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Charity for homeless

Churches, schools and other community groups prepare hot meals 365 days a year. Volunteers then go in the truck at dinner time to pass out the food to the homeless who live in parks or on benches in the city.  We would serve about 150 people each night and stopped at about 10 sites in downtown D.C. and along the National Mall. 

The two Salvation Army professional drivers know most of the homeless on the streets by name and look out for them. I remember a driver asked one man if he had been taking his medication. Another driver asked a man why he hadn’t checked into a program recently.

The drivers pass out blankets, plastic bags, gloves, toothbrushes and other necessities. The staff was in total control, so I always felt safe standing outside the truck in the dark and serving. (Volunteer or donate here.)

Homeless stereotypes

I was always touched by the courtesy of the homeless who waited in line patiently for their meal— which was a bag with a sandwich, packaged snacks and a hot cup of soup. They all said '“please” and “thank you”, and many said, “God bless you.” 

The homeless don’t always look like what you expect.  When I started, I made the mistake of turning away a man in a suit because I wrongly assumed he wasn’t homeless. I was ashamed but learned that many of the people served have jobs but for various reasons (mental health, addiction) don’t live in a home.

Also, I was told that many who are homeless could live in the city’s shelters but thought it was safer on the streets. 

Harsh reality

When the temperatures were below freezing, the volunteers were told to call the city’s emergency line if we saw people trying to sleep outside. The city would attempt to force them to sleep in shelters or give them blankets and tents. (This was all before the massive tent cities that sprang up during the pandemic.)

My worst haunting memory of serving was when an emotional homeless man told the driver that his female friend froze to death overnight. The driver knew the woman. The man was distraught as he recalled his attempts to force her to put a blanket on herself.

I realized that the man had waited all day to tell the driver in order to share his grief with someone. I checked the news for a couple of days for a story about the woman’s death but never saw any mention of it. 

Charity truck stolen, recovered

Crime is really bad now in D.C. Homicides are up 33%. Motor vehicle thefts — including carjackings— are up 90%. Remember thieves recently tried to steal Pres. Biden’s granddaughter’s Secret Service vehicle and only stopped when agents shot at them.

Still. You’d think a white van with a giant red  “Salvation Army” logo would deter criminals.

Nevertheless, the grate patrol truck was stolen Sunday morning, which the Salvation Army said made it impossible to continue to serve the hot meals.

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A spokesman for the Salvation Army told Fox 5 (which is the station where I was the chief investigative reporter): “It saddens our hearts that someone would get to a point where they felt the need to do that.” 

On Monday night, I asked a D.C. police spokesperson for the status of the investigation. She replied that, 

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Instead, Aldean’s song “Try That in A Small Town” hit No. 1 on iTunes, and he continues to tour. Plus, several Republican presidential candidates have publicly embraced him. 

Aldean may be the beginning of the end of cancel culture. 

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‘Pro Lyching’ Video

The height of the controversy was the viral accusation that the video (watch below) about protesters burning and destroying cities in the summer of 2020 is a “modern lynching song.” It was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee where black teenager Henry Choate was killed by a mob almost 100 years ago. 

In response to the accusations, Country Music Television (CMT) pulled Aldean’s video off the channel.

Mainstream media ran dozens of stories on the lynching narrative. Only Fox News asked the production company TackleBox about how the courthouse location was chosen.

It said the courthouse is a "popular filming location outside of Nashville" that has been used for multiple music videos and movies. Also, TackleBox said Aldean "did not pick the location."

Aldean called the interpretations of his video’s message totally false. 

I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. 

Cancel Campaign for Racism

Whoopi Goldberg on “The View” Thursday proclaimed that the video is racist. Goldberg looked into the camera and addressed Aldean: “You’ve gone too far.” 

The song’s lyrics are about how small-town Americans wouldn’t have allowed the urban violence that overwhelmed police: 

'Round here we take care of our own / You cross that line, it won't take long / For you to find out

Goldberg said the protesters were actually taking care of the cities:

When you make it about Black Lives Matter, people kind of say, ‘Well, are you talking about Black people? What are you talking about here?'

Aldean said in a statement earlier this week: “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it— and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage.”

