The two teenagers who killed 13 people and themselves at suburban Denver's Columbine High School 10 years ago next week weren't in the "Trenchcoat Mafia," disaffected videogamers who wore cowboy dusters. The killings ignited a national debate over bullying, but the record now shows Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold hadn't been bullied — in fact, they had bragged in diaries about picking on freshmen and "fags."
Their rampage put schools on alert for "enemies lists" made by troubled students, but the enemies on their list had graduated from Columbine a year earlier. Contrary to early reports, Harris and Klebold weren't on antidepressant medication and didn't target jocks, blacks or Christians, police now say, citing the killers' journals and witness accounts. That story about a student being shot in the head after she said she believed in God? Never happened, the FBI says now.
A decade after Harris and Klebold made Columbine a synonym for rage, new information — including several books that analyze the tragedy through diaries, e-mails, appointment books, videotape, police affidavits and interviews with witnesses, friends and survivors — indicate that much of what the public has been told about the shootings is wrong.
In fact, the pair's suicidal attack was planned as a grand — if badly implemented — terrorist bombing that quickly devolved into a 49-minute shooting rampage when the bombs Harris built fizzled.
"He was so bad at wiring those bombs, apparently they weren't even close to working," says Dave Cullen, author of Columbine, a new account of the attack.
So whom did they hope to kill?
Everyone — including friends.
What's left, after peeling away a decade of myths, is perhaps more comforting than the "good kids harassed into retaliation" narrative — or perhaps not.
It's a portrait of Harris and Klebold as a sort of In Cold Blood criminal duo — a deeply disturbed, suicidal pair who over more than a year psyched each other up for an Oklahoma City-style terrorist bombing, an apolitical, over-the-top revenge fantasy against years of snubs, slights and cruelties, real and imagined.
Along the way, they saved money from after-school jobs, took Advanced Placement classes, assembled a small arsenal and fooled everyone — friends, parents, teachers, psychologists, cops and judges.
"These are not ordinary kids who were bullied into retaliation," psychologist Peter Langman writes in his new book, Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. "These are not ordinary kids who played too many video games. These are not ordinary kids who just wanted to be famous. These are simply not ordinary kids. These are kids with serious psychological problems."
Deceiving the adults
Harris, who conceived the attacks, was more than just troubled. He was, psychologists now say, a cold-blooded, predatory psychopath — a smart, charming liar with "a preposterously grand superiority complex, a revulsion for authority and an excruciating need for control," Cullen writes.
Harris, a senior, read voraciously and got good grades when he tried, pleasing his teachers with dazzling prose — then writing in his journal about killing thousands.
"I referred to him — and I'm dating myself — as the Eddie Haskel of Columbine High School," says Principal Frank DeAngelis, referring to the deceptively polite teen on the 1950s and '60s sitcom Leave it to Beaver. "He was the type of kid who, when he was in front of adults, he'd tell you what you wanted to hear."
When he wasn't, he mixed napalm in the kitchen .
According to Cullen, one of Harris' last journal entries read: "I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things. And no don't … say, 'Well that's your fault,' because it isn't, you people had my phone #, and I asked and all, but no. No no no don't let the weird-looking Eric KID come along."
As he walked into the school the morning of April 20, Harris' T-shirt read: Natural Selection.
Klebold, on the other hand, was anxious and lovelorn, summing up his life at one point in his journal as "the most miserable existence in the history of time," Langman notes.
Harris drew swastikas in his journal; Klebold drew hearts.
As laid out in their writings, the contrast between the two was stark.
Harris seemed to feel superior to everyone — he once wrote, "I feel like God and I wish I was, having everyone being OFFICIALLY lower than me" — while Klebold was suicidally depressed and getting angrier all the time. "Me is a god, a god of sadness," he wrote in September 1997, around his 16th birthday.
Klebold also was paranoid. "I have always been hated, by everyone and everything," he wrote.
On the day of the attacks, his T-shirt read: Wrath.
Shooter profiles emerge
Columbine wasn't the first K-12 school shooting. But at the time it was by far the worst, and the first to play out largely on live television.
The U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Education Department soon began studying school shooters. In 2002, researchers presented their first findings: School shooters, they said, followed no set profile, but most were depressed and felt persecuted.
Princeton sociologist Katherine Newman, co-author of the 2004 book Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, says young people such as Harris and Klebold are not loners — they're just not accepted by the kids who count. "Getting attention by becoming notorious is better than being a failure."
The Secret Service found that school shooters usually tell other kids about their plans.
"Other students often even egg them on," says Newman, who led a congressionally mandated study on school shootings. "Then they end up with this escalating commitment. It's not a sudden snapping."
Langman, whose book profiles 10 shooters, including Harris and Klebold, found that nine suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, a "potentially dangerous" combination, he says. "It is hard to prevent murder when killers do not care if they live or die. It is like trying to stop a suicide bomber."
At the time, Columbine became a kind of giant national Rorschach test. Observers saw its genesis in just about everything: lax parenting, lax gun laws, progressive schooling, repressive school culture, violent video games, antidepressant drugs and rock 'n' roll, for starters.
Many of the Columbine myths emerged before the shooting stopped, as rumors, misunderstandings and wishful thinking swirled in an echo chamber among witnesses, survivors, officials and the news media.
Police contributed to the mess by talking to reporters before they knew facts — a hastily called news conference by the Jefferson County sheriff that afternoon produced the first headline: "Twenty-five dead in Colorado."
A few inaccuracies took hours to clear up, but others took weeks or months — sometimes years — as authorities reluctantly set the record straight.
Former Rocky Mountain News reporter Jeff Kass, author of a new book, Columbine: A True Crime Story, says police played a game of "Open Records charades."
In one case, county officials took five years just to acknowledge that they had met in secret after the attacks to discuss a 1998 affidavit for a search warrant on Harris' home — it was the result of a complaint against him by the mother of a former friend. Harris had threatened her son on his website and bragged that he had been building bombs.
Police already had found a small bomb matching Harris' description near his home — but investigators never presented the affidavit to a judge.
