May 28, 2022
Texas officials have drastically altered the Uvalde timeline they initially provided, and what occurred during that time: ~~~
~~~ From the New York Times live updates: "In an emotional and at times tense news conference, Steven C. McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, gave the most detailed accounting of the shooting yet, diverging in substantial points from the original timeline given by officials. Most of the time the gunman was at the school, Mr. McCraw explained, he was inside the classrooms where nearly all of the killing took place, while as many as 19 police officers waited outside in the school hallway. Multiple people in the classrooms, including at least two students, called 911 over that horrifying stretch, begging for police. But apparently believing that the suspect had barricaded himself in the classroom and that 'there were no kids at risk,' the police did not enter the classroom until 12:50 p.m., 78 minutes after the shooter walked inside.... By 12:15 p.m., agents from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrived with tactical shields, he said, far earlier than previously known. But local police at the scene would not allow them to go after the gunman who had opened fire on students inside the school." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Jim Vertuno & Elliot Spagat of the AP: "Students trapped inside a classroom with a gunman repeatedly called 911 during this week's attack on a Texas elementary school, including one who pleaded, 'Please send the police now,' as nearly 20 officers waited in the hallway for more than 45 minutes, authorities said Friday. The commander at the scene in Uvalde -- the school district's police chief &-- believed that 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was barricaded inside adjoining classrooms at Robb Elementary School and that children were no longer at risk, Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a contentious news conference. 'It was the wrong decision,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ CNN has the latest timeline related by Texas law officials. The New York Times has the time breakdown here. ~~~
~~~ Washington Post updates are here: "The Uvalde, Tex., gunman emerged from a classroom closet firing at Border Patrol tactical agents entering the room, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said Friday, offering new details about the shooting after days of shifting accounts from authorities. The Border Patrol agents, using a ballistic shield, entered the classroom and shot and killed the gunman after a phalanx of officers had waited outside for nearly 50 minutes while children repeatedly called 911, pleading for help, Texas law enforcement acknowledged for the first time Friday, four days after the massacre of 21 people." ~~~
~~~ Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Federal agents who went to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday to confront a gunman who killed 19 children were told by local police to wait and not enter the school -- and then decided after about half an hour to ignore that initial guidance and find the shooter, say two senior federal law enforcement officials. According to the officials, agents from BORTAC, the Customs and Border Protection tactical unit, and ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrived on the scene between noon and 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Local law enforcement asked them to wait, and then instructed HSI agents to help pull children out of the windows.... After approximately 30 minutes passed, however, the federal agents opted of their own volition to lead the 'stack' of officers inside the school and take down the shooter." ~~~
~~~ Pete Williams of NBC News said that although the classroom door where the gunman who killing children was locked, the door had a broken window -- the shooter broke the window -- and the room had exterior windows, some of which the shooter also broke. MB: That is, it isn't as if the law enforcement officers who were gathered outside the room had no way to access it.
~~~ ** Update: If you look at the CNN timeline, you'll see that it wasn't until 12:50 pm [CT?] -- 77 minutes after the first gunfire inside the school -- that the police thought to get a key from the janitor, unlock the door, and kill the gunman.
Safia Ali of NBC News: Peter Arredondo, "the police chief who reportedly made the call not to immediately send officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman, was elected to Uvalde's City Council just three weeks ago after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the community." MB: If Arredondo dares show up to sworn in, I hope there's a procedure to recall city councilmen.
Marie: I was once in a perilous situation with another person, whom I knew to be an intelligent problem-solver. But the situation was so frightening that this person just shut down. He not only didn't know what to do, he denied what was happening. It took me a moment to realize he had rendered himself completely useless and actually an impediment to overcoming the peril. So I said nothing, took charge and neutralized the danger, which was a multi-step process. I think what happened to the school district police chief -- supposedly in charge of the rescue operation -- is what happened to my friend. According to reports, the chief insisted the situation did not involve an active shooter but a barricaded person. He would not allow other officials, including Border Patrol officers armed with tactical gear, to storm the shooter. In other words, the chief just froze up and was unable to act responsibly and responsively.