Canceled for Guns

Before the reasons to cancel Aldean was race, it was about gun control. Activist Sharon Watts of Moms Demand Action (a Bloomberg-funded group) seems to be the instigator of the cancellation attempt. She tweeted on July 16:

Aldean who was on-stage during the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 that killed 60 people and wounded over 400 more - has recorded a song called “Try That In A Small Town” about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns.

Aldean’s song actually says: Got a gun that my granddad gave me /They say one day they're gonna round up /Well, that s**t might fly in the city, good luck

Singer Sherly Crow tweeted:

I’m from a small town…There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting.

Aldean, who was performing during the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history, defended himself, saying:

I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.

Team Aldean

Usually, when someone is canceled, they are left high and dry by other famous people. But Aldean has been promoted.

Former Pres. Donald Trump who is running for reelection posted: “Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way.”

Nikki Haley, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, said Thursday night that she added Aldean’s song to her campaign playlist at a stop in Greenville. She posted a video of people listening to it. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also running for president, told Fox about the Aldean controversy:

We need to restore sanity to this country. I mean, what is going on that that would be something that would be censored? Give me a break. We're off the rocker here in the United States with a lot of this stuff, with cancel culture

Singer Travis Tritt tweeted to Aldean:

The views shared by many accounts on this platform are not actually representative of the vast majority of the population of this country. Say what you want to say and be who you want to be. Damn the social media torpedoes.

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The end of cancel culture?

Up to now when someone got canceled, he had to permanently leave the public square. I went back to my Substack posts on cancel culture to see if anyone I’ve written about eventually got their career back.

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That narrative is not holding up well after the Nashville Police Department released the body cam video Tuesday from a mass school shooting. It showed a perfectly executed, active shooter response that stopped a woman with an AR-style rifle in just 14 minutes.

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Uvalde Police Scared of AR-15

The Uvalde news came from a Texas Tribune report on new evidence showing hundreds of officers didn’t enter the classrooms for over an hour because they were afraid of facing one AR-style “battle rifle.”

“You knew that it was definitely an AR,” a police sergeant said, “We had no choice but to wait and try to get something that had better coverage where we could actually stand up to him.”

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary. Children called 911 from inside the classroom while police stood in the hallway. Read my story last July on the anger from law enforcement over the Uvalde police response.

AR or AR-15 is shorthand for a style of rifle with certain cosmetic features. It does not function any differently than a standard wooden rifle.

One of the Uvalde Police detectives told investigators, “Once we found out it was a rifle he was using, it was a different game plan we would have had to come up with. It wasn’t just going in guns blazing, the Old West style, and take him out.”

Uvalde Police Supporters

In response to this report, the Uvalde police suddenly had a lot of supporters. Feinstein tweeted:

If the Uvalde shooter didn’t have an AR-15 style assault rifle, the carnage he unleashed could have been ended much sooner.  That’s not my analysis. That’s the opinion of the police officers who were on scene.”

The California Democrat then added, “We can save lives by ending the proliferation of assault weapons in our communities.”

As I wrote on Monday, the FBI reports were 441 people killed in all of the United States in 2021 by any type of rifle.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said the Uvalde police were “terrified” because an entrance wound from an AR-15 is always smaller than an exit wound.

“None of those officers were embarrassed by how afraid they were and they shouldn’t be,” O’Donnell said on his TV show. “There is no other rational feeling to have in the presence of a loaded AR-15.”

O’Donnell pointed out that some of the law enforcement in Uvalde had AR-15-style rifles and said that made them more scared.

“They were afraid to go against an AR-15 with an AR-15 and that was a reasonable fear,” he said. 

Actress and liberal activist Mia Farrow is another new Uvalde Police supporter but doesn’t know that the AR-15-style rifle is not fully automatic. She tweeted:

The Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker has been writing for months just about AR-15-type rifles. She tweeted that the Uvalde police were “terrified” of the “particular gun — the deadly efficient and lethal AR-15.” (As opposed to a non-lethal gun?)

Good Cops Backlash

I asked the retired law enforcement, who I interviewed last July, if the news of the Uvalde police’s fear of the AR-15 was legitimate.