They also apparently didn't know that Harris and Klebold were on probation after having been arrested in January 1998 for breaking into a van and stealing electronics.
The search finally took place, but only after the shootings.
Meticulous planning
What's now beyond dispute — largely from the killers' journals, which have been released over the past few years, is this: Harris and Klebold killed 13 and wounded 24, but they had hoped to kill thousands.
The pair planned the attacks for more than a year, building 100 bombs and persuading friends to buy them guns. Just after 11 a.m. on April 20, they lugged a pair of duffel bags containing propane-tank bombs into Columbine's crowded cafeteria and another into the kitchen, then stepped outside and waited.
Had the bombs exploded, they'd have killed virtually everyone eating lunch and brought the school's second-story library down atop the cafeteria, police say. Armed with a pistol, a rifle and two sawed-off shotguns, the pair planned to pick off survivors fleeing the carnage.
As a last terrorist act, a pair of gasoline bombs planted in Harris' Honda and Klebold's BMW had been rigged apparently to kill police, rescue teams, journalists and parents who rushed to the school — long after the pair expected they would be dead.
The pair had parked the cars about 100 yards apart in the student lot. The bombs didn't go off.
Looking for answers at home
Since 1999, many people have looked to the boys' parents for answers, but a transcript of their 2003 court-ordered deposition to the victims' parents remains sealed until 2027.
The Klebolds spoke to New York Times columnist David Brooks in 2004 and impressed Brooks as "a well-educated, reflective, highly intelligent couple" who spent plenty of time with their son. They said they had no clues about Dylan's mental state and regretted not seeing that he was suicidal.
Could the parents have prevented the massacre? The FBI special agent in charge of the investigation has gone on record as having "the utmost sympathy" for the Harris and Klebold families.
"They have been vilified without information," retired supervisory special agent Dwayne Fuselier tells Cullen.
Cullen, who has spent most of the past decade poring over the record, comes away with a bit of sympathy.
For one thing, he notes, Harris' parents "knew they had a problem — they thought they were dealing with it. What kind of parent is going to think, 'Well, maybe Eric's a mass murderer.' You just don't go there."
He got a good look at the boys' writings only in the past couple of years. Among the revelations: Eric Harris was financing what could well have been the biggest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil on wages from a part-time job at a pizza parlor.
"One of the scary things is that money was one of the limiting factors here," Cullen says.
Had Harris, then 18, put off the attacks for a few years and landed a well-paying job, he says, "he could be much more like Tim McVeigh," mixing fertilizer bombs like those used in Oklahoma City in 1995. As it was, he says, the fact that Harris carried out the attack when he did probably saved hundreds of lives.
"His limited salary probably limited the number of people who died."
From the Sheriff Department’s records, this is clearly “bates” number stamped, “JC_001-010589. What does this crime scene drawing by Eric Harris depict? Certainly NOT a sheriff wearing a star shaped badge walking a dog. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SHERIFF’S FILES ON THE JANUARY INCIDENT.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Are Columbine’s remaining secrets too dangerous for the public to know — or too embarrassing for officials to reveal?
By Alan Prendergast
Published on April 13, 2006
It’s clear that the real motive for the Columbine School shootings was to get back at the cops, the sheriffs. Why was the “January Incident” never investigated? Also, newly uncovered school video filmed in the cafeteria exposes a gapping question.
Sheriff T.S. “Tim Walsh” is the ONLY law enforcement EVER to Arrest Eric Klebold and Dylan Harris. Where has Sheriff Walsh gone? Why was the criminal record of the boy buried in the original investigation? Is the Sheriff hiding something?...[Full Article]
What did Eric's friend mean when he was recorded in a video saying, "Eric just got jacked up the a_ _?" Somehow, this question has never been explored in any of the investigations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Columbine Shooting: The Final Report
Finding great self-defense weapons on a tight budget can be a challenge. There are tons of tactical weapons out there, but if you’re like a lot of us, the trick is finding something that you can afford. If you’re one of those folks - this guide is for you.
Finding Your Gear
The used market is the place to look – prices are usually lower than retail. Some states restrict advertising of certain kinds of used guns. That makes it tougher, but not impossible to find stuff.
Word of mouth and asking around (“know anybody that’s looking to sell something?”) can turn up leads. Make friends in gun stores and get to know people. They’re often buying/selling/trading.
If advertising guns is unrestricted in your state, then pick up a local "shopper" advertising paper and/or check out the classifieds in the local newspapers. Be persistent, be patient and when you find something you’re interested in, you can get on the ‘Net and check out the reviews. An easy way to do that is to Google search the firearm you’ve got your eye on. [JWR Adds: I have found GunBroker.com, AuctionArms.com, and GunsAmerica.com to be excellent sources. The new GunListings.org page might also prove useful. To keep your gun buying both legal and private, at some of these web sites you can use an "Advanced Search" feature to limit your searches by State, and to only private seller listings. I strongly recommend that you buy only from private parties if that is legal in your locality. Of course consult your state and local laws first!]
If you’re not concerned about the paperwork involved with buying a firearm in a retail gun store, you’ll find that pawn shops and sporting goods outlets often stock used or consigned weapons at reasonable prices. Some shops will let you try before you buy, or you can go to a commercial shooting range and rent guns that you’re interested in, before you lay down your cash.
A couple of thoughts about “paperwork” – the forms you fill out and the info you give whenever you buy a gun at a gun store. First, the government tells us that the info you give to get their permission to buy the gun (the instant criminal background check) is required by law to be destroyed. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t – either way, you give them the info, fill out the Form 4473 and register yourself. The 4473 has to be surrendered to BATFE on demand, or when the store goes out of business.
Second, every gun that is sold retail for the first time, along with the buyer’s name, address, etc., is entered into BATFE’s E-trace system; and that is made available to any LEO or police department that subscribes to it. In other words, you’re registered with your new gun. If that’s okay with you,then happy shopping!
