RUSH: Hi, folks. You know, it’s very telling, it’s quite telling that the biggest Stack that I have today in my show prep is still on guns, gun control and the incident in Parkland, Florida. I mean, it’s not even close. There’s other stuff out there. Like the stupid Schiff memo. Ha! We called that.
But, man, the news we keep learning about the incident in Florida is just mind-bending. It is mind-boggling. All of the prevention that was in place and none of it was used, none of it was utilized. And, yet even after all of that, the NRA remains the number one culprit and the number one target.
Greetings. Great to have you. It’s 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.
Do you remember, folks — you may not. We had a caller on this program two to three weeks ago who asked me for the one place I go to find out the news. Where could he go, the caller wanted to know, to find unbiased, non-opinion, just straight news. And I had to tell him there isn’t such a place anymore. And there really isn’t. And stop and think of that. There isn’t. If there is, I don’t know what it is.
Your local newspaper may be it, but I’m talking about national sources out there, national news organizations. There’s not a single one that you could recommend to anybody if you want just the news. If all you want to know is what happened, there isn’t a place to recommend. And it is never more obvious than in this story on the Parkland, Florida, shooting. So we have that.
We’ve got the DACA news. Supreme Court refused to hear the Trump administration appeal. It’s not unusual. The Supreme Court wants to wait until there are lower appellate court opinions on this. They don’t like jumping the chain, so to speak. But it’s being portrayed as Trump loses again, Supreme Court slaps down Trump DACA move. That’s not at all what happened. Another classic illustration.
You can’t even get straight news about what’s happening at the Supreme Court, for crying out loud. Straight news about a Supreme Court ruling, you can’t even get that. And, by the way, can I ask a question? Does anybody remember the name James T. Hodgkinson? Does that name ring a bell? I’ll guarantee you it doesn’t. And therein lies yet another tremendous illustration of that which I’m talking about.
Brian, does the name James T. Hodgkinson ring a bell? Dawn? Mr. Snerdley? He only happens to be the Democrat who shot Steve Scalise and the Republican baseball practice. He is only the left-wing radical Democrat from Illinois who went to Virginia to try to wipe out the Republican Party, and he used what to do so? A gun. Does anybody, now that you remember who James T. Hodgkinson is, can anybody remember any over-the-top, anger reaction afterwards about getting rid of guns? You cannot.
Does anybody remember anybody going after the NRA after this Democrat shot Steve Scalise, nearly killed him, injured a bunch of others, as he was taking target practice at Republicans practicing for a baseball or softball game they always have against the Democrats. You can’t. You didn’t remember the name. Some of you might have. But I can damn well guarantee you that there was not a cacophony of outrage and protest over guns after that shooting and a demand that we get rid of it. CNN didn’t do a town hall.
In fact, if I really wanted to cross the line, I could say some other things about this shooting that had predominance over the standard operating procedure of ripping guns. And then I remember the State of the Union speech that Trump gave, and Steve Scalise was singled out, and he was there, and he received applause. Does anybody remember the whole House applauding? I’m not sure. I certainly hope they did. I’m not sure.
But that illustration right there, don’t remember who this guy is ’cause he’s long since vanished from the news. And then when you do remember who he was, the news that you remember is about him and why he was justified in losing his mind. It was Trump’s fault. The man had been a lifelong Democrat. He was a conspiracy theorist left-wing loopy fruitcake acknowledged in certain quarters but then explained by saying, “Trump drove him crazy. Like many Americans, he’s lost his bearings.”
But there wasn’t a whole-hearted condemnation, and there certainly was not this massive, panicked, anger filled overreaction about guns. Some people might have wished that he’d gone to better target practice, but there wasn’t any upset over guns, not nearly to the degree that we’re getting here. Now, yeah, 17 students killed in the high school, and I don’t think anybody died in this guy’s shooting, but he was taking target practice at elected officials.
Not one Democrat, nobody in the Drive-By Media called for more gun laws, nor did they complain about the NRA. So is it a different set of circumstances when leftists are pulling the trigger? I’m just asking.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, did you know that James T. Hodgkinson was a volunteer for Bernie Sanders, for Crazy Bernie, the guy that shot Steve Scalise and took aim at other Republicans?
