Thursday, December 31, 2020

MERRY CORONAVIRUS

Like millions of other Americans, I disregarded the CDC warning to stay put and went off to celebrate Christmas away from home ..... for a Merry Coronavirus at the hospital

 

By Howie Katz


By now, most of you must have noted my absence from BGB.  Like millions of other Americans, I disregarded the CDC warning to stay home and went off to celebrate Christmas away from home.

Well, it wasn't exactly like that.  After two hard falls within a 19-hour period on December 22, my son took me to the emergency room at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center.  The ER nurse was very proficient, giving me a thorough examination.  

A nursing student from College of the Mainland where I taught criminal justice for years, started to take my temperature when I noticed she was about to stick a rectal thermometer in my mouth.   When I said, "whoa there young lady, do you realize you're about to stick a rectal thermometer in my mouth," shy became hysterical, ran out of the ER bay and yelled,"you can stick it up your ass!" 

The regular nurse laughed and told me not to worry, that she always became hysterical whenever someone questioned what she was doing. Anyhow, my temperature was over 101 and a coronavirus test showed that I was suffering from COVID-19.  They put me in an adjacent holding room waiting for a regular hospital room to come available.  

After about 4-hours the nursing student shows up and tells me she's taking me to a room.  She rolls me down a long hallway till we get to a dead end.  The hallway to the right reads "Main Tower" and the hallway to the let reads "Pathology."  Guess which way she turned?  That's right, to the left.  After rolling me down this hallway, we come to a set of double doors guarded by a man sleeping behind a desk.  She barged right on by until we found ourselves in a long and cold dark room with about a dozen beds holding bodies covered by white sheets.  "Holy shit!" I yelled, "we're in the morgue!"  The nursing student promptly passed out.  After about 15-minutes, someone heard me yelling and took me to my room.  As for that nursing student, she needs to switch from nursing to cosmetology just as soon as they pick her up off the floor.

Seriously though, I spent seven-days in the hospital including Christmas day.  I got back home Tuesday evening.  I feel terrible because I'm constipated.

NOTE: I've got word fro Bob Walsh and all those who mock the lockdowns and the wearing of masks and social distancing.  Stop mocking those measures!  I've now caught coronavirus, albeit a mild case, and it's no mocking matter.

HEROIN DEPRIVED SONNY LISTON OF HIS HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING TITLE

Muhammad Ali the greatest of all? ..... far, far, far from it!


By Howie Katz


Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston by Neil Leifer

Ali takes full advantage of Liston's heroin high


OMG, HE'S GOT A GUN

by Bob Walsh


Yes, it is true.  Two members of the Los Angeles City Council are moving to arm the 30 L A City Park Rangers.  Within the last four years there have been a total of 38 homicides, 167 shootings, 267 rapes and 1,844 assaults in the city's 450 parks.  

Park Rangers are peace officers under the law and have arrest authority, but are specifically NOT permitted to carry arms on duty under city law.  

This move is supported by the LAPD and various other interest groups, but probably not by BLM, Anti-Fa or other groups that actually count for something in LA so the outcome of this proposal is dubious.

STOCKTON RACKS UP HOMICIDE # 56 THIS YEAR

by Bob Walsh


Early Tuesday the crime-ridden and gang-infested excrement pit that is Stockton racked up it's 56th homicide of the year.  It is extremely likely there will be at least one or two more on New Year's eve.  This won't be a record for Stockton but is certainly worth an honorable mention.

The large majority of homicides in Stockton seem to be gang related, though we do have our share of domestics and ordinary street crime as well.  A well rounded city is nice.

THE FEDS ARE COMING TO TOWN

And They Actually Are Here To Help 

by Bob Walsh

The feds have sent military medical teams to assist staffing at Lodi Memorial Hospital in Lodi and Dameron Hospital in Stockton.  They have adequate space to deal with overflow of Covid-19 patients, but are critically short on staff.  This also occurred back in July.

The current team is two doctors, two PAs, seven respiratory therapists, 24 RNs and assorted support staff.  They are anticipating surges due to people getting together for family gatherings from Christmas and New Year celebrations.  Strangely, transmissions from restaurant visits are less than 2% according to the contact tracing programs, but the restaurants are still shut down and people are going broke.

