DOJ on Uvalde

The featured photo is from the Chron front page a few days after the Uvalde massacre. The Department of Justice will release its report on the shooting and the response this afternoon.  CNN got a copy and here is from CNN:

Critical failures in leadership among specific law enforcement officers who rushed to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde are blamed by the Justice Department in a new 575-page report being made public nearly 20 months after the massacre that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

It’s the fullest official accounting of what happened, though much already was known largely through CNN investigation.

CNN obtained a copy of the report from a family member of a Robb Elementary student on Thursday, a day after US Attorney General Merrick Garland met with victims’ families in Texas to brief them on its content.

“The response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure,” the Justice Department report concludes bluntly.

The report chronicles the quick arrival of law enforcement officers who ran toward the sound of gunfire, then almost immediately stopped once they got near the classrooms where the gunman was killing fourth graders and educators.

It took 77 minutes from when the 18-year-old shooter walked into Robb Elementary School until he was stopped.

“Officers on scene should have recognized the incident as an active shooter scenario and moved and pushed forward immediately and continuously toward the threat until the room was entered, and the threat was eliminated.”

“That did not occur,” it says.

Instead, the intensity level dropped as responders began to treat the situation as a “barricaded suspect” operation that did not need immediate action, even as more officers arrived and the signals of ongoing danger multiplied.

That was the “single most critical tactical failure,” the team from the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services finds.

Here it the entire CNN piece: Uvalde report: Robb Elementary School massacre could have been stopped sooner, DOJ finds | CNN.

What a GD shame.

I am pretty sure that arsehole Gov. Greg Abbott and his cowardly DPS honcho will push back.

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When the H-Town Mayor, the H-Town Police Chief, and the H-Town Fire Chief say to stay off the roads because of the hard freeze, listen to them.  Don’t listen to the HISD superintendent. See this from the Chron:

Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles said he is “not sure it was the best decision” to cancel classes for students during Tuesday’s freeze, saying school employees should see themselves as essential workers. 

The district said in a social media post Monday that it was canceling classes on Tuesday due to weather and road conditions — hours after most other Houston-area school districts had made the same call. The mayor’s office, Houston Police, Houston Fire Department and other local agencies had urged people to stay off the roads due to ice and other hazardous roadway conditions. 

Miles said during a District Advisory Committee meeting — which is not open to the public — that while he had made the decision to close HISD schools, he was “not going to make the same mistake again.” He said that the district had missed an opportunity to develop a culture of essentialness and that school districts close “too often in this country,” according to a leaked video recording of the meeting.

“Despite the noise, despite the warning (and) despite the people who are exaggerating saying we’re gonna cost people’s lives, I gotta ignore that and think about the kids and our core function,” Miles said. “That doesn’t mean we’ll go to school when there’s a hurricane.”

And this:

The freeze set mid-January records, per the National Weather Service, and it led to several road closures in Houston due to slick icy spots on roads. The city saw more than 250 non-fatal traffic crashes Tuesday with no fatalities or serious injuries, Police Chief Troy Finner said in a press conference. 

Here is the entire read: HISD superintendent regrets canceling class Tuesday due to freeze (houstonchronicle.com).

That would have been a bonehead move on his part. Roads were iced over all over town.

Yesterday, several HISD schools didn’t have heat. Some schools sent their students home early.

Bonehead thinking for sure.

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Oh, brother. You can always count on the local GOP to stomp on poor folks.  See this from the Chron:

Harris County leaders defended their new guaranteed income program, Uplift Harris, as state Sen. Paul Bettencourt raised questions about its legality.

The pilot program, which began accepting applications Jan. 12, will randomly select 1,928 low-income applicants to receive $500 in monthly cash assistance for 18 months. The initiative garnered significant interest, with over 48,000 applications received in just the first three days, according to Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who spearheaded the program.

Funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act, Uplift Houston aims to tackle persistent poverty and health disparities in low-income areas. But Bettencourt said the program might not be allowed under the Texas constitution. 

In a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton, dated Jan. 12, the state senator questioned whether counties have the authority to carry out a guaranteed income program and if such a policy would violate a clause in the Texas constitution that prohibits the gift of public funds to any individual.

Here is the entire read: Harris County officials defend cash assistance program (houstonchronicle.com).

Let me offer a few comments. Last month, I paid my property taxes on my house. They were considerably lower than what I paid in 2022, thanks to a gift from a bipartisan Texas Legislature and the voters of Texas.  The gift was from a surplus in revenue to the state of Texas. The state of Texas doesn’t collect property taxes. The surplus was in large part from sales taxes that property owners and non-property owners pay. Those that rent and don’t own property didn’t get a gift.

The funds used for the Uplift Houston program come from the American Rescue Plan that not a single Republican in Congress supported. They are not state funds. So, shut up Bettencourt. Your hypocrisy reeks.

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The weather is much better today.