COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, February 23, 2018

If This Story Is True, There Should Be Hell To Pay

Report: Four of Sheriff Scott Israel’s Deputies Waited Outside Douglas High During School Shooting

On February 22 Breitbart News reported that one deputy resigned after it was learned that he was on scene but failed to control Nikolas Cruz. Sheriff Israel told ABC 13 that video shows the deputy, Scott Peterson, “arrive at the west side of Building 12” and “take a position” outside the school — but never go inside. The sheriff’s office moved to suspend Peterson, who resigned before the suspension could take place.

Now CNN reports that the Coral Springs police officers claim three other Broward County deputies were outside the school but failed to go inside as well. They quote “Coral Springs sources” who said the three “deputies had their pistols drawn and were behind their vehicles” when Coral Springs officers arrived. They said “not one of [the deputies] had gone into the school.”

The sources indicate other Broward County deputies arrived on scene, and two of those new arrivals joined with Coral Springs officers and entered the building.
The sources said, “Coral Springs police were stunned and upset that the four original Broward County Sheriff’s deputies who were first on the scene did not appear to join them as they entered the school.”

Coral Springs Police Department public information officer Sgt. Carla Kmiotek would not comment on what Broward County deputies did or did not do. Rather, “The Coral Springs Police Department will speak on behalf of our officers and their response in that incident,” she said. “We will not speak on behalf of Broward Sheriff’s deputies and their response to the incident.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

44 comments:

  1. Four ?!

    Is there some protocol or policy lurking behind the scenes here that we don't know about ?

    The students would look to have been better off if they'd been packing themselves.

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  2. The fish rots...
    Israel is another Broward County left wing puke.
    His responses to Dana Loesch were pathetic and the verbal equivalent of not going inside the building.

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  3. IT IS AS BAD AS IT LOOKS:

    Four armed officers and years of warnings did nothing to stop Nikolas Cruz from massacring 17 people at a high school.

    Not one but four sheriff’s deputies hid behind cars instead of storming Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Fla., during Wednesday’s school shooting, police claimed Friday — as newly released records revealed the Broward County Sheriff’s Office had received at least 18 calls about the troubled teen over the past decade.

    Sources from Coral Springs, Fla., Police Department tell CNN that when its officers arrived on the scene Wednesday, they were shocked to find three Broward County Sheriff’s deputies behind their cars with weapons drawn.

    The school’s armed resource officer, Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, was also outside. He resigned on Thursday after his failure to act was publicly revealed.

    The Coral Springs cops entered the building to engage the shooter on their own, before other Broward County deputies arrived, two of whom joined the police inside, the sources said.

    It was unclear whether the shooter was still inside at the time, CNN reported.

    Coral Springs City Manager Mike Goodrum confronted Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel during a vigil for victims the next day, saying students could have been dying in the school while the deputies held back.

    The next day, Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Pustizzi wrote in an internal e-mail that “another agency has given the impression that it had provided the majority of the rescue efforts.”

    “Please know that this issue will be addressed, and the truth will come out in time,” he wrote.

    In an official statement Friday, the police department said only that “any actions or inactions that negatively affected the response will be investigated.”

    News of the deputies’ apparent inaction came after the sheriff’s office released records showing how many times it had received alarming reports about Cruz, 19, over the years — including two that specifically warned he was a potential school shooter.

    The records show that a neighbor called in February 2016 to report that Cruz “planned to shoot up the school” and had posted photos to Instagram of himself posing with guns.

    The information was passed on to Peterson, but it was not clear what, if anything, he did with it.

    {...}

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    1. {...}

      Another person phoned the sheriff’s office in November last year to say the teen was stockpiling guns and knives and warn that “he could be a school shooter in the making,” the records show.

      But the caller was told to contact the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office instead because Cruz had moved out of Broward, according to the records.

      In September 2016, a peer counselor told Peterson that Cruz had tried to kill himself by drinking gasoline, was cutting himself, possessed hate symbols and expressed a desire to buy a gun “for hunting.”

      This time, Peterson did make a report, but a mental-health worker determined Cruz didn’t meet the state’s criteria for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility, the records show.

      Cruz stayed at the school for another five months before he was transferred out.

      President Trump sharply criticized Peterson on Friday.

      “He trained his whole life. When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage or something happened, but he certainly did a poor job — there’s no question about that,” Trump told a reporter.

      Video, meanwhile, emerged of Peterson touting the value of resource officers like himself during a 2015 school-board meeting.

      “We are crime prevention. An audit report will never show how much we prevent,” he tells the board members, according to the Sun Sentinel.

      Peterson also brags of chasing four people through a school with his gun after the cafeteria alarm went off, and recalls responding to a report of an armed man wearing a ski mask

      “So I ran, put some shorts on, ran out with my firearm, while I’m running to the school, I’m contacting Coconut Creek police, we set up a perimeter,” he said.