TREE HUGGERS ARE IN A QUANDRY

by Bob Walsh


The Sage Grouse is an interesting bird, native to northern California.  Its numbers are seriously declining, due to intrusion into its habitat by a non-native grass.  This grass makes the area very susceptible to wild fires, which is kind of hard on the birds nesting areas.

There is a herbicide that is very effective in controlling this stuff, but of course if you say "herbicide" or "chemical spraying" to the tree huggers they either faint or start screaming obscenities at you.  Unfortunately if they do not do something about it pretty soon the birds may be gone.  It's kind of like a Christian Scientist with a hot appendix.  Damned if you do, dead if you don't.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article247379964.html?ac_cid=DM353769&ac_bid=-1011580384

COUNT CLEAR AT MINUS ONE

by Bob Walsh


It seems that one of the boys terminally rehabilitated his cellie at New Folsom Prison in Sacramento County, CA on Christmas Day.  The dead guy had a bunch of puncture wounds in his body and the not-dead guy didn't have any.

The dead guy was doing 11 years for ADW out of Yolo County.  The not-dead guy was doing 8 years for arson out of Sacramento County.

Prisons will continue to be unpleasant places until we start incarcerating a better class of people.

737 MAX EARNING MONEY AGAIN

by Bob Walsh


The Boeing 737 Max is back in passenger service in the U S as of 12-29-2020.  They did something pretty radical and actually supplied training for the pilots.  In the previous unfortunate rollout the "training" was an iBook program and no simulator time.  That has been remedied.  Also, if I recall correctly, they now have as standard equipment two air speed indicator sensors so with a bit of luck the plane will know the actual air speed.  Also the pilots now know how to turn off the frigging computer and actually fly the damn airplane if the computer starts telling them stupid shit.

Automated system can be very nice.  Modern airliners can even land themselves if the airport has the right equipment.  However it is nice if the pilots can actually control the aircraft if excrement occurs.

NOW THIS IS FUCKING SCARY

by Bob Walsh


New York Assembly Bill 416. if passed into law, would allow the Governor to order the "removal or detention" of person who are, or who are SUSPECTED OF MAYBE BEING, infected with or carriers or spreaders of Covid-19.  They could be detained in a facility designated by the Governor for this purpose.  The Governor may confer with public health officials on the identification of such persons, but is not required to do so.

Maybe he will lock them up in rehab facilities after he has killed off another several thousand residents. There will be plenty of space then.  

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/a416

CA LOCKDOWN TO CONTINUE UNTIL MAMMALS BECOME EXTINCT

by Bob Walsh


The God-Emperor of the formerly great state of California, Gavin Newsom, has announced that he intends to decree that the lockdown of most of the state (excepting high-end restaurants in wine country) will likely continue until mammals become extinct by natural selection.  This will leave liberals and other invertebrates relatively unaffected, though it is not clear who will pay the taxes to keep the state semi-functional.  Perhaps the Federal Money Fairy will drop by to rescue the staste from it's own idiocy.  I am, however, unsure I would count on that. 

LORI LAUGHLIN SPRUNG FROM THE BIG HOUSE

by Bob Walsh


Actress Lori Laughlin has served out the required portion of her two months in federal camp friendly at Dublin, CA and is now home.  I wonder if she got any interesting tattoos or had any amusing close personal encounters?  Probably not.

Her husband is about one month into his five month sentence.  He is doing his stretch at Lompoc.  

It is still unknown if she will be able to assume her acting career or if her daughters are even the least bit ashamed of their participation in this debacle.  

I still think it would make a good Hallmark made-for-TV movie.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

OTHER GREAT FIGHTER'S I'VE PERSONALLY KNOWN

Beside Rocky Graziano, I've personally known the greats Carmen Basilio and Rocky Marciano, Billy Graham , Buddy Garcia and the not Great Chief Gordon House

 

By Howie Katz


Carmen Basilio: Determination, Perseverance, guts and lots of heart




One day around 1950 I was sitting in the Manhattan waiting room of  a NY fight promoter.  Sitting across from me also waiting to see the promoter was a craggy faced man.  After I introduced myself, he told me his name was Carmen Basislio and that he was from upstate Canastota.  Although his boxing record at the time of the introduction was rather spotty, he told me,"I'm going to win a world championship, you can bet on it!"  And he did, but not only the World Welterweitht Championship, but also the World Middleweight Championship. 
 
