Category Archives: crime news

crime news

What would happen if we did this?

I watched Steve Bannon’s tirade outside the courtroom today as jury selection in his federal contempt of Congress trial was completed. I was struck by this question: What would happen if you or I thought to thumb our nose at a congressional subpoena?

If it were me, I would be locked up and kept in the cooler until my trial began.

The House 1/6 committee summoned Bannon — a former Donald Trump senior political adviser — to testify before the panel in its quest to find the truth behind the 1/6 insurrection. Bannon said, in effect, “f*** you” to the committee. The Department of Justice, acting within its authority, then indicted Bannon on contempt of Congress.

Well, today Bannon challenged the legitimacy of the House committee’s very existence, let alone its legal authority to subpoena him. Then he launched into The Big Lie mantra that “Donald Trump won the 2020 election” and that “Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.”

That is his opinion. Bannon also is full of horse dookey … but that’s just my opinion.

It astounds me beyond measure how these individuals think they can defy what I am certain is a duly and legally constituted congressional committee charged with the task of investigating what most of us believe is a crime against the government.

Yet there is Steve Bannon, a fire-breathing ideologue who spews The Big Lie about vote fraud — which has been thoroughly and roundly discredited — while giving the middle finger to a congressional probe.

I shudder to think what would happen if I were to demonstrate such arrogance.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Hail to this ‘good guy with a gun’

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The National Rifle Association’s mantra on gun violence is that the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun” is to put more guns into the hands of “good guys.”

It’s a bogus argument, given the infrequency of good guys responding in times of peril. However, this week, a good guy with a gun did so and I want to offer a shout-out to the young man who took out the shooter at an Indiana shopping mall.

His name is Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old from Seymour, Ind., who was shopping at the mall with his girlfriend when a lunatic opened fire. The gunman killed three people before Dicken shot him to death.

While Dicken is being hailed as a hero by police and bystanders who watched it happen, I want to caution against relying too heavily on these kinds of circumstances. I would hope that more “good guys with guns” would deter shooters from opening fire in the manner we have seen in all too many cases. Tragically, they don’t.

As Fox News reported: Dicken’s attorney, Guy A. Relford, said his client acted heroically in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“He is a true American hero who saved countless lives during a horrific event that could have been so much worse if not for Eli’s courage, preparedness and willingness to protect others,” Relford said.

Yes, he is a hero. I salute him for acting with cool, calm dispatch.

Let’s not put too much faith in these kinds of incidents repeating themselves. Let’s face it, we hear too few of these reports already even as more citizens are packing heat while shopping at the mall.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Armed cops couldn’t protect kids, but teachers can?

Let’s try to connect a couple of dots, shall we?

We have heard from a special panel — two Texas legislators and a retired state Supreme Court justice — looking into the Uvalde shooting in late May. We know that nearly 400 police officers responded to the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. The cops were from the U.S. Border Patrol, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde school district police department.

Also, we have learned of a “systemic failure” in that response. No one knew who was in charge. Still, heavily armed cops were on hand. No one seemed willing to storm the classroom and take out the shooter.

Let’s stipulate that these officers are trained for this kind of emergency. Still, they stood around and looked at each other while the shooter slaughtered his victims.

And yet …

There are those who believe teachers with rudimentary training in firearms can pull a gun out of a desk drawer and shoot a madman with minimal risk of hitting more victims. Do we also believe that teachers are immune from panic, that they could freeze out of fright?

I must be slow on the uptake. There is nothing sensible about arming teachers, some of whom might be in their first teaching job and asking them to do something that trained police officers — in the Uvalde case — were unable to do in time to stop the deaths of so many innocent victims.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Uvalde shooting panel: a pox on all houses

Three Texans — a former state Supreme Court justice and two members of the Texas House of Representatives — have delivered a scathing report on what went wrong when a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde elementary school.

Their verdict: We have witnessed a systemic failure at all levels.

