At least five people are dead and 10 wounded following a series of apparently random shootings Tuesday morning at seven different locations in rural Northern California.
One of the locations was an elementary school, police said, where at least two students were sent to hospitals with injuries including a 6-year-old boy. The dead included the shooter, who was killed by police.
The shooting started at 7:52 a.m. Pacific Time when the gunman shot several of his own neighbors on Bobcat Lane in Rancho Tehama Reserve. Witnesses said one man died in his driveway as a result of the first round of gunfire.
Residents there said they had been complaining for weeks about the shooter firing his gun late at night and early mornings.
From his own subdivision, the shooter is believed to have used a stolen truck to travel toward the town. He opened fire on a woman and her daughter, who were in a Ford truck on the main road leading through town. Both were taken to hospital along with three children and an adult from the school. (Read more from “California Shootings Leave 7 Dead in Five Locations, Including School” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Japanese_high_school_classroom-1-1.jpg9601280Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 21:23:352017-11-14 21:23:35California Shootings Leave 7 Dead in Five Locations, Including School
As a shooter attacked parishioners in a Sutherland Springs church Sunday, a grandmother stepped in front of her 18-year-old grandson, absorbing the bullets and saving his life, according to a family member.
Peggy Lynn Warden, 56, of La Vernia, was killed in the mass shooting at First Baptist Church that also left her grandson, Zachary Logan Poston, with multiple gunshot wounds in the arms and legs, said Korri Scheel Stevens, Warden’s sister-in-law and Poston’s great-aunt.
“She is our hero,” Stevens said. “She saved Zachary’s life.”
Stevens first shared the family’s story on a GoFundMe page created to help raise money for Poston’s medical expenses and his college education.
Warden was among the 26 people killed by Devin Patrick Kelley, who walked into the church with an assault rifle and opened fire. (Read more from “Grandmother Sacrificed Self to Save Grandson in Church Shooting” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/757-1232906419B2Gp-1.jpg9601280Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-09 21:37:432017-11-09 21:37:43Grandmother Sacrificed Self to Save Grandson in Church Shooting
By WND. A quiet morning at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, turned into a bloodbath Sunday when a gunman dressed in full combat gear walked in and opened fire during services, killing at least 26 people and injuring 20 others, including children.
The shooting erupted about 11:20 a.m. Central Time at the First Baptist Church, with about 50 people in attendance during the onslaught.
The shooter, identified by numerous media as Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26-year-old from New Braunfels Texas, was killed after a chase from Wilson County into neighboring Guadalupe County. Kelley was formerly in the U.S. Air Force, specializing in logistics readiness.
At a news conference Sunday evening, the Texas Department of Public Safety said the shooter, dressed in black an wearing a bulletproof vest, initially started shooting outside the church, before moving inside and continuing to fire . . .
Upon his exit, a local resident grabbed his own rifle and engaged the subject. The suspect dropped his weapon and then got into a vehicle where a chase ensued. The suspect’s vehicle eventually ran off the roadway and the shooter was found deceased in his vehicle. (Read more from “Texas Church Killer Identified” HERE)
____________________________________________
Texas Church Shooting: Who Is Gunman Devin Patrick Kelley?
By Fox News. The gunman suspected of opening fire at a church in Texas on Sunday has been identified to Fox News as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley . . .
The gunman previously served in the U.S. Air Force, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Fox News. Kelley served at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge in 2014.
He was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his wife and his child. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force, in addition to confinement for 12 months and was reduced in rank.
Kelley worked as a security guard for a Texas waterpark this past summer, according to a resume under his name that appears online . . .
The suspect, who is believed to be from New Braunfels, a suburb outside San Antonio, was found dead in his car after he sped away from the scene of the shooting. Officials said it remained unclear whether he was shot dead by police or an armed nearby resident, or if he died from a self-inflicted wound. (Read more from “Texas Church Shooting: Who Is Gunman Devin Patrick Kelley?” HERE)
____________________________________________
‘Hero’ Neighbor Got His Rifle, Shot at Texas Church Gunman
By New York Post. A concerned neighbor who heard the Texas church massacre unfolding on Sunday went and grabbed his rifle and tried to stop it — opening fire on the shooter and chasing him down in a stranger’s truck, a report says.
