As IF Times

Source: As Gunman Rampaged Through Florida School, Armed Deputy ‘Never Went In’ – The New York Times

In case anyone missed it, there was a shooting at a high school in Florida recently, claiming the lives of 17 people.  The perpetrator was an ex student who was previously ejected from the school for numerous instances of unsociable behavior.

How unsociable?  Well the police had been called to his home no less than 39 times by his neighbors for various incidents over the years.  There were other subtle clues to his mental state, namely, self posted You Tube videos in which he publicly professed interest in becoming a mass shooter at a school, accompanied by images of his numerous weapons.  Oh and apparently he had been torturing animals as well.  Other students knew this kid to be disturbed and at least one publicly reported him to the authorities because they felt Cruz was such a menace.  Her exact words were, ” I think he’s going to shoot up a school.”

As we now know, the FBI were given specific directions to his online activities but somehow, no one took it seriously enough to even send an agent to knock on Cruz’s door.  The fact that Cruz used his real name for his online activities obviously confused the law agencies since they couldn’t figure out who or where he was.  At the time of the shooting, at least one and maybe 4 armed deputies were at the school but declined to engage the shooter.

After the horrific event, when fingers began pointing like sunflowers to the setting sun, somehow it was determined that it was the NRA who were the villains.  Like circus ringmasters, the shameless media led by CNN began ginning up the grief of the parents and children and redirected it towards the evil NRA.  Predictably, images of sobbing children filled the airwaves imploring that ‘something has to be done’.  For some reason, the knee jerk response to anything tragic defaults to “the government has to do something”.

In this case, governments were involved at every level.  From the district school level, which had revised their policies to not accosting students for infractions because of racial sensitivities; to the local police who were aware of Cruz from all the disturbance calls; and to the federal level of the FBI who were virtually given flashing red arrows to the existence of this young man.   Even the sheriffs who were posted at the school specifically to provide protection were of no use. There’s a television ad presently running which depicts a bank being robbed; as the patrons look to a uniformed guard, he states, “oh I’m not a bank guard, I’m a bank monitor”.  In the case of the Broward county deputies, life imitates art.

But it’s the NRA’s fault.

Predictably, every time a tragedy of this type occurs, there are the expected shrill wails from the same quarters that ‘government must do something’, which is essentially dog whistle for, ‘take away all guns’.  In this case, government was involved at every step…and they failed at every one of them.  This is the same mentality as blaming restaurants for obesity and then having governments regulate them.  Heck, may as well outlaw forks.

Blaming the NRA and expecting the government to guarantee everyone’s safety perpetuates a level of willful ignorance that seems to draw in more naïve people all the time.  As Rahm Emmanuel once stated, ‘never let a good disaster go to waste’. How do we know this tragedy is being used for political leverage? Dana Loesch, a spokesman for the NRA made the observation that crying white mothers made for very effective TV.  But does anyone see images of crying black mothers from a weekend, every weekend of shootings in Chicago?

Source: Nunes: Ben Rhodes Must Have Seen the Russian Dossier – Cortney OBrien

Even the most non political person can’t help but be exposed to the never ending river of controversy, scandal and subterfuge that flows from Washington D.C.  This is hardly a recent phenomenon; scandals are as inexorably linked to politics as fingernails are to fingers.

All of this shady behavior has resulted in a bull market for lawyers and investigators to probe whatever malfeasance has been imagined to have been propagated by whomever.  It’s like primary school only with adults and real money.  Ultimately however, nothing much seems to come from all of the investigations, legal procedures and huffing and puffing.

Back in the day, if there was ever discovery of impropriety, it was over.  The perp is shamefully forced out of office or people spend time in the hoosegow….piled of top of which was a heaping dollop of disgrace.  In our modern times, the notion of anyone being brought to account for actions which are several times more severe is laughingly quaint.  What’s more, the same gaggle of perps seems to appear anytime someone  even mentions the word ‘scandal’.  You would think a lot of money could be saved by just investigating the same people!  Like the famous Gary Larson cartoon, they don’t even pretend to conceal their efforts.

And why should they? Over the past 8 years, despite overwhelming evidence condemning their proven nefarious activities, no one in government has suffered any penal consequence.  People are allowed to resign, keep their pensions, write a book and become a sage pundit on MSNBC.  Who suffered from the IRS scandal? Fast and Furious? The Benghazi cover up? Anyone go to jail? Pay a fine? Write numerous times on a chalkboard? A strong scolding?

What’s clear is that malfeasance on the progressive side of the political divide is not punished with the same zeal as if the accused were a conservative.  The conviction of Scooter Libby for activities that pale in comparison to what’s happening now with the FBI investigations show just how slanted the process is.

What’s worse is that the very ones who were found to have told knee slapping whoppers are still in the media tsk tsking about truth and discovery.  The very same names keep popping up again and again like the fat guy at the buffet table.  This is a real life version of the famous line from the film Casablanca, in which the police captain tells his men to round up the usual suspects.  Imagine if exterminators came to your house and identified the vermin but just sent them on their way.

In Washington, as in most businesses, the general means by which to get things done is by the classic carrot and stick methodology.  From the public’s perspective, it looks as if political operatives get all carrot and no stick.  As we can imagine, this only emboldens people to act without any real fear of consequences and thus nefarious activity becomes standard operating procedure.