Rocky Marciano: A small man for a heavyweight but a heavy puncher who was the undefeated world heavyweight champion 
 
When I was in NY, I used to go to Stillman's Gymnasium every day to watch the fighters work out.  I used to remain after the gym was closed to the public when the ranking fighters work out.  Usually I was sitting next to a small guy with tree-trunk arms.  We would exchange comments about the fighters working out in the ring.  After a week or so it occurred to me that we had not introduced each other.  I told him my name was Howie Katz, and he replied, I'm Rocky Marciano."  You could have floored me with a sledge hammer.  Never in my wildest dream would I have thought I's be sitting with the undefeated World Heavyweight Champion.   Trainers considered him "Too old, almost 25. He was too short, he was too light. He had no reach. Rough and tough, but no finesse." What a nice and unpretentious guy!  
 
Billy Graham: Welterweight had 126 fights, never knocked off his feet         

  Two of the toughest: Gavilan vs Graham.

 Billy Graham disfigures Kid Gavilan's mug.


I knew Billy Graham because he was also managed by Irving Cohen, the manager of Rocky Graziano.   One time Billy and I went to the wake of a family member.  The Irish sure know how to hold wakes.  Can't remember ever having had more fun time.  

Buddy Garcia: Galveston's own and a leading lightweight contender

Buddy Garcia boxer


Buddy Garcia was my best friend when I lived in Galveston.  He got me my first job at Todd Shipyards when I got out of the army in 1945.  We remained close until my wife and I moved to California in 1955.  I remember one time I was with buddy in a Galveston club where he was playing poker  One of the players was City Recorder - now known as municipal judge - Eddie Janek.  Suddenly for some reason Janek burst out with a foul anti-Semitic crack.   Buddy immediately jumped up and in front of everybody threatened to kick the shit out of Janek for making that remark "in front of my Jewish friend, Howie!"  Janek went on to become a County Commissioner and was honored by having a county building renamed after him.  Th me, the bastard will always be remembered as an anti-Semitic piece of shit.

Chief Gordon House: How do you keep an alcoholic fighter sober?

Gordon House was not a great fighter, but he was sure a great drinker.  The Navajo Indian fought many of his lightweight fights in Houston and Galveston.  One day in New York, Rocky Graziano's manager Irving Cohen called me into his office and said he had an important job for me to do,   He was also managing the Chief and was getting him ready to take on World Featherweight Champion Sandy Saddler, one of the hardest punchers in boxing history.  Irving told me "Whatever you do, keep him out of bars.!"  Hah, easier said then done.  Gordon and I were walking past an Irish pub when the Chief tugged at my arm and said "Let's get one beer."  He jerked me inside.  There were 3 or 4 men drinking at the bar.  The moment we walked in, the bartender a huge burly man, took one look at me and shouted,"Get your dirty ass out of here, we don't allow damn Jews in here.!"  In the blink of an eye, Gordon grabs the guy, jerks him over the bar, and proceeds to beat the supreme shit out of him.  Gordon told him, "From now on you'll serve Jews in here!"  I managed to pull Gordon of the busted-up bartender and told him we'd better leave in a hurry before the cops show up.  Gordon went on to fight Saddler and actually knocked him on his ass before the champion decided he'd better put a stop tho it, which he decidedly did.  

EDITOR'S NOTE: Now you've see why I enjoyed my time around fighter so much.  Just thought I'd publish this before my time on earth is up.

Sunday, December 27, 2020

BIDEN ALREADY BACK-PEDDLING

by Bob Walsh

According to Joe Biden 1 days is the same thing as six months.

You might remember than, among the several dozen things he promised to do on his first day in office, was to essentially open the border for anybody who wanted to come.  Gang members.  Diseased gang members.  People who will sign up for government benefits as they cross the border.  Unaccompanied minors.  Drug mules.  ANYBODY.  