Cheap Shotguns:
Shotguns are the definitive fight stopper. Devastating out to about 25 yards or so, there’s something inspiring about the sound of a 12 gauge racking a round into the chamber. The good news is, for $200 to $300 can find you a very serviceable gun. Tactical models, special finishes, stocks, and slings all raise the price quickly.
What you don’t want
Double barrels, single shots, and anything other than 12 or 20 gauge. Double barrels look cool but they are slow to reload and only have (surprise!) two shots. Singles go bang half as much and suffer from the same slow reload drawback. Experts like Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch can make a single run almost like a semi-auto. But you ain’t Clint Smith.
What you do want
Late model guns from Remington, Mossberg, and Winchester are probably your best bet – The Remington 870, Mossberg 500 and Winchester 1300 all have their fans. The 870s I own have been completely reliable. Ditto my 1300. Pump shotguns are plentiful on the used market. They are relatively cheap, easy to use, reliable and have a stout kick. When you shoot one – keep that in mind – it kicks. Pumps are generally less expensive and finicky than semi-automatics. What to feed them? Another good debate topic (and oh, how gunnies love to argue!). To keep it simple, buy plenty of double ought buck for social work and bird shot (# 7 or 8) for practice. Bird shot is currently going for about 20 cents a round. Shotgun shells in 12 or 20 gauge are common now and will likely be easier to find than any other gauge when the stuff hits the fan. I know .410s are popular, especially among the Taurus Judge 5 shooter crowd and the derringer community. To me, it’s still a boutique round. But, you pays your money and takes your choice. I’ll take a 12 or a 20, thanks.
Rifles:
A rifle, effectively used, is usually the best thing to take to a gun fight. For our purposes, we are only looking for a semi-automatic military type rifle. Why? Good ones can still be had for cheap and they offer a level of durability and reliability far beyond their low price. Military weapons are built tough for a tough job – warfare. That translates into a tough dependable weapon in any situation – always an advantage. Bolt actions are less desirable because of a lower rate of fire compared to a semi-automatic. Should you get into a firefight, you want to have all the firepower you can muster. On the other hand, bolt actions like the Russian Mosin Nagant can be found for less than $200, and they fire a potent 7.62x54 round. They also may have an accuracy advantage. There are few affordable semi-auto military rifles on the open market for less than $400. Except the venerable SKS. The SKS come with a WWII-style wood stock (no "fancy-smancy" black plastic stuff on these), a crude (but effective) safety that blocks the trigger, usually some kind of canvas olive drab sling and a 10-shot magazine. If you were only going to own one rifle, this one is worth serious consideration. Developed in Russia in 1944, it enjoyed a short life as a front line battle rifle and was replaced three years late
r with the AK-47. SKSes were then used by nearly all the old Soviet bloc countries, other communist countries like China, and client states like Vietnam and Cuba. It is still used in insurgencies around the world. Capable of firing 10 rounds of 7.62x39 ammunition (roughly the same ballistics as a 30-30 round), they are loaded by inexpensive stripper clips or one at a time. It is reliable as a quartz watch, virtually unbreakable, cheap to feed, easy to maintain (it can be, like most army guns, disassembled without tools), reasonably accurate and common on the market.
The AK-47 beats the SKS in firepower (30+ rounds versus 10). It is lighter, faster to reload (mags versus stripper clips), and in military guise, has full auto capability. It is renowned as one of the most reliable (read, unbreakable) rifles in the world. The good news is that both are commercially available in the US (the AK being a semi-automatic only here). But the AK is a good deal more expensive - $600 and up. In contrast, I was recently able to find a couple Chinese SKS’s for $175 each. The 7.62x39 round has been used to harvest deer and other medium game. SKSes are sufficiently accurate with standard sights to take game out to about 150 – 200 yards. At this writing it is runs about 27 cents a round. Cheap enough to practice with. The stripper clip can be a very fast way to reload the rifle, assuming you practice and have a strong thumb. In short, if you’re looking for a powerful, multi-use, affordable, tough rifle, the SKS is the one to beat.
Beyond the SKS, prices go north. Next in line, price wise, might be an AK copy – variants sell under different designations. For example, a desirable used Mak 90 (a 1990s Chinese AK, stamped receiver, sporter AK with an awful looking thumbhole stock) can be had for $500 - $600. If you can afford one, go for it. AR-15 clones, M1s, M-14s, FALs, FNs, etc., will cost you more. There are better rifles, but there are none at a better price point than an SKS. At the end of the day – all of them go bang when you pull the trigger. Nobody I know wants to stand in front of one!
Mini-14s
Loved and hated, the Ruger Mini-14 has been around since the 1970s and it is a durable semi-auto that has controls like Garand type rifles of yore (the M1 and the M14), [but uses a short-stroke gas piston like an M1 Carbine]. It shoots the ubiquitous .223 round and it is worthy of consideration to anyone wanting a .223 fighting gun. They can be found around $500 on the used market.
Older Mini-14s (serial number 180,XXX and up) are known for their reliability and their fair to poor accuracy – 7 inch groups at 100 yards aren’t uncommon. On the other hand, that level of accuracy in a combat gun is acceptable and not much worse than the SKS or the vaunted AK-47s. Later models have had mixed reviews and are reported to be more finicky about magazines. A common fix is to use factory Ruger magazines exclusively. Newer models (with serial numbers above 581,XXX) are claimed to be more accurate and reliable. Mine run consistently and hit with acceptable accuracy – even though they’re 30 years old. An advantage I’ve found with mine is that they shoot steel case Russian .223 happily. A lot AR-15s don’t. In a survival situation, it would be an advantage to have a rifle that will digest whatever ammo you have or acquire. Finally, Mini-14s are low maintenance and easy to field strip – without tools. That’s a plus in unpredictable circumstances.
A final thought on rifles: When the curtain goes down on the good times, 7.69x39 and .223 ammo will then, as now, probably be around in quantity.
