How many will it take??

Today’s Buzz ...
Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:

(Program Note: there will also be a second segment about gun violence in Philly scheduled to air tomorrow night as well.)

• from last night's program:

Cleveland school shooting ...

How many school shootings, that is. How many will it take to ensure that comprehensive, strategic actions are utilized to accomplish much more than there is now regarding prevention of these horrible events? How many will it take to stop missing the “signals” that should be screaming at any reasonably minded adult? Actually, sometimes it just takes a little common sense ...

Example # 1: A school that exists to educate “gifted and troubled students” needs more than one security guard on duty – at all times. And it needs metal detectors on site – at all times. Success Tech Academy had them “sporadically”, because it seems that there are detectors that are “passed around” in the Cleveland school system, depending on where threats may be imminent. I suspect that the “new” plan being proposed to Mayor Frank Jackson today will address that issue – about 24 hours too late.

Example # 2: It’s being reported today that the school’s principal was informed about students’ concerns regarding Asa Coon’s behavior, but just couldn’t seem to find enough time to talk with them about the situation. I hope this turns out to be not the way it sounds ...

Anderson did an interview with Jack Levin, Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Northeastern University, who provided excellent perspective. He reviewed some of the common characteristics found in teens who are involved in this level of violence – hatred of school, rebellious, victim of bullying, follows Goth culture, etc. He made an excellent statement: “We ought to be intervening early in the life of a child because he’s troubled, not because he’s troublesome.” The problem, though, and not Professor Levin’s fault, is that this kind of analysis has been heard time and time and time again. These situations need solutions!!




Mystery at Sea ... solved (to some extent)

The ongoing mystery of the deaths on the “Joe Cool” a few weeks ago has taken a new turn – the “survivors” have now been charged with the murder of the four other passengers aboard. Survivors Herbie Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo have been charged with first degree murder in the deaths of Captain Jake Branham, his wife Kelley, and crew mates Scott Gamble and Samuel Kairy. But because the bodies were dumped far out at sea, much of the evidence that prosecutors have to work with will be circumstantial.



Separate blog entry to follow about the REM song debut last night !!

A few quick notes:

Following up on the “lunch at Michael’s” update from yesterday, David Patrick Columbia from the New York Social Diary has more info here – and one more photo to share as well (courtesy of Steve Millington for NYSD):



Stephen Colbert mentions Anderson Cooper as one of his “role models” for the “Stephen Colbert” character from The Colbert Report during his Fresh Air interview this past Tuesday – you can link to the audio here.

Anderson will be a guest on Regis & Kelly on October 23rd!! (thanks to “bon jour” for the info!!)

I hope you were able to catch the new SIU special: "The Minds of the DC Snipers" - Soledad O'Brien reports on a number of different aspects to this story, especially historical information, such as the circumstances that led Lee Malvo into John Muhammad's path. And a few exclusive interviews as well, such as with Muhammad's ex-wife. If you missed it last night, it'll be repeated over this coming weekend - check the CNN schedule for broadcast times.




Thanks for visiting – updates posted as needed – have a terrific day!