“I don't care if that shooter had a LARS rocket. That is irrelevant when you are responding to an active shooter situation – especially when it involves children,” said Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, the spokeswoman for the National Police Association who is a retired officer of 29 years. 

“There is no excuse for waiting an hour and 20 minutes because we might get hurt. We are not suicidal, but we have to run toward the shots.”

“I think they used a poor excuse in order to justify their cowardice,” Zeek Arkham was in law enforcement for 16 years. “I’d rather use my sidearm in order to make the attempt in saving lives, than sit outside and twiddle my thumbs with the excuse of ‘I’m outgunned.’”

“Doesn’t change my opinion at all. Uvalde guys were scared and had poor leadership,” said Deputy Sheriff Sidney Blair, who had a long career in law enforcement at the national level.

However, retired NYPD detective Angel L Maysonet said:

The Uvalde response was different in that when the shooter entered the classroom, he likely killed all those kids in an instant. There was sadly, likely no one left to save. He was confined and likely had “dead” hostages.

Nashville Police Redemption

Unlike in Texas, the police in Nashville went directly into the Covenant School at arrival. They didn’t stop once as they cleared the rooms, tracked the woman who just killed three children and three adults and ended the threat.

Smith called it “the textbook response and exactly what we have been trained to do since Columbine High School.”

Retired LAPD Homicide Chief Sal LaBarbera pointed out, “If you watch this Tennessee shooting, these officers were armed the same as Uvalde. Same weapons.”

Arkham, who has extensive training in active shooter situations, said, “I’m glad Nashville went in and showed bravery in the face of danger, as the overwhelming majority of cops would have done.”

Smith said she hoped regular people watch the video (above, you have to accept the violence warning) from the perspective of the Nashville police officers responding.

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I want every person in this country who has wanted to defund the police and vilify the police to watch it ask themselves, "Would I do this?” Most would say no. American cops have to say, “Yes.” 

I want to be clear that the police in Uvalde….

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He will be sentenced on Friday, up to life in prison. The prosecutors said the motive was money and his financial schemes, but there are still unanswered questions.

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Shock Verdict:

We’ve been watching and debating this trial for a while— our chats and thread on this trial are below — and most of us thought Murdaugh would get away with murder.

Emily Posts News

Are you watching Alec Murdaugh testifying in his murder trial ?

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3 years ago · 13 likes · 29 comments · Emily Miller

The verdict is so surprising because there is almost no forensic evidence tying Murdaugh to the murders and no witnesses. Murdaugh got rid of the two guns he owned and used to kill his wife Maggie and son Paul, who he lured to their home.

He seems to have cleaned up the crime scene and changed clothes after shooting Maggie at least four times with a rifle and Paul twice with a shotgun. He went to his mother’s house before coming home, calling 911 and pretending to be grief-stricken.

Almost perfect murder

Since the beginning, Murdaugh lied about not being at the crime scene — the kennels on their hunting plantation — at the time of the murders.

The case shifted when a short video made by Paul on Snapchat had his father’s voice in it, placing him at the crime scene. That tiny piece of evidence forced Murdaugh to take the stand in his own defense and admit he lied about being at the crime scene and other claims to the police.

Murdaugh’s character

Still, Murdaugh lied repeatedly under oath saying he would never “hurt” his wife and son. He tried to cry but couldn’t shed a tear.

(My favorite “The Behavioral Panel” on YouTube analyzed his body language on the stand. Their analysis showed Murdaugh was fake crying and showed no real emotion or grief about the brutal killing of his family.)

We now know, Murdaugh premeditated and killed his wife and son and almost got away with it because of his experience as a prosecutor and lawyer and his legal and societal connections. He comes from generations of powerful and wealthy lawyers, and that background prepared him to commit the most heinous crime.

Plus he has a pathological ability to lie easily and without fear of getting caught.

Gun questions

As I wrote two weeks ago, the trial did not answer many questions, including the five I listed at this story. In short:

1. How did he get shot in the head and only graze him?

2. Why did he bring a shotgun and a rifle?

3. Why didn’t he use the handgun in his car?

4. Why didn’t Maggie run away after Paul was shot?

If you have any answers, please tell me in the comments!

