JANUARY 11, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

YESTERDAY WHEN TRUMP HINTED AT USING THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY FUNDING TO BUILD HIS WALL, I THOUGHT THAT HE WAS BLUFFING, AGAIN, BUT TODAY I LEARN THAT HIS LAWYERS ARE ALREADY LOOKING INTO THE LEGALITIES OF DOING THAT. THEY ARE HOMING IN ON THE MONEY THAT PUERTO RICO WAS PROMISED, BUT WHICH THEY HAVEN’T FULLY RECEIVED YET. DECEIT OF ANY KIND ANGERS ME, BUT TO TAKE FROM SOMEONE WHO ESSENTIALLY CAN’T FIGHT BACK IS DESPICABLE. I THINK I’LL INVENT A WORD FOR IT – “TRUMPISH.” LOOK AT THE NEXT SEVERAL ARTICLES, INCLUDING THOSE ABOUT AMERICAN WORKERS WHO AREN’T BEING PAID.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/what-more-can-we-take-puerto-ricans-outraged-trump-would-n957616?icid=recommended
'What more can we take?' Puerto Ricans outraged Trump would take recovery funds for border wall
“It's barbarous and another way to hit us," said a resident struggling to get reliable access to potable water, phone service and proper housing.
Jan. 11, 2019, 2:21 PM EST
By Nicole Acevedo

PHOTOGRAPH -- President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, tour areas damaged by Hurricane Maria in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 3, 2017.Jonathan Ernst / Reuters file

Sixteen months after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, residents like Tati Morales in the Cercadillo neighborhood of Cayey are still struggling to get reliable access to potable water, phone service and a secure home.

"We almost have no lighting in our public roads, risking accidents," said Morales. "The infrastructure in general is still very weak — many streets in our neighborhood collapsed and they're still like that."

Morales said she hopes the reports that President Donald Trump could use $2.5 billion set aside* to finance reconstruction projects in the island to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall are "really some sort of publicity and that is not going to become a reality."

The alternative is too alarming.

"It's barbarous and another way to hit us," she said in Spanish. "What more can we take?"

Like other communities across the island, residents in Cercadillo have been working with nonprofits trying to rebuild before hurricane season starts this summer.

Related
NEWS -- A year after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans rebuild amid setbacks

With the help of nonprofit organizations, they're building some homes for senior citizens who lost their houses and families have invested in water tanks, generators and other necessities in order to be better prepared in the case of another disaster.

“This kind of work continues and it's a long road,” said Morales.

More than $20 billion in federal funds has been assigned to help Puerto Rico revamp its electrical grid and home inventory, but the territory has not received most of the funds yet.

Puerto Rican officials in the U.S. and the island from both sides of the political spectrum blasted the administration over the possibility losing $2.5 billion of that allotment.

“It would be appalling for the President to take money from places like Puerto Rico that have suffered enormous catastrophes, costing thousands of American citizens' lives, in order to pay for Donald Trump’s foolish, offensive and hateful wall,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y. in a statement. “Siphoning funding from real disasters to pay for a crisis manufactured by the President is wholly unacceptable and the American people won’t fall for it.”

Puerto Rico’s non-voting member of Congress Jenniffer González Colón, who is also the president of the Republican Party in Puerto Rico, explicitly rejected “that game with our pain and hopes” and said she “will not support the reallocation of funds, which we approved in a bipartisan effort in Congress for the recovery and reconstruction of Puerto Rico.”

"The humanitarian crisis on the southern border of the United States, identified by both President Obama and President Trump, can not be resolved by removing money approved for disaster mitigation in Puerto Rico at the expense of the poorest American citizens, treated with total inequality,” González Colón said in a statement.

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On Friday, González Colón threaten to resign to her position as president of the Republican Party in Puerto Rico if Trump uses funds meant to Puerto Rico to finance the border wall.

Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rosselló said there was "no justification" for reclassifying the money.

"If anything, the conversation should be how we get more resources to rebuild those impacted areas faster,” Rosselló said via Twitter. “No wall should be funded on the pain and suffering of US citizens who have endured tragedy and loss through a natural disaster.”

VIDEO -- Powerless: Puerto Rico's struggle after Hurricane Maria
SEP. 19, 2018 28:15

For over a year, Trump and his administration have been criticized over their response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, over 200,000 Puerto Ricans left for the mainland — some temporarily — and Puerto Rico incurred about $90 billion in damages.

When Trump first visited the disaster area in Oct. 2017, he said that Puerto Rico was not a “real catastrophe" like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Months later, a study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government revealed that at least 2,975 people died in Puerto Rico from the effects of Hurricane Maria — including a lack of electricity, impassable roads and a scarcity of medications and other provisions — making it the deadliest natural disaster in the U.S. in 100 years.

Trump has not yet publicly acknowledged or mourned the victims of the catastrophe following the revised figures.

Related -- NEWS -- On anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans mourn, look back

Federal government offices such as FEMA acknowledged agency failures in areas such as staffing and coordination in an after-action report, while agencies like HUD allocated historic amounts of funding for the island in the area of housing, infrastructure and energy — but most of the money has not made its way to communities in need.

Velázquez and other members of Congress, including Rep. José Serrano, D-N.Y., vowed to fight back against any efforts to divert relief funds for the wall.

“I wish I could say this is unbelievable, but this is sadly in keeping with Donald Trump’s disregard for Puerto Rico and for Latinos. Stealing from the recovery effort to fund the wall is beyond reprehensible. As an appropriator, I’ll do everything in my power to stop it,” said Serrano on Twitter.

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“BEYOND APPALLING” -- TRUMP COULD USE PUERTO RICO RECOVERY MONEY TO BUILD HIS WALL, OR SO HE WOULD LIKE TO DO.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-could-take-billions-disaster-areas-fund-wall-n957281
Trump could take billions from disaster areas to fund wall
Under the proposal, Trump could dip into money set aside to fund civil works projects all over the country including storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico.
Jan. 10, 2019, 4:37 PM EST
By Courtney Kube and Julia Ainsley

NEWS VIDEO – CHUCK ROSENBERG – WHITE HOUSE LAWYERS PREPARING LEGAL JUSTIFICATION FOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY, SOURCES SAY JANUARY 10, 2019

President Donald Trump has been briefed on a plan that would use the Army Corps of Engineers and a portion of $13.9 billion of Army Corps funding to build 315 miles of barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the briefing.