Handguns:
Handguns are easily concealed and easily used in a self-defense situation. Most gunfights take place at close range and this is where handguns do their best work. I am a Glock shooter. I love ‘em. I also love 1911s (usually Colts – older models), and good Smith & Wesson revolvers (.44 Magnums are still “the most powerful [widely produced] handgun in the world” for this Dirty Harry fan!). Why do I love Glocks? I bought my first one in the late 1980s and it’s never let me down. Recently I completed an intense three-day shooting school – over a thousand rounds down range and not a single failure, not one, nada – that from my old Glock 17, the one I got in the 1980s. They are ugly, they run, and they are accurate. They are also light, easy to conceal, clean, maintain, and nearly rust-proof. What’s not to love? Used ones turn up in the paper at around $500.
If you are one an even tighter budget, the how about a used P85 or P90 series Ruger 9mm? $375. Mine has been running since around 1985. Sure it’s big. Sure it’s ugly. But it’s accurate and reliable.
Used Beretta 92s (civilian version of the Army’s official M9 sidearm) are around for $400. Does it run? Yes. Accurate? Yes. Easy to maintain? Absolutely. Remember that that 9mm ammo is relatively inexpensive and ubiquitous.
Before you turn your nose up at 9 millimeter pistols, remember we’re doing this on a budget. Are there better calibers? Probably. But none cheaper to practice with. There are excellent self-defense 9mm bullets available as well, which make the 9mm a serious combat gun. For the money, they are hard to beat.
Final Thoughts
The most important thing you can do after you get your gun is learn how to run it well – that includes safe handling and good marksmanship. Good training will help you hone both. If you can’t afford training, consider one of the excellent training books by masters like John Farnam, Jeff Cooper, or Massad Ayoob. There are some great training DVDs available for rent at Smartflix. The advantage to DVDs is you get to see the tactics and techniques in action. [JWR Adds: Also take advantage of low cost training at the Appleseed Shoots.]
Weapons don’t make you a master. You have to master your weapon. While you might not have the latest tacticool gun, experts say that marksmanship is largely a matter of practice and good trigger control – regardless of your equipment. As Clint Smith says, “Use what you got!” - J.M.
Tucson, gunfire in the streets, a member of congress set for public execution, the proverbial bullet to the back of the head. Victim two, for good measure, a federal judge, his life threatened hundreds of times, dead. The collateral damage, regular people, let’s be honest, “little people” no consequence to the press, nothing special, simple “window dressing.”
What is the story here? Politics gone bad, gun nuts or another of the seemingly endless string of “Manchurian Candidates,” another “three name killer” to add to the string of equally artificial “just add water” terrorists.
Imagine what our government has in store for us now. A press story about printer cartridges, later proven false, turned air travel into a nightmare of radiation and sexual groping. My gut feeling tells me that there wouldn’t have been a shooting at all unless there was a draconian New World Order scam in the offing. Give it a week or two, lets see how good a guesser I am.
GUN CRAZY OR SPECIAL OPERATIONS “STREET THEATRE”
Lone gunman, misfit, or someone selected for “mind control” as his videos allude to, picked out while undergoing testing during his unsuccessful attempts to join the military? Does anyone doubt that the shadow government started “red tagging” fruitcakes like him long ago, hundreds ready to be thawed out for just such an occasion? How many have we seen so far? You don’t think Timothy McVeigh really blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, do you?
The press, now 80% supposedly “independent” and “alternative” will have a field day with this one. The “alternative media” largely funded and controlled by moneyed political groups is tasked with “roadblocking” any serious investigative journalism. They will be blaming “liberals” and “socialists.”
Some of it hit immediately, before the blood on the parking lot was congealed. Yesterday’s media spin focused on Antisemitism. If you didn’t see it, those of us in the press did. Our email was filled with news stories and press releases. This is where “moral relativism” comes in. Give me a moment with this...
PHOENIX — A 22-year-old man described as a social outcast with wild beliefs steeped in mistrust faces a federal court hearing on charges he tried to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed others in a Tucson shooting rampage.
Public defenders are asking that the attorney who defended Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh and "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski defend Jared Loughner, who makes his first court appearance Monday afternoon...
The Arizona Republic and Reuters report accused shooter Jared Loughner will likely be represented by veteran federal public defender Judy Clarke. Loughner, who's already been charged with five counts of murder and attempted murder, including that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), will appear in federal court today in Phoenix. Clarke, who's now in private practice, collaborates with the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel; she's expected to request assignment to the case, a step that sheds light on the possible severity of Loughner's punishment, should he be convicted.
Clarke is no stranger to highly charged murder cases. She assisted in the defenses of 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, the "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski, Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her toddlers in 1994. As Frank notes below, Loughner's court appearance is set for 5 PM Mountain time (7 PM Eastern). Correction: 3 PM Mountain time (5 PM Eastern).
[Webmaster - Judy Clarke seems to be a "handler" for high profile government psychotics/"mind control" subjects. The feds know they can count on Ms. Clarke to guide her clients through the litigation process to a nice cozy life sentence in Supermax where they won't have any contact with the media.]
TUCSON - Her bed is still unmade a day and a half later, just as she left it. Her hot-pink polka-dot comforter is rumpled beneath a poster of Audrey Hepburn, and pink slippers peek out from beneath the bed, like she'd just kicked them off.
In slain 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green's bedroom, there's a dollhouse in a corner and a boom box on the vanity and her father standing in between, lost in this room he knows so well.
John Green's tear-filled eyes come to rest on a personalized license plate he bought his daughter: "Princess," it says...
In this undated photo provided by the Green family, Christina Green, 9, poses for a photo. Green was one of those killed in an attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., a three-term lawmaker, who was shot in the head.
BashyTheDon| January 06, 2011 |18 likes, 7 dislikes
NEWS Four separate investigations were underway Tuesday after cell phone video surfaced of San Francisco police shooting a man in a wheelchair following an incident during which he allegedly stabbed an officer in the city's South of Market district. Officers had responded to reports of a man vandalizing city vehicles in the area of 10th and Howard streets Tuesday morning at approximately 10:15 a.m. The intersection is next to the San Francisco Behavioral Health Services building. The man, whose name has not yet been released, was in a wheelchair but was not confined to it, San Francisco Police Officer Chiang said. "He was seen up and moving about a number of times," he said. The suspect had a rock and knife in his hand and was slashing the tires of some city vehicles in the area, Chiang said. He did not know what the man's motive was for vandalizing the cars." - KTVU.
