I knew something was rotten about how hard Governor Hotwheels was bootlicking the police response, and now we learn that the cops let that shitbag shoot up the school for ONE HOUR while panicked parents stood outside, begging for them to either do something or let the parents go in themselves. Unfuckingbelievable.
You can take it to the bank -- when a Republican says something is terrific, that thing is in fact very shitty.
I read this opinion today, and it seems to reinforce my earlier comments about the response to the shooting being a racist thing.
According to it, the white power structure keeps the Hispanic population in thrall to their power. (Just as I surmised.)
"They acted, generally, as if saving a brown child from the slaughter was not worth the price of Uvalde’s police officers, who are, by dint of having most of the guns, the embodiment of white power."
Opinion | I’m from Uvalde. I’m not surprised this happened. - The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/29/uvalde-shooting-warning-signs-racism-poverty-guns/
Saw this article that gives one an idea of the typical mind set of rural Texas politics. I found it interesting that author points out large percentage of Hispanics but all the "officials" were white Republicans during the 1st news conference with Gov Abbott. Even though both police chiefs(city and ISD) were Hispanic but were not allowed to speak.
I spent a few days away from this thread and in the meantime we have found out that the reality is, unimaginably, far worse than we feared.
Remember the unofficial police motto - "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6."
There's going to be an investigation and we may get a few more details, but honestly the gist is pretty simple. They didn't go in....because they didn't want to get shot.
FACT#1: Since 2015, Texas has been leading yearly gun deaths in the USA.
In 2020, Texas had a 14.2% gun death rate (4,164 deaths) and IL had a 14.1% gun death rate (1,745 deaths). I'm tired of hearing that gun crime in Chicago is worse, while people don't look at the real numbers. Gun death by crime may be worse in Chicago, but more people are dying by guns in Texas in cases such as friendly fire, accidental shootings, suicide, etc
- CDC NCHS Stats: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
- John Hopkins: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2022/new-report-highlights-us-2020-gun-related-deaths-highest-number-ever-recorded-by-cdc-gun-homicides-increase-by-more-than-one-third
FACT#2: In 1996, the Republican-congress stripped any funding for gun research on behalf of the NRA. That ban is still in place, so there is no regular gun deaths research nor better predictors.
- Non-Paywall: https://thehill.com/news/286847-gop-blocks-dem-attempts-to-allow-federal-gun-research/
- Paywall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/04/gun-violence-research-has-been-shut-down-for-20-years/
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm (The statistics below are pulled from death certificates and this is the only funding power the CDC has, so data is always a few years behind)