The money was set aside to fund projects all over the country including storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico through fiscal year 2020, but the checks have not been written yet and, under an emergency declaration, the president could take the money from these civil works projects and use it to build the border wall, said officials familiar with the briefing and two congressional sources.

The plan could be implemented if Trump declares a national emergency in order to build the wall and would use more money and build more miles than the administration has requested from Congress. The president had requested $5.7 billion for a wall stretching 234 miles.

Under the proposal, the officials said, Trump could dip into the $2.4 billion allocated to projects in California, including flood prevention and protection projects along the Yuba River Basin and the Folsom Dam, as well as the $2.5 billion set aside for reconstruction projects in Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria.

VIDEO NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE – DHS TESTING OF STEEL SLAT BORDER WALL PROTOTYPE PROVED IT COULD BE CUT THROUGH 2:22 DURATION

Senior Defense Department officials discussed the proposal with Trump during his Thursday flight to the southern border, according to officials familiar with the briefing.

Trump was informed that the Army Corps could build 315 miles of border wall in about 18 months, according to officials familiar with the planning. The barrier would be a 30-foot bollard-style wall with a feature designed to prevent climbing, the officials said.

The Corps would focus first on the heavily trafficked border areas along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, in San Diego and El Centro in California, as well as Yuma, Arizona.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

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A source on Capitol Hill said if the president moves to pull money from Corps of Engineers civil works projects, Democrats in Congress are likely to submit legislation to block the money from being reallocated.

Asked about the proposal, a Democratic staffer warned that taking money from civil works projects in the U.S. will put American lives at risk.

"Hundreds of thousands of people will be at risk if there is a strong or wet winter in these flood areas and the protection projects haven't been completed," the staffer said.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., said the Democrats would fight "with every ounce of energy we have" to stop the president from using Army Corps funds to build a southern border wall.

"It would be beyond appalling for the president to take money from places like Puerto Rico that have suffered enormous catastrophes, costing thousands of American citizens lives, in order to pay for Donald Trump’s foolish, offensive and hateful wall," Velázquez said. "Siphoning funding from real disasters to pay for a crisis manufactured by the president is wholly unacceptable and the American people won’t fall for it."

Courtney Kube
Courtney Kube is a national security and military reporter for NBC News.

Julia Ainsley
Julia Ainsley is a national security reporter for NBC News.


VIDEO

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/federal-workers-protesting-across-the-country-call-for-end-of-government-shutdown-1423767619599
Federal workers protesting across the country call for end of government shutdown Jan. 10, 2019

Federal workers, who have been working without pay, and their supporters held demonstrations from the nation’s capital to Utah to Kentucky. Those furloughed workers say they’re worried about making ends meet and national security concerns as the shutdown drags on.

VIDEO

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/workers-speak-out-about-impact-of-government-shutdown-1423769155651
NIGHTLY NEWS
Workers speak out about impact of government shutdown
Lester Holt talks to a TSA training instructor, a HUD employee and a brewery owner who are all caught in the middle of the government shutdown, putting their livelihoods on the line.
Jan. 10, 2019


“NAME IT ‘PEACHES.’” WHAT A TRUMPISH THING TO SAY!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46844603
US shutdown bites as federal workers miss payday
JANUARY 11, 2019 3 hours ago

VIDEO -- 'I don't need a wall, I want money to plant crops'

Hundreds of thousands of US government workers have missed their first payday of the year as the partial shutdown of federal agencies bites deeper.

Employees such as prison guards, airport staff and FBI agents have been working without pay.

The government shutdown, which began last month, will become the longest in history on Saturday on its 22nd day.

President Donald Trump is refusing to approve a federal budget unless it includes funding for a border wall.

But Democrats have rejected his request for $5.7bn (£4.5bn).

About a quarter of the federal government is out of operation until a spending plan is agreed, leaving 800,000 employees unpaid.

How much has shutdown hit US economy?

On Friday, those workers missed their first payday of this shutdown. Some shared their blank payslips on social media.

Oscar Murillo, an aerospace engineer at Nasa, posted his $0 cheque on Twitter and said he had actually lost money because of mandatory deductions.

Another Twitter user, Cat Heifner, shared what she said was her brother's payslip, showing he had been paid one cent for his work as an air traffic controller.

Image Copyright @catheifner@CATHEIFNER
Report

Meanwhile, the classified advertising website Craigslist has been flooded with listings from federal workers trying to sell their possessions.

Items ranging from beds to old toys have been listed as "government shutdown specials".

"Sells for $93.88 at Walmart. Asking $10," one advert for a child's rocking chair reads. "We need money to pay bills."

A food bank in Washington, DC reported an influx of federal workers.

Media caption Just why has the US government partially shut down?

Radha Muthiah, head of Capital Area Food Bank, said that dozens of volunteers are working to pack bags of food for affected staff.

Of the 800,000 federal employees going unpaid, about 350,000 are furloughed - a kind of temporary lay-off - while the rest are continuing to work.

Thousands have reportedly applied for unemployment benefits amid the financial uncertainty.

One major airport, Miami International, will close an entire terminal this weekend because so many security staff have called in sick.

Sixteen ways the US shutdown is hurting
Where do we go from here?
What is Washington doing to resolve the stalemate?

The House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill on Friday to ensure all government workers receive retroactive pay after the shutdown ends. The president is expected to sign the legislation.

But that may be small consolation to those federal employees currently in dire straits, with no end in sight to the impasse.

At a roundtable discussion about border security on Friday with state and local leaders, Mr Trump again demanded that Democrats approve funding for a wall or steel barrier.