The cops who responded to the violence didn’t know what they were doing, they didn’t know who was in charge and they failed at every level to protect the community from the madness that erupted at Robb Elementary School.

Now comes the seemingly impossible task of determining how we fix it. It’s not impossible, but, yes, it is daunting in the extreme.

I will stand by my earlier stated belief that Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo needs to be fired and he needs to be sent on down the road to do something other than put on a badge and strap on a firearm as a police officer.

I also will contend as the top cop in the Uvalde school district it naturally should have fallen on him to take charge of the situation.

The Texas Tribune reports: But blame for the flawed police response extends far beyond the school district police chief of a six-officer department, the report concludes.

The report criticized other officers and law enforcement agencies, many of them better trained, for failing to fill the leadership vacuum left by Arredondo’s inaction.

Law enforcement failures in Uvalde shooting went far beyond local police | The Texas Tribune

The 77-page report offers details on the number of police officers on the scene. Arredondo’s police force comprised a tiny fraction of the total tactical team.

State Reps. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and former Justice Eva Guzman have done a thorough job of laying bare how the command and control of the situation failed as the tragedy was unfolding.

Eva Guzman offered a cogent piece of advice to those who run every school system in Texas: read the report.

Moreover, these folks need to assess their own response strategies and whether they are able to do what the individuals who responded to the Uvalde slaughter failed to do.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

We need answers!

No one, it is quite safe to say, wants to be embarrassed before people who expect more from you.

So it was when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sang the praises of law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde school slaughter, only to learn the next day that he had been “misled” by the cops who had given him the wrong information about what happened when the shooter began killing those precious 19 children and their teachers.

Governor Greg Abbott comments on the leaked surveillance video from inside Robb Elementary School (msn.com)

Now he’s even angrier. The public now has seen the video of the stumble-bum response of police as the shooter was killing his victims. They didn’t know what to do, despite their extensive “active shooter” training.

“Obviously, it’s disgusting to see what happened,” said Gov. Abbott this week. “It’s been clear from the time of Columbine that whenever there is a shooting, like what was happening in this school, you run towards that danger and encounter that danger and you have to eliminate the shooter as quickly as possible. From what I have seen, from the video, it looks like that policy was not followed.”

To be fair, two officers did run toward the gunfire, but retreated when the gunman opened fire on them.

What happened over the next 77 minutes, though, makes our blood boil. The cops armed with shields and an array of weaponry failed to take the shooter out when they had multiple chances.

We have a truckload of issues to peel away. Time, though, is not on the side of anyone who must provide answers to parents, spouses and siblings of those who died in that horrific massacre.

They want answers to what happened and why it went so terribly wrong. They want them now.

They deserve to get what they are demanding.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Time for heads to roll

I’ve seen and heard enough, even from some distance, about the failure of the Uvalde, Texas, school district chief of police to protect the children and teachers in that grief-stricken district.

Pete Arredondo needs to find another line of work far away from law enforcement. Thus, it is up to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees to fire him. Send him packing. He didn’t do his job.

Whenever I see the term “administrative leave,” I tend to cringe. All that means is that whoever is being “punished” for failure to do his or her job is still getting paid even though he or she is not performing the duties of the job. That describes Arredondo’s status at the moment.

A gunman walked into Robb Elementary School and slaughtered 19 children and two educators. About the only thing of consequence that Arredondo has said is that he didn’t know he was in charge of the police response to the massacre.

Really? If not you, then who should have been in charge. This happened on property you took an oath to protect. The chief didn’t do his job.

The dilly-dallying by the school board has gone on long enough. The whole grieving world now has seen the video of the cops standing around, trying to figure out what to do while the lunatic was killing children in the classroom.

This tragedy is on Pete Arredondo’s hands. He failed to do his job. Arredondo needs to go.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Teachers with guns? No!

The video of the police freezing in place while a gunman slaughtered fourth-graders and two teachers in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school classroom has me thinking about one thing.

It’s the notion proposed by Republican politicians that we need to arm teachers, allow them to carry handguns into the classroom so they can take out shooters who did what the lunatic did in Uvalde.

