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A Cop Who Responded to a Deadly School Shooting Explains Why He Now Trains Teachers to Carry Guns

Quinn Cunningham has 23 years of law enforcement experience including 17 years with the Colorado SWAT team, in which he is currently a team leader. He was one of the first responders to a deadly 2013 shooting at Arapahoe High School near Denver. Since 2015, he has been actively training teachers to carry inside their schools.

During the most recent three-day FASTER Colorado training course for teachers, where Cunningham was one of four active-duty law enforcement officer instructors, he shared his experience and worldview with the Washington Free Beacon.

Cunningham’s story began just before 12:33 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2013, when an 18-year-old student entered Arapahoe High School with a pump-action shotgun and a bag full of Molotov cocktails. As he opened fire, the call for help went out to local law enforcement. Cunningham had recently been injured in a fall and was assigned to desk duty but geared up and responded anyway.

"When something like that happens, pretty much the whole city comes," Cunningham told the Free Beacon. "The whole metro area came. I was about twelfth into the school from what I understand. We went into the school, and we’re moving through the hallways. It was me and two other cops who I had never seen before. I don’t remember what agency they’re with and I haven’t seen them since. And we’re moving through the school, and normally when we do scenario-based training for an active killer, there’s a lot of distractions and a lot of fire alarms and role players and all this stuff, screaming going on. And it was dead silence, like deafening, distracting silence. To the point where it was, ‘What’s going on? Where are the kids at?’ And I’m looking at my watch like, ‘What day is it?’"

"They were so good with their lockdown procedures and their active killer procedures that all the kids were barricaded in their classrooms, the doors were locked and they were armed with chairs, fire extinguishers," Cunningham said. "If anyone came to that door, they were going to fight."

After entering the school, the attacker came upon 17-year-old Claire Esther Davis. He shot her in the head before chasing a teacher to the school library where he set off the Molotov cocktails and eventually shot himself. The attack was over in less than 2 minutes. It was only 46 seconds between the time when the school resource officer called for help and when the shooter took his own life.

Witnessing the scene of Davis’s murder had a profound impact on Cunningham.

"So, we’re moving through the school, and I came around the corner and there’s the crime scene," Cunningham said. "Forty-six seconds, we lost one student. The reason I’m doing this is because of that crime scene."

He said he’ll never forget what he saw that day.

"And it’s still to this day kind of hard to talk about it," he said while choking back tears, "because it’s just seared in my skull."

"What had happened is when he took off towards the library, one of the unarmed security guards picked her up and tried to take her to help," Cunningham began to explain. "So, he went one end of the school, which was towards the library, and there were shots fired, the guy threw some bombs and so he turned around and went back out. There’s about a 50-yard blood trail that went down, and about a 50-yard blood trail that went back. And she was sitting on this bench. And one of the shots he missed, and you could tell the impact on the wall, and you could tell the impact on the wall where she was hit, and there was debris, blood, footprints in the blood, and pieces of the brick all over the ground. And the thing that sticks with me forever is I looked down in the middle of this blood and right there was this lock of hair. Long, very beautiful lock of hair. And I didn’t freeze, but time ceased to exist. It just wasn’t a factor anymore. I was looking at that hair and it was beautiful in the middle of all this chaos. And her beauty transcended that evil."

He said he made a lifelong commitment that day.

"I made a promise to her," Cunningham said. "I made a promise to her that I couldn’t give my life for her that day, but I’ll give every day of my fucking life for her. For the rest of my days. And that’s why I do it. That’s why I want this so bad. I want this program so bad because no one deserves to die in their school. No one should go to school worried about getting shot."

In the aftermath of the shooting, Cunningham started his own training program and eventually became involved with FASTER Colorado.

Quinn Cunningham, Laura Carno, and the rest of the FASTER Colorado team at their recent June class / FASTER Colorado

Laura Carno, executive director of FASTER Colorado, said she shares Cunningham’s vision for helping teachers protect their students. She pointed to the efforts of teachers to protect their students during recent school shootings despite being unarmed. Her hope is teachers and staff will have the option to train to confront any future attackers with their own firearms.