How much of Trump's wall has been built?
What border politicians think of Trump's wall

"Name it 'peaches'," the Republican president said. "I don't care what they name it, but we need money for that barrier."

However, the Democratic leader of the US House of Representatives said the ball was in Mr Trump's court.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters: "When the president acts, we will respond to whatever he does."

Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption -- Mr Trump visited the US-Mexico border in Mission, Texas, on Thursday

What about the president's plan to declare an emergency?

Mr Trump has been threatening to declare a national emergency, which would allow him to bypass Congress and build the wall by raiding military budgets.

But on Friday he stepped back from such a move, which would provoke constitutional uproar and legal challenges.

He maintained he had a right to declare the emergency, but added: "I'm not going to do it so fast."

Media captionFive questions about Trump's border wall
According to the Associated Press, senior White House aide Jared Kushner is among those who have urged caution to Mr Trump on the issue.

US media report the White House is considering diverting some of the $13.9bn allocated last year by Congress for disaster relief in such areas as Puerto Rico, Texas and California to pay for the wall.

But Republican congressman Mark Meadows, who is close to the president, said that option was not under serious consideration.

FOR PREVIOUS SHUTDOWNS – GRAPHIC. FROM CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE.


FLORIDA’S NEW REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR RON DE SANTIS, ALLIED WITH DONALD TRUMP, HAS MADE SEVERAL DECISIVE MOVES, ONE OF WHICH IS THE FIRING OF DEMOCRATIC SHERIFF ISRAEL OF BROWARD COUNTY OVER THE SIMPLY HORRIFYING SHOOTINGS OF 17 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS AT PARKLAND HIGH SCHOOL. ISRAEL’S DEPUTIES MADE A MISHMASH OF THE WHOLE THING AT PARKLAND AND EVEN APPEARED TO BE AFRAID TO RUN THE RISK OF DYING BY CONFRONTING THE TEENAGED BOY WITH AN AR-15. DO WE NEED TO HIRE COMBAT HARDENED MARINES TO DO THE JOB? A SUBTERFUGE MIGHT WORK, ALSO, SUCH AS ONE OFFICER CONFRONTING HIM FROM THE FRONT AND TWO FROM THE SIDE AND BACK TO TACKLE HIM ALL AT ONCE AND BRING HIM DOWN. A CANINE TEAM, TOO, WOULD BE GOOD. WELL-TRAINED ATTACK DOGS ARE NOT AFRAID OF GUNS, I WOULDN’T THINK, OR EVEN A GOOD HUNTING DOG.

I’M GLAD THAT FORMER SHERIFF ISRAEL IS OUT OF OFFICE AND GONE, BUT NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO WORK ABOUT THESE SHOOTINGS, IF WE DON’T GET THE SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS OFF THE AMERICAN GUN MARKET, STOP ALLOWING SALES AT GUN SHOWS AND PUSH THAT OTHER SIMPLE, COMMON SENSE MEASURE THROUGH CONGRESS – THE SCREENING OF THE MENTAL HEALTH AND CRIMINAL RECORDS OF THOSE BUYING GUNS, ESPECIALLY THAT KIND OF GUN, BEFORE THEY CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON THEM. THEN THERE’S THE “BUMPER STOCK” ISSUE. THAT IS THE LAW-BREAKING NRA LOOPHOLE IN OUR PRESENT-DAY LAWS THAT MAKES A MOCKERY OF THE OTHER EFFORTS AT CONTROL. DOING THE NEWS SOMETIMES MAKES ME DEPRESSED BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH DISHONESTY EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY.

IT WOULD BE INTERESTING IF EVERYBODY WHO WANTS A GUN MUST PRODUCE A PAPER PERMISSION SLIP OF SORTS -- A GOVERNMENT FORM TO BE FILLED OUT AND SIGNED BY A PSYCHOLOGIST OR A MEDICAL DOCTOR THAT DECLARES THE BUYER’S WHOLE PRIOR HISTORY, THE RESULTS OF A RECENTLY ADMINISTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SHOWING A STATISTICALLY PREDICTIVE EVALUATION, AND A POLICE REPORT WITH FINGERPRINT. I HAD TO DO THAT FOR GOVERNMENT HOUSING, SO WHY NOT TO BUY A GUN, TOO? THAT SHOULD BE PRODUCED ALONG WITH A VALID DRIVER’S LICENSE OR PASSPORT FOR ID, AND A POLICE REPORT COVERING THE LAST YEAR AT LEAST OF VIOLENCE, DRUG USE, LARCENY, UNWANTED SEXUAL ATTENTION, ETC. BETTER STILL, AN EXHAUSTIVE DATABASE WITH THAT KIND OF INFORMATION ON EVERY CITIZEN IS AVAILABLE, I THINK. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD ALSO TAKE THE LICENSE OF EVERY GUN SHOP OWNER AND SALES PERSON WHO FAILS TO USE THE DATABASE.

PREDICTING WHO AMONG THEIR PATIENTS WILL ACTUALLY BECOME VIOLENT ISN’T THAT EASY TO DO, I THINK, BECAUSE MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE AREN’T ALL SO FAR “OVER THE EDGE” THAT THEIR BEHAVIOR IS SUSPICIOUS TO THE UNTRAINED EYE. SOME PEOPLE ARE MUCH BETTER AT HIDING THAT KIND OF THING THAN OTHERS ARE. THERE’S A BOOK THAT I HAVE HAD FOR YEARS CALLED “THE MASK OF SANITY” ABOUT SOCIOPATHS / PSYCHOPATHS. NONETHELESS, IF THOSE MEASURES ARE FULFILLED, I PERSONALLY WOULD FEEL SECURE ENOUGH ABOUT SELLING THE MAN OR WOMAN A SAFE REASONABLE GUN FOR TARGET SHOOTING, HUNTING OR SELF-PROTECTION. IF HE WANTS TO BUY THE WRONG KIND OR BUY TOO MANY, THEN I THINK THE FBI OR ATF SHOULD BE CALLED IN TO QUESTION HIM.