Tim Miller of the Bulwark: "In the coming days there will be a desire to obsess only over the unfathomable failures of those who were charged with keeping these kids safe. The poor teacher who left a door ajar. The MIA resource officer. The cops, excuse me -- the SWAT Team -- that posed on Facebook in tactical gear with weapons of war looking like they were prepared to head to the Donbas, but were apparently unequipped to take on a lone teenager who was slaughtering their town's children. But the main thing to take away from all of that is ... that in a nation with 130,000 schools there will always be some kind of human error when responding to an active shooter.... When a child is able to access two assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of bullets -- and are able to massacre a dozen innocents in the blink of an eye -- then there is no level of door control or resource officer training that can reliably stop them."
Don't Look Here; Look Over There! Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "One by one, the gun rights activists and politicians who showed up at the National Rifle Association convention on Friday said they were appalled, horrified and shaken by the massacre of 19 children and two adults a few days earlier in Uvalde, Texas. One by one, they then rejected any suggestion that gun control measures were needed to stop mass shootings. They blamed the atrocities on factors that had nothing to do with firearms -- the breakdown of the American family, untreated mental illness, bullying on social media, violent video games and the inexplicable existence of 'evil.' Above all, they sought to divert pressure to support popular overhauls like expanded background checks by seizing on the issue of school safety, amid reports that the gunman in Uvalde gained easy access to Robb Elementary School through an unguarded door.... Donald J. Trump, speaking at the event's keynote session late Friday, called for 'impenetrable security at every school all across our land.'" An AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: At the NRA convention, "Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), among other speakers, broadly rejected proposals for new restrictions and called instead for more school security or mental health screenings, while issuing dark warnings of alleged Democratic plots to take weapons. 'We all know they want total gun confiscation, know that this would be a first step,' Trump told the crowd.... The speakers also pivoted from condemning the evil of the Uvalde school shooter to vilifying 'elites,' the media, Democrats, and 'communist Marxists,' eliciting cheers from the undercapacity but vocal crowd. MB: Yeah, I was just about to blame communists Marxists. But not Putin!
Michael Sisak of the AP takes "a look at how suspects in mass shootings over a decade obtained guns, based on police accounts, court documents and contemporaneous reporting[.]"
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: There is a "wealth of evidence that ... [the Uvalde gunman] had begun to tease his plans -- sometimes in oblique and sometimes in more explicit ways -- in the days and weeks before he fatally shot 19 children and two teachers in a classroom on Tuesday." Several young people who were aware of his online "disturbing messages" were fearful that he would commit a violent crime. "The exchanges raise questions about whether teenagers who knew the 18-year-old should have reported the concerns to their parents or the authorities.... J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist..., said as many as 90 percent of young attackers might tell someone in advance about their intent to cause harm." A related CNN story is here.
Abbott: Plenty of Experience, But Still Not Ready for Prime Time. Isaac Stanley-Becker & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "One day after an elementary school shooter killed 21 people in a small Texas town this week, Gov. Greg Abbott appeared before a grieving nation to explain how it happened, delivering an authoritative account of law enforcement heroes facing down evil and preventing the additional loss of life with quick action. But much of that story wasn't true. Abbott was back in Uvalde, Tex., on Friday to acknowledge that key parts of what he had told the country had been disproved by the ongoing criminal investigation, and to pin the errors on law enforcement officials who had briefed him Wednesday.... 'As everybody has learned, the information that I was given turned out in part to be inaccurate. And I'm absolutely livid about that.'... Abbott ... faces increasing criticism that he moved too quickly to amplify a false law enforcement narrative that aligns with his own political beliefs. Federal authorities were 'flabbergasted at the amateurish communications coming from Texas,' said a federal law enforcement official who, along with others, spoke on the condition of anonymity.... [Abbott] has overseen the state's response to mass shootings that, together, have killed more than 90 people...."
Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "The owners of Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the rifle apparently used in the massacre of 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., are deep-pocketed Republican donors, giving to candidates and committees at the federal and state level aligned against limits on access to assault rifles and other semiautomatic weapons.... The rifle reportedly used in the shooting, the DDM4 V7, sells for about $2,000, according to Daniel Defense's website.... An image posted on the company's Twitter account shows a child [Marie: really, a toddler!] handling a rifle with the caption, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' Shortly after the shooting, the company locked its Twitter account." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Stacy Cowley & Ella Koeze of the New York Times: "Daniel Defense, the company that made the rifle a gunman used to kill 21 people inside a Texas elementary school this week, was one of hundreds of gun makers and merchants that got emergency small-business aid from the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program. The company, based in Ellabell, Ga., received a $3.1 million loan in early April 2020 -- just days after the relief fund opened, when many companie were struggling to break through a crush of applications as the pandemic began. The loan, made by Cadence Bank, was used to support some 200 employees, according to government records. Daniel Defense met the program's requirements to have its loan forgiven, and it was paid off by the government in June 2021."
** Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "It will be impossible to do anything about guns in this country, at least at a national level, as long as Democrats depend on the cooperation of a party that holds in reserve the possibility of insurrection. The slaughter of children in Texas has done little to alter this dynamic.... Victims of our increasingly frequent mass shootings are collateral damage in a cold civil war.... Guns are now the leading cause of death for American children. Many conservatives consider this a price worth paying for their version of freedom." MB: There's that child sacrifice thing again. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tyler Pager, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials are currently planning to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower, after months of internal deliberations over how to structure loan forgiveness for tens of millions of Americans, three people with knowledge of the matter said. President Biden had hoped to make the announcement as soon as this weekend at the University of Delaware commencement..., but that timing has changed after the massacre Tuesday in Texas. The White House's latest plans called for limiting debt forgiveness to Americans who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly, two of the people said."
AP: "Two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history have both been traced to prescribed burns set by U.S. forest managers as preventive measures, federal investigators announced Friday. The findings could have implications for the future use of prescribed fire to limit the buildup of dry vegetation amid a U.S. Forest Service moratorium on the practice. They also could affect complex deliberations concerning emergency aid and liability for a fire that has spread across 1,260 square kilometers (486 square miles) and destroyed hundreds of structures. The two fires joined in April to form the massive blaze at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains, in the Sangre de Cristo range." MB: Uh, this is making Trump's plan to sweep the forests sound a little smarter.
House Traitors Leader Stonewalls January 6 Committee. Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) issued a statement Friday indicating that he is unlikely to comply with a subpoena issued this month requesting that he testify before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. An 11-page response to the committee from McCarthy's counsel questioned the committee's authority and claimed that lawmakers on the panel are 'not exercising a valid or lawful use of Congress' subpoena power,' according to a letter from Elliot S. Berke, McCarthy's lawyer. Berke goes on to request information from the committee, including a more specific list of the subjects and topics the committee intends to discuss with McCarthy, along with the legal rationale justifying the subpoena request."
Trumpty-Dumpty Takes a New Fall. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: In the latest legal blow to Donald J. Trump, a federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit the former president filed that sought to halt the New York attorney general's civil investigation into his business practices. On Thursday, an appellate court ordered Mr. Trump and two of his children to sit for questioning under oath from the office of the state attorney general, Letitia James. Together, the rulings clear the way for Ms. James to complete her investigation in the coming weeks or months.... Last month, one of her lawyers indicated that a suit could be coming soon, saying that the office was preparing an 'enforcement action' in the near future." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "As many as 50 witnesses are expected to be subpoenaed by a special grand jury that will begin hearing testimony next week in the criminal investigation into whether ... Donald J. Trump and his allies violated Georgia laws in their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.... [Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani] Willis is weighing racketeering among other potential charges.... Her investigators are also reviewing the slate of fake electors that Republicans created in a desperate attempt to circumvent the state's voters. She said the scheme to submit fake Electoral College delegates could lead to fraud charges, among others...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNN story is here.
Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors on Friday urged a jury to convict well-connected attorney Michael Sussmann, saying that he thought he had 'a license to lie' to the FBI at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign. Sussmann's defense lawyers countered that the case against Sussmann was built on a 'political conspiracy theory.'... The case brought by Special Counsel John Durham charges that Sussmann lied by claiming he did not bring the information to the FBI on behalf of any client, when he allegedly did so on behalf of two clients: the Clinton campaign and a tech executive, Rodney Joffe.... The jury, which began deliberating about 1 p.m. Friday, is tasked with answering a fairly simple legal and factual question -- whether Sussmann lied about his client and whether that lie was relevant to the FBI investigation." MB: Sounds like two questions to me. Politico's report is here.