"If [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School] Coach Aaron Feis had been armed, he would have been able to protect those kids with something other than his body, he could’ve saved them," she told the Free Beacon. "He could’ve saved whoever was killed after that, and he would’ve gone home to his family. What about the teachers’ right of self-defense or the coach’s right of self-defense? Just because they choose that very noble profession they lose their right to self-defense. That’s not okay."

Carno also pointed to the shooting at Santa Fe High School as an example of the limitations of armed school resource officers. Unlike Parkland’s armed school resource officer, Santa Fe’s armed school resource officer intervened in the shooting, but it wasn’t enough to save the 10 victims who were murdered by the attacker.

"And then Santa Fe, there was a school resource officer and they also had active shooter training," Carno said. "They were discussing arming staff, they just weren’t there yet."

Quinn Cunningham demonstrates a shooting drill / FASTER Colorado

Cunningham said his personal experience reinforced that point. Police—even those stationed in or nearby a school—are unlikely to be the first ones able to respond to an attack, and the longer that response is delayed, the more kids may die.

"With an SRO in the school, 46 seconds we lost a student. Forty-six seconds," he said. "We are not the first responders. You could be in the parking lot, call has to go to dispatch, dispatch has to arrow to you, you have to go. And there’s lag time there, there’s some dwell time there before we can respond. The statistics I’ve heard is every 17 seconds someone is killed in an active shooter situation. Seventeen seconds. If I’m sitting in the parking lot for three minutes before I make entry, do the math. That’s too many lives.

"Cops are not the first responders," said Cunningham. "It is the people there, the civilians. Whether it’s an active shooter or something happens at Walmart at three o’clock in the morning. You are the first responder, you have the right to protect your life, and cops are the second responders, fire rescue third. When I show up with my SWAT guys in our green pajamas, that’s an hour, hour and a half for us to get all our stuff, all our people and go. That’s way too long and that’s what happened at Columbine. Columbine, everybody set up, waited for SWAT while killing was happening."

The two acknowledged there are many concerns that people have about arming teachers in schools. They agreed that not every teacher wants to or even should be allowed to carry a firearm on their school campus.

"I don’t think everybody should be armed because not everybody can do it," Cunningham said. "It needs to be a volunteer program, and I think there should be some background checks. There should be some psychological testing and other things to make sure they’re the right people for the job."

Spent cartridges remain after a shooting drill at a FASTER Colorado class / FASTER Colorado

Carno said the teachers who are authorized to carry in Colorado schools are thoroughly screened by their local school districts, which ultimately decides if anyone is allowed to carry a firearm and, if so, who exactly the authorized personnel will be, what they will carry, and what kind of training they will be required to obtain.

"When they pick individuals, they don’t say, ‘free for all, everybody gets to carry!’ It’s this person, this person, this person," she said. "Some people say, ‘well it shouldn’t be Mrs. So-and-So because she once threw a stapler at a kid.’ They would know that in a school, and they wouldn’t authorize her even if she raised her hand. There are those safety regulations there and if someone in the school noticed something bad, they can take away that authorization in a minute. That’s up to them."

And, no, no teachers are ever forced to carry if they don’t want to.

"It’s one of the biggest myths," Carno said. "We don’t force teachers to carry a concealed firearm any more than we would force every American to carry a concealed firearm because there’s a law allowing it, it’s completely absurd. And they keep bringing it up."

Carno acknowledged that while school shootings are rare and have actually become less frequent in recent decades, she believes common concerns about teachers carrying guns, like accidental shootings or guns being stolen from teachers in school are even rarer.

"So, there are a lot of what-ifs," she said. "What if a kid gets a gun, what if someone is irresponsible with their firearm? There are a lot of what-ifs that are mitigated by the training. Even if we don’t see the what-ifs, there’s just no stories out there. If this was going to be a big problem, we’d be seeing it."

FASTER Colorado handgun qualification target / Stephen Gutowski

Still, Carno said FASTER Colorado does train the teachers who go through its course to learn about how to counter potential pitfalls of carrying in school like negligent discharges and weapon retention. "We teach around that," she said.