HOT RUMOR: “2ND SUSPECT ARRESTED, NOT MAN IN PHOTO/VIDEO”
NEW INFORMATION, THE STORY WITHIN THE STORY: MISSING CHILDREN IN TUCSON, HUMAN ORGAN TRAFFICKING
VT had received information on missing children in Tucson and throughout Arizona, as many as 2500 under the age of 14. Confirmations are now in outlining reports made to law enforcement, reports by CI’s (registered confidential informants of law enforcement) and references in Grand Jury testimony.
“Think of what they get for the cornea’s of a 14 year old. Selling a kid for parts brings in 2 million. There has been a ‘whisper campaign’ about this for some time, people looking for an explanation for the rash of missing children, all ages, races and backgrounds.” (from a well known Arizona politician)
TODAY’S QUOTES:
“One of the first to be dragged into this sickening ritual of guilt by association: Sarah Palin. Last March, the former Alaska governor posted a map on her Facebook page with crosshair targets representing 20 Democratic lawmakers she was singling out for defeat after they voted for President Obama’s health care plan. One of them was Giffords. Palin, who touts her caribou-hunting heritage, also tweeted, ‘Don’t retreat, RELOAD!’”…Howard Kurtz
Koch Brothers, Israeli-American billionaires, funded attacks on Gifford…VT
THE STORY:
Jared Loughner is in custody after a shooting in Tucson today that killed 4 thus far including a small child and a Federal judge. Seriously wounded is a member of congress, Gabrielle Giffords, who is expected to survive.
News reports from Fox and other networks that Loughner is a US Army combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan are false. That such information, easily verified in seconds, was released to the world, was extremely irresponsible and highly prejudicial to veterans. Veterans Today finds this type of journalism despicable.
The weapon, reportedly a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an extended “hi-capacity” magazine was recovered at the scene. Thus far 18 are reported wounded or dead.
News reports that say Loughner is a military veteran are false. By his own admission, he was in recruit processing in Phoenix, part of a controversial program meant to bring substandard inductees into the military.
Charges of “mind control” and “Manchurian Candidate” are already filling the internet.
This mysterious video was found on Youtube titled “Jared Loughner, My Final Thoughts”
In it he describes lack of sleep, thoughts of terrorism, discussions of currency and processing into the US Army.
Most frightening of all is the music. This is really bad music, indescribably inane, enough to drive anyone from an elevator or a shopping mall.
There is no proof that this is the right person, though this certainly looks like a suicide note from someone preparing to die in a terrorist attack, someone with issues about the bible and impending military service.
“We spoke to an eyewitness, Steven Rayle, who was on the scene at the time of the shooting and helped to hold the suspect down while waiting for police. Here’s what he said: “The event was very informal: Giffords had set up a table outside the Safeway and about 20-30 people were gathered to talk to her. The gunman, who may have come from inside the Safeway, walked up and shot Giffords in the head first, “point blank”. According to Rayle, who is a former ER doctor, Giffords was able to move her hands after being shot.
“After shooting Giffords, the gunman opened fire indiscriminately for a few seconds, firing 20-30 rounds and hitting a number of people, including a kid no older than 10 years old. Rayle hid behind a concrete pole and pretended to be dead. When the gunman apparently ran out of ammunition he attempted to flee, but a member of Giffords’ staff tackled him. Rayle helped hold the gunman down while waiting for the sheriff to arrive, about 15-to-20 minutes later. The EMS came about 30 minutes later. Rayle said he was “stunned” by how long it took medical help to arrive. …”
POSSIBLE ACCOMPLICE
Pauline Arrillaga of AP released the following description after consultations with local law enforcement:
“The man, who was photographed by a security camera, was described as white with dark hair and 40-45 years old.”
Additional video has been released and will be made available. There is absolutely no proof this person is involved nor has he been charged or that he is even being sought for questioning.
JEWISH GROUPS INDICATE SHOOTING MAY HAVE BEEN ANTI-SEMITISM, “GIFFORD A JEW”
Jewish news services, Israel and America, are reporting that Gifford was now a practicing Jew, after her visit to Israel in 2001. The JTA Jewish Global News explanation is below. There are a number of questions that are quite legitimately brought up in the article and some carefully avoided, such as the strong Israeli ties to PalinPac, the group that, with funding from Israeli American billionaires has pushed a strong Zionist agenda. With Israel backing both Gifford and financing those threatening her also, an avenue of possible investigation may need to be opened.
Giffords was elected to Congress in the Democratic sweep in 2006. The first Jewish woman elected to Congress from the state, she made her Jewish identity part of her campaign.
“If you want something done, your best bet is to ask a Jewish woman to do it,” said Giffords, a former state senator, said at the time. “Jewish women — by our tradition and by the way we were raised — have an ability to cut through all the reasons why something should, shouldn’t or can’t be done and pull people together to be successful.”
Giffords, 40, was raised “mixed” by a Christian Scientist mother and Jewish father, but said that after a visit to Israel in 2001, she had decided she was Jewish only. She attended services at a local Reform synagogue.
In one of her last photos, she posed with the new U.S. House of Representatives speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) at her swearing in; her hand is on the “Five Books of Moses.”
Giffords fought a hard election this year, against the national anti-incumbent, anti-Democratic mood. She tacked to the right of her party on immigration, saying border security was of primary consideration.
The election was called in her favor weeks after the vote.
Giffords’ office had been vandalized in March, after she voted for health care reform. Friends said she had received threats for her positions on health care and for opposing her state’s new law allowing police to arrest undocumented immigrants during routine stops.
The National Jewish Democratic Council suggested that the heated rhetoric of the last year contributed to the climate that led to the attack.