New Info from the Mueller Investigation! Uh, All Redacted. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Justice Department has released portions of a previously unseen alternative version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on ties between ... Donald Trump and Russia. However, the 37-page report prepared at the direction of Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann and released this week under the Freedom of Information Act is heavily redacted. Justice Department officials withheld large swaths of the document on grounds of ongoing investigations, privacy and protecting internal deliberations.... The secrecy puts the Biden administration in the curious position of fighting to keep from public view evidence of alleged wrongdoing by top advisers to Trump. It appears that those blacking out the redacted document sought to delete any details not made public in the version of Mueller's report released in 2019 or in other public documents. The report focuses on the work of what was known within Mueller's office as 'Team M' a group of investigators and prosecutors focused on connections between Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and businessmen and politicians friendly to Russia."
Beyond the Beltway
Oregon House Race. Gillian Flaccus of the AP: "Seven-term U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, a centrist who was endorsed by President Joe Biden, has been ousted in the Democratic primary in Oregon by progressive challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner after results were delayed more than a week by a ballot-printing issue. The vote count in the state's 5th Congressional District was slowed because tens of thousands of ballots were printed with blurry bar codes, making them unreadable by vote-counting machines. Workers in Clackamas County, the state's third-largest county, had to transfer votes by hand to fresh ballots so they could be tallied. That process continued Friday for other races yet to be called."
Texas House Race. Acacia Coronado of the AP: "The Texas primary runoff between Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, remained too early [close??] to call Friday. Cuellar led Cisneros by 175 votes, or 0.4 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 3 p.m. ET Friday. Election officials in Bexar County, where Cisneros has a significant lead over Cuellar among ballots counted, said they will not release results of an undisclosed number of ballots that require voters to cure an issue preventing it from being counted until Tuesday."
Way Beyond
The Guardian's live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here: "... Ukrainian and Russian forces [were] fighting street to street in a battle for Sievierodonetsk, one of the most important cities in the Donbas region still held by Ukraine.... For months, [President] Zelensky has called for heavier weapons to relieve pressure in the Donbas region and turn the tide in the war, and officials said on Friday that the Biden administration had approved sending long-range multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine.... The capture this week of the city of Lyman in the region was an example of the incremental progress that analysts say Moscow continues to make.... The leaders of the central branch of the Orthodox church in Ukraine have made a formal break with the hierarchy in Moscow, widening the schism in a church that was already divided before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia is responsible for inciting genocide in Ukraine, with the apparent intent of destroying the Ukrainian people, a new report released Friday by international legal scholars and human rights experts concluded." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged Friday to continue fighting for the eastern region of Donbas, where Russian forces have taken more territory in recent days.... The British Defense Ministry said most of the town [of Lyman, a key transport hub,] has probably fallen into Russian hands. Russia is also trying to encircle Severodonetsk, but the regional governor said Saturday that the city has not been cut off."
Peter Beaumont & Isobel Koshiw of the Guardian: "Joe Biden has accused Vladimir Putin of trying to 'wipe out' Ukraine's culture but suggested the plan had at least partially backfired by spurring the expansion of Nato in Europe. The US president told 1,200 graduating cadets in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday: 'Not only is he trying to take over Ukraine, he's literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people. Attacking schools, nurseries, hospitals, museums, with no other purpose than to eliminate a culture.'"
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Mom arrested for being a mom!
As one of the stories linked above points out, there will always be, unsurprisingly, human error involved in tense, life or death situations. True. The many, many, rough, tough, kick-ass, heavily armed Texas lawmen who stood around with their thumbs up their asses while children were being slaughtered constitute an extreme example of human error and frailty in the face of danger.
You know who wasn’t unsure of what to do or too frozen or cowardly to do it?
A mom. A mom with two kids in danger.
Agnelli Rose Gomez, a mother of a second and third grader was arrested and handcuffed(!) by US Marshalls for daring to demand that they do their fucking job and go save those kids. I guess they showed that mom who was boss! She convinced some local cops, who knew her, to have her uncuffed. As soon as she was free, she raced toward the school, hopped a fence, ran inside and brought her kids out to safety.
By the way, Ms. Gomez was arrested for—get this—impeding an “active investigation”. Like sitting on your ass constitutes action.
But here’s the thing. Yes, there will be fear and trepidation and uncertainty by many in moments of crisis, but certain parents are immune to that bullshit. “My kids are in there, and I’m gonna go get them, so fuck you and your orders!”