Ultimately, both said the program, which relies on donations from supporters, is necessary because an armed attacker unleashed inside a school of unarmed children and teachers is too horrific to not try every possible deterrent.

"There’s no worse scenario than an armed, deranged man executing child after child after child with nobody to stop him," Carno said. "There is no worse scenario. So, if you talk about accidents, friendly fire, any of these things are even more rare than school shootings. Nothing is worse than somebody just getting to have his way with little children and kill them with nobody to stop him. Anything is better than that."

"I think our kids are our most precious natural resource. Our kids are the furtherance of this great country, our cultures, our customs," Cunningham said. "They are our legacy and they need to be protected more than airports, more than banks. Because they are our most precious commodity."

The greatest hope for gun-training proponents like Cunningham and Carno is that if potential attackers begin to view schools as hardened targets with armed resistance where they might get shot before ever being able to harm somebody else, school shootings may become even more rare or stop altogether.

"When our kids stop being targets because these bad guys know they can’t kill kids anymore because they will be met with armed resistance, that will change our culture," Carno said.

The post A Cop Who Responded to a Deadly School Shooting Explains Why He Now Trains Teachers to Carry Guns appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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Loyal American presidents like Trump don’t take threats from enemies


While the fake news media spread artificial news and ignore the important news that doesn’t fit their anti-Trump, pro-Obama-Clinton narrative, here is what is really happening as our president, Donald J. Trump (R), protects our country – including his opponents.


Busting once again the myth of the “scandal-free“ Barack Hussein Obama (D) administration, Trump tweets:




While the fake news media spread artificial news and ignore the important news that doesn’t fit their anti-Trump, pro-Obama-Clinton narrative, here is what is really happening as our president, Donald J. Trump (R), protects our country – including his opponents.


Busting once again the myth of the “scandal-free“ Barack Hussein Obama (D) administration, Trump tweets:




There, he said it, because the media won’t.  What else did scandalous Obama know, and when did he know it?  Why did he beg and then reassure Russia’s then-president Medvedev six years ago, prior to his hoped for and ultimate victorious election, as he:


… was caught on tape asking for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for “space[“?]  ”This is my last election.  After my election I have more flexibility,” Obama implored.  Obama assured the departing Russian President he will have the “flexibility” required to deal with missile defense issues after the 2012 presidential election.


Also, did Obama know about Chinese hacking and interfering in the 2016 U.S. election?  Or didn’t he care about that either because “he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win!!!”?  And he wanted her to do so.


A few hours after his questioning Obama tweet, Trump warned Iran’s President Rouhani:




This does indicate that under Trump, Iran is not going to be the recipient of planeloads of American dollars in bribes for good behavior, as it was during Obama’s administration.  Oh, and did I mention that Obama thought his was “scandal-free”? 


The fake news media, though, did think Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney (R), was a danger and a scandal because he had “binders full of women,” which they mocked in their artificial news coverage.


Obviously, there is a lot more going on.  But you won’t be reading or hearing about the present president protecting the country – just more shocked responses to these and other tweets from reporters who are, as Obama foreign policy advisor Ben Rhodes so memorably – and accurately – and honestly – described them:


27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns.  That’s a sea change.  They literally know nothing.


Yeah!




via American Thinker Blog

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Feminists now demanding ‘menstrual equity’


Whoever said feminists weren’t supply-siders?  Feminists and their fellow travelers are demanding that tampons be tax-free.


You have to almost feel sorry for feminists.  They’ve been pushed aside by more virtuous groups like illegal aliens and men disguised as women.  These new identity group darlings have sucked all the oxygen out of the liberal media, forcing feminists to make more and more outlandish claims to get attention, such as:



1. There’s a rape epidemic on American campuses.


2. That women don’t have access to birth control.


3. That women’s reproductive health is threatened, even though no one has ever suggested sterilizing women.


4. That women are sexually harassed in the workplace so widely that every workplace is just like a Hollywood studio.


And now liberals are claiming that the tax on tampons should be lifted since only women pay the tax.  Is this really the foremost concern that liberals have for women in America?




