became outraged, and social media lit up with calls — including one by a Stanford law professor — that the judge be recalled by popular vote. By Tuesday afternoon, a Change.org petitionin support of that recall had accumulated over 415,000 signatures.