No word on whether the US Marshalls will be pressing charges against this mom for her flagrant disobedience of their orders that she do nothing. Like them.
Of course, without the gun in the hands of this kid, there’d be no crisis, no stupefied John Waynes, no need for handcuffing frantic parents, and no dead children. Something the Ted Cruzes and Donald Trumps and Greg Abbotts want everyone to forget.
That’s the biggest human error here.
The ever reprehensible and terminally depraved Ted Cruz—Baby Killer Ted—was outraged, OUTRAGED! Oh, not that 19 children had been slaughtered. He was livid that some—not Republicans—wanted to do something about the gun death carnage he and other reptiles of his ilk support.
Here’s an excellent takedown of Baby Killer Ted and his party:
https://bullypulpit.substack.com/p/may-you-suffer-for-your-crimes?s=r#details
This is a beautifully wrought screed by the journalist Bob Garfield on his podcast The Bully Pulpit. Garfield typically produces carefully crafted exposures and eviscerations of right wing lies and perfidy. But not here. It’s short, but mightily cathartic in a way I truly needed in the face of certain inaction on the part of the Party of Traitors and Baby Killers.
Motherfuckers all deserve perdition.
Anyone can have a deer-in-the-headlights reaction, no matter what one's skills or training are. It just so happens that some people react appropriately under extreme duress and some don't. Sorry. That's what the research shows, in the same 80% yes, 20% no ratio as a lot of human behaviors. It's important not to blame anyone else when (not if) this happens, because this is US, or rather, the behavior of any human brain.
@Victoria
Always worried that I'm one of those deer in the headlights folks, so have been very grateful I haven't been faced with critical life/death situations. Would hate to think of myself as somehow not "measuring up."
That said, because of my uncertainty about how I'd react, I have never bragged about what I'd do in such situations or sought to place myself in positions of responsibility where it was likely I'd have to make rapid, critical life-saving decisions or risk my own life to do so.
The irony resides the tough guy role assigned to and associated with cops, in my experience some of that sought out by the cops themselves and exaggerated in this case by the macho aura that is so proudly Texan.
In this circumstance, while it may be unfair, derisive reactions to the police sitting on their hands while children--tho exactly when the killing took place is not clear to me and is really something else about this awfulness I don't want to know-- are being murdered are certainly understandable.
@Victoria: I'm sure what the research reveals is true. In addition, I'd wager the same person can react with derring-do in one dangerous situation and freeze up in another. When I was younger, being put in a few situations where I was relatively powerless got my dander up (that is, I think my adrenaline kicked in), but I sure hope I never have to find out if that still "me." I know I'm still pragmatic about getting myself out of quagmires (I've been presented with two recently), but that's quite different from making quick, relatively sensible decisions in a sudden situation that puts me at a distinct disadvantage.
THE WILD WEST IN TEXAS:
While watching the presser yesterday I couldn't help thinking of the history of all those cowboys of yesteryear. The tall gentlemen standing behind the speaker, sporting their Stetson's, looking for all the world like Texas gunmen ready for a show down. And I thought of Barry Goldwater when running for president who had a picture taken of him in typical cowboy gear–--the boots, the gun. the Stetson, standing straight as an arrow smiling ready to shoot down LBJ if he could, who was a real Texan from the hill country and knew a thing about poverty and politics. Even Reagan adopted the cowboy gear –--his face, too, smiling under the broad brim of a Stetson. The Bush's, being a cut above (as they thought) had the boots and the "aw shucks folks" kind of thing going on at times. And underneath America's love of the wild west were the rifles––the BIG guns–--manly instruments of destruction which in time became more lethal used in war zones but lookie see–-no restrictions for boys barely out of diapers––say, an 18 yr. old who was bullied and made fun of when in grade school sets out to take revenge. (the Sandy Hook shooter had also been a victim of grade school bullying and both of these murderer's families were fractured.) There are countless stories like these all over the world–-the difference here is that these kinds of disturbed humans have access to guns that take the lives of other humans. So stop the argument of mental illness.
The NRA became the political lynchpin of the conservative party and thanks ot the S.C.'s "Citizen United" ruling money flowed forth like water to those who adhered to NO gun restrictions. Big money is made for gun manufacturers and Republican political figures–-was going to write leaders––ha!
