I'll preface with an observation on political discourse. I notice that when someone wants to bring up a point that is different from your own main point (on any particular issue), there is such a reaction to get defense and fight it even though the two are not mutually exclusive. Like, you could still believe your point is substantial while still considering that the other point is still value of being a contributing factor that merits discussion.
That being said... boy do I have some strong feelings on this shooting and they are not things I'm really seeing hardly anyone discuss.
Nikolas Cruz's adopted mother died suddenly after being hospitalized for flu/pneumonia 3 months prior.
After leaving his first caregiver's home, he ends up with James and Kimberley Snead. What has been reported about them?
"James Snead, 48, is a decorated army veteran and a military intelligence analyst who served stints in the Middle East between 1988 and 1996. Kimberly, 49, is a neonatal intensive care nurse who cares for premature and ill babies." (1)
Specifically, James Snead was an Electronic Warfare Signal Intelligence Analyst with National Top Secret Security Clearance.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-b-snead-30875815/?trk=public-profile-join-page
What do we know about Nikolas Cruz?
It was been reported that he was "deeply depressed" (no doubt after his mothers death), and they were taking him to therapy.
Meanwhile, Lynda Cruz, his deceased adoptive mother, told mental health experts in 2016 that Nikolas suffered from ADHD, autism, and depression but have since received all prescribed medications, NBC News reported. (2)
It has also been reported that even though he was 19 he couldn't drive, he couldn't cook or clean, he was very naive. The Snead's had to teach him how to do basic things like use a microwave.
In addition to mental disorders and being on prescription drugs...
Despite the couple's claims they didn't notice his disturbing behavior, the teen was expelled from school last year, while neighbors and friends revealed details of his love for violence and weapons.
Police had been called to Cruz's homes as many as 39 times over the course of seven years over reports of violence or suspicious behavior. (1)
Also...
For years, Cruz had been a client at Henderson Behavioral Health in Florida, until the fall of 2017.
For years, there were reports of his self-harm, cutting his arms, trouble controlling his temper, aggression, assaulting students, verbal abuse, banging his head, and yet in 2016, a therapist with Henderson Mental Health “deemed Nikolas to be no threat to anyone or himself at this present time,” according to the police report. (4)
Despite the extensive history of mental and behavioral health issues, use of psychotropic drugs...
Despite Cruz having undergone a psychiatric evaluation just one year ago...
Despite hearing about his violent and aggressive behavior outside of the house (Cruz showed none of these violent tendencies towards the Sneads directly), and
Despite the 39 calls to the police over violent behavior...
"The couple admitted they allowed the 'gun-obsessed' teen to keep an AR-15 rifle in their home, however, as they are avid about gun safety, they made him buy a locking safe to keep in his bedroom." (1)
I'm sorry, but this doesn't pass the sniff test. With all of those red flags, why would, of all people, a highly trained Army veteran would allow that?
This kid could not have distributed more warning signs.
And on top of that...
"Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but has figured out Cruz must have kept a key for himself." (1)
All gun safes come with 2 keys. Again between Snead's background and the fact that he also kept his own gun cabinet in the house, he would know that.
On a larger scale, and even more bothersome, is the FBI.
I honestly have no idea why people aren't outraged and demanding on social media why the FBI failed to act in any way.
"On January 5, 2018, a person close to Nikolas Cruz contacted the FBI’s Public Access Line (PAL) tipline to report concerns about him. The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.
Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life. The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami Field Office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken.
We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information received by the PAL on January 5. The information was not provided to the Miami Field Office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time." (5)
If the FBI had followed protocol they would have known about all of the police calls, the psychiatric history, everything.
They also could have made a connection to another report the FBI recieved...
The owner of the Youtube channel BenTheBondsman shared a video after the shooting on how 5 months prior he recieved a comment on one of his videos from a username nikolas cruz that said "Im going to be a professional school shooter".
Ben took a screenshot, reported the comment to Youtube (who removed it), and also reported it to the FBI. When his email bounced back he went so far as to contact his local field office and did have FBI agents come and ask him questions about the incident. But for some illogical reason that I can't comprehend, the FBI couldn't work with Youtube to get info on the username to look at his IP address, track down his identity, and start a file on him.
If the FBI had done their jobs, this shooting would not have happened, end of story.
What good are all of these laws we pass if we can't trust our government to carry them out properly?
(6) https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-statement-on-the-shooting-in-parkland-florida
Thank you for reading. If you like critical thinking, you might also appreciate the voices of these fine curators of independent news:
@v4vapid , @urasoul , @clarityofsignal , @dwinblood , @ozmaga , @pizzagategear , @policyofliberty , @tftproject , @thehoneybee , @theouterlight , @titusfrost , @zer0hedge , @caitlinjohnstone , @aggroed , @suzi3d , @tremendouspercy , @aagabriel , @zachhaller
We have not heard the end of this latest school shooting and wont for a looong time...
There's going to be so many tug of wars, spin doctoring and likely flat out LIES still yet to come...
I can't keep up with it all, although I am certain that #twitterpurge and mass attempts of censorship like it will be be forthcoming as we keep on asking questions.
I agree, and I could have said a lot more on this. I tried to write this from the perspective of speaking to my facebook community, and I intentionally avoided talking about things like crisis actors that would strain their cognitive dissonance into rejection.
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