My mind and my memory also are drawn to a comment that a North Texas educator told me just recently. He said teachers’ sign on to educate children. They do not become educators to pack firearms into school.

This educator told me in no way would he allow teachers to carry guns to work. What he didn’t say is what he would do if the local school board voted to authorize the arming of teachers. I think I know what he would do. He would resign.

Republican pols are wrong to suggest that teachers with guns is the correct response to this kind of carnage we have witnessed in Uvalde, or Newtown, Conn., or Littleton, Colo.

Meanwhile, our rage mounts as the video of the cops’ non-response to the Uvalde shooter burns ever more deeply into our soul.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Uvalde video: outrageous!

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott once proclaimed he was “livid” over what he said was a misleading report from police in their response to the Uvalde school massacre.

Well … I have to ask whether the governor is even more livid having no doubt seen the video of police officers scrambling like a group of Keystone Kops as the shooter opened fire in the Robb Elementary School classroom.

I mean, Abbott sat before us and praised the heroism and professionalism of the cops who responded to the slaughter of 19 fourth-graders and two of their teachers.

The video we have seen now tells us a radically — and tragically — different story. Stated briefly, the cops didn’t know what the hell they were doing!

They supposedly were trained to respond to “active shooter” incidents. Yet they did not seem to know how to take down the gunman. Some of them were protected by shields but they still didn’t storm the classroom.

The loved ones of the victims? Oh, they are royally enraged. As they should be!

They still demand answers. The cops aren’t giving them. They want the truth. They want closure. They demand to know who to hold accountable.

They need to know the whole truth behind this horrific tragedy.

Gov. Abbott needs to summon his reported anger at the cops and join the chorus of those demanding to know the truth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

AG faces mind-numbing concerns

This is why U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is getting the big bucks, man.

These hearings before the House 1/6 select committee examining the insurrection are producing a mountain of evidence against Donald Trump. What is an attorney general to do about this?

Sigh …

There appears to be a school of thought developing that any decision by Garland to forgo a criminal prosecution of Trump carries at least as much grief for the AG as a prosecution. Indeed, the cost of doing nothing might be greater than the blow back that will come if Garland takes this case to a grand jury, which then could indict Trump.

On what? Seditious conspiracy is possible. Dereliction of duty is another. Interfering with election officials’ conduct, too.

I thought the sedition accusation might be the most difficult to prove. I am not sure about that today. I mean — wow! — the dude and his key staff knew all hell was likely to break loose on 1/6. They did nothing!

Merrick Garland is a man of impeccable character. I am likely to accept whatever he decides, even though a no-go on prosecuting Trump is going to make me grit my teeth real hard.

He said he will follow the law all the way to the top. I will take him at his word. It’s looking more and more to me as though we are going to watch all hell breaking loose once again once the AG examines that mountain of evidence in front of him.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Uvalde cover-up getting murkier

What in the name of competent law enforcement is happening over yonder in Uvalde, Texas?

Police officers responding to a mass slaughter of children and teachers reportedly had a shot at the gunman, but couldn’t get an OK from the top of the chain of command to take the shot … or so it is being reported.

Then we hear from the Uvalde mayor, who is disputing that contention.

Meanwhile, the chief of the Uvalde school district police department, Pete Arredondo, remains on administrative leave and he isn’t shedding even the slightest glimmer of light on the matter. All we have heard from him is that he didn’t know he was in charge of the operation.

Good, ever-lovin’ grief, man!

Report: Uvalde officer asked permission to shoot gunman but got no answer | The Texas Tribune

Nineteen precious children and two heroic teachers were slain by the lunatic who walked into Robb Elementary School and opened fire with an AR-15.

This non-response/cover-up is a classic cluster fu** of the worst magnitude most of us ever have seen.

When are we going to get some answers? More importantly, when are the loved ones of the victims going to get the explanation of what went wrong that they are demanding?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com