So here we are today and Ak's comments suffice (although to hear Cruz's remarks made me cry with fury!) To think the killing of 19 children and two teachers will not change minds–––I was going to say hearts, but obviously those are missing–––is incomprehensible.
At long last, at LONG LAST. have you no shame?????????
P.S. I just remembered that around 2007 Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Eric Canter teamed up and called themselves "The Young Guns"–-the gang of three––the new generation of conservative whipper snappers. Ryan is back in cheese county and Canter is silently somewhere but Kevin stands alone trying hard to reveal what a dickhead he really is. Sad, really, these three had such promise, she says with tongue firmly tucked in cheek.
For the GOP, these shootings always happen to those “other” people. You can bet that their attitudes would change right quick if it were a gunman at one of the tony private schools or “Christian” academies where they send their children or at one of their fancy private clubs, with them being shot while they play golf.
One more thing about Baby Killer Ted’s remarks. If you listen to the Garfield podcast, he plays a clip in which Cruz snips that gun control doesn’t work! Reducing the number of guns never works.
How does he know? We’ve never tried it! We try More Guns all the time and that clearly doesn’t work.
In fact, there are plenty of places (like almost every other country) where gun control DOES work.
But here again, when terrible outcomes.from ridiculously easy accimess to weapons put them and their horrific policies in a bad light, the response is to go to the playbook, pull out the same old tired cliches, secind amendment, blah, blah, blah, they’re coming to take all your guns, gun control doesn’t work, yada, yada. Because at this point, they don’t even have to care whether or not it makes sense. They know they have the power to make sure nothing will get done. And their vote suppression, gerrymandering, election rigging guarantees that voters can never punish them for their Faustian bargain with the gun industry.
And if kids have to die, oh well.
But at the very least, the press should indefatigably report that claims like “gun control doesn’t work” are out and out lies.
I saw this Tweeted chart yesterday. In 2004 the assault weapons ban expired.
RAS,
QED.
Victoria’s introduction of data is certainly worth considering. It’s important not to overlook the science. And I’m sure the deer in the headlights situation occurs often. But is it 80% deer or 20%? If it’s 80%, it’s a wonder that wars could ever be prosecuted. 20% deer sounds reasonable. But in the case of Uvalde, it was 100% deer, at least for an hour. Long enough for children to be murdered.
And then there’s the fact that cops (and amateur racists) seem to have no problem pursuing and gunning down black people, saying that they fired because they feared for their lives. No deer problem there. But far too often they’re shooting unarmed civilians (ie, not criminals).
Yeah, it’s complicated. Or it can be.
So what’s different about Texas, and many other school murders?
The AKs. That’s what’s different. Where many cops might go after someone with a handgun, the ability of the shooter to pincushion them all in seconds changes the deer percentage. And because anyone can purchase these weapons, thank you, Republicans, this means that as long as a school shooter has one, thus upping the deer quotient, there is little to no hope of saving any kids from future attacks by NRA all stars.
And where does that leave us?
We’ve had the solution for thousands of years. Military strategy offers the answer. It’s called cutting the supply line. In the Middle Ages it was called a siege. Surround a group, deny them food and supplies and eventually, you win. Or they all die.
On Guadalcanal, US Marines went up against thousands of well trained and provisioned Japanese soldiers. So they cut their supply lines. Yeah, it was pretty brutal, but in the end, the Japanese were defeated.
We can do the same thing here. Only we won’t. By cutting off the supply of assault weapons, we don’t guarantee that there will never be another school shooting, but we can drastically reduce the chance of a shooter being able to murder dozens in minutes while at the same time giving pause to law enforcement.
Will we do it?
Absolutely not. Republicans would have been air dropping supplies to the Japanese at Guadalcanal. You don’t think so? Why not? They’re doing it for mass murderers as we speak.
Cruz at the NRA convention:
“It’s far easier to slander one’s political adversaries and to demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness, giving birth to unspeakable acts of evil.”
Or so says Senator Sicko, enthusiastic perpetrator of the sickness he decries.
How sick do you have to be to be unable tell a muzzle loader from an AR-15?
Glad to see that neither Trump nor Cruz finished up their spiels at the NRA convention by brandishing an assault rifle overhead and bellowing "GIT SOME"!!