Tax-free earrings for MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry?


Yes.


[I]n the United States, activists are bringing the concept of “menstrual equity” into the public debate.


Advocates are also urging states to exempt menstrual hygiene products from sales tax, arguing that they’re a necessity.


A frequent refrain: Why are tampons taxed when Viagra is not?


…because one is a prescription medicine?  I seem to remember that condoms are taxed; should that tax also be lifted because it applies only to men?


[W]omen – and transgender and nonbinary people who menstruate [sic] – are talking about it in public more than ever before. 


A good point, but they also left out mermaids, mermen who are transitioning to mermaids, and androids with expansion slots.


A New York congressman recently got into a spat with House administrators over whether he could expense $37.16 worth of tampons for his staff and visitors.


Staffers on Capitol Hill are not paid enough to buy tampons?  Do tourists who come to Washington, D.C. have enough money for plane fare, a hotel, food, and entertainment, but not enough funds for tampons?


The article also promoted a high-tech solution to women’s problems called “Livia,” a device that electronically stimulates a woman’s nether regions to turn pain into pleasure.  I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before health insurance plans are required to pay for it, all in the name of “equity.”


The claim that women cannot afford tampons is as bogus as other claims feminists make.  Women have had a solution to this since the invention of fabric some 25,000 years ago.  It’s called washable rags.  Everyone can afford them.  That’s what most women throughout the world use, and have used, since the dawn of time.


This latest example of manufactured outrage shows us how much the feminist movement has run out of steam.  Not only that, but feminists are actually losing ground as disguised men feel free to go into women’s locker rooms and showers and compete against women in sports, something unheard of even ten years ago.  If feminists want to compete, they need to do something to raise their virtue relative to the more prized identity groups in the liberal freak show constituency.


Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.


Whoever said feminists weren’t supply-siders?  Feminists and their fellow travelers are demanding that tampons be tax-free.


You have to almost feel sorry for feminists.  They’ve been pushed aside by more virtuous groups like illegal aliens and men disguised as women.  These new identity group darlings have sucked all the oxygen out of the liberal media, forcing feminists to make more and more outlandish claims to get attention, such as:


1. There’s a rape epidemic on American campuses.


2. That women don’t have access to birth control.


3. That women’s reproductive health is threatened, even though no one has ever suggested sterilizing women.


4. That women are sexually harassed in the workplace so widely that every workplace is just like a Hollywood studio.


And now liberals are claiming that the tax on tampons should be lifted since only women pay the tax.  Is this really the foremost concern that liberals have for women in America?




Tax-free earrings for MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry?


Yes.


[I]n the United States, activists are bringing the concept of “menstrual equity” into the public debate.


Advocates are also urging states to exempt menstrual hygiene products from sales tax, arguing that they’re a necessity.


A frequent refrain: Why are tampons taxed when Viagra is not?


…because one is a prescription medicine?  I seem to remember that condoms are taxed; should that tax also be lifted because it applies only to men?


[W]omen – and transgender and nonbinary people who menstruate [sic] – are talking about it in public more than ever before. 


A good point, but they also left out mermaids, mermen who are transitioning to mermaids, and androids with expansion slots.


A New York congressman recently got into a spat with House administrators over whether he could expense $37.16 worth of tampons for his staff and visitors.


Staffers on Capitol Hill are not paid enough to buy tampons?  Do tourists who come to Washington, D.C. have enough money for plane fare, a hotel, food, and entertainment, but not enough funds for tampons?


The article also promoted a high-tech solution to women’s problems called “Livia,” a device that electronically stimulates a woman’s nether regions to turn pain into pleasure.  I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before health insurance plans are required to pay for it, all in the name of “equity.”


The claim that women cannot afford tampons is as bogus as other claims feminists make.  Women have had a solution to this since the invention of fabric some 25,000 years ago.  It’s called washable rags.  Everyone can afford them.  That’s what most women throughout the world use, and have used, since the dawn of time.