Okay, so welcome back.
Trump had some remarks at the White House recently. They’re replaying them now. Sometimes we have to fight the NRA. He’s talking about how he’s a big fan of the NRA and how big a fan they are of him, but there are all kinds of people dumping here on the NRA. It was predictable. A lot of it is happening on Facebook and Twitter with bots, a bunch of businesses are being flooded with what are… I’m guaranteeing they’re fake tweets and fake emails from fake citizens expressing their fake outrage over various companies having an association with the NRA.
And these companies are doing what they always do. They’re canceling or getting rid of their associations with the NRA because they’re being flooded with what they think are genuine complaints from real people, and some in there are genuine but there is another bot campaign that Twitter and Facebook are famous for. But Trump said something here. He said that we need to really beef up our background checks. Well, let me ask a question. Your background checks are only as good as the data.
Now, what happens if the Barack Obama administration, working with Eric Holder at the DOJ…? What if they have a plan whereby they offer school districts money for — how to phrase this — not reporting criminal activity because of a decree from the administration that we need to change the prison population racial balance? So certain crimes committed by certain people will not be reported, will not be recorded. Arrests will not take place, and the number of those nonarrests will be a factor in how much additional money the school district gets — and the local police department gets — from the federal government?
What if you were to learn that such a system was in place in Broward County and Miami-Dade? If you were to learn that this kind of policy from the Obama administration was in place at any number of local communities, including school districts…? What if you were to learn that this Officer Peterson that didn’t go in — the armed officer from the sheriff’s department at the high school who didn’t go, stayed outside. What if you were to learn that these guys are not really law enforcement officers but political people that are designed to make sure certain crimes are not reported, that certain crimes are overlooked, in order maintain this balance?
If you’re Obama and Holder and you believe that the prisons are overcrowded with minorities, and you think it’s unjust and unfair because of bias and racism… So you institute a policy designed to change that ratio, and in order to change the ratio, you ignore certain crimes, you don’t report others. There are many few years arrests. If that’s your objective, and it’s tied to money — if you do all that, you get additional grant money from the federal government.
If you knew something like that was in place, does anything that happened in the aftermath or at the moment in this school change the way you’re looking at it? Well, there are a couple of places asserting such a policy existed, and I’m in the middle of ferreting it out and seeing if I can find more about it. But apparently there are a number of news organizations (not mainstream) who think that said policy was in effect. And, therefore, a background check would be worthless if perps are not in the database because they haven’t been arrested. You get the idea here.
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RUSH: So how many days has the Drive-By Media blasted the NRA for the school tragedy in Parkland, Florida, hmm? Now we find out that at least four Broward County deputies were on the scene, and they refused to enter the building and confront the shooter. And we’re learning that the sheriff says this is not a problem with leadership, that he did a fabulous job and his deputies did a fabulous job.
Something is really off here. And we have been trending this way for I don’t know how long, where people somehow are able to skirt responsibility for their actions. And you know it happens more than anywhere else in government. Has anybody been fired at the IRS for what happened with Lois Lerner? You look at the atrocities, the outrages, the malfeasance, the corruption, the lack of performance, nobody ever is held accountable for it. Nobody is ever punished for it.
It’s as though people in government are gonna circle the wagons and protect themselves because they’re protecting the entity. Much like Dan Rather was protected by journalism after it was learned that he had totally made up and used forged documents in an effort to get rid of George W. Bush. Journalism circled the wagons, created a new award, gave it to Dan Rather at a big dinner party in order to celebrate the media and make sure the media didn’t take a hit overall.
When it was just one deputy, it was different. But if it’s true that four deputies failed to enter the school, and if it’s true that they were hiding behind open doors in their cars, and if it’s true that some are saying, “Look, all I had was a pistol, and inside there’s an AR-15. No, thank you, ma’am.” And now you know what the left is doing, the left is saying, “See, this disproves the idea that armed people inside the school can stop events like this.”
It doesn’t prove that at all. It proves something entirely different. It proves that there is no policy, that there’s incompetence and that something is really, really wrong here. Something is really, really wrong, with all of the telltale signs, with all of the knowledge that law enforcement and others had, that this shooter was gonna do what he did. That there were tips called into the FBI and the sheriff’s department predicting that he was gonna light up the school.