From Arutz Sheva, the Israel News Service:
Giffords once began an op-ed piece for the Arizona Jewish Post with a proud recital of her family roots, explaining that she is the grandchild of Akiba Hornstein, who was “the son of a Lithuanian rabbi.” Her grandfather changed his name, she said, as did so many others who came to United States, to Giffords “for reasons of anti-Semitism.” More than 50 years later, “like my grandmother, I am a lifetime member of Hadassah and now a member of Congregation Chaverim,” she wrote.
The Congresswoman supports direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, believing that “peace between Israel and her neighbors can only be achieved by direct talks between the parties. Until the Palestinian leadership and other hostile regimes are willing to accept Israel’s right to exist, it will be impossible to achieve peace,” she wrote in 2006. “I believe that the United States can help by providing a mediator who can be trusted by both sides… “
During her tenure in the Arizona State Senate, Giffords had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem. “It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life,” she said.
“I got to see firsthand the sacrifices that Israelis make in the name of security because of the dangerous state of affairs there. I will always be a strong supporter of Israel.”
BIZARRE “MIND CONTROL” VIDEO SLIDE
On a darker note, there are other videos with references to mind control. We will continue watching the story and see what is released to the press. We have learned to note such things.
PALIN ORGANIZATION BEING WIDELY BLAMED FOR SHOOTING
“PalinPac” called for Congresswoman Giffords to be “targeted” in a campaign that made more than casual reference to gun violence. Reports are coming in from Arizona that few are surprised by the shootings. Locals report that the recent campaign against Giffords by Marine veteran Jesse Kelly, the ‘Tea Party” candidate, was one of the most acrimonious in American political history. Advertising, outlined below, advocating the election of ultra-nationalist Kelly, could easily be considered support of terrorism and is believed by many to have contributed to today’s holocaust.
VIOLENCE AND THREATS, ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME FINANCE SHORTFALL
Giffords, a Democrat, showed surprising financial support, particularly from PAC’s (Political Action Committees) during the 2010 campaign. The chart below outlines the curious imbalance in an election year where many other Republican candidates were able to outspend their Democratic opponents handily.
CONTROVERSIAL FEDERAL JUDGE, UNDER 24 HOUR PROTECTION BY US MARSHALS KILLED
John McCarthy Roll, the Federal Judge who died, born in Pennsylvania, University of Arizona degrees, appointed in 91 by George H.W. Bush. In 2009, he received 200 death threats in a single day for a ruling on immigration and put under protection by US Marshal’s. Judge Roll may well have been the intended target. Where was Judge Roll’s security detail?
The editors and staff at Veterans Today give our best wishes and sympathy to all those who suffer from today’s events.
IS THIS THE INTRODUCTORY SLIDE OF A YOUTUBE SUICIDE NOTE?
VERY CREEPY “FAVORITE” VIDEO FROM YOUTUBE AND FACEBOOK
The following video was tagged a “favorite ” by the alleged shooter.
A reporter called me a little while ago, and told me that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had been shot at a public event. She is in critical condition.
I’m going to let others comment on what this means for America. I just want to say what it means to me.
Gabrielle Giffords and I served together on the House Committee on Science and Technology. She was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, and I was a member of that subcommittee. Her D.C. office was one floor above mine.
I saw Gabby dozens, if not hundreds of times, during our two years together. And nearly every time that I can remember, she was smiling.
Gabby is one of the most cheerful, charming and engaging people I have ever known. She’s always looking on the bright side. She has something good to say about pretty much everyone. Bad news never lays a glove on her. She loves life, and all the people in it.
No matter what is going on in your life, after fifteen minutes with Gabby, you’ll feel that you can touch the stars.
Everyone knew that Gabby would have a tough race in 2010. (She actually won with 49% of the vote.) But I always thought that if each of her constituents could spend that fifteen minutes with her, and see what she is really like, then she would win with 99.9% of the vote. (Same thing about Harry Teague of New Mexico, who lost, and a few others that I could name.) You would want her as your Congressman, because you would want her as your friend.
I know nothing about the man who shot Gabby, and what was going through his mind when he did this. But I will tell you this – if he shot Gabby out of hatred, then it wasn’t Gabby he was shooting, but rather some cartoon version of her, drawn by her political opposition. Because there is no way – NO WAY – that anyone who really knows Gabby could hate her or hurt her. She is a kind, gentle soul.
My heart goes out to Mark Kelly, Gabby’s husband, and the many, many people who love her. Gabby, we don’t want to lose you. Please stay here with us.
TUCSON - The person of interest that sheriffs have been looking has stepped forward - he is a cab driver who unwittingly provided a ride to Jared Loughner, the shooting suspect.
Pima County Sheriffs confirm that the person of interest whose photo and description was released to the public early this morning is a cab driver, and not an associate or accomplice to the suspect.
Sheriffs say he was seen on the Safeway surveillance camera because he went in with Loughner to get change for the cab ride.
Get ready for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to be used in a serious way against the Tea Party movement. MSNBC, CNN and the rest of the Mockingbird media are now attempting to portray millions of Americans as violence prone anti-government radicals.
The FBI and local law enforcement in Pima County, Arizona, are looking for a second man wanted in connection with the shooting of Rep. Giffords and the murder of a federal judge and five others.
Of all the senseless acts of violence we’ve seen over the years, today’s shooting at a Gabrielle Giffords public event in Tucson really strikes home. I spent time in the company of “Gabby” Giffords and met many members of her staff during her first run for Congress.
The man identified by authorities as the gunman in Saturday’s shooting rampage, which killed six and critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), appears to have left a trail of bizarre and anti-government messages on the Internet.
Jared Loughner, the gunman who shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and numerous other victims including a Federal Judge and a nine-year-old girl during a political event in Tuscon today, was a US military recruit who was obsessed with mind control, mirroring the circumstances of many other mass shooters in history.
The man suspected of opening fire on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and dozens of other people outside a Tucson supermarket Saturday may be linked to an anti-government group called American Renaissance, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by Fox News.
A woman named Caitie Parker has been tweeting that she went to school with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ alleged shooter Jared Loughner and that he had met Giffords previously.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot and critically wounded outside a Tucson supermarket on Saturday, described herself as a Second Amendment supporter, although the National Rifle Association does not rate her highly.