The man, who has not been publicly named, is being hailed online as a “hero” after state officials described his actions during a press conference.
A resident told the local ABC affiliate KSAT that he teamed up with her boyfriend and the two gave chase for several minutes inside his truck before the alleged gunman, Devin Kelley, eventually crashed the car he was in.
Authorities said the armed neighbor may have saved countless lives by opening fire on Kelley and forcing him to flee the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs during his 11:30 a.m. massacre. (Read more from “‘Hero’ Neighbor Got His Rifle, Shot at Texas Church Gunman” HERE)
There are holes galore over the official narrative of the Las Vegas shooting; even police are starting to admit that a single gunman could not have been responsible for the plot. It’s way too sophisticated, far too many people died and were injured, while the motive hasn’t been determined thus far. Too much doesn’t add up. It seems like every day we are given more questions than answers as evidence begins to drip out. Now a cryptic note with numbers has been disclosed by authorities.
It has almost been a week since one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history but investigators, journalists, and armchair investigators are all left confused by what transpired in Las Vegas. There are so many theories, in fact, that YouTube has now tweaked its algorithm to protect you from questioning the official narrative, while regurgitating the mainstream media as an “authoritative source,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“In response to criticism on social media of some search results this week, a person familiar with YouTube said the company is accelerating the rollout of planned changes to its search engine. On Wednesday night, the video service began promoting more authoritative sources in search results, especially pertaining to major news events, the person said. YouTube doesn’t disclose how it determines which sources are authoritative,” YouTube wrote in a statement.
The unthinkable, a shooting of a peaceful gathering for music interrupted by pelted gunfire which took the lives of 60 and injured hundreds of others. Perpetrated by the perfect criminal, a rich 64-year-old former accountant and real estate investor addicted to gambling who could afford 23 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition for all of those firearms.
The shooting reportedly lasted five to fifteen minutes, though estimates vary according to the Washington Post.
While that in itself raises questions such as if there are multiple guns why would authorities rule out a second, third or even possible fourth shooter before any formal investigation? Especially since earlier police audio indicated that there might be more than one shooter.
The story certainly doesn’t end there. Since the October 1st shooting new facts have emerged as the “official narrative” of the shooting takes shape that just leaves you scratching your head thinking wtf?
The gunman set up cameras throughout the hall, under the serving cart and in front of the door to watch for police, yet now MSM news outlets are reporting that he may have been planning to escape. If true, his car had homemade explosives in it; so was he planning on martyrdom?
Yesterday, the narrative took an even more blurry weird turn as investigators finally admitted that a note was found on the scene but the note was alleged to be just numbers, no letters, just cryptic code according to authorities.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed the revelation in Friday’s press conference:
McMahill said Friday afternoon that police have yet to determine “what those numbers are or mean.”
“In the past, terror attacks or mass murder motive was made very clear by a note that was left, by a social media post, by a telephone call that was made, by investigators mining computer data,” Undersheriff McMahill said.
“Today, in our investigation, we don’t have any of that uncovered. I wish we did. We will and are continuing to investigate with great tenacity and hope to arrive at an answer,” he added.
While a Las Vegas K9 police officer Dave Newton has alleged it was calculations about where the shooter needed to aim.
“I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was gonna be for for the crowd,” Newton said. “So he had had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there.”
This explains the police secrecy behind this note, at first denying that any “suicide note” even existed, but was subsequently revealed in leaked photos from the crime scene which forced police to acknowledge it. Also revealed in the leaked pictures were several anomalies of the crime scene. One example is the way the shooter died with a firearm perched over the killer’s leg and what looked like empty shells above his head in a pool of blood that had not a squirt somehow on the top of any of the bullets. In short, the scene was impossible, it was too perfect. Both the shell casing and gun looked planted. Maybe that is why the photos were leaked along with the existence of the note left on the table?
If someone shot themselves in the head and the bullet casing was there from firing hundreds of shots ejected from the gun, that scene would be impossible as there would be blood all over the shells, not just floating in a murky pool. In order for this scenario to happen the killer would have had to have been sitting down on the ground with a gun across his leg and when he blew his brains out there would be blood all behind him covering the empty shell casings in blood. Instead, what we see is a scene where the killer is bleeding out his skull drooling out blood while all of the visible bullets themselves remain virtually clean from any brain tissue residue.