SEE TODAY’S SPECIAL BLOG ALSO, TITLED “THE VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE 2018.” FOR SOME INTERESTING REPUBLICAN PARTY POLITICS BETWEEN TWO PERSONAL RIVALS DESANTIS AND RICK SCOTT, GO TO https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/10/rick-scott-florida-governor-ron-desantis-1093598.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-ne-ron-desantis-scott-israel-decision-20190110-story.html
Sheriff Scott Israel dumped over Parkland shooting failures; new sheriff is Gregory Tony
BY Anthony Man, Lisa J. Huriash, Linda Trischitta and Brittany WallmanContact Reporters
South Florida Sun Sentinel
JANUARY 11, 2019

VIDEO -- Just days after taking office, Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. DeSantis responded to mounting evidence that sheriff's deputies and commanders fumbled their duties when responding to the Parkland shooting.

Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Broward Sheriff Scott Israel from office Friday, replacing him after 10 months of turmoil spawned by the slaughter of 17 staff and students in Parkland.

The new governor replaced Israel with former Coral Springs Police Sgt. Gregory Tony, 40, who has a background in active-shooter training and becomes the first black sheriff in Broward County’s history.

DeSantis announced the suspension at the Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters while the displaced former sheriff prepared his response from a church in northwest Fort Lauderdale.

“I have no interest in dancing on Scott Israel’s political grave,” DeSantis said of the Democratic former sheriff, “but suffice it to say the massacre might never have happened had Broward had better leadership in the sheriff’s department.”

In his executive order, the governor cited Israel for incompetence and neglect of duty. DeSantis said Israel “egregiously failed in his duties” by not properly training deputies and not maintaining “a culture of vigilance and thoroughness,” among other weaknesses.

The suspension caps a nearly year-long series of revelations that exposed the failure of Broward sheriff’s deputies to run in to save children at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a former student marched through the halls with an assault rifle.

Some deputies said they couldn’t remember when they’d last been trained to handle an active shooter, even though the agency had a confused, chaotic response to a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2017.

Read the governor's executive order removing Scott Israel as Broward sheriff

Document

Much of the criticism has focused on Israel’s leadership. Though he enjoyed strong popularity in Broward before the shooting, Israel’s star fell in the aftermath, particularly after a disastrous appearance on CNN in which he praised his own leadership and glossed over his agency’s mistakes.

After he was removed from office Friday, Israel, backed by religious leaders and supporters, accused the governor of carrying out a political mission because the sheriff had spoken out against gun violence. Donning a blue pinstripe suit and red tie instead of his usual green Sheriff’s Office uniform, Israel said he would seek every avenue to contest the suspension, including making his case in a hearing before the Florida Senate.

“This was about politics, not about Parkland,” Israel said.

Israel's attorney Stuart Kaplan, said that while mistakes occurred, the shooter is the only person responsible for the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Many family members of victims and people in Parkland blame Israel for the agency’s handling of the teenage killer during interactions before the shooting, and for the way it handled the unfolding tragedy. Coral Springs officers showed valor, running into the school. They reported being routinely trained to run toward gunfire. Many of the sheriff’s deputies, meanwhile, crouched behind trees or cars and didn’t try to enter the school.

Israel had changed the agency’s policy from deputies “shall” go in after an active shooter, to they “may” go in — another flaw cited by DeSantis. Israel recently changed it back.

The voice of parents

“On Feb. 14, my daughter died on the third floor of MSD running down the hallway from an active shooter,” one of the grieving parents, Fred Guttenberg, said Friday at the announcement. “One more second, and she makes it into the stairwell. She needed one more second. If anybody wants to know what failure means, and lack of response, my daughter would have lived if somebody could have just given her one more second.”

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed, emceed the parents’ portion of the event, where other family members of victims spoke.

Pollack said his next target is Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, though DeSantis said he isn’t sure if he has the authority to suspend an appointed superintendent. Pollack said he’d see to it himself that Runcie loses his job.

“I get things done,” Pollack said, “and there’s nothing on this planet that I can’t get done, especially since my daughter was murdered. And I have the heart of a lion, OK, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Pollack connected the new sheriff, Tony, with DeSantis.

“We all went to the same gym together and that’s where we all met,” Pollack said after the announcement Friday. “I think he’s going to do a wonderful job and the community’s going to get behind him, and the kids are going to be safer, and the community as a whole will be safer.”

Unprepared and overwhelmed: Detailed timeline shows 58 minutes of chaos in Parkland | Investigation

Tony, a resident of Boca Raton, worked for 12 years as an officer and then sergeant in Coral Springs. His former boss, Coral Springs Chief Clyde Parry, said Tony has a “bright future” and he was sorry to see him leave the agency in 2016.

Tony and his wife, Holly, a nurse, operate Blue Spear Solutions, which specializes in active-shooter training and provides threat assessments on schools and other businesses.

The Florida Constitution gives the governor power to suspend public officials for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty.” Governors routinely remove public officials who are arrested or charged with crimes, but it is unusual to remove an officeholder who does not face criminal charges.

Broward Commissioner Nan Rich said she doesn’t think the County Commission will attempt to challenge Israel’s suspension, even though she doesn’t agree with it.

“I’m personally just very concerned about our democracy and all these suggestions and recommendations about removing people that have been elected and have not been indicted of any crime,” Rich said. “We live in a democracy, not an autocracy, and I would just like to maintain it.”

Second officeholder removed

It was the second removal of a countywide elected official in Broward in two months. Former Gov. Rick Scott suspended elections supervisor Dr. Brenda Snipes at the end of November. Snipes had already submitted a letter of resignation.

The news conference Friday at Broward sheriff’s headquarters attracted a stream of public officials, including Republican state Rep. Chip LaMarca, new state Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz of Parkland, and Coral Springs Commissioner Joshua Simmons.

Protesters also appeared, including one man who is part of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, people active in Donald Trump clubs in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and Republican Party activists from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel over the years | Photo gallery

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel was first elected in 2012 with a victory over incumbent Al Lamberti. Israel was then re-elected in 2016. More about Israel's life and career in law enforcement can be read here. (Sun Sentinel files)
The crowd applauded Parkland parents who spoke and reacted negatively to mention of Scott Israel. At one point, when the governor mentioned his name, one person in the crowd — just one — yelled “lock him up.”