      It turned out the miscreant was an 18-year-old senior with a paintball gun.


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  4. Most people will not risk their life for a stranger. Almost all people will do what has to be done to save their own life and their family and friends. Those inside the school will be most motivated to protect themselves from an intruder. They need controlled entry points and internal security from interested and invested armed adults. Parents have the obligation to protect their own children. Cops, federal and local government workers are not going to protect their children.

    The entire concept of public schools where someone else, (unionized workers), is given responsibility to educate, indoctrinate and protect school age children is broken. It is as broken as current families, morals , ethics and virtue. Best to break them up. Go to vouchers and place the responsibility for education and protection of children where is belongs with the parents, the churches and local communities.

    The rest is pissing in the wind.

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  5. ‘School shooter in the making’: All the times authorities were warned about Nikolas Cruz
    BY NICHOLAS NEHAMAS

    nnehamas@miamiherald.com

    ▪ Feb. 5, 2016: A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy is told by an anonymous caller that Nikolas Cruz, then 17, had threatened on Instagram to shoot up his school and posted a photo of himself with guns. The information is forwarded to BSO Deputy Scot Peterson, a school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

    ▪ Sept. 23, 2016: A “peer counselor” reports to Peterson that Cruz had possibly ingested gasoline in a suicide attempt, was cutting himself and wanted to buy a gun. A mental health counselor advises against involuntary committing Cruz. The high school says it will conduct a threat assessment.

    ▪ Sept. 28, 2016: An investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families rules Cruz is stable, despite “fresh cuts” on his arms. His mother, Lynda Cruz, says in the past he wrote “hate signs” on his book bag and had recently talked of buying firearms.

    ▪ Sept. 24, 2017: A YouTube user named “nikolas cruz” posts a comment stating he wants to become a “professional school shooter.” The comment is reported to the FBI in Mississippi, which fails to make the connection to Cruz in South Florida.

    ▪ Nov. 1, 2017: Katherine Blaine, Lynda Cruz’s cousin, calls BSO to report that Nikolas Cruz had weapons and asks that police recover them. A “close family friend” agrees to take the firearms, according to BSO.

    ▪ Nov. 29, 2017: The Palm Beach County family that took in Cruz after the death of his mother calls the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office to report a fight between him and their son, 22. A member of the family says Cruz had threatened to “get his gun and come back” and that he has “put the gun to others’ heads in the past.” The family does not want him arrested once he calms down.

    ▪ Nov. 30, 2017: A caller from Massachusetts calls BSO to report that Cruz is collecting guns and knives and could be a “school shooter in the making.” A BSO deputy advises the caller to contact the Palm Beach sheriff.

    ▪ Jan. 5, 2018: A caller to the FBI’s tip line reports that Cruz has “a desire to kill people” and could potentially conduct a school shooting. The information is never passed on to the FBI’s office in Miami.

    ▪ Feb. 14, 2018: Nikolas Cruz attacks Stoneman Douglas High. Peterson, the school’s resource officer, draws his gun outside the building where Cruz is shooting students and staff. He does not enter.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article201684874.html

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  6. Fox just reported Cruz was urged/forced to sign a 'safety contract', with, I think, the school (?).

    And did.

    Well, that should do it.

    Problem solved.

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  7. The MOST MASSIVE Security Breach in US history @ 1600 Pennsylvania Ave continues.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-jared-kushner-security-clearance-20180223-story.html


    LOCK 'EM UP !!!

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  8. In a statement to The Washington Post last week, Lowell said he had been assured by officials that there was nothing unusual about the delay in Kushner's security clearance.

    "My inquiries to those involved again have confirmed that there are a dozen or more people at Mr. Kushner's level whose process is delayed, that it is not uncommon for this process to take this long in a new administration, that the current backlogs are being addressed, and no concerns were raised about Mr. Kushner's application," Lowell said in a statement on Feb. 16.



    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-jared-kushner-security-clearance-20180223-story.html

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  9. February 24, 2018
    Rethinking system failure after Parkland
    By R.M. Doak

    ....Beyond the blathering of political pontiffs, there are a few simple remedies worthy of serious consideration. For example, if school systems cannot protect our children, then perhaps parents might rise to the challenge of withdrawing their students from such a system and oversee education at home. That's right: homeschooling. Perhaps homeschooling isn't an option for everyone, but it is clearly a rational alternative that is both secure and sensible.