It’s more likely that the crime scene was tampered with and someone left the rifle on his leg to prove it. Why? Because as the early reports stated by police, they “neutralized the killer.”
After the situation settled down, the narrative was changed to death by suicide. In this writer’s opinion, by covering up simple facts like cause of death the police are only fueling the theory that the attack was a false flag. While they further refused until now to tell the public about the existence of the note and stated there was no motive that only furthers that divide.
Other things that don’t quite add up, Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, is alleged to have worked at the hotel. Paddock used her key card to get around the place according to reports. Paddock’s car was held in a garage and security footage shows his vehicle leaving the facility, yet his key card was still used to get in the hotel when he was documented to have left the parking deck according to authorities. Then there is the recent discovery of a cell phone charger that didn’t match any of the cell phones used by the killer.
There is also the unconfirmed alleged room service receipt which shows that Paddock paid for a meal for two, mere days before he decided to commit his mass massacre. If confirmed, since it’s been reported he was scouting out several other festivals including Lalapalooza and a hotel in Chicago, it may mean he had help for his now-known premeditated murder spree.
Another fact barely getting any media coverage is that Paddock filmed himself during the incident, something widely known to be done by jihadists who commit attacks in the allegiance of ISIS.
Former Trump campaign official James Brower expanded on the video stating:
“There is a video, this video will prove the motive. He had a secret digital profile that was uncovered in the last 24 hours,” Brower tweeted.
Brower then later tweeted “Motive will be pretty shocking, I won’t say much but it will definitely change a lot of things going forward.”
There is a video, this video will prove the motive. He had a secret digital profile that was uncovered over the last 24 hrs. https://t.co/SSJxnvasld
Brower revealed additional details to Infowars, “I’m being told the video basically speaks about a network, they wouldn’t tell me directly if it was ISIS but they threw little hints that it was,” he said. “The reason the video more than likely is never released is because they believe it will trigger the “cells” he speaks of.”
“There should be a statement on motive soon,” Brower added, “They believe he was inspired by ISIS.”
The FBI has denied that ISIS was responsible, stating they have found no evidence he was connected to the radical group.
ISIS claimed responsibility, stating Paddock converted to Islam 6 months ago but did not provide proof for their claims.
While police continue to echo earlier claims stating they are “confident … there was not another shooter in that room.” Albeit the facts above point to the potential that there was at least one other person involved in the tragedy.
However, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo has stated that you have to make the assumption he had some help at some point.
“Do you think this was all accomplished on his own?” Lombardo asked, noting the arsenal of weapons the shooter amassed, and the discovery of explosives in his car. He added: “You’ve got to make the assumption he had to have some help at some point.”
Meanwhile, the DOJ has just released a press release which states an indictment for three men who planned a similar plot to shoot up concerts in New York over the summer in the name of ISIL but were caught.
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a 19-year-old citizen of Canada who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Pakistan and 37-year-old Russell Salic who is a citizen of the Philippines were all charged with terrorism-related charges.
The terror group released a propaganda video calling for attacks in May which specifically listed Las Vegas as an attack location, The Washington Times reported.
That video purportedly showed an American fighter calling for attacks in the U.S with images of the Las Vegas strip and Times Square as well as other potential Western targets, such as New York and Washington, according to NBC News.
The State Department issued a travel terror warning in mid-September of the threat ISIS poses to Americans mere weeks before the attack in Las Vegas.
“U.S. government facilities worldwide remain in a heightened state of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or periodically suspend public services to assess their security posture. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate,” the warning read.
“Terrorist groups including ISIS, al-Qa’ida, their associates, and those inspired by such organizations, are intent on attacking U.S. citizens wherever they are. Extremists may use conventional or non-conventional weapons to target U.S. government and private interests. Terrorists are increasingly using less sophisticated methods of attack to more effectively target crowds, including the use of edged weapons, pistols, and vehicles as weapons.”