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Justice is blind

This outcome proves that the rich and powerful (especially lawyers) do not have their own system of justice. The quick and unanimous conclusion…

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I know good members of law enforcement around the country have been torn up and angry from seeing the videos and reading the Texas House preliminary report showing the total failure of the responding police to do anything to save the children trapped in two classrooms.

For all of us on the other side of the Thin Blue Line, I want us to hear from veteran police to get their frank assessment of what went so wrong, and if anything could have saved those precious 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

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“There is an element of law enforcement that people see us, and they feel safe. It’s in our oath to intervene,”  said Zeek Arkham who was in law enforcement for 16 years.

“Personally, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if it was an active shooter, and I didn't engage. And to say I was afraid, or I was waiting for backup. I couldn’t fathom that.”

Dakota Meyer, the former Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor, is now a firefighter. He posted on Instagram:

It should be more acceptable to go to 40 first responder funerals before 1 child’s funeral because that’s what WE signed up for when we took our oath.

Active shooter vs barricade

Sal LaBarbera is the retired LAPD homicide detective and the host and producer of SOUTH BUREAU HOMICIDE. He saw the failure to respond immediately and tweeted this on May 26:

Arkham has extensive training in active shooter situations. He’s the host of the “Reasonable Suspicion” podcast:

In an active shooter situation, you go in and engage the shooter, you don't wait for a command. Your instinct as a cop is to go in and engage the shooter, but they didn’t do that.

Although this was clearly an active shooter scenario, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police Chief Pete Arredondo testified that he assumed the attacker was “cornered” and considered the situation as a “barricaded subject.”

Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith was a cop for 29 years, ran school programs and active shooter training, and is now the spokeswoman for the National Police Association

Arredondo immediately called it a hostage situation. I’m a hostage negotiator —that changes the response. The way it is supposed to work in an active shooter situation is that as personnel arrive, someone immediately says, ‘I’m the incident commander.’ 

So one of those initial four or five responding officers should have said it, and then been relieved by someone at a higher rank - presume Pete Arrendondo, but he didn't take his radio. Then 400 others came, and it appears that no one took control.

The surveillance video in the hallway shows the attacker going to classrooms 111 and 112. He then fired 100 rounds in two and a half minutes, according to the Robb Elementary Investigative Committee Report Then two groups of officers entered the school from different directions. In the next five minutes, the attacker fired approximately 16 additional rounds. 

Angel L Maysonet is a retired NYPD detective who was on the force for over 20 years and retired from the Joint Terrorism Task Force. He has been publicly defending the Uvalde police.

If there was even one child alive to save, and they immediately breached the door, and that child was killed as a result, they’d be labeled “cowboys” and blamed.

Arkham:

From the report, it’s clear they were afraid. They were scared. They didn't want to endanger their own lives – which I’m trying to understand the human element – you want to go home and see your own family at the end of the day, especially at an elementary school. And they know a pistol isn’t going to match well against a rifle – I get that. But, you’re still tasked with saving lives. 

No Leaders

The government report makes clear that Arredondo should have taken command and left the building to run the operation. Instead, he stayed in the hallway. He didn’t even have a radio because he left it outside.

Deputy Sheriff Sidney Blair has a long career in law enforcement at the national level – Secret Service, Air Marshal, Department of Homeland Security– and is now retired but working in Texas. He says the problem is unqualified people in law enforcement. 

He’s a coward – Arredondo. He was put there as a political plant. You know how hard it is to get a $100,000 a year job in Uvalde, Texas? He’s a straight up politician running for City Council.

(Arredondo resigned his elected seat on the Uvalde City Council earlier this month.)

Meyer also believes first responders are not trained anymore to put themselves on the line:

These cops are cowards and there is NO EXCUSE. They should be held accountable but trust me when I say it’s not just their fault. It’s the systems fault…

The first responders who are willing to train and give their lives for someone else……. Are looked at as “reckless” “unsafe” “cowboys” by the fat, lazy, selfish pension chasers that are taking the taxpayer money.

Sgt. Smith:

It’s not police cowardice, it’s a lack of leadership. And after what has happened the last two years – what happens to cops who use deadly force? They go to jail. They get fired. They get indicted, They lose their pensions.

The report says that officers on the scene either assumed that Chief Arredondo was in charge or they didn’t know who was in charge of a scene described by several witnesses as “chaos” or a “cluster.” 

