OF THE
TIMES
The unipolar model of the world order has failed.In more ways than one, last week heralded the birth of a Eurasian century. Of course, the US$400 billion Russia-China gas deal was clinched only at the last minute in Shanghai, on Wednesday (a complement to the June 2013, 25-year, $270 billion oil deal between Rosneft and China's CNPC.)
- Vladimir Putin, St Petersburg, May 22
One woman, identified as Sierra, told NewsChannel 3 that she was approached by two men in a black BMW. The driver waved a small handgun and asked, '"Hey, what's up?"'Then there's the weird near-coincidence of an active-shooter drill scheduled to take place at the same campus 5 days later:
Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, April 29, 2014Assuming for now that this was the work of a 'lone nut', I want to examine some of Rodger's bizarre behavior in the run-up to his going postal. We've heard a few opinions in the media regarding what if anything could have been done to prevent this tragedy. Most of them, in my opinion, are flat-out wrong. For example, Richard Martinez, the father of one of the victims, blames "irresponsible politicians and the NRA" for his son's death:
[...]
"Operations attended a table top exercise for the May 28 "Active Shooter Drill" at Santa Barbara City College. Multiple agencies were there, "fine tuning" the different roles, protocols, and schedules."
'Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA.It's an understandable sentiment, especially coming at a time so soon after the loss of his son. But aside from the fact that Rodger seems to have been intent on committing the murders no matter what and with whatever means available (e.g., the knives he used to murder his roommates), gun laws are unlikely to make a difference when it comes to crimes of this sort. The problem runs deeper than laws and policies.
'They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say 'Stop this madness, we don't have to live like this.' Too many have died.
'We should say to ourselves: Not one more.'
"For lack of a better term, you've got an organized crime syndicate," a whistleblower who works in the Texas VA told The Daily Beast. "People up on top are suddenly afraid they may actually be prosecuted and they're pressuring the little guys down below to cover it all up."
What's worse, the documents show the wrongdoing going unpunished for years, even after it was repeatedly reported to local and national VA authorities. That indicates a new troubling angle to the VA scandal: that the much touted investigations may be incapable of finding violations that are hiding in plain sight.
- From the excellent Daily Beast article published yesterday: Exclusive: Texas VA Run Like a 'Crime Syndicate,' Whistleblower Says
Comment: Correction 10 June 2014
Sent in by a SOTT.net reader: This means that the active-shooter drill goes from being a "weird near-coincidence" to a probably unrelated event.