Of particular interest, the State Dept noted that extremists increasingly aim to assault “soft” targets, such as:
high-profile public events (sporting contests, political rallies, demonstrations, holiday events, celebratory gatherings, etc.)
hotels, clubs, and restaurants
places of worship
schools
parks
shopping malls and markets
tourism infrastructure
public transportation systems
airports
There are way more questions left to be answered besides these, but these are the newest. For an early rundown on the shooting check out my article on Steemit here for a fair unbiased article exploring both sides of whether the shooting was a false flag or an ISIS attack. What we all know by now is this plot has too many elements to be the work of just one lone wolf who the media is now trying to push as mentally insane with health problems, but that would require dismissing the rest of the facts. None of this adds up. (For more from the author of “Las Vegas Shooting: A Cryptic Note, Impossible Planted Rifle and Swipe of a Key Card That Doesn’t Add Up” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Las-Vegas2.jpg546943Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-10 22:25:222017-10-15 00:09:34Las Vegas Shooting: A Cryptic Note, Impossible Planted Rifle and Swipe of a Key Card That Doesn’t Add Up
(Editor’s Note: The “second shooter” theory, at least based on the videos below, is bunk. Other videos show a similar reflection on the window prior to the massacre and there’s no evidence of the window being broken below the 32nd floor. That being said, several concert-goers swear there was more than one shooter. In the din of confusion, there’s a strong possibility that they heard echoes. Please comment below on what you think.)
By Tyler Durden. Video has emerged that raises serious questions about the official authorities’ version of events in Las Vegas on Sunday night…
(This video has been removed without explanation):
But as Intelihub reports, a taxi driver found herself a little too close for comfort last Sunday night as she slowly navigated her vehicle through Mandalay Bay’s property while 59 people were massacred and 526 others were being struck by a hail of bullets.
Astonishingly, the driver managed to capture video footage of what may be a second shooter which contradicts the current mainstream media narrative which purports that only a single shooter fired from the 32 floor.
In the bombshell video, what appears to be oscillating muzzle flash can be seen emitting from a lower-level window about 7 rows over from the right (north side) of the building and fully-automatic gunfire can be heard which also appears to coincide with the muzzle flash.
(Read more from “Video Footage Appears to Confirm SECOND Shooter in Las Vegas” HERE)
_______________________________________
New Video from Newscast Debunks Lower Floor Shooter Theory
_______________________________________
Slowed Video From Taxi Driver Shows Strobe Light Continuing to Flash Without Sounds of Gunfire
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/245237038_16cf9b4aac_b.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-03 21:37:292017-10-07 20:28:24Video Footage Appears to Confirm SECOND Shooter in Las Vegas? Probably Not . . .
Throughout history, there have been well-documented and factual occurrences of governments carrying staged events to manipulate the public into passing a law, accepting a war, or any other means of implementing control. These acts have been admitted to by the state, are 100 percent real. They happen so often that they have their own term—false flag.
There is a fine line to walk, however, between questioning everything and automatically assuming everything is a government conspiracy or false flag. Those who immediately claim every violent tragedy or event is a false flag often do more damage to the fight for truth than those who blindly accept everything their government tells them as the truth.
Every time an event happens it is important to keep an open mind, look for inconsistencies, try to find contradictions or impossibilities made to look possible, and always avoid jumping to conclusions.
Given the current information that has been released so far in the tragic shooting in Las Vegas, it appears that most everything we’ve been told so far is true and many of the inconsistencies appear to have come up from the mass hysteria and confusion surrounding such a violent and tragic event.
However, while most of what we are being told appears to be true, there are still some glaring inconsistencies that need to be addressed. The Free Thought Project has come up with a list of the top five inconsistencies surrounding this tragedy and we feel it is important to point them out to ultimately find the truth. Unlike other irresponsible outlets—rife with falsehoods—we will not attempt to claim we know the truth, nor speculate on a motive.
1. Stephen Paddock did not fit the bill for a mass murderer.
This is perhaps the most glaring of all the inconsistencies as most of the recent psychopath mass murderers in recent history made moves prior to killing that were consistent with being a psychopathic killer. Paddock did not.
Most odd was the fact that Paddock was rich. He was an accountant, lived in a half million dollar home in a retirement community and had no criminal record.
Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock was equally stunned to hear about what his brother had done as he had just talked to him. “We’re still just completely befuddled. Dumbstruck,” he said.
