Random Monday Morning Thoughts

A death sentence of a female I had forgotten about. Kimberly Cargill is her name

 if you want to Google her. 

---

• It's a holiday. Everything is shut down. The is no Update. But, nonetheless, I'm here for you once again. 
  
  
  
• I was just going to make this some Uvalde quick hits but it turned into . . .
• Once those 911 calls of those little kids begging for the cops to come save them are released, people are going to lose their minds. I can't get over she said, "Please."
  

  
• 19 police officers in the hallway. 19 dead kids. 
• Can we stop saying the gunman was "barricaded" in the classroom, and that officers eventually "breached" the door? He was behind a "locked" door which officers finally entered by using a "key" obtained from a custodian. 
• The press conference by DPS Director Steve McCraw on Friday was bizarre.  The guy stumbled through it, getting confused, and appeared to be such in the middle of a health/mental crisis that one reporter actually asked him if he was OK. But no one is talking about that because of the shocking information he provided. Nevertheless, if I had to guess, I bet he "retires" in the next six months.  (I encourage you to watch the raw footage of the entire press conference today.)
  
  

  
  
  
• And the moment that made the biggest headline is when McCraw specifically said it was the "wrong decision" not to go in.  But that was not in his prepared remarks. He just blurted that out in response to a question. I'm not sure that was his plan, but he was so rattled it just came out. (Video of that moment.)
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• He specifically called out the "commander" of the crime scene for waiting over an hour before allowing officers to go in and kill the gunman. And then, in response to another question, said that commander was "The chief of police of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District."That police chief is Pete Arredondo who hasn't been seen in a couple of days. He was standing in the background at some point based on this New York Times photo, but I'm not sure when this was taken.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Arredondo was elected to the Uvalde City Council on May 7th.
• The Consolidated ISD PD hosted an "Active Shooter" training in March.
  
  
  
• And this from the training: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I almost felt sorry for the other police chief who is the head of the Uvalde Police Department which is different than the police chief of the Uvalde Consolidated ISD Police Department. But any sympathy went away when he released a statement saying he's thankful that his officers who did respond weren't killed. Tone deaf.
  
  
  
• This is the only time I've heard that DPS troopers were part of the 19 officers. But legislators screw up facts pretty often. 
  
  
  
• The 18 year old shooter had purchased 1,657 total rounds of ammunition and no one batted an eye.
• The problem in this case is the AR-15. It can fire so fast and is so powerful that a single kid can hold off an army of cops.  If they are so scared of it, maybe it shouldn't be publically available. But, admittedly, there are so many out there it's a lost cause.  Your children will continue to be sacrificed on the altar of the Second Amendment, the NRA, and the Almighty AR-15. 
• Random photo from over the weekend.
  
  
  
• Texas is a killing field.
• Sutherland Springs church: 26 dead.
• Santa Fe High School 10 dead.
• El Paso Walmart: 23 dead.
• Odessa/Midland: 7 dead.
• Yep.
  
  
  
• One suggestion has been to "arm teachers." Sheesh. We had 19 armed and trained officers who wouldn't engage the shooter - the most basic function of their job -- but we think arming teachers so they can perform that same task they never wanted to do in the first place is the answer?
• Here are two cowards. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The guy went to two Ivy league schools, his wife is a partner at Goldman Sachs, he lives in one of the richest neighborhood in Houston, and he goes to Cancun at the drop of the hat when the masses are freezing. Yet he complains about the "elite" at an NRA convention held two days after the slaughter of children.
  
  
  
• Trump did a little dance at the NRA convention.
  
  
  
• The Justice Department won't do anything, but at least we will learn even more about how bad it was. 
  
  
  
• So what about the lies we were told in the beginning? Gov. Abbott says he was "misled" and the facts and that he was "livid" about it. I don't know if he is telling the truth, but either scenario is not pretty: (1) Abbott is lying to us now, or (2) police thought they could lie to Abbott and get away with it in the most important investigation in decades. 
  
  
  
• If Sandy Hook didn't change anything . . . .