UPDATE: John Lott appeared on The Alex Jones Show today and indicated that University officials were looking for a reason to cancel the speech before the incident today. “The Dean for the law school expressed concern about me talking about this subject so I think they had some trepidation to begin with,” said Lott.
A shooting at the University of Texas campus that was initially blamed on a lone nut took on a political aspect after it emerged that the incident coincided with a speech by second amendment expert John Lott about the right to concealed carry that was due to take place tonight but has since been cancelled.
The Associated Press is now reporting that police are investigating two separate crime scenes after a gunman opened fire inside a library then fatally shot himself early this morning. Authorities are still searching for a second suspect and the University is on lock down with all classes having been cancelled.
Shortly after the incident, the Austin-American Statesman somewhat sardonically reported that the John Lott event, which was organized by UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, had been cancelled as a result of the “unfortunate coincidence” of it falling on the same day as this morning’s incident.
“I don’t want to comment on any political aspects of this,” said Jeff Shi, the president of UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, “I hope everything turns out well and the only casualties are the bad guys.”
Was the timing of the shooting just an “unfortunate coincidence” or a deliberate ploy to undermine and cancel the Lott event amidst a nationwide push to allow students the right to concealed carry? With robberies and other crimes on campus soaring, more students are demanding they be authorized to protect themselves,
The timing of mass shootings, although thankfully in this case there were no victims aside from the gunman, routinely coincide with the passage of stringent gun laws or debates about concealed carry on campus.
The 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which the perpetrator Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others, was preceded by a campus gun ban that prohibited “unauthorized possession, storage or control” of firearms on campus. This prevented the dozens of victims from being able to properly defend themselves against the killer.
The only “political aspect” behind the “coincidence” of the shooting happening on the same day as the second amendment event is the fact that if the gunman or gunmen had been more successful in their rampage, students who had exercised their gun rights and adopted concealed carry would have been far more protected than those who had not.
Indeed, presuming that the danger is now over with the gunman dead, there would have been no better time than tonight for Lott to give his speech about Second Amendment issues on campus.
However, as a consequence of this amazing “coincidence,” Lott’s presentation has been postponed with no indication of when it will be rescheduled.
It remains to be seen whether the corporate media will play up the connection between the shooting and the Lott speech as a means of demonizing the Second Amendment, but given how the establishment has ceaselessly exploited mass shootings in the past to attack the rights of the victims to defend themselves, don’t be surprised if the talking points in reaction to this story start to take on this very character.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.
ANZALDUAS PARK - The FBI is investigating after armed men shot at border patrol agents on the Rio Grande.
A Border Patrol Spokesperson tells CHANNEL 5 NEWS agents chased a vehicle to the river's edge near Anzalduas Park this morning.
The driver swam to Mexico leaving behind his vehicle loaded with drugs. As agents were removing over a thousand pounds of marijuana armed men in Mexico began shooting at agents patrolling on boats.
The agents returned fire several times forcing the gunmen in Mexico to flee. No injuries were reported.
A lawyer representing the family of a man fatally shot by police at a Las Vegas membership warehouse store denied police reports Monday that the man had pulled out a handgun and pointed it at police.
Erik Scott, 39, had at least one handgun with him at the time of the shooting Saturday, but also had a concealed weapon permit, attorney Ross Goodman said.
"He did not pull a handgun," Goodman said. "All the witnesses we've heard from have said he did not make any threatening gestures, and didn't do anything that could be construed as acting in a threatening manner."...
Metro Police on Monday said a man fatally shot by officers at a Costco store in Summerlin had pointed a gun at an officer before three officers fired their weapons, killing the man.
Police identified the three officers in the Saturday shooting as Officer William Mosher, 38, who has been with the department since June 2005; Officer Joshua Stark, 28, with the department since September 2008; and Officer Thomas Mendiola, 23, with the department since March 2009.
All officers are part of the Northwest Area Command Patrol Division. The Clark County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed as Erik Scott, 38, of Las Vegas.
The man shot by police outside a Summerlin Costco store on Saturday was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a master's degree from Duke University, friends said.
Army veteran Erik Scott, 39, was at the store near Charleston Boulevard and the Las Vegas Beltway with his girlfriend before three officers fatally shot him in a confrontation.
Friends and an attorney speaking on behalf of Scott's relatives, described him as a good man from a military family. His father was in the Air Force, and his grandfather fought in World War II, friend Mike Pusateri said.
"The most loyal, honest, trustworthy, salt-of-the-earth guy you could meet," said Pusateri, 38. "You only meet one or two of those kinds of guys in your life, and Erik is one of them."
Scott worked for Boston Scientific, a medical devices manufacturer, as a sales representative for the company's pacemakers. Attorney Ross Goodman, who represents Scott's family, said Scott was one of the company's top sales employees...
...Attorney Ross Goodman represents Scott's family. He says Scott never pulled a gun and was not acting in a threatening way toward officers. He says other witnesses will back that up. Some comments on 8NewsNOW.com from people who claim to have witnessed the shooting agree with Goodman.
One person wrote, "I saw the whole thing go down from start to finish, and the cops were trigger happy. The guy never had a chance." "I was there, and I never saw this guy do anything with his gun," another person wrote. "The police started shooting immediately after ‘drop it' was yelled."
Metro officers say they haven't heard those eyewitness accounts yet and encourage anyone who saw anything to contact them.
"It sounds like he was trying to show the police his gun by lifting up his shirt," Castillo said. "These guys, they fired prematurely."
Captain Neville says 911 calls will prove otherwise. "I could clearly hear the officers giving commands to the individual to get him on the ground," he said. "You could hear people yelling and screaming in the background. You could hear the shots being fired." "When you listen to that, it definitely sends a chill down your spine," Capt. Neville said.
Goodman says he hopes surveillance video, along with the witnesses he's hearing from, will show Scott did nothing wrong.
FOREST PARK, Ga. -- The military is investigating a shooting at a U.S. Army Reserve Center located on Fort Gillem south of Atlanta.