    Consider this as well: there are distinct domestic populations where violence in schools is virtually nil and where young male testosterone flows at the same levels as in the general population. Amish schools in my area of the country come to mind. Think of such close-knit communities as the control group and America's far-flung public school system as the experimental group. Amish boys grow up around hunting rifles and shotguns, yet violence in their community schools is so very rare as to be considered nonexistent. Of course, Amish youths have two parents in the home, prayer at every meal, chores before and after school, and a real sense of worth and engagement with their community. Without glamorizing Amish life (it is demanding), where are the isolation, radicalization, and rampages in their young adult males that lead to massacre?

    The values of the small, tightly knit Amish community cash out in their locally managed schools, which do well with an absolute minimum of government interference. Parents and teachers are in charge, and the system is small and effective....




    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/02/rethinking_system_failure_after_parkland.html#ixzz581GJDRSb

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    1. Amish boys grow up around hunting rifles and shotguns, yet violence in their community schools is so very rare as to be considered nonexistent. Of course, Amish youths have two parents in the home, prayer at every meal, chores before and after school, and a real sense of worth and engagement with their community. Without glamorizing Amish life (it is demanding), where are the isolation, radicalization, and rampages in their young adult males that lead to massacre?

      Delete
  10. Samuel Adams said: “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.”

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  11. It shore was a good thang ole Cruz wussent shootin no holla points! Laudie Mercy!

    ReplyDelete
  12. To our Founding Fathers it was obvious, or “self-evident,” that self-government, or a democratic republic, could only be perpetuated by the self-governed.

    Reflecting these precepts, a contemporary German writer to the Founders, J. W. von Goethe, stated: "What is the best government? -- That which teaches us to govern ourselves." And, a later, prominent 19th Century minister, Henry Ward Beecher, simply said: “There is no liberty to men who know not how to govern themselves.” Self-governance consists of self-regulation of our behavior, ambitions and passions. To this end, the Founders fundamentally believed that the ability to govern ourselves rests with our individual and collective virtue (or moral character).

    No Liberty Without Virtue

    Can anyone seriously deny the fundamental damage done to every level of our culture and society? Are we shocked by the results?

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  13. We outsourced our common decency to the progressive left and here we are.

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  14. I think something happened/changed after the 60's.

    I can't recall any of this type of slaughter in the 50's when I was growing up. Yet there were probably as many guns per citizen as there are now, maybe even more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. News traveled slowly in those days. Maybe I just missed it.

      Delete
  15. All those warning signs, all that bizarre and threatening behavior, yet he is still legally able to possess those guns. Can't take them away from him or lock him up for having them. Your answer - throw more guns into the mix and school your kids at home. Brilliant!

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    1. Cause, dontcha know, the Constitution and it's amendments was written in stone by those Godly founding fathers. Tis the word of God himself.

      Delete
    2. Good ol' Ash, always the nitwit.

      Delete
    3. What are you committed to Ash?
      Have you kept a single commitment in your life?
      Do you tend to give up when faced with adversity?
      The constitution is so much more than just words on paper.
      It ain't perfect, but it and the Bill of Rights are far better than any other.

      Delete
    4. And what would you do to make schools safer?
      I haven't been following the comments very closely so forgive me if you have already offered up some helpful information.

      Delete
    5. Ash doesn't know the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.

      It's not for shooting deer or defending the home.

      It's for shooting tyrants, if it should ever come to that, preserving a free state.

      "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

      Delete
  16. Gary Johnson is in favor of arming those teachers who wish to be armed.

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    1. .

      Teachers With Guns

      One more layer of things that can go wrong.

      I can see the scene being played out. Swat team enters schools during shooter incident. They spot black man in the hall holding a gun and start yelling to him (hopefully). One inadvertent move (or not) and bam, one less black teacher (plus any other collateral damage from the hail of bullets).

      Teachers are trained to do a job.

      Police and security personnel are trained to do another.

      IMHO.

      .

      .

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    2. .

      Bump Stocks

      Trump says he wants to ban bump stocks. Tells Sessions to 'investigate' how it can be done.

      Eschewing my usual cynicism, I won't question Trump's motives. However...

      This has already been looked at and under existing law bump stocks can't be banned. Not sure of all the technicalities of the law but basically the bump stock is designated as an 'accessory' and can't be banned without the law being changed. That means congress must pass a law banning it.

      Proposed laws were introduced at the time of the Vegas incident in October. Leadership has still not allowed those bills to come to the floor for a vote.

      .

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    3. .

      More police in schools, arm teachers, pay bonuses

      Shoot from the hip (no pun intended) solutions that will go nowhere.

      Show me the money!

      All of the solutions above are solutions that might come easily to mind in a situation like this but reality usually intrudes. They all cost money.

      There are more and more stories lately of teachers who are homeless, some living out of their cars, many planning to leave the profession because of the finances. How many of these people would quickly sign up for those 'bonuses'? How many would be qualified and committed to the idea and how many would simply be looking for a few extra bucks?