Reaction to the removal was mixed in Broward, where most elected officials carry the same Democratic label that Israel does.

Broward Commissioner Steve Geller, a Democrat and former state senator, doesn’t think DeSantis had a legal basis for removing Israel.

Broward Commissioner Michael Udine, who represents the Parkland area, said he wasn’t looking “into the politics of this.” He was more focused on accountability.

“I think that the MSD report and common sense leadership principles, and listening to all the families with 17 dead relatives, I think it made it clear that there had to be some kind of changes made in that organization,” said Udine, also a Democrat.

A report from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission detailed a series of problems with the agency’s performance during the massacre.

Resignations at the top

Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a statement saying there is ample justification in that report for Israel’s removal, including radio failures that indicate a lack of attention to resources, a failure to establish a command post and take control of the shooting response, a lack of coordination with other responding agencies, lack of training and failures by deputies who encountered the shooter before Feb. 14.

'I'm here to serve': New Sheriff Gregory Tony says he's a cop, not a politician
Anticipating the suspension, five of Israel’s command staff submitted separation forms.

The ranking deputies who said they were leaving for personal reasons are Col. John “Jack” Dale, who wrote on his form, “Actions by governor not in the best interest of public safety,” and Undersheriff Steve Kinsey, the second in command at the agency under Israel, who wrote on his form, “Due to the sheriff being suspended unjustly.”

Dale was executive director for the agency’s department of professional standards and the department of investigations.

Major Kevin S. Shults, who was in charge of training, also resigned.

Dale, Kinsey and Shults were among many high-ranking officials Israel hired from his former employer, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Major Chadwick Wagner, a former Hollywood police chief who served as BSO human resources director, said his reason for leaving included “the unjust decision by Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Broward County Sheriff Scott J. Israel. Sheriff Israel has been twice elected by Broward County residents. This is a decision that only the resident voters of Broward County should decide.”

Col. James Polan retired effective Thursday and did not comment on his form.

Broward Sheriff’s Sgt. Anthony Marciano, president of the Federation of Public Employees union, representing detention deputies, courtroom deputies and others, said Israel made some missteps: He spoke publicly too soon, when investigations were still going on; he didn’t take responsibility; and he unnecessarily “poked a big bear that he didn’t need to poke” when he challenged the National Rifle Association, Marciano said.

Sheriff Scott Israel: Big talker, disastrous response in Parkland shooting
But Marciano said Israel’s fate would have better been left to voters.

“I listened to all the MSD commission meetings, and the sheriff said one thing that should have resonated with everybody: ‘You can’t teach courage to people,’ ” Marciano said.

Jeff Bell, head of the deputies’ International Union of Police Associations and a member of DeSantis’ transition team, had a more harsh assessment.

“He has turned this agency, the largest fully accredited sheriff’s office in the country, into a political machine for his own well-being,” Bell said. “He’s incompetent and should be removed permanently before anyone else is killed on his watch.”

DeSantis said Tony was “tailor-made” for the job.

Tony is building a transition team and is expected to name his undersheriff — the second in command — as early as this weekend, a source told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“I am not here for any type of political grandiose agenda,” Tony said in his public remarks Friday. “I’m here to serve.”

Staff writers Tonya Alanez, Larry Barszewski, and Skyler Swisher contributed to this report.

aman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4550 or Twitter @browardpolitics
bwallman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4541 or Twitter @BrittanyWallman


FOR A DETAILED AND GRIPPING REPORT ON THE EVENTS OF THE DAY THAT CRUZ SHOT 17 PEOPLE AT PARKLAND, GO TO THIS SITE. THERE ARE USEFUL GRAPHICS THERE WHICH I AM UNABLE TO PUT INTO THIS BLOG.

http://projects.sun-sentinel.com/2018/sfl-parkland-school-shooting-critical-moments/
UNPREPARED AND OVERWHELMED
Two decades after Columbine and five years after Sandy Hook, educators and police still weren’t ready for Parkland.
DEC. 28, 2018

Time since gunman's arrival: 57:51

Failures by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and school district cost children their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

A gunman with an AR-15 fired the bullets, but a series of blunders, bad policies, sketchy training and poor leadership helped him succeed. Information reported over 10 months by the South Florida Sun Sentinel reveals 58 minutes of chaos on campus marked by no one taking charge, deputies dawdling, false information spreading, communications paralyzed and children stranded with nowhere to hide.

To be sure, a number of teachers and police officers performed heroically. But an examination of the day’s events reveals that the Sheriff’s Office and school district were unprepared for the crisis.

Here’s a minute-by-minute look at those critical moments on Feb. 14, 2018.

2:19:54 p.m.
Security entrusted to unarmed coaches
A campus watchman has a chance to stop gunman Nikolas Cruz before any blood is shed. But he doesn't do it.

Security monitor Andrew Medina, an unarmed baseball coach, is riding in a golf cart and unlocking gates 20 minutes before dismissal. He sees Cruz walk through one of those unguarded gates with a rifle bag.

He recognizes Cruz as "Crazy Boy," the former student that he and his colleagues had predicted most likely to shoot up the school. He radios another campus monitor/coach, but he does not pursue Cruz and does not call a Code Red to lock down the school.

Medina shouldn’t have been in that job – school investigators had recommended he be fired for sexually harassing students, but district administrators overruled them.

Medina is the first of three school employees who fail to call for a school lockdown after learning a gunman is on campus.

2:21:16 p.m.
Second unarmed monitor spots gunman, turns the other way
David Taylor, the campus monitor who was alerted by Medina, walks into the first-floor hallway toward Cruz, who goes into the stairwell. At that point, Cruz has yet to pull his gun from the carry bag.

Taylor turns around, later telling investigators he intended to use stairs at the opposite end of the hallway to intercept Cruz on the second floor.

