Free Republic

The former sheriff's deputy who fled to safety during the Parkland school massacre broke down in court today when a jury found him not guilty. Former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read. The jury had deliberated for 19 hours over four days. The campus deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Peterson had been charged with failing to confront shooter Nikolas Cruz during his six-minute attack inside a three-story 1200 classroom building on February 14, 2018, that left 17 dead. He could have received nearly 100 years in prison, although a sentence even approaching that...

Jurors have reached a unanimous not guilty verdict in the trial of former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson. Peterson wept as the verdict was read. Not guilty on all counts. Families of the Parkland victims were seen shaking their heads in disbelief.

The sentencing trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is being delayed as Hurricane Ian threatens to slam Florida. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer postponed the trial — which was expected to continue through the rest of the week — until Monday. The state began making its rebuttal case on Tuesday and was expected to resume its arguments on Wednesday, Thursday and a half-day Friday. However the Broward County Courthouse where Cruz’s trial is underway will be closed at least on Wednesday and Thursday due to “the potential impact of Hurricane Ian,” the county clerk’s website states. The state is seeking...

Impact statement

President Joe Biden on Feb. 14 urged Congress to strengthen existing laws concerning gun ownership on the third anniversary of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. “The Parkland students and so many other young people across the country who have experienced gun violence are carrying forward the history of the American journey. It is a history written by young people in each generation who challenged prevailing dogma to demand a simple truth: we can do better. And we will,” Biden said in a statement. “This Administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed...

Barbara Lagoa, a frontrunner for the open Supreme Court seat that President Donald Trump is pushing to fill, has made her conservative views known in business cases and disputes over the limits of executive power. EX-FELONS’ RIGHT TO VOTE This month, Lagoa joined the majority in a major ruling by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a law requiring people with past felony convictions to pay outstanding court fees, fines and restitution before regaining the right to vote. PARKLAND MASSACRE FALLOUT In January 2019, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis elevated Lagoa from an intermediate state court to...

Parents of children gunned down in the Parkland school shooting in Florida last year have never understood two actions taken by Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel: his refusal to fire a campus-based deputy who failed to enter the school during the rampage that took 17 lives, and his continued defense of controversial Obama-era school policies that allowed the  accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz, to avoid arrest and a police record and thereby purchase the murder weapon. Some now think they have found the answer in a single incident that occurred in 2014. A police report shows that’s when Israel's then-17-year-old son,...

Turkey and Russia have reached agreement on the next steps, military, humanitarian and otherwise in Syria. But the Turkish government is frustrated with the pace of the US military withdrawal from Syria..... Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a major supporter of jihadist groups opposing the Syrian government......says he's reassured after speaking with President Trump about the withdrawal of US forces from Syria... Russia's FSB security agency says an American citizen has been detained while on a spy mission..... A South Korea newspaper reports a conciliatory message from North Korea's ruler to President Trump.....

For decades, the county has regularly been a hot zone for election-night chaos in both statewide and national races, including the infamous 2000 presidential election. Years of problems have only slapped additional coats of paint on the county’s sordid reputation as a black hole for ballots. Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes, the target of Scott’s legal action, has been accused in recent years of illegally destroying ballots and mismanagement. –Washington Post Controversies arise regularly in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s 23rd district and those who seek justice sometimes meet an untimely demise. Below are the stories of 3 men who dared...

What have we learned, in the weeks since the Valentine’s Day massacre in Parkland, Florida? We have seen the same well-intentioned but utterly misguided efforts that we always see after such horrors: a focus on banning one weapon out of many, as if that would make a difference, while closing our eyes to the real perpetrators and the actual causes of vulnerability. But we are used to that. What we are unused to, however, is the removal of the façade that for so long as hidden the Left’s efforts at the banning, and even outright confiscation, of firearms from law-abiding...