      It's easy to say put more police in the schools as LaPierre suggest but where does the money come from? The number of school districts rolling in the money to pay for this new program is likely relatively small.

      The latest budget proposals and tax plan exacerbate the problems.

      Federal funds for ICE and border security have been increased while grants and revenue sharing for law enforcement programs at the state and local levels have been drastically cut.

      Most school districts depend to a large degree on property taxes for funding. Deductions for state and local taxes have been cut. More legislation like the Headlee amendment here in MI which limits how much property taxes can rise will likely follow.

      Any changes in school security in this country are likely to be spotty and ineffective with security being tightened in more wealthy districts and ignored or slapdash in poorer districts.

      .

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    4. .

      We have to put a new emphasis on mental health issues

      Easy to talk. Harder to walk that talk.

      At the same time the administration is suggesting that states spend money on adding armed guards they are (up to now) offering no funds to help. The same applies to the mental health situation where the latest budget proposal reflects major cuts in Medicare/Medicaid including programs to address those mental health problems.

      Will budget proposals be changed, will Congress allocate funds to address these issues? Don't count on it.

      Trump put out a tweet today. It says it all.

      "Armed Educators (and trusted people who work within a school) love our students and will protect them," he tweeted. "Very smart people. Must be firearms adept & have annual training. Should get yearly bonus. Shootings will not happen again — a big & very inexpensive deterrent. Up to States."

      .

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    5. .

      Prediction: A few months from now all of this will have faded into the general category 'past school shootings' and very little will have actually been done.

      Hope I'm wrong.

      .

      Delete
    6. Having criticized so many of the ideas of others, what is your solution, Quirk ?

      Delete
    7. Your Feelings Have Nothing to Do with the Second Amendment
      By William Sullivan

      Looking to capitalize on the public whirlwind demanding gun control measures, Ohio governor John Kasich took to Twitter to ask:

      If all the sudden you couldn't buy an AR-15, what would you lose? Would you feel your second amendment [sic] rights would be eroded? These are the things that have to be looked at and action has to happen.


      What I'd lose should be pretty obvious. I'd lose the ability to purchase an AR-15 to defend my family, my life, and my home because the federal government has prohibited me from doing so – i.e., infringed upon my right to do so. The Second Amendment could not be clearer in declaring that the federal government has no such right enumerated in the Constitution.

      If the practical result is that my rights are inarguably infringed, why would your feelings, my feelings, or anyone else's feelings have any relevance whatsoever?

      This is not a discussion. These are my rights. How you feel about the exercising of my rights doesn't matter at all. And if it is decided that your feelings warrant the legal erosion of my rights, isn't it clear that what we're talking about are not, in fact, "rights" as understood by our Founders, but allowances that government either permits or rescinds based upon the whims of a perceived majority opinion?

      Kasich is virtue-signaling....



      https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/02/your_feelings_have_nothing_to_do_with_the_second_amendment.html#ixzz583ibQyZg

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    8. There is going to be some kind of legislation passed because everyone wants to do something. And no one wants to be on record as voting against safety in schools.

      Delete
    9. .

      I gave them to you a number of times before in the last week, Bob.

      Try and keep up.

      .

      Delete
    10. .

      Also, I didn't criticize all the ideas above. I merely pointed out the problems with them and why they are unlikely to happen.

      If someone suggests something that they know isn't going to happen it'd just a diversion.

      Everything that will effect this problem is going to have to start in Congress and given that Congress would rather waste money on the military than spend it on American citizens and from what we have seen with the bump stock issue, I would say that is unlikely to happen.

      .

      Delete
    11. "affect"

      It's already happening in schools around the country.

      Congress has not acted.

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    12. .

      Ah, the school marm is back.

      And offering up anecdotal examples to a problem that requires universal solutions.

      .

      Delete
  17. Here's a suggestion - everyone that wants to buy a semi-automatic rifle must go through the same process as those who wish to have a concealed weapons permit.

    This would weed out most of the nut jobs.

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  18. .

    PR 101

    The Democratic Memo has been released...

    on Saturday, at 5:00pm, 3 weeks after the Nunes memo, at the same time Nunes is addressing CPAC.

    :o)

    Clever timing.

    Dem rebuttal released

    <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/24/read-full-text-democratic-intelligence-memo/370401002/>Dem Memo Transcript</a>

    .

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. "The release comes after weeks of back and forth over how much of the document would be redacted. The White House on Feb. 9 objected to its release, citing national security concerns. That sent the Democrats back to negotiations with the FBI over how much of the memo needed to be blacked out."

      ...so your beloved FBI is in collusion with Nunes?

      Hilarious.

      Delete
  19. THE DEMOCRATS’ MEMO: CHARGE AND RESPONSE

    https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/democrat_memo_charge_and_response.pdf

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