Was Race A Factor In The Lax Law Enforcement Response To Uvalde Shooting?

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Rhonda Hart speaking to guest host Paola Ramos on MSNBC’s Zerlina show(05/28/22)

Rhonda Hart, a Texas mother who lost her daughter in the horrific Santa Fe school shooting 4 years ago, appeared on MSNBC’s Zerlina show(Paola Ramos subbing 05/28/22) to discuss the latest horrific Texas school shooting in Uvalde. She made a startling claim during her appearance on MSNBC, telling host Paula Ramos that the slow response from law enforcement in Uvalde was because these were predominantly Brown kids. She added, “We know how Texas leadership feels about Black and Brown children.” 


Rhonda Hart (video at 1:30): “I remember I was a parent and also a school district employee that day when our[Santa Fe]school shooting happened, and at some point I went down closer to the building and I did talk to officers. They were adamant that I couldn’t get in there because stuff was going on, but at no point did they ever put their hands on me or push me down or anything like that. I mean, I’m a typical White lady you know, that garners a little bit of respect, I think…privilege, that’s what it is, it’s privilege. These, let’s be honest, these are Black and Brown children, and we know how Texas leadership feels about Black and Brown children.” 


There’s no other way to interpret Rhonda Hart’s remarks other than(I’ll be happy to stand corrected of course), the lax, even incompetent response by law enforcement authorities to the school shooting in Uvalde, had a lot to do with the fact that they were not being called upon to save White school children. Put another way, the shooter in Uvalde would have been neutralized much sooner, had it been White parents like Rhonda Hart, begging authorities to go in and stop him.

Rhonda Hart also slammed Governor Abbott and Texas leadership for lying about shoring up school safety after the Santa Fe school shooting 4 years ago. As she correctly pointed out, the lax law enforcement response to the Uvalde massacre proves that nothing was done to shore up school safety after Sante Fe.

Bottom line folks, reasonable people will agree that the law enforcement response to the shooting in Uvalde did not meet the public’s expectations. The conflicting messages given to the media by the said law enforcement officials also suggest that there was some attempt at a cover up, which needs to be thoroughly investigated. Also worth looking into, is Rhonda Hart’s bombshell claim on MSNBC, that the slow response by law enforcement was because the school in Uvalde is a predominantly Brown school. There are legitimate concerns as to whether there was something more than law enforcement incompetence at play here–a lack of desire to rescue Brown kids.


Oh, and Paula Ramos, thank you very much for being the only MSMer who gets the pronunciation of Uvalde right. It’s not “You-valde”. Get it together, the rest of MSM!!

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Why Is Putin’s Mistress Living A Life Of Luxury In Switzerland Amid Sanctions?

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President Vladimir Putin with former Olympic Gymnast Alina Kabaeva, believed to be the mother of his four children, and currently living in Switzerland

An interesting segment on CNN’s Outfront w/Erin Burnett show(04/06/22) delved into Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s very secretive family ties, and the effect the recently imposed economic sanctions may have on them. According to Russia expert Alina Polyakova who was a guest on the show, Putin has two adult daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Putina, from his previous marriage to Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, who currently resides in the Netherlands. Alina Polyakova also dropped a bombshell on the show saying Putin’s current mistress, former Olympic Gymnast Alina Kabaeva, who he put in charge of a powerful Russia media group, is apparently living in luxury with his four children in Switzerland. Alina rightly wondered why the West has not targeted Kabaeva with the kind of stiff sanctions they’ve meted out to Russian Oligarchs worldwide?

She told host Erin Burnett: “Alina Kabaeva has been kept really like a state secret from the media, from everyone else. Reportedly, in her role as leading this media group, she makes something around $11 million a year, quite significant. There are reports that she lives in Switzerland with four of Putin’s children, supposedly two boys, and a set of twin girls that were born in Switzerland, presumably have Swiss passports, presumably she does as well. Putin as a former KGB agent sees close ties and personal connection as a potential vulnerability, which is why he is likely hiding her…he is keeping her as protected as possible because he knows that she can be used as leverage against him, so certainly, this in my view, is absolutely the time to hit Putin where it hurts, where he fears it the most, where he sees his vulnerability. The war in Ukraine is absolutely brutal and it’s frankly absurd that his closest partner, the mother of potentially four of his children is getting to live a luxurious life in Switzerland. That just doesn’t make sense.”

Spot on, Alina Polyakova, it makes zero sense. Switzerland should immediately revoke Alina Kabaeva’s citizenship and deport her, with her children, back to Russia. Whatever financial assets she has in Switzerland should remain in Switzerland, or preferably be used to assist with humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Bottom line folks, the Biden administration and indeed all the democracy-loving Western governments, need to see to it that Putin’s family is not allowed to live in luxury overseas, as he butchers and maims Ukrainian families. As Alina Polyakova correctly stated, “this is absolutely the time to hit Putin where it hurts, where he fears it the most, where he sees his vulnerability.”

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Trump-Tied Dark Money Group Brags About Drafting Voter Suppression Laws

Heritage Action’s Executive Director Jessica Anderson addressing a group meeting

A leaked video obtained by Mother Jones, shows the shocking extent to which a Trump-tied dark money group, Heritage Action For America, is secretly engineering the recent spate of voter suppression laws in Republican-led states. This bombshell revelation, even though not quite surprising, should be a call to action for voting rights activists nationwide, and a reminder to Congressional Democrats, of the dire need for passage of HR1-For The People Act.

In the leaked video, Jessica Anderson, a former Trump administration official and now Executive Director of Heritage Action For America, can be heard talking to a group of donors in Tucson Arizona in late April, and admitting to conduct that leaves absolutely no doubt to any reasonable person, that her group is engineering the voter suppression laws currently springing up in Republican states across the country. She is essentially bragging to the donors about how Heritage Action is drafting voter suppression laws currently being enacted by Republican-led state legislatures.

She can be heard telling the donors, “Iowa is the first state we[Heritage Action] got to work in, and we did it quickly, and we did it quietly. Honestly, nobody noticed.”(see video at 1:05). No reasonable person presented with Jessica Anderson’s “nobody noticed” remarks, can ever conclude that Heritage Action went into Iowa with a mission other than sneaking through a voter suppression law.

Other alarming statements by Jessica Anderson to the GOP donors include;

“At the end of the day, the bill that Governor[Brian] Kemp signed, and the Georgia legislature marshalled through had eight key provisions that Heritage recommended.” (see video at 1:11)

“We are working with these state legislators to make sure they have all of the information they need to draft the bills. In some cases we actually draft them for them, or we have a sentinel on our behalf, give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from the bottom up, type of vibe.” (see video at 1:32). This is by far, the most damning part of Jessica Anderson’s presentation. She basically admits that Heritage Action is writing voter suppression laws for the states, and faking their grassroots appeal.

It also bears pointing out that this same Trump-tied dark money group, is also in the forefront of lobbying Congressional Republicans into blocking the HR1-For The People Act, currently being pushed by Congressional Democrats, which among other things, seeks to vastly expand voting rights for all Americans.

Bottom line folks, it appears Heritage Action is the vehicle Trump Republicans are using to push their voter suppression laws targeting minority voters. Voting rights activists in Texas and other emerging purple states, where the voting rights battle is already red hot, must come up with effective strategies to confront Heritage Action and other such right wing anti-democracy groups. Yours Truly is not an attorney, but is reasonable enough to know that some of the statements Jessica Anderson made to the GOP donors, can be very useful in federal lawsuits against these Republican voter suppression laws.

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