It was not a surprise. Nothing was done about it, including after it began. It’s just mind-boggling. And there’s the sheriff saying he exhibited great leadership in this event, as did his deputies. It almost sounds like there was a stand-down order. But the sheriff’s denying that, says there was no stand-down order. He’s denying that three more of his deputies did not enter the building.
It was also reported over the weekend the Broward Police Department received twice as many warnings over the alleged shooter than previously reported. Sheriff Israel is denying that, too, and it’s possible some of these other calls involved other complaints about other people, but nevertheless, there was no reason for this guy not to be on everybody’s radar. And in the midst of all of this, what are we getting? We’re getting a full-fledged, all-out assault on the NRA.
Now, just so I’m understood here — maybe I should better say, just so I’m not misunderstood, I like Wayne LaPierre, and I like the NRA, and I consider them a civil rights group. “What do you mean, Limbaugh? Civil rights group? A bunch of gun nuts?” Nope. Nope. Second Amendment. Civil rights. The NRA has done more than anybody to make sure the Second Amendment has not been erased, amended, written out. They’re a civil rights organization, and they’re one of the largest in America.
They don’t spend nearly the amount of money on politics that unions and other special interests do. You would never know that listening to the reporting. Despite all of the obvious dropping of the ball, despite the incompetence, the sheer incompetence at the local level, the NRA remains the focus, which means one thing: that this has been a fully, completely politicized event and that it lives on as a political event and not an event oriented toward the safety of our children.
In any sane world, the people involved in these massive screw ups would have resigned in shame, would have been fired already, would have been held accountable long ago, but they’re not being. And they’re not alone. The student at the high school that has become maybe the most visible on TV, his name is David — it’s pronounced Hogg? H-o-g-g. Probably is. It may be Hogg. I’m not sure. But he’s one of the most predominant students on television.
He’s a survivor student at the school and he said today on TV that he thinks the governor of Florida should be held accountable for the failure of three sheriff’s deputies to confront the gunman. He said the news is raising concern in his community. He said the governor is in charge of the sheriff, the governor is in charge of the uniformed officers, and he is blaming the shooting on bureaucracy. He says it’s their fault.
Now, folks, I know we’re not supposed to criticize the kids because the kids were traumatized, and they were shot at. We’re supposed to only listen to the kids now. Do you know that? The adults have shown that they are useless. We need to start listening to kids. And we certainly are not supposed to criticize them.
I said, “Would somebody explain to me why you target the governor and exempt everybody else who was on scene — local level? And the answer to that is politics! The governor happens to be a Republican. He’s a readily known, readily visible Republican, which makes him a good target. The same student and activist, David Hogg — who I predict is going to be hired by a cable network, maybe even before he graduates. They will find several ways to use young David Hogg. In addition to criticizing the governor, he is criticizing the NRA spokeswoman, Dana Loesch.
He said, “She owns these congressmen. She can get them to do things. It’s just she doesn’t care about these children’s lives.” Now, we’re not supposed to criticize the children, but nothing there is true. She doesn’t own any congressman. She can’t get them to do things. But the idea! See, we’re back to the old saw: “Republicans don’t care about the children.” Now, Mr. Hogg is a senior, 17, 18. Where did he learn that Republicans don’t care about the children? And if he didn’t learn it, where did it come from? Republicans don’t care.
NRA, Dana Loesch, don’t care about the children. This young man is now given national airtime. He is treated as an expert on the Constitution and school safety. But if you listen to him, his arguments are attacks on people — personal attacks on people — the governor and now Dana Loesch, and then personal attacks on an institution: The NRA. Meanwhile, the Broward County Sheriff’s Department… (chuckle) It’s beyond description. But the idea that we are not holding anybody accountable here, this is not new, particularly when it’s in government.
You know, Cathy McMorris Rodgers is in the leadership of the Republicans in the House of Representatives. She had a piece that ran on I think Friday, February 23rd at National Review. And her point is that Americans don’t trust the government because it is failing. She says, “Why is trust in government nearly at an all-time low? It’s because the hardworking men and women of this country look at Washington, D.C., and see story after story of corruption, lack of transparency, and mismanagement.