He described his brother as having “no history of violence. No history of anything couldn’t give a s*** less about politics, religion, pointy hatted people etc, etc. He just wanted to get a freaking royal flush.”
Eric said he had last talked to his brother when he called down to Florida to see how his mother was making out after losing power from hurricane Irma. How many mass murderers call to check on their mother before going on to slaughter dozens of innocent people?
2. Paddock was still playing with his girlfriend’s casino card trying to rack up points the night of the shooting.
Eric Paddock said how his brother “loved to gamble. He loved — when I say loved — it was a job. It was fun because people were nice to him.”
Paddock was a regular in Vegas. He’d even been captured on surveillance footage in the Cosmopolitan Casino in 2011 in which he was seen falling. He later tried to sue the hotel for getting hurt and even then everyone remained cordial and nice to him.
Prior to the shooting, Paddock had been at the Mandalay Bay casino for four days and had not done anything out of the ordinary to garner the attention of hotel security.
He had simply been gambling. While it is possible that he was simply blending in to maintain his cover and wait for the moment to strike, the fact that he used his girlfriend’s slot machine card seems completely out of the ordinary.
For those who don’t know, slot cards or gambling cards are ways casinos track loyal customers. When you rack up enough points, they will comp a room or a meal for you. Paddock was playing with this card—essentially planning for future comps—on the very night he opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 people.
Blending in is one thing, but racking up points to plan for future benefits on the night you are going to commit mass murder seems glaringly inconsistent.
3. Surveillance footage of Paddock inside the hotel has yet to be released.
In most mass shootings, within 24 hours we usually see at least a still image of the perpetrator as captured by the building’s surveillance cameras. In Paddock’s case, as of the time this article was published, none of this footage has been released.
Why not release at least a single shot of Paddock walking into the hotel lobby?
4. Neither room service, house cleaning, surveillance footage, nor security saw him bring hundreds of pounds of guns and ammo into the room.
Original reports noted that Paddock had somewhere around ten firearms in his hotel room after it was breached by SWAT. However, reports as of Tuesday morning now say authorities recovered a whopping 23 weapons.
Police noted that only one of these weapons was a handgun, meaning that 22 of them were long-form rifles or shotguns. . .
He had brought “in excess of 10” suitcases to the suite over several days, Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. Yet no one thought this to be suspicious?
Housekeepers said they “saw no signs of anything” suspicious, Nevada Rep. Dina Titus told CNN.
Paddock had a “pretty well hidden” arsenal, she said.
Authorities believe Paddock brought the weapons into the hotel by himself but did not provide specifics.
5. If Paddock acted alone, who was this mystery woman who warned everyone they were going to die 45 minutes before the shooting?
Caught on video after the shooting was an eyewitness report given to a local NBC affiliate in which a woman was described to have warned of the attack. The eyewitness claims to have seen a woman push her way to the first row of the concert roughly 45 minutes before the shooting began and levy threats indicating that everyone would soon be dead.
“So there was a lady who pushed her way forward into the first row and she started messing with another lady. She told us we were all going to die tonight – it was about forty-five minutes before the shots were fired,” the witness states.
While all these questions and inconsistencies could soon be answered or laid to rest by authorities, no mainstream media outlets are asking them. (For more from the author of “5 Glaring Inconsistencies in the Vegas Shooting That Need to Be Addressed” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/470px-Las_Vegas_Strip_shooting.png600470Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-03 20:12:512017-10-07 20:32:445 Glaring Inconsistencies in the Vegas Shooting That Need to Be Addressed
As talk of the recent Las Vegas mass shooting continues to circulate, there’s one voice that is attempting to speak to parents about the horrific attack so many bore witness to.
Whitney Fleming — author of the Facebook page Playdates on Fridays — has taken it upon herself to tackle the topic of parenting in an age when mass shootings have become an all-too-familiar event.
“There are no safe places anymore, which is every parents’ worst nightmare,” she stated.
She opened her post with the story of 53-year-old Mike McGarry, who shielded his children during the attack, acknowledging the selfless act of love while admitting she will not always be around to shield her own children.
Then, she offered something every parent, and every American, can do today.
“Instead, I will go over — again — what my children should do if they ever encounter gunfire. I will explain to them when they should run, when they should hide, and when they should remain silent. I will prepare them for this world and pray they will never need to use the information.”
