Florida, the new Zimbabwe

Regular readers of WWW [as oppoed to "irregular" border-crossers. Ed.] will know that Walt has an abiding interest in Zimbabwe, the failing African state whose name has become a metaphor for incompetence and corruption -- two nouns which have been much in use since November 8th as journalists and pundits struggle to describe the gubernatorial and senate elections in the Not-so-great State of Florida.

The ZANU-PF party has ruled the Land of Bambazonke since independence, thanks to its expertise in the rigging ["running", shurely! Ed.] of elections. For instance, when their candidate is trailing in the vote count, they simply stop counting! That's what happened in 2013 when weeks after polling day it was announced that President Mugabe had received the most votes, but not enough to prevent a run-off. The opposition candidate then withdrew from the race, leaving Comrade Bob to win in a landslide. See "'Incidences' from the Zimbabwean election", WWW 2/8/13.

They didn't risk having to compete in a run-off this year. All the results of July's polls were announced within 48 hours, except for that of the contest for the presidensity. After a couple of days of "They're coming just now," the government-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commision announced that Bob's successor, Comrade ED [No relation! Ed.] had won 50.8% of the vote, just enough to avoid a runoff. See "ED wins Zimbabwe presidential election - quelle surprise!" WWW 2/8/18.

Does this remind you of any election in any place you've been hearing about lately? How about Florida? In particular, how about Broward and Palm Beach Counties? I have no bias against those counties -- used to live there myself -- but can't help but notice that the stench of electoral corruption is worse than usual this year.

"Preliminary results" announced in the wee hours of Wednesday showed Republican Governor Rick Scott leading incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson in the contest for a US Senate seat, and Republican Ron DeSantis ahead of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum in the race for the state house.

To nobody's surprise, the lamestream media refused to "project" a winner, saying it was too close to call, absentee ballots hadn't been counted, a recount was possible, and so on. Why? Because the election machinery was in the control of "non-partisan" officials such as Broward County's Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes, who President Trump said "has had a horrible history..."

Here, from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, is what POTUS was talking about.

• In 2004, approximately 58,000 mail-in ballots were not delivered to voters.
• In 2012, nearly 1,000 uncounted ballots were discovered a week after the election.
• Election results in the 2016 primary were posted on the election office's website before the polls closed.
• A court ruled Snipes had broken election law when she destroyed ballots from the 2016 election 12 months after it, instead of the 22 months required by federal law.

Republicans blamed problems in Broward County on the design of the ballot there. “The ballot was laid out in an incompetent fashion by the incompetent supervisor of elections,” said Mr Scott's attorney, Bill Scherer, apparently referring to Mrs Snipes.

The analysts at FiveThirtyEight questioned whether the position of the Senate race on the Broward County ballot (at the bottom left-hand corner of Page 1) meant some voters skipped over the race. In Broward, some 26,060 fewer people casts voted in the Senate race compared with the governor’s race, a difference of 3.7%.

Mr Nelson's attorney, however, said he believes the problem was with the machine counters -- nothing to do with Mrs Snipes. "I am pretty confident what you are going to see are markings that were not picked up by the machines or a calibration issue that was not registering that part of the ballot," he said.

Reports that Brenda Snipes received her training in public administration in Zimbabwe are untrue. She comes from that hotbed of democracy, Talladega County AL. It's just a coincidence that the start of a statewide recount, which began Sunday morning, has been delayed by a series of technical glitches with the counting machines... in Broward County.

Stay tuned for the revised and improved results, due at 1500 EST on Thursday. Or call Mrs Snipes' office for the official figures. If you can't wait, call anytime!

Further reading: "What can we expect from Florida recount — 2018 edition?" by Brendan Swisher, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 10/11/18.

Americans! Will more gun control make you safer?

Chinese New Year celebrations are over, the Winter Olympics are half over (with only one Russian caught doping, so far), and life in the Excited States of America goes on as usual. Another day, another mass killing, this one a school shooting in Florida. Walt can't tell you how many that makes this year, as I've already lost count.