Guess what.  Yesterday, while standing in front of his very official looking OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ELECT backdrop, he acknowledged that it will be technically impossible for him to do that.  It may take as much as six months.  Of course all those people in Honduras didn't necessarily hear him or believe him.  They are forming up new caravans as you read this.

So, is Joe Biden merely clueless or is he a lying sack of shit?  Since he has worked in the swamp for nearly 50 years I am guessing that he knew very well he could not accomplish what he promised when he promised it.  That leaves.............

CHECKING THE BOXES

by Bob Walsh

Gavin Newsom, the God-Emperor of the formerly great state of California, announced yesterday that he would appoint a Latino to take over Kamala Harris' senate seat, and a Black female to take over the office left vacant by that appointment.  I will not bother telling you the names or the offices involved because it does not matter.  Neither do their qualifications.  Ethnic identity and gender identity are the minimum qualifications for political appointments in California.

ROAD RAGE TURNED DEADLY

But Not For The Good Guy

by Bob Walsh

This one went down near Fort Wright, Kentucky a few weeks back.  This 43-year old man was driving along and got in a modest accident with an aggressive driver.  The man pulled over and called the local constabulary.  While he was on the phone with the cops the aggressive driver got out of his car with a rifle and approached the good guy.  The 911 call picked up the verbal back and fourth, and then the shots.  

When the smoke cleared the good guy got off four shots, the bad guy zero.  The fact that there were a lot of empty alcohol bottles in his vehicle might have had something to do with his aggressive driving and poor gun handling.  The bad guy left in a body bag.  The cops said it was a good shooting.  

It is better to have a gun etc. etc.

ALMOST BEING THE FIRST IS NOT NECESSARILY A GREAT HONOR

by Bob Walsh

The people who keep track of such things insist that there is no RECORDED death of a human being by wolves in North America.  (There was a woman killed in Canada a year or two back by wolf-coyote crossbreeds.)  A fellow in Stevens County, Washington, almost got to be numero uno, a record I am sure he was happy to avoid.

He was out checking his game cameras when he was surrounded by a pack of wolves.  After being unable to scare them away he whipped out his trusty Browning rifle and shot one of the wolves very dead.  The others suddenly remembered they had dentist appointments somewhere else.  

The department of fish and game sent a person out to investigate and the game cameras back up the shooter's story.  I don't know if they let him keep the pelt or not.

COVID WARD MURDER

by Bob Walsh

At a hospital in Antelope, CA it appears that one Covid ward patient murdered another Covid ward patient yesterday.  The 80-year old victim was beaten to death with an oxygen bottle,  apparently by his room mate.

AMONG THE MANY THINGS I DID NOT KNOW

by Bob Walsh

I was reading my new (01-21) issue of The Rifleman and came across an article about the last American shot fired during WW II.  It was fired from a B-32 bomber.  I did not know the B-32 was ever deployed for combat duty during WW II.  There were only slightly more than 100 ever made and production stopped at the end of WW II.  

It seems that two of them went up on a photo recon mission and were attacked by 17 Japanese fighters.  The last American shots were fired by a Browning .50 caliber machine gun, which is hardly a surprise under the circumstances.  The action also resulted in the last combat death of an American serviceman during that war, a poor fellow named Anthony J. Marchiano, a 20-year old Sergeant.

VACCIINATION STARTING LOCALLY

In Prison Hospitals

by Bob Walsh

There are two MASSIVE state prison hospitals located just outside of Stockton.  Yesterday they started vaccinating the employees and prisoners.  That is, probably, a very reasonable idea.  Maybe now they will actually start keeping the prisoners in prison.

COVID RELIEF ?

Not Really

by Bob Walsh

The Covid relief bill is close to one TRILLION dollars.  It is not, of course, actually a Covid relief bill.

It has a LOT of "foreign aid" in it.  We are sending money ( $10 million) to Pakistan for gender identity studies in the bill.  We are sending a ton of money to the Ukraine, I guess so they can continue to pay Hunter Biden for his assistance.  We are sending $500 million to various Central American counties to study why undocumented unaccompanied minors are attempting to migrate to the United States.  It is also being used to attack "climate change."  That may, or may not, be a laudable goal.  It is hard to figure out how it relates to Covid relief.