This latest example of manufactured outrage shows us how much the feminist movement has run out of steam.  Not only that, but feminists are actually losing ground as disguised men feel free to go into women’s locker rooms and showers and compete against women in sports, something unheard of even ten years ago.  If feminists want to compete, they need to do something to raise their virtue relative to the more prized identity groups in the liberal freak show constituency.


Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.




via American Thinker Blog

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A new day is dawning at the Department of Veterans Affairs


Well into his second year in office, President Trump is seen as a  serious man living every day in the White House dedicated to initiating the changes he campaigned on.


Trump Nation sees a fighter on its behalf in the Churchill mode: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”



Ironically, that is also why his demonstrated over-the-top critics in the MSM are so outraged: because he has been effective so far.


TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, is real:


Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has been driven effectively insane due to their [sic] dislike of Donald Trump, to the point at which they [sic] will abandon all logic and reason.


The challenge is to not let TDS infect the federal government and especially the Department of Veterans Affairs (Special Agent Peter Strzok, et al., have shown that the infection was active at the FBI and DOJ).


Consequently, in an area in which I have had lifelong experience as a proud veteran and  being honored to help my fellow veterans for Presidents Reagan and Bush (41) and the on the House Committee on Rules, it was a good day when the Congress and president joined forces to create a better Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.).


On June 6, 2018, in a signing ceremony replacing the Choice Program with “The VA Mission Act of 2018,” the president forcefully stated, putting a marker down, to all V.A. employees:



When malfeasance was uncovered at VA, “They couldn’t do anything about it,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.  ”Good people that worked there, they couldn’t take care of the bad people.  Meaning, you’re fired; get the hell out of here.”


As is the case with most everything good or bad in the federal government, as the president pointed out, it most always comes down to the people.  The V.A. had a long run suffering the undue influence of government unions, in partnership with the Obama administration, in interfering with honorable, fair, and legal accountability.


Now, with a new secretary coming on board, it is time to reach out to the veterans and their families who read the American Thinker to help all understand just a few of the laws and procedures on their side when they engage with the Department of Veterans Affairs, under Title 38 legislation in this age of President Trump.


First, prior to empowering the veteran, a V.A. national service officer once told me, “They have ways to get you,” so knowledge is power.


  • The benefit of the doubt should go to the veteran when competing medical findings are presented in asking for service-connected benefits.

  • Even if one had a pre-existing condition prior to service, if something aggravates that condition, especially in combat, it is service connected to disability compensation.

  • In reviewing one’s claim process, keep in mind a nasty way that government bureaucrats can “get you.”  It is called “spoliation of evidence.”


Spoliation of evidence is a term often used during the process of discovery.  Spoliation of evidence happens when a document or information that is required for discovery is destroyed or altered significantly.  If a person negligently or intentionally withholds or destroys relevant information that will be required in an action is liable for spoliation of evidence.


Spoliation of evidence is an act that is prohibited by American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 37 of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Title 18 United States Code.  Sanctions for spoliation are preventative, punitive and remedial in nature.  Separate tort actions are also permitted.


  • Finally, here is a way the V.A. “bad people” weaponized the misuse of privileged medical information in an illegally and malicious way: they violate HIPAA, the Health Insurance Privacy Protection Act, to hurt someone.


Misuse of privileged information is a nasty issue that has come up in recent years at the V.A., in three different organizations: the Hospital System, Benefit System, and Board of Veterans Appeals.


Just one of many, many reported cases of HIPAA violations:


Another VA Headache: Privacy Violations Rising at Veterans’ Medical Facilities


Deceased vets’ data has been sent to the wrong widows.  Employees have snooped on the records of patients who’ve committed suicide.  And whistleblowers say their own medical privacy has been violated.  In response, the VA says patient privacy is a priority.


With respect to HIPAA violations, my fellow veterans can report what occurred to the Office for Civil Rights at HHS.


Therefore, going forward, let us all hope a few of the rules mentioned above and many others in Title 38 increase veterans’ knowledge and that they and their families will have more power in dealing with the V.A.


Humans are fallible and may make innocent mistakes; those in that category just need better training.  The focus on accountability should be on those who should know better and on “ways to get you” being identified.  As appropriate when a V.A. employee intentionally crosses a line violating his sacred mission, as President Trump said to those bad people, “you’re fired!”