“From senior FBI agent Peter Strzok’s onetime involvement with an opaque investigation of the president of the United States, to Lois Lerner’s Internal Revenue Service that targeted conservative organizations, to politicians from both parties who have abused public trust by engaging in sexual harassment. What do all these cases have in common?” She says, “It’s officials who have lost sight of their mission to serve We, the People.” But here’s the problem. Here’s the problem — and we’ve noted this I don’t know how many times.
The government comes in, creates a program or intercedes in a program, makes a mess, and people demand a fix. People are clamoring to fix it. What do they do? They clamor that the government fix it! They end up… The citizens of this country end up demanding bigger government, by demanding that government fix what it broke in the first place. Nowhere else in society does this happen. If a business or a corporation makes a decision that ends up causing people harm or whatever, do the people demand that this business get bigger and remain in power and fix whatever went wrong?
No. It doesn’t happen that way. She gives this example. This is a primary point here, because she’s right: The government’s botching things left and right, have been for the longest time, and the phenomena is people demanding more government to fix what government breaks in the first place. And it’s a cycle that we don’t seem to be able to break. So we’ve got massive government errors at every level in this shooting in Florida, and the people closest to it with the most obvious levels of incompetence are being insulated and protected — not held accountable — in lieu of somebody that had nothing to do with it taking all the blame.
That’s the NRA.
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RUSH: Oh, yeah. I’m gonna expand on it. My email’s overflowing. “You just can’t ask a question like that and not have any backup for it.” Don’t worry, folks. I’ve got backup for it. I’m talking about the question I asked: If the Obama DOJ was offering school districts and states money not to report certain crimes, would you be surprised? “You just can’t leave that hanging there!” I’m not gonna leave it hanging there, folks. I’m setting the table for what comes the rest of the program.
Now, let me finish with this Cathy McMorris Rodgers piece. It’s a good piece overall, don’t misunderstand. I like Ms. McMorris Rodgers, so don’t anybody misunderstand anything here. “If only 3% of Americans said they trusted a pilot to land a plane, would you board the flight? If only 3% of Americans said they trusted a doctor to write the correct prescription, would you take the pill?” Well, some people would. But mostly no. “What about if only 3% of Americans trusted a business to keep their credit-card information secure? Would you make a purchase from their website?
“In all these cases, of course not.” But here’s the difference. In any of these incidents, if an airline was so bad that only 3% of Americans trusted it, it wouldn’t be in business. The government never goes out of business when it screws up. It just gets bigger! And trust in government continues to fall. I mean, if a business told you that there’s a 97% chance your credit card data will be hacked, that business wouldn’t exist. It would go out of business. There’s no way businesses with this low a trust level or that bad a performance rate would ever stay in business.
That means that people, the citizens are able to find other airlines to fly, they’re able to go to other doctors to write prescriptions, or they’re able to find other online retailers to join. There are options, and that’s what private sector competition does. But there isn’t any such competition in the government. There aren’t any alternatives. We have to live with what is rotten and untrustworthy, and the way we demand to fix it is for the very people that break things to fix them and not break them again! And this is…
It’s a big, big problem, because in the midst of all this, people who have no responsibility for whatever has gone wrong end up shouldering all the blame, and guess who joins the crowd to heap all that criticism on it? The very people who made the mistakes in the first place. This sheriff was on that CNN debacle, and what was he doing? Blaming the NRA! He’s out there blaming guns in general, blaming the NRA. And we find out that this guy had a deputy that did not go inside when he heard the shooting start and that the sheriff is now praising that guy…
Well, at first he did.
That guy’s now since resigned in disgrace and so forth.
The sheriff is claiming that he has exhibited great leadership, and he doesn’t think he did anything wrong. So the very people involved in (let’s be charitable) making mistakes, if they’re in government, get to off-load it and blame it on somebody else. And then here comes the Democrat Party creating their boycotts and wreaking total hell and havoc on places and people in the private sector that have got nothing to do with what went wrong. And then they coordinate victims going on TV joining that same movement, insulating and protecting the very people who screwed up in the first place, who end up never being held accountable, or veryu rarely.
It’s a cycle that has to stop.