That happens when you pass a 5,000 page bill in one day.  You KNOW nobody actually read it, because nobody had the time to.  I am sure some of it it actually being used for semi-legit Covid relief.  Mostly by accident I expect.  

Your tax dollars at work.  I am sure you are happy to send $10 million to Pakistan to study gender identity.  Personally I could tell the U S government why unaccompanied undocumented minors are coming to American, and I would be happy to do it for only $50 million.  

The public probably does not get the government they deserve, but they sure as hell get the government they tolerate.

MAYBE IT WAS JUST ME

by Bob Walsh


Did anybody else notice that Joe Biden's hair seemed to turn orange after he got his Covid vaccination?  Must have been an optical illusion.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

RECALLING A SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP

Rocky Graziano and I became good friends some 70-years ago
 
 By Howie Katz


Rocky Graziano throws one of his vicious rights in the second round as Charley Fusari does a neat piece of ducking, September 14, 1949.
I am not going into how we got to be good friends and I am not going to go into the history of his bad behavior.  The Rocky I knew was a kindhearted and decent man who adored his wife Norma and daughters Audrey and Roxee, and would give anyone in need the shirt off his back.                                                            
  


(Left) Rocky flattened Johnny Greco in the 3rd round on 5-21-51 in Montreal,

(Right) Rocky and me in the champ's basement man cave in 1950. 

 

I was privileged  to visit Rocky and his family at their home many times and to stay with Rocky at his training camps in Ellenville, NY and Chatham, NJ.

The three fights he had with Tony Zale were among the most brutal fights in boxing history. He was KO's in the first one, won the world middleweight championship in the second one, and got KO'd in the third one.

 

Zale vs Graziano

Rocky defeats Tony Zale on 7-16-47 to win the world middle weight championship. 

 

Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano knockdown

Zale regains title on 6-10-48 with a 3rd round KO

 

Rocky's rise to fame and fortune began on March 9, 1945 when he stopped a heavily favored Billy Arnold.  All the boxing experts predicted Arnold would become world champion, but after the beating he took from Rocky, he was never the same again.

Rocky' last two fights were with the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson and Chuck Davey.  Robinson came off the floor to knock Rocky out and Davey avoided his punches to win the 10-round bout.

I attended the Davey fight at the Chicago Stadium with a seat on the front row.  Seated to the right of me were about a dozen well-dressed, cigar-smoking men. Suddenly, during one of the preliminary bouts, Chicago cops swooped down on the men and carted them off to jail.  The next day I learned from the papers that the men were part of Al Capone's mob.

Rocky wisely retired after the Davey fight.  Rocky went on to appear in several movies and TV shows.  He played Martha Raye's husband on her TV show. He also raked in a good amount of money by doing commercials for a number of businesses.

Thanks to his wife Norma, Rocky did not blow his accumulated wealth away.  Norma managed his finances by making sure he did not leave their home with a large amount of cash in his pocket.

Norma's father Ray Unger was the host of a restaurant in the Times Square area that served cheese cake to die for.  Just before I went on one of my trips to see my mother in Galveston, I went to the restaurant and asked Ray to get me the cheese cake recipe.  He said "no problem" and proceeded down the stairs to the kitchen.  Suddenly he came rushing up the stairs white as a ghost.  He told me the baker came after him with a meat cleaver when he asked for the recipe.

Rocky died of a heart attack on May 22, 1990 at age 71.  Norma passed away on April 16, 2009 at age 83.  

My friend ship with Rocky constituted the best years in my life..  Why was that friend ship special?  How many people get to pal around with a world champion fighter?

WELL, THAT IS PERHAPS ONE WAY OF DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM

by Bob Walsh


Our friends across the pond in the U K have an interesting law.  It allows the National Crime Agency to seek an Unexplained Wealth Order.  It has now been used for the first time.  If it stands up this allows the government to seize wealth for which the owner can not adequately explain how they got it.