The usual "thoughts and prayers" have been expressed by all and sundry. But along with the expressions of grief -- real and genuine -- we're hearing shouts of anger, and plenty of them. The latest yesterday's rally at Parkland FL, where 1000s of angry students, parents, teachers and neighbours of the high school where 17 people were killed demanded that immediate action be taken on gun-control legislation.

There were also rallies in St. Petersburg, on the other side of the state, and in Fort Lauderdale, about 25 miles from the scene of the horrific crime. Delaney Tarr, a student at the school where it happened, told the crowd in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, "Because of these gun laws, people that I know, people that I love, have died, and I will never be able to see them again."

Let's think about that. What "gun laws" was Mr Tarr talking about? Laws exist, and the laws allow the purchase of an AR-15 assault rifle provided the purchaser has been properly vetted by the police and other bureaucrats charged with enforcing the laws. Since the killer, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was known in the community to have exhibited signs of mental disturbance, it seems to me that the problem is not with the laws (or lack thereof), but with the system by which the laws are supposed to be applied.

It appears now, from public records, interviews with friends and family and online interactions, that Mr Cruz was unstable and violent to himself and those around him. Alas, even though a number of agencies, including the FBI, were notified about his threatening behaviour, but did little to stop it.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that Florida's Department of Children and Families investigated when Cruz posted on Snapchat a video showing himself cutting his arms. That was back in August of 2016. The agency's abuse hotline was told, "Mr Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms. Mr Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun. It is unknown what he is buying the gun for."

According to the paper, the DCF investigation was completed in November. The agency concluded that Mr Cruz had not been mistreated by his mother, was receiving adequate care from a mental health counsellor and was attending school. Mental health centre staff "came out and assessed the [victim]," the DCF report said "and found him to be stable enough not to be hospitalized."

"Attending school"... yes... At school, Mr Cruz routinely fought with teachers, was accused of swearing at staff and was referred for a "threat assessment" in January 2017 (two months after the DCF investigation wrapped up), according to the New York Times. School records seen by the Times show he was suspended several times in the 2016-17 school year and was frequently absent. They also show Cruz attended at least six schools, including a school for students with emotional problems, the newspaper said.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said his office had received more than 20 calls about Cruz in the past few years. He did not say what action his department took... if any. Which brings us to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, America's super-cops.

The FBI said "a person close to Cruz" called the FBI's tip line and provided information about Cruz's weapons and his erratic behaviour. The caller was concerned Cruz could attack a school. The agency acknowledged the tip should have been shared with the FBI's Miami office and investigated, but it was not. Perhaps those responsible were too busy with the investigation into the non-existent connection between Russian conspirators and the Trump campaign!

Dear American readers, how safe do you feel? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that "they" -- terrorists, gangstas, crazy people -- aren't out to get you! The FBI, your state and local police and other agencies of social control (as I characterize them) are supposed to be "serving and protecting" you. Are they? Ha!

Now the usual gang of snowflakes, lefties and SJWs want to use events like the Parkland school killings as an excuse to take away your guns. Do you know what will happen if more restrictive gun laws are passed that would, for instance, make carrying a gun of any kind in a school zone illegal? I'll tell you! What will happen is that no-one will have a gun at school except someone evil and/or crazy enough to not give a shit about the new tough law!

Here's another question. How would such a law be enforced? What are they going to do, make all the students (and teachers and visitors) pass through a metal detector and undergo a pat-down search on entering the school? How many more law enforcement officers would that take? Would they be as effective as the rent-a-cops employed by the TSA to keep you safe at airports? Ha!

IMHO, the best defence against people like Nikolas Cruz is that envisioned by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The Parkland massacre would not have been averted if the heroic football coach or any other teacher had been packing heat, but the loss of life would have been considerably less. Perhaps only Mr Cruz would have been killed.

Let's close with a thought from Thomas Sowell, an American economist, turned social theorist, political philosopher and author, who was born in North Carolina but grew up in Harlem. "The key fallacy of so called gun control laws is that such laws do not in fact control guns. They simply disarm law abiding citizens, while people bent on violence find firearms readily available."