Ed Timperlake was the first assistant secretary of the V.A. for congressional and public affairs and subsequently public and intergovernmental affairs, when the Veterans Administration was elevated to Cabinet status.


Well into his second year in office, President Trump is seen as a  serious man living every day in the White House dedicated to initiating the changes he campaigned on.


Trump Nation sees a fighter on its behalf in the Churchill mode: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”


Ironically, that is also why his demonstrated over-the-top critics in the MSM are so outraged: because he has been effective so far.


TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, is real:


Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a mental condition in which a person has been driven effectively insane due to their [sic] dislike of Donald Trump, to the point at which they [sic] will abandon all logic and reason.


The challenge is to not let TDS infect the federal government and especially the Department of Veterans Affairs (Special Agent Peter Strzok, et al., have shown that the infection was active at the FBI and DOJ).


Consequently, in an area in which I have had lifelong experience as a proud veteran and  being honored to help my fellow veterans for Presidents Reagan and Bush (41) and the on the House Committee on Rules, it was a good day when the Congress and president joined forces to create a better Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.).


On June 6, 2018, in a signing ceremony replacing the Choice Program with “The VA Mission Act of 2018,” the president forcefully stated, putting a marker down, to all V.A. employees:



When malfeasance was uncovered at VA, “They couldn’t do anything about it,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.  ”Good people that worked there, they couldn’t take care of the bad people.  Meaning, you’re fired; get the hell out of here.”


As is the case with most everything good or bad in the federal government, as the president pointed out, it most always comes down to the people.  The V.A. had a long run suffering the undue influence of government unions, in partnership with the Obama administration, in interfering with honorable, fair, and legal accountability.


Now, with a new secretary coming on board, it is time to reach out to the veterans and their families who read the American Thinker to help all understand just a few of the laws and procedures on their side when they engage with the Department of Veterans Affairs, under Title 38 legislation in this age of President Trump.


First, prior to empowering the veteran, a V.A. national service officer once told me, “They have ways to get you,” so knowledge is power.


  • The benefit of the doubt should go to the veteran when competing medical findings are presented in asking for service-connected benefits.

  • Even if one had a pre-existing condition prior to service, if something aggravates that condition, especially in combat, it is service connected to disability compensation.

  • In reviewing one’s claim process, keep in mind a nasty way that government bureaucrats can “get you.”  It is called “spoliation of evidence.”


Spoliation of evidence is a term often used during the process of discovery.  Spoliation of evidence happens when a document or information that is required for discovery is destroyed or altered significantly.  If a person negligently or intentionally withholds or destroys relevant information that will be required in an action is liable for spoliation of evidence.


Spoliation of evidence is an act that is prohibited by American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 37 of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Title 18 United States Code.  Sanctions for spoliation are preventative, punitive and remedial in nature.  Separate tort actions are also permitted.


  • Finally, here is a way the V.A. “bad people” weaponized the misuse of privileged medical information in an illegally and malicious way: they violate HIPAA, the Health Insurance Privacy Protection Act, to hurt someone.


Misuse of privileged information is a nasty issue that has come up in recent years at the V.A., in three different organizations: the Hospital System, Benefit System, and Board of Veterans Appeals.


Just one of many, many reported cases of HIPAA violations:


Another VA Headache: Privacy Violations Rising at Veterans’ Medical Facilities


Deceased vets’ data has been sent to the wrong widows.  Employees have snooped on the records of patients who’ve committed suicide.  And whistleblowers say their own medical privacy has been violated.  In response, the VA says patient privacy is a priority.


With respect to HIPAA violations, my fellow veterans can report what occurred to the Office for Civil Rights at HHS.


Therefore, going forward, let us all hope a few of the rules mentioned above and many others in Title 38 increase veterans’ knowledge and that they and their families will have more power in dealing with the V.A.


Humans are fallible and may make innocent mistakes; those in that category just need better training.  The focus on accountability should be on those who should know better and on “ways to get you” being identified.  As appropriate when a V.A. employee intentionally crosses a line violating his sacred mission, as President Trump said to those bad people, “you’re fired!”