2:21:23 p.m.
Another Code Red missed
The second chance to lock down the school is missed when freshman Chris McKenna enters the first-floor stairwell and sees Cruz loading his gun.

Cruz tells him "You’d better get out of here. Things are gonna start getting messy."

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McKenna runs from the building and informs Aaron Feis, a football coach and campus monitor, that there is someone with a gun.

There is no evidence that Feis, who has a radio, calls a Code Red.

2:21:38 p.m.
Watchman hides in closet
Cruz fires his first shots, killing freshmen Martin Duque, Luke Hoyer and Gina Montalto in the hallway of the first floor.

Taylor, the campus monitor, hears gunshots and races up to the second floor. He ducks into a janitor's closet. Taylor has a radio but does not call a Code Red.

School district policies were insufficient and employees were uncertain who could order that the campus be locked down.

Cruz stalks the first floor unchallenged. He enters no classrooms and shoots through the windows at people in his line of sight.

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Cruz kills six students in these classrooms — Alyssa Alhadeff, Nicholas Dworet, Alaina Petty, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter and Carmen Schentrup.

The simplest of security measures could have saved lives. But the school district failed to require that classrooms have designated “hard corners” — areas where students could hide outside the line of sight of a gunman looking through a doorway.

Two security experts had advised Stoneman Douglas teachers and administrators to designate these safe spaces, but only two teachers in Building 12 did so. Most classroom corners that could have provided refuge were instead blocked by teachers' desks and other furniture.

2:22:13 p.m.
The first 911 call
The first 911 caller tells a Coral Springs operator that there's a shooter at the school. Gunshots are heard in the background.

2:22:39 p.m.
Led into the line of fire
The repeated failures to call a Code Red become catastrophic when the shooting sets off a fire alarm.

Instead of hiding in their classrooms, as they would during a Code Red, some students and teachers stream out of classrooms into hallways, as they would if facing a fire.

At the same time, Deputy Scot Peterson – the school resource officer and the only armed lawman on campus – runs to meet with Medina, the campus monitor who first saw Cruz.

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2:22:41 p.m.
911 delays
Broward County's disjointed 911 system slows the law enforcement response.

Because the first 911 call is from a cellphone, it goes to the city of Coral Springs. But the Sheriff's Office handles police calls for neighboring Parkland, so the Coral Springs operator must waste precious minutes transferring the call to the Sheriff's Office.

2:22:51 p.m.
Athletic director rushes to help, gets killed
Deputy Peterson and another campus monitor meet Medina, get into his golf cart, and drive toward Building 12.

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Athletic director and campus monitor Chris Hixon is already at Building 12. He enters the double doors at the west end of the hall and runs toward Cruz.

Cruz shoots Hixon, who crawls to take cover in a nearby doorway. Cruz finds him about 30 seconds later and shoots him again.

2:23:17 p.m.
Armed but no action
Peterson finally arrives on the east side of Building 12. He draws his gun, but he fails to go inside the building.

Over his police radio he says he can hear firecrackers or "possible shots fired" in Building 12. The statement conflicts with his later account: that he was unsure where the sounds were coming from.

Feis, the campus monitor and football coach, opens the door to the west stairwell and comes face-to-face with Cruz. Cruz shoots him.

The carnage is astounding on the first floor, where Cruz kills 11 and wounds 13.

2:23:36 p.m.
Saved on the second floor
Cruz heads up the west stairwell to the second floor but finds the hallway empty.

Some teachers, probably hearing gunfire below, had taken steps to protect the children. They had covered the windows in classroom doors so a shooter could not see in. Some huddle children away from the gunman's line of sight.

Cruz fires into two of 10 rooms, but no one is hurt.

2:23:48 p.m.
Deputy hides from the crisis
Deputy Peterson takes cover between Buildings 7 and 8 as Cruz prowls the second floor.

Instead of confronting the killer, he radios for a nearby intersection to be blocked off.

He is still the only armed law enforcement officer on campus.

2:24:00 p.m.
Locked classroom, nowhere to hide
Students on the third floor are initially unaware there's a shooter in the building and are crowding the hallways because of the fire alarm. Now hearing the shots, they begin to run back toward classrooms.

Social studies teacher Ernie Rospierski directs students back into classrooms, but his door locks behind him with his keys inside.

Rospierski and several students are stranded in the hall.

Cruz is on his way.

2:24:32 p.m.
Vulnerable on the third floor
Cruz goes up the stairwell to the third floor, where about 20 people remain stranded in the middle of the hallway.

He fires multiple rounds into the crowd.

Geography teacher Scott Beigel is holding open his classroom door. As he ushers students in, Cruz shoots and kills him.

2:24:42 p.m.
Blocking traffic and failing to respond

Broward Sheriff's deputy Michael Kratz heads toward the school.

He stops near the football field, about 1,000 feet from Building 12, to block traffic.

2:24:54 p.m.
Finally, a Code Red
Cruz’s assault, which would span 5 minutes and 32 seconds from first shot to last, is half over when someone finally declares a Code Red.

Campus monitor Elliott Bonner calls the alert after driving his golf cart to the southwest corner of Building 12, where he sees Feis' body and hears gunshots.

Bonner, who is unarmed, backs away from the scene in his cart.

2:25:10 p.m.
Confusion about gunshots
Deputy Kratz adds to the confusion with a radio broadcast. He says he hears shots by the football field northwest of Building 12 – raising questions about where the shooter is.

2:25:12 p.m.
Restrooms locked, students can't escape gunman
An earlier decision to lock restrooms because students were vaping in them now traps those who try to find refuge on the third floor.

They have nowhere to hide from Cruz and his bullets.

Cruz kills senior Meadow Pollack and freshman Cara Loughran outside a locked classroom; they die huddled together. Cruz shoots senior Joaquin Oliver outside a locked bathroom.

2:25:30 p.m.
Teacher saves students
Rospierski flees with 10 students toward a stairwell as Cruz fires down the hall.

Two of the students, Jaime Guttenberg and Peter Wang, are hit. Wang dies in the hallway and Guttenberg in the stairwell, but others get away as Rospierski holds the door closed from inside the stairwell to keep Cruz from advancing.