LaBarbera:

Watching the Uvalde video really put a lot into perspective. Just the officers body language communication and their movements told me so much. They were like lost sheep.

Waiting for orders

There were 376 law enforcement officers at the school response, mostly state police and U.S. Border Patrol.

Deputy Sheriff Blair:

How do you get that many people at one time and in one place and all of them are eunuchs?

I’ve been in a number of gun fights and I sleep fine at night because they gave me no other option. If you don't have what it takes to do that you’re not in the right line of work.

The attacker was only stopped after one hour and 20 minutes when the Border Patrol agents finally breach the classroom without asking permission from Arredondo. However, the House report says, “We do not know at this time whether responders could have saved more lives by shortening that delay.”

Maysonet:

I believe that in the back of every single police officer in this country, regardless of rank, they believe that they will be condemned and persecuted no matter what they do.

Akram:

Whose fault is it? The first responding cops on the scene. They stopped and waited. They were supposed to engage the shooter, save live, and they failed to do that.”

Sgt. Smith:

You saw those initial officers’ responses. You put together an ad hoc team, and they go in, and they went in, and took fire, and they ran. I  dont have a problem with them running to take cover. I have a problem with them not reengaging immediately. 

LaBarbera:

I was just shocked that not a single officer ran back down that hallway. I think it was three officers that ran away from the gunfire.  They were listening to their bosses on the radio instead of doing what they may have thought was right.

Deputy Sheriff Blair:

When you have law enforcement officers in this liability-ridden age they are used to asking for permission to do something.

The report says a student called 911 from inside the classroom, but that information never got to Chief Arredondo. The House report concluded that the officers who knew about the calls from inside the school rooms didn’t do anything to push for breaching the classrooms. 

Sgt. Smith:

How are they to know it’s anything other than a hostage situation? He’s contained. Everything stops because if you go and breach that door, and he’s holding people hostage, then you’re going to get people killed.” 

LaBarbera

It wasn’t until the video came out that I could see those three officers went to the classroom, were fired upon, and then ran away.  In our playbook —at LAPD —it would still be considered an active shooter.

If we have communicated with the bad guy, then it could’ve transitioned into a barricade or hostage. Without communication it’s always considered active.

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Akram:

In an active shooter situation, when you go through basic training you're supposed to clean the room. But if you hear the gunshots,  you go to that room and assume it and they retreated and then went the other direction,  which is directly against the rules to save lives and stop the active shooters

Deputy Sheriff Blair

The officer outside with the rifle who asked for permission–  we dont ask for permission. You are a  law enforcement office,  your job is to pretect and serve.  

They are used to standing there and being told what to do. It comes from the leadership in police work not wanting to make waves.

Sgt. Smith:

People also need to understand that for the last few years, American law enforcement has been vilified and defunded. 

LaBarbera:

I don’t know why parental instinct or just human instinct didn’t take over. They just stood around and were waiting for orders.

Maysonet:

The climate in this country has made incidents like this a no-win situation for law enforcement. I will never excuse inaction with a fear of persecution. I’m saying the anti-police vitriol in this country is endangering everyone

There is justified anger at the police that day, but, as the report says, there were no “villains” except for the killer.

The Uvalde police did not leave their homes that morning with the intent to kill innocent people. But they didn’t uphold their oath. They will have to live with that on their conscience. But only one evil mass murderer is to blame for the murder of those innocent children.

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Paid subscribers: Below, you’ll read my take on what the Uvalde disaster means for policing in America. I’ll also tell you how I know Deputy Sheriff Blair. It’s a wild D.C. story of my outting a federal law enforcement officer because of author Brad Thor. Keep reading…

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This is a follow up to my story Why Police Can’t Shoot the Leg about the reporter who asked why the Columbus, Ohio police officer didn’t use a non-lethal method to stop 16-year-old named Ma'Khia Bryant from stabbing another girl.

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Law enforcement is starting to take a knee to the p…

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When I was a local TV reporter, I’d try to be the first on the scene of a DC police-involved shooting in the post-Ferguson era.

I was one of the few (or maybe the only) reporters who had shot a gun. I also know the use of force…

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