Fort Gillem spokesman Peter Chadwick says a suspect is in custody. The fort's installation coordinator Andrew Hall did not know whether the suspect was in the military but says officials know there was at least one person injured in Thursday's shooting...
Coincidence? Several days before John Patrick Bedell attacked two Pentagon cops and was killed, D.C. police staged a drill at the Friendship Heights Metro station in in Northwest Washington.
“Metro police and other emergency personnel will descend on the Friendship Heights Station starting at 11:30 Wednesday night for an anti-terrorist exercise in which mock gunmen open fire, killing or wounding several passengers,” Ann Scott Tyson reported for the Washington Post on February 22. “Agencies responding will include the Metro police special response team, as well as fire, police and emergency medical personnel from the District, Montgomery County and the FBI, according to a Metro statement.”...
For the establishment leftoids, the verdict is in — John Patrick Bedell was not only a rightwing, anti-government terrorist, but a Libertarian to boot...
Infowars.com | The corporate media has exploited Bedell’s comments and has shifted into overdrive and is now portraying the 9/11 truth movement as a violent threat.
If someone tripled the fire insurance on their house and then it was burned to the ground days later, would you be suspicious? A similar comparison can be made to last night’s shooting at the Pentagon, which was preceded by weeks of hype from both the establishment left and right about the inevitability of 9/11 truthers going postal.
Sure, this shooting took place a week or so after the same scenario had been played out and trained for by local police and military types, so not all events have to go live at the same time as the training – but they do happen during or immediately near the actual event.
HOLLISTER, Calif. – The man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon had a history of mental illness and had become so erratic that his parents reached out to local authorities weeks ago with a warning that he was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday.
It's still unclear why John Patrick Bedell opened fire Thursday at the Pentagon entrance, wounding two police officers before he was fatally shot. The two officers were hospitalized briefly with minor injuries.
Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced.
"Without the stabilizing medication, the symptoms of his disinhibition, agitation and fearfullness complicated the lack of treatment," Nelson said...
Two days after we warned that anti-government activists were about to be framed for violence, Californian man attacks police officers, media cites motivation as advocacy for 9/11 truth
Just two days after we warned of false flag domestic attacks that would be blamed on the federal government’s political adversaries were all but inevitable, a Californian man attacked the Pentagon last night in a shooting that wounded two police officers and has since been blamed on the John Patrick Bedell’s advocacy for 9/11 truth.
On Wednesday we explained how a Southern Poverty Law Center report which demonized We Are Change 9/11 truth organizations in the same breath as violent racist skinhead groups was part of a preparatory set-up for violent domestic acts that would be blamed on anti-government extremists.
We pointed out that since examples of Americans committing violence in pursuit of their political beliefs, FBI patsy Timothy McVeigh aside, were thin on the ground, organizations like the SPLC were begging for such incidents to occur in order to provide the federal government with the pretext to crack down on dissent and silence free speech on the Internet...
Washington (CNN) -- A man who was shot after calmly opening fire on two Pentagon police officers died early Friday, authorities said.
The gunman was John Patrick Bedell, a law enforcement source said. At a Friday morning news conference, Pentagon Police Chief Richard S. Keevill referred to him only as Bedell.
The 36-year-old man lived with his parents in Hollister, California, said Terry Sutherland, a Pentagon spokesman.
Bedell had "no real emotion in his face" as he approached the officers Thursday evening, Keevill said. He pulled a gun out of his pocket when asked for identification to enter the Pentagon, the chief said...
Resentment of the U.S. government and suspicions over the 9/11 attacks have surfaced in writings by the Californian identified as the gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers before he was mortally wounded in a hail of return fire.
The shooter's death was confirmed early Friday, hours after the Thursday evening assault, as authorities searched for a motive behind the brazen attack. The two officers, grazed by bullets, were treated in a hospital...
Local media report three people have been shot outside the Pentagon Metro station in Arlington, Virginia. A police agency says two officers were shot and the suspect is in custody. There are reports the Pentagon is on lockdown. (March 4)
Suspect in Pentagon Shooting Dies in Hospital
The gunman who wounded two police officers at the subway entrance to the Pentagon has died. (March 5)
Police: Pentagon Suspect 'Well Armed'
The chief of the Pentagon police says the gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers was well armed with two 9 millimeter semiautomatic weapons and several magazines of ammunition. (March 5)
ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA) - Two Pentagon police officers have been released from the hospital following a shoot-out at the busy Metro station entrance to the Pentagon around 6:40pm Thursday.
9NEWS NOW and wusa9.com have learned the officers are identified as Jeff Amos and Marvin Carraway. One officer was shot in the top of the shoulder; the other received a wound in the thigh. Officials say a third officer engaged the suspect, but he was not injured.
Despite the officers' injuries, they fired back, hitting the suspect. Officials say the exchange lasted less than a minute. They were all transported to George Washington University Hospital.
The suspect, 36-year-old John Patrick Bedell, died at the hospital.
At a press conference Friday, officials said Bedell appears to have acted alone. He was well-dressed in a suit when he walked calmly up to the officers, armed with 2-9mm semi-automatic handguns and several magazines filled with ammunition...
Police Say John Patrick Bedell Stayed Calm During Shooting, Had Posted Anti-Government Rants
The gunman who charged into one of the Pentagon's main entrances and opened fire has died from gunshot wounds to the head and authorities are looking into his recent rants against the government as a potential motive.
John Patrick Bedell, 36, died at the hospital Thursday night after Pentagon police returned fire. Police told ABC News that the two police officers wounded in the shooting have been released from the hospital after suffering minor injuries. They are now on administrative leave pending the investigation of the incident, police said.
The attack seems to be another suicide mission aimed at the government. While police have said they are not certain of a motive, they are investigating Internet postings in which Bedell wrote and recorded audio expressing his anger toward the government...
Jared Loughner is in custody after a shooting in Tucson today that killed 4 thus far including a small child and a Federal judge. Seriously wounded is a member of congress, Gabrielle Giffords, who is expected to survive.