Her entire post can be viewed here:
It it, Fleming admits she is “not shocked that the deadliest mass shooting in our country happened last night, and I won’t be shocked when it happens again — because it will.”
However, Fleming did not go over what her political perspective is, or what solutions she would advocate.
“We won’t agree, so nothing will change,” she said, apparently believing that the growing division in the U.S. would prevent any solutions from actually becoming reality.
Yet, many commenters asked for information about what to do during a shooting, to which Fleming responded with her own advice and a link to an article on the subject.
“I have no idea who you are but THIS is beautiful and so so so spot on. Prayers for Vegas and every single soul affected by the event that occurred. I wish and will pray that now more than ever we could just come together as ONE and let our love be stronger than any and all hate in this world,” wrote one commenter.
Fleming added that she will also tell her children “to look for the helpers, because they are always there. I will hope they remember my tips to guide them to safety. And I will encourage them to be kind to everyone they meet, because you never know the heartache they are carrying.
“If only we could clearly see and know how to help those among us that are most damaged inside before they unleash their pain on others,” Fleming wrote.
The post has been shared almost 60,000 times. The roughly 1,700 comments are overwhelmingly supportive.
She concluded her post by trying to remain positive even in the worst situations.
“(W)hen we don’t know what to do … when the world seems to come unhinged, the only thing we can do is try to do good,” Fleming wrote. “Do something — anything — good today. Do it for someone you don’t know. Do it for someone you dislike.”
“Do it for someone because maybe, just maybe, it will stop them from hurting someone else.” (For more from the author of “This Mom’s Message About Vegas Shooting Has Already Been Shared Nearly 60,000 Times” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/facebook-1903445_960_720.jpg511960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-03 19:59:342017-10-03 19:59:34This Mom’s Message About Vegas Shooting Has Already Been Shared Nearly 60,000 Times
A US judge in Ohio has fatally shot a gunman who critically wounded him in an ambush-style attack outside court.
Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr was shot several times just after 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT) in Steubenville on Monday morning.
Sheriff Fred Abdalla told reporters the attacker and the judge exchanged about five shots each.
A court officer also fired several shots at the suspect.
The Jefferson County prosecutor identified the attacker as Nathaniel Richmond, but said they had not yet identified a motive. (Read more from “Wounded Judge Fires Back, Kills Gunman Who Ambushed Him” HERE)
A day before submitting her resignation, Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau, in her first public statement on the killing nearly a week ago of an unarmed woman by a Somali refugee cop, called her death “unnecessary” and said it went against the protocol and training given to her officers.
“Justine [Damond] didn’t have to die,” Harteau, the city’s first openly lesbian police chief, said at a press conference Thursday night. Harteau had been hiking in Colorado all week in the aftermath of the shooting . . .
Former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said Harteau has to accept a large part of the blame for putting an unqualified officer on the street.
“Finally the female chief of Minneapolis police came out and said Justine Damond should still be alive. She said Mohammad Noor had no reason to shoot Justine,” Bachmann told WND. “He violated police policy and training. Noor refuses to cooperate with investigators. He refuses to give a statement.
“Firing him isn’t enough, the question is whether a grand jury will be impaneled. Manslaughter charges should be considered,” she added. (Read more from “‘Firing Isn’t Enough’ for Killer Cop Mohamed” HERE)
I’d expected that liberals would eventually turn to talk of gun control after Wednesday’s violent, horrible shooting targeting GOP lawmakers.
This was an attack that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise in critical condition as of Wednesday night, according to the hospital treating him, as well as wounding three others–a lawmaker’s aide, a Capitol Police officer, and a lobbyist. One of them, lobbyist and former Capitol Hill aide Matt Mika, also is in critical condition, according to reports.
I’d thought liberals would at least react with sympathy and sorrow that innocent people had been targeted by former Bernie Sanders volunteer James Hodgkinson, the man police say was the shooter, and allow some time to pass before switching to gun control.
Now, of course, neither Griffin or “Julius Caesar” director Oskar Eustis is at all responsible for the shooter’s decisions—but, just as I would hope no conservative would have done such things to President Barack Obama, it’s reasonable to ask the left to behave better, to not forget that Donald Trump, too, is a person. (And yes, it was inappropriate when a 2012 version of “Julius Caesar” starred an actor resembling Obama.)