Unsolicited advice for David Hogg: when someone offers you a gracious apology, and does so “in the spirit of Holy Week,” accept it. On CNN this morning, when Alisyn Camerota asked Hogg if he accepted Laura Ingraham’s apology for tweeting about Hogg having been rejected by four colleges, Hogg curtly replied: “No. She’s only apologizing after advertisers pulled out. And I think it’s really disgusting that she basically tried promoting her show after [air quotes] apologizing to me.” Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

The FBI has not commented on the matter beyond confirming that it was contacted by Hogg’s family.

“Can you believe these kids?” It’s been a recurring theme of the coverage of the Parkland school shooting: the remarkable effectiveness of the high school students who created a gun control organization in the wake of the massacre. In seemingly no time, the magical kids had organized events ranging from a national march to a mass school walkout, and they’d brought in a million dollars in donations from Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney. The Miami Herald credited their success to the school’s stellar debate program. The Wall Street Journal said it was because they were born online, and organizing was...

Meet the puppeteers behind the puppets. Since then, major players and organizations — including Everytown, Giffords, Move On, Planned Parenthood, and the Women’s March LA — told BuzzFeed News they are helping the students with logistics, strategy, and planning for next month’s March for Our Lives rally and beyond. Much of the specific resources the groups are providing to the Parkland students remains unclear — as is the full list of supporting organizations — but there are broad outlines.

Part II: Missed Opportunities As the investigation continues into the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, we are learning about missed opportunities to save 17 lives. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, accused of "incompetence and neglect of duty", has been asked to step down. Resource Officer Scot Peterson, whose job it was to provide security and crime prevention services to the school, was accused of “hiding” while innocents who did not have his officer training were gunned down. The truth of the matter is that the tragedy at Parkland was facilitated by the omissions of others. This is how we begin...

For the last week or so, the entire nation has been talking about gun control — or at least the media has been talking about it. The sudden tsunami of gun control stories, articles, op-eds, and segments is the result of the terrible mass shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in beautiful Parkland, Florida. Sadly, the focus on gun control has caused the media (and the people who get their news from the media) to miss the far-larger scandal revolving around Douglas High School. First, let me be clear; I’m not talking about the scandal of...

Following the horrific Florida school shooting that claimed the lives of 17 students, anti-gun advocates have been on an all out social media crusade to intimate companies into abandoning their support and partnership for the National Rifle Association. The NRA has partnerships with many companies that offer discounts, reduced rates and special plans for NRA members. Currently, liberal organizers on social media are on a campaign urging their obedient followers to post heated messages to these NRA partners urging them to cut ties with the NRA or lose their business. Each company below as succumbed to the pressure of Twitter/Facebook...

More evidence that Parkland student-turned-gun-control-celebrity David Hogg has gone on a power trip. Two days ago, we noted Hogg threatening to “take care” of FedEx if it didn’t drop its affiliation with the NRA. Appearing on Morning Joe today, Hogg declared “I’m not to going allow” Governor Scott to blame Sheriff Israel regarding the shooting. Hogg claimed Israel is merely part of the “bureaucracy,” whereas “elected officials” like Scott “are in charge of them. This is their fault . . . Gov. Rick Scott is essentially the boss of Scott Israel.” Get the rest of the story and view the...

In the aftermath of 17 students and teachers being gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, schools, colleges, and universities are reevaluating campus safety and taking a closer look at their active-shooter protocols. There are questions about how this could have happened when there were so many signs for earlier detection. In a three-part series, we will examine a local well-publicized case involving the University of South Florida where an incident was detected at the Tampa campus but went unreported by the USF police department and how the failure to take appropriate action could have just...

In this week's update, entitled "On the Brink", John looks at the UN Security Council, in particular, the lies and deceit spewed by Abbas in regards to a Palestinian State, the increasing pressure on Israel from Lebanon to the north, the recent revelation that the Russians are testing new equipment in Syria, including their new stealth fighter the SU-57, plus the gathering of forces that have Israel in her sights for eventual destruction. John ends his message with a stunning revelation of a recent discovery in Israel, which further substantiates the accuracy and dependability of God's Word.