By the time he is done, Cruz kills six and wounds four on the third floor. None of the dead are in classrooms.

It's now been nearly four minutes since Cruz started shooting, and deputies Peterson and Kratz are still not going toward Building 12.

2:25:35 p.m.
Protected by hurricane glass
Unable to get into the stairwell, Cruz heads to a nearby teachers’ lounge.

Cruz shoots at the glass, targeting students and teachers as they flee across the campus below, but the glass won't break and no one on the ground is hit.

2:25:38 p.m.
Peterson's lockdown order
Deputy Peterson, over his radio, orders a school lockdown instead of ordering deputies toward the building. He remains safely outside.

2:26:07 p.m.
More deputies hang back — even though they can hear the gunshots

Four more Broward deputies arrive at the school, stopping north of the campus.

All of them hear gunshots as Cruz continues to shoot in the teachers' lounge but remain near their cars just off campus.

Since Columbine, officers are taught to rush toward gunshots and neutralize the killer. But the first Broward deputies don’t rush in.

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel later reveals that he personally changed department policy to say that deputies “may” instead of “shall” rush in.

2:27:03 p.m.
Failing to take control

Sgt. Brian Miller stops north of Building 12. He is the highest-ranking officer on the scene but fails to take control or move from his car.

Rather than rush in, he takes time to put on his bulletproof vest and hide behind his car on Holmberg Road, not going on the radio for 10 minutes.

Miller is among eight armed deputies now at the school. All hear gunshots, but none rush to Building 12 to look for the killer.

2:27:10 p.m.
Deputies dawdle as shots fired
The last five gunshots can be heard on the body cam of Deputy Josh Stambaugh. After parking at Holmberg Road near the scene of the shooting, he retrieves his bulletproof vest from the trunk, puts it on and takes cover behind his car.

After five minutes there, he gets into his car and drives to the other end of the campus to take a position on the Sawgrass Expressway overlooking the school.

The final shot Cruz fires, from inside the teachers’ lounge, can be heard at 2:27:10 p.m.

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2:27:54 p.m.
Cruz escapes, cops have no idea
Cruz takes off his rifle vest, drops his AR-15 in a stairwell, heads down the stairs, darts out of the building and runs across campus — all while police think he's still inside.

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2:28:00 p.m.
Cops protect themselves
A few seconds later, Peterson, still hiding southeast of Building 12, tells deputies over the radio to stay at least 500 feet away from the building.

The warning is one of at least two times a Broward deputy urges another officer to protect themselves, not confront the killer.

Though police officers since Columbine have been trained to immediately confront the killer, some Broward deputies at the Parkland massacre would later struggle to recall when they last had active shooter training or details of what they learned.

2:28:53 p.m.
Fooled by video delay
The surveillance cameras in the school are not monitored in real time.

Assistant Principal Jeff Morford and school security officer Kelvin Greenleaf enter the school's camera room to rewind and review surveillance video, but deputies don’t realize the footage is delayed 20 minutes.

Morford relays information about Cruz's whereabouts to Peterson and other school officials. Cops, believing the video is live, continue searching for Cruz in the building — delaying aid to injured students.

2:29:35 p.m.
Sheriff's commander overwhelmed
Broward Sheriff's Capt. Jan Jordan, head of the Parkland district, arrives at the school's administration building and is quickly overwhelmed as she tries to coordinate officers.

The faltering radio system frustrates her. She spends her first seven minutes at the school in the administrative building and then goes to a nearby car to try again with the radio system.

She eventually moves to another area near Building 12, where she takes cover behind a car to meet with officers.

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2:29:33 p.m.
No command post – again
The Sheriff’s Office fails to immediately set up a command post – just as the agency failed to do after a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport the year before.

A Broward deputy asks that the command post be set up to help control the response, but it isn't done for another half-hour.

2:32:42 p.m.
Coral Springs police officers rush in
The shooting has been over for five minutes before any police officers enter the building.

Four Coral Springs officers enter through the west doors, where they see Chris Hixon shot. Two officers pull Hixon out of the building and onto a golf cart. He will not survive.

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The Coral Springs officers later tell investigators their training was clear – run toward the gunfire.

Coral Springs Officer Raymond Kerner, the school resource officer at nearby J.P. Taravella High School, would tell investigators:

“Basically, what we’re trained to do is just get right to the threat as quick as possible and take out the threat because every time you hear a shot go off it could potentially be a kid getting killed or anybody getting killed for that matter.”

2:33:04 p.m.
Commander fails to act
Capt. Jordan orders that a perimeter be established around the school – a misguided approach when facing an active shooter.

Before Columbine, setting up a perimeter was standard. After Columbine, police were trained to rush toward the gunshots.

Jordan does not establish a command post or call for officers to go find the shooter.

2:34:11 p.m.
More bad information from Peterson
Deputy Peterson adds more bad information to a chaotic scene.

Still sheltering by a building, he tells a Coral Springs officer the shooter is on the second or third floor.

In reality, Cruz has been out of the building for more than six minutes.

2:34:27 p.m.
First deputy inside
Broward Deputy William Hanks enters Building 12 through the west doors, one minute and 45 seconds after Coral Springs officers first entered.

2:36:00 p.m.
More officers rush in
About 18 officers, the majority from Coral Springs, head into the east side of Building 12 about this time.

More sheriff’s deputies begin to enter the building as well.

2:37:18 p.m.
"Dream-like"
Without a command post established, deputies remain confused about who is in charge.

Broward Lt. Stephen O'Neill takes command of the response early on, recognizing the lack of direction from supervisors. He later says Jordan had a “dream-like” nature to her speech and that she “was not engaged with the problem."

O'Neill works to keep the roads by the school clear for more responding vehicles and to create an area where officers can stage during the response. But doing so also slows the police response into Building 12.

2:40:16 p.m.
Evacuation of Building 12
Officers begin a mass evacuation of survivors from Building 12.