Ed Timperlake was the first assistant secretary of the V.A. for congressional and public affairs and subsequently public and intergovernmental affairs, when the Veterans Administration was elevated to Cabinet status.




via American Thinker Blog

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Abolish ICE Activists Bring Makeshift Guillotine to Protest, Depict Trump Beheading


The “tolerance” and “civility” of the radical left has once again been exposed as a sham.

During a rally last week in Portland, Oregon, a group with anarchist leanings protested Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a very edgy demonstration: They chopped off Donald Trump’s head.

Not literally, of course. While the real president was secure, the “Abolish ICE PDX” group put on a grotesque show with an effigy of Trump.

According to photos and videos collected by FarLeftWatch, the anti-border anarchists recreated a famous scene from the bloody French revolution by pretending to decapitate the president with a guillotine.

TRENDING: News Foundation Fact Checks, Confirms Ex-CIA Dir. Brennan Voted Communist

“[T]his theme of wishing to publicly execute ideological opponents borrows from the French Revolution and is alarmingly prevalent in far-left circles,” FarLeftWatch group noted in a September report.

Check out a video of last week’s event here. (Note: The Trump figure is actually a pinata filled with candy, but the scene is still disturbing.)

If there was any doubt that the leftist group had radical intentions, a sign painted in red resembling blood made its views clear. “Brick by brick, wall by wall, we will make the border fall,” it declared. The popular anarchist symbol of a circled red “A” accompanied the message.

It’s one thing to be concerned about how ICE operates or want to help refugees who are fleeing other countries. It’s something else entirely to boast about destroying the entire border, leaving the country open to anybody who decides to walk in … no matter their background.

Do you think the left’s violent imagery is creating more actual violence?

“Supporters of the anarchist group stood by the side of the road and chanted, ‘Abolish ICE!’ as a song titled ‘The Guillotine’ by a group named ‘The Coup’ played in the background as organizers staged the mock execution,” Breitbart News reported about the disturbing demonstration.

Shouts such as “off with his head!” could be heard on the live video of the protest, as demonstrators carried out their “execution” of the Trump effigy.

The scene purposely made reference to the Reign of Terror, the period of the French revolution that occurred in the late 1700s. Unlike America’s revolution, which was based on a foundation of respect for the individual and a constrained government, the more radical revolution in France resulted in chaos.

As the leftists of that time worked to eliminate — that is, murder — anyone deemed unsatisfactory for the flawed ideal of a French paradise, thousands of people were rounded up and beheaded by guillotine with almost no due process.

“During the Reign of Terror, at least 300,000 suspects were arrested; 17,000 were officially executed, and perhaps 10,000 died in prison or without trial,” explained Encyclopedia Britannica. 

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The irony of liberals protesting what they mistakenly believe to be wrongful detentions along the border by celebrating a historical event that falsely imprisoned and killed thousands was apparently lost on the reveling protesters in Oregon.

It isn’t the first time leftists have made veiled threats about beheading the president. Most famously, failed comedian Kathy Griffin was widely shunned after she staged a photo shoot that depicted her holding a decapitated Trump’s head, terrorist-style.

An art gallery has more recently received attention for showing a graphic image of the president having his throat sliced, while shirts depicting Trump hanging from a noose are now being offered by a liberal group.

Where is the line between the freedom to publicly demonstrate, and criminal threats against the president of the United States? The point where demonstrating becomes something much more ominous is hard to define, but using an infamous execution device to chop of an effigy’s head must be close.

Perhaps it’s time for the Secret Service to pay these radicals a visit, if for no other reason than to determine just how extremist and serious they are about their violent vision for America.

Scenes like this mock beheading are worth remembering the next time the media acts as if conservatives are exaggerating what is happening in the country … or when someone suggests that voices on the right are somehow the extremists.

Radical demonstrations like this seem to be increasingly common, making it clear that liberal calls for “tolerance” are nothing but a smoke screen. Once again, the true intentions of liberals — at least certain radical elements — have been exposed.

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via Conservative Tribune

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