And of course some, perhaps even most, on the left have been acting in a respectful way.
But there’s been some glaring exceptions.
The New York Times, rightly, is getting pilloried for its editorial, published Wednesday, that insinuated Sarah Palin’s target map was to blame for the shooting of Gabby Giffords. Here’s the language from the original editorial (via National Review):
Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs.
The New York Times has since corrected the piece, noting: “An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established.” Indeed.
National Review’s David French dismantled the argument, writing: “In its zeal to create moral equivalencies and maintain a particular narrative about the past, the Times flat-out lied. There is simply no ‘link to political incitement’ in Loughner’s murderous acts. The man was a paranoid schizophrenic who first got angry at Gabby Giffords years before Palin published her map.”
And CNN’s Jake Tapper, no conservative, similarly disputed the Times account:
even way back in Jan 2011 we knew that Loughlin's obsession began 3 years before the Palin map.https://t.co/9nJccuIQnb
You know what wasn’t mentioned in that Times editorial, which noted their grief in 2011 at “vicious American politics”? Kathy Griffin wasn’t mentioned nor was the “Julius Caesar” play. Oh, sure, the Times offered a pablum take on civility, writing:
Conservatives and right-wing media were quick on Wednesday to demand forceful condemnation of hate speech and crimes by anti-Trump liberals. They’re right. Liberals should of course be held to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right.
But without naming names or calling out any specific instances, that’s a pretty toothless take.
And when I went to The Slot, an offshoot of my favorite liberal site Jezebel, I found this comment on the article about the Scalise shooting:
Yeah, f— these people. Scalise voted for the AHCA [American Health Care Act] and got a good chunk of change from insurance and pharmaceutical companies and health professionals. [Republican Rep. Mo] Brooks is a Freedom Caucus member, so he can go to hell, too. Worst thing they’ll have is a traumatic memory, but they have insurance that allows them to get PTSD treated. Scalise will probably have a scar on his hip. No sympathy for these people. (Note: Language edited for decency, in both screenshot and quote.)
This comment was liked 156 times.
And while many Democrat politicians seem to be acting with humanity (including the wonderful display of Democrat lawmakers praying at a Washington, D.C. baseball field when they heard about the shooting), some almost immediately brought up gun control after the attack at the baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, had this to say Wednesday: “I think we need to do more to protect all of our citizens. I have long advocated — this is not what today is about — but there are too many guns on the street. We lose 93 million Americans a day to gun violence.”
McAuliffe, who clarified he meant 93 Americans a day after a reporter asked, said those words just a few hours after the shooting.
And Rep. Don Beyer, the Democrat who represents the district that includes the baseball field (and is, sadly, my House member), sent his constituents an email Wednesday afternoon that concluded with this sentiment: “I believe strongly that our nation should rethink its policies regarding gun violence, and I will have more for you soon on that issue.”
While I’m certainly aware of how fast the news cycle moves, could McAuliffe and Beyer maybe have held on to these hot takes, for oh, a whole 24 hours? After all, as of Wednesday night, Scalise was still in critical condition.
Never let a crisis go to waste, indeed.
Let’s refresh: The shooter was a former Bernie Sanders volunteer, who lawmakers said started shooting after confirming those on the field were Republicans, and whose social media use shows a clear liberal tilt.
Hogkinson’s alleged violent actions are his own responsibility, and nobody else’s.
But would it have been so crazy for the left to have taken a step back and reflected on their overheated rhetoric of the past few months, their willingness to depict Republicans and conservatives as monsters who want to hurt minorities and LGBT Americans and take away everyone’s health care? (Instead of people who have different views on appropriate discrimination policies, religious freedom, and the best way to ensure everyone has access to health care, not just insurance.)
No. It wouldn’t have been crazy.
It would have been refreshing.
But unfortunately, that’s not the America we live in today. (For more from the author of “The Shameful Response of the Left to Attempted GOP Massacre” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Kathy_Griffin_2015_TCA_Press_Tour_cropped.jpg1047693Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-06-15 21:36:382017-06-15 21:36:38The Shameful Response of the Left to Attempted GOP Massacre