2:53:24 p.m.
Gunman long gone
Assistant Principal Morford, in the video room, broadcasts over school radios that Cruz is leaving the third floor and headed to the second floor. Officers believe Morford is watching the video in real time, but in fact Cruz has already walked to a nearby Walmart and ordered a drink at Subway.

Video from Sgt. Richard Rossman’s body cam shows officers relaying Cruz’s movements over the radio and Assistant Principal Winfred Porter, outside with the police, incorrectly confirming the video is live.

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2:53:40 p.m.
Cruz on the move
Cruz leaves Walmart and heads to a nearby McDonald's. He stays there a minute and then leaves.

2:57:59 p.m.
Officers reach third floor
Three Coral Springs officers reach the third floor and find Cruz's gun, vest and the body of Jaime Guttenberg.

Deputies in Building 12, still believing the gunman is inside, are experiencing radio problems. Body cam video records one deputy saying he needs to go outside to use his radio.

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3:02:20 p.m.
The truth about the video
Cops finally learn that the surveillance video is delayed.

Sgt. Rossman has known it for seven minutes — at a time when every minute was critical — but he has not broadcast it over the radio until now.

3:11:20 p.m.
Hiding for 48 minutes
School Resource Officer Peterson leaves the spot where he has remained sheltered for nearly 48 minutes, watching as other officers enter the building.

3:17:45 p.m.
Final classroom entered
Almost an hour after the shooting began, officers enter the final room in Building 12.

Credits: Based on reporting by: Tonya Alanez, David Fleshler, Stephen Hobbs, Lisa J. Huriash, Paula McMahon, Megan O’Matz and Scott Travis Design & Development: Aric Chokey Editing: Dana Banker, Randy Roguski and David Schutz

Sources: The South Florida Sun Sentinel compiled information from interviews, witness statements to investigators, police reports, body camera footage, 911 recordings, police radio transmissions and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

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“HAPPY TALK, KEEP TALKIN’ HAPPY TALK” – IF YOU REMEMBER THE ORIGIN OF THAT PHRASE YOU ARE EITHER GETTING A LITTLE LONG IN THE TOOTH OR YOU LOVE MUSIC. READ THE FOLLOWING BRITISH-AMERICAN ENGLISH “TRANSLATIONS” ON SOME INTERESTING PHRASES. AS FOR THE MUSIC REFERENCE, IT IS FROM THE WONDERFUL MITZI GAYNOR MOVIE “SOUTH PACIFIC,” FROM 1958.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46846467
YouGov survey: British sarcasm 'lost on Americans'
JANUARY 11, 2019 2 hours ago

GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- "With the greatest respect..."

Britons like to think they have a "special relationship" with the US, based on a common language and cultural, historical and political ties.

But, according to one of the UK's most respected polling companies, there's one chasm the English language can't always bridge - the British love of passive-aggressive statements.

In the words of YouGov, "half of Americans wouldn't be able to tell that a Briton is calling them an idiot".

YouGov showed a number of common British phrases, including "with the greatest respect", "I'll bear it in mind" and "you must come for dinner", to Britons and Americans.

"While not all the phrases show a difference in transatlantic understanding, there are some statements where many Yanks are in danger of missing the serious passive aggression we Brits employ," YouGov said.

The starkest difference was in the phrase "with the greatest respect" - which most Britons took to mean "I think you are an idiot", but nearly half of Americans interpreted as "I am listening to you".

Image Copyright @YouGov@YOUGOV
Report
YouGov based its survey on a popular meme of British phrases and their subtext.

It's not clear who came up with the table, although it's done the rounds online for several years - and was first seen by the BBC in 2011 in a blog by Oxfam.

What the British say What the British mean What others understand

I hear what you say I disagree and do not want to discuss it further He accepts my point of view

With the greatest respect... I think you are an idiot He is listening to me

That's not bad That's good That's poor

That is a very brave proposal You are insane He thinks I have courage

Quite good A bit disappointing Quite good

I would suggest... Do it or be prepared to justify yourself Think about the idea, but do what you like

Oh, incidentally/by the way The primary purpose of our discussion is... That is not very important

I was a bit disappointed that I am annoyed that It doesn't really matter

Very interesting That is clearly nonsense They are impressed

I'll bear it in mind I've forgotten it already They will probably do it

I'm sure it's my fault It's your fault Why do they think it was their fault?

You must come for dinner It's not an invitation, I'm just being polite I will get an invitation soon

I almost agree I don't agree at all He's not far from agreement

I only have a few minor comments Please re-write completely He has found a few typos

Could we consider some other options? I don't like your idea They have not yet decided

YouGov decided to show the same phrases, and each of the meanings, to about 1,700 Brits and 1,900 Americans, and asked them which matched their own interpretation the most closely.

The survey showed that some - though not all - of the stereotypes in the table were statistically correct.

There was plenty of common ground - for example, a majority of both British and US adults consider "I was a bit disappointed that" a polite way of saying "I am annoyed that" - rather than "it doesn't really matter".

But those in the UK are much more likely to consider "I'll bear it in mind" and "I hear what you say" to be attempts to brush you off.

And a higher proportion of Britons than Americans (44% to 31%) think "that is a very brave proposal" actually means "you are insane".

Image caption -- The British have a long history of sarcasm

Plenty of Americans working in the UK have complained about British passive-aggressiveness, or their annoying tendency to beat around the bush.

Idiosyncrasies of the Brits at work
Why do Brits and Americans swear so differently?
What do Brits think about Americans?
Why you may find US colleagues 'more polite' than Brits

But UK expats have also complained about American insults directed at Brits.

One writer for BBC America came up with the following translations for American English:

Americans say This means

I love it! You just don't CARE, do you? What the hell did you just do? I'm dying of embarrassment here

Oh, you can get away with it, you're British An American wouldn't be seen dead wearing what you're wearing or doing what you just did

Bless her heart! This phrase is a bit of a put down, effectively allowing the speaker to slag off someone without recrimination.

At the end of the day, while the British may like to think they have a more sophisticated sense of sarcasm, they might have more in common with their American cousins than they think.

We'll bear that in mind.