Monday, September 30, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Why "stand down" orders for DC SWAT team?
20 September 2013 Last updated at 12:30 ET
Navy Yard shooting: Swat team awaits answers
Members of a Washington DC Swat team who the BBC has learned were ordered not to respond to Monday's Navy Yard shootings have yet to be contacted by the authorities.
The Capitol Police tactical response team was told by a supervisor to leave the scene instead of aiding municipal officers, sources told the BBC.
Meanwhile, the department has installed a new leader of the elite unit. No reason has been given for the decision.
Gunman Aaron Alexis killed 12 people.
The BBC has also learned that four members of the highly trained team have applied for temporary leave, as they "grapple" with the aftermath of the incident.
The Capitol Police department has not yet granted the request, nor given approval for them to use their own paid time off.
Command shake-up
Days after the shooting, none of the officers has been questioned by officials or investigators from a special panel that was convened on Wednesday.
Members of the Containment and Emergency Response Team (Cert) are typically debriefed "right away, at the very least the following day" after an incident, a Capitol Police source said.
"[They] haven't even been given the courtesy of a debrief… They have not even been given an answer as to why the decision was made that they should not respond," the source added.
Another Capitol Police source close to the incident told the BBC: "No-one's talked to these officers since this happened."
On Thursday, members of the tactical unit, which has several dozen members, were told that it had a new leader, a Capitol Police source said. It is not clear why the command shake-up occurred.
Four Cert team members wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 assault weapons arrived on scene at Navy Yard at 08:36 (12:36 GMT) on Monday, after reports surfaced of an active gunman at the complex at 08:20.
According to sources, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Washington DC's main municipal force, told the Capitol Cert officers they were the only police on site equipped with long guns, and requested their help stopping the gunman.
When the Capitol Police team radioed their superiors, they were told by a watch commander to leave the scene, the BBC was told.
On Thursday, FBI Director James B Comey Jr told ABC News it took roughly half an hour for armed police to arrive and engage Alexis. All 12 victims were killed within that time.
Capitol Police sources suggest "lives may have been saved" if the Cert team had been allowed to intervene.
'Better off this way'
On Wednesday, Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine appointed a "Fact Review Team" to investigate the department's response to the Navy Yard shootings. It will report back on 21 October.
But on Thursday sources questioned the efficacy of such a panel.
They said Capitol Police officers had more confidence in the results of an independent FBI investigation which aims to uncover the facts surrounding the incident.
One officer close to the situation called the lack of communication from department leadership "unforgivable".
Details of the gunman and the shooting continue to emerge.
Alexis, a former Navy reservist, reportedly had a history of mental health problems and gun-related brushes with the law.
He had sought treatment for insomnia at two Veterans Affairs hospitals in the last month, according to media reports.
Law enforcement officials said the IT subcontractor had carved the messages "better off this way" and "my ELF weapon" on the stock of his sawn-off Remington 870 pump-action shotgun.
All victims were killed in hallways or their offices, not in the building's atrium as media outlets previously reported.
Alexis also gunned down a security guard and took his Beretta handgun, Mr Comey said.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Sunrise, Morning Glory Searches
This morning's sunrise. Notice near the lower center, a morning glory vine searches for something to climb on.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Dinosaur media ignores hate crime,
National Media Completely Ignore NY Man Left Brain Dead By Attacker Shouting 'I Hate White People'
By Noel Sheppard
Created 09/08/2013 - 11:07am
So far with the exception of local New York coverage, the answer is a resounding "No."
Analyses of Google News, LexisNexis, and closed-caption transcripts found absolutely no national reporting of Jeffrey Babbitt, the 62-year-old retired train conductor now in a coma at Bellevue Hospital.Not one word on ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, or NBC.
Potentially even more curious, the largest newspaper in New York, the New York Times, appears to have not reported this attack despite it occurring in its own backyard.
If Babbitt were black, and his assailant shouted "I hate black people" before inflicting what appears will be a death blow, would America's media be so disinterested?
Or would this be headline news much like what we saw with Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman?
Sadly, we all know the answer as our media have once again shown that they are only interested in white on black hate crimes.
The other variety just don't fit the agenda.
*****Update: It turns out the New York Times did report this matter at its website Friday and in print Saturday. Unfortunately, the name of the assailant was wrong and the article didn't include Babbitt's. That's why it appeared this event had gone unreported.
Readers are advised the errant report was a total of 152 words buried on page 21.
I guess that's the importance the Times gives to black on white hate crimes.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
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