The subject of this first UWO is Zamira Hajiyeva.  She is the wife of a banker from Zaerbaijan.  She owns property in the UK worth 16 million pounds (which I guess is a modest flat in downtown London) and blows about 16 million a year shopping at Harrods.  Her lawyers asserted that she was being unfairly singled out.  Both the Court of Appeals and the High Court ruled against her and now she must either explain how she got the money or the government may seize it.  

The case has been running for two years.  Her husband's official income is 55,000 per year form the bank and he has no other declared source of income.  

Last year the NCA seized a buttload of jewelry in her possession and the government in Azerbaijan is attempting to have her extradited on embezzlement charges, but the extradition has been blocked by British courts.

BARR SEES NO NEED FOR A SPECIAL COUNSEL

Barr undercuts Trump on election and Hunter Biden inquiries

 

Associated Press

December 21, 2020 


Attorney General William Barr used his final public appearance to undercut President Donald Trump on multiple fronts Monday, saying he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims about the 2020 election or to name one for the tax investigation of President-elect Joe Biden's son.

In the course of breaking with Trump on matters that have been consuming the president, Barr also reinforced the belief of federal officials that Russia was behind a massive hack of U.S. government agencies, not China as Trump had suggested.

Barr made the comments at a press conference to announce criminal charges in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 190 Americans, an issue he had worked on in his previous stint as attorney general in the early 1990s. He chose the announcement for his last public appearance, then took questions.

Barr said the Justice Department’s existing investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings was “being handled responsibly and professionally.”

“I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” he said. Nor for election fraud, he said.

Barr had been in lockstep with the president during much of his tenure as Trump's attorney general. But Trump, as he has done with many others in his inner circle, started criticizing Barr publicly. He was particularly angry that Barr didn't announce the existence of a two-year-old investigation of Hunter Biden.

And shortly before he announced his resignation, Barr told The Associated Press that he had seen no evidence of widespread voting fraud, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary. Trump has continued to push baseless claims even after the Electoral College made Biden's victory formal Dec. 14.

A special counsel would make it more difficult for the incoming attorney general and president to close investigations begun under Trump. Doing so could lend a false legitimacy to baseless claims, particularly to the throngs of Trump supporters who believe the election was stolen because he keeps wrongly claiming it was.

Barr’s statements Monday may make it easier for the acting attorney general who takes over, Jeffrey Rosen, to resist pressure from the White House to make such appointments.

In his 2019 confirmation hearings for deputy attorney general, Rosen said he was willing to rebuff political pressure from the White House if necessary. He told legislators that criminal investigations should “proceed on the facts and the law” and prosecutions should be “free of improper political influences.”

“If the appropriate answer is to say no to somebody, then I will say no,” he said at the time.

Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results and nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.

With no further tenable legal recourse, Trump has been fuming and peppering allies for options as he refuses to accept his loss.

Among those allies is Rudy Giuliani, who during a meeting Friday pushed Trump to seize voting machines in his hunt for evidence of fraud. The Homeland Security Department made clear, however, that it had no authority to do so. It is also unclear what that would accomplish.

For his part, Barr said he saw no reason to seize them. Earlier this month, Barr also told the AP that the Justice Department and Homeland Security had looked into the claims “that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results” and ultimately concluded that “so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”

Trump has consulted on special counsels with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside allies, according to several Trump administration officials and Republicans close to the White House who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized discuss the matter publicly.

Trump was interested both in a counsel to investigate the younger Biden’s tax dealings and a second to look into election fraud. He even floated the idea of naming attorney Sidney Powell as the counsel — though Powell was booted from Trump’s legal team after she made a series of increasingly wild conspiratorial claims about the election.

Federal law requires that an attorney general appoint any special counsels.

Barr also said Monday the hack of U.S. government agencies “certainly appears to be the Russians.”

In implicating the Russians, Barr was siding with the widely held belief within the U.S. government and the cybersecurity community that Russian hackers were responsible for breaches at multiple government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments.

Hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a radio interview that Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the hacks, Trump sought to undercut that message and play down the severity of the attack.

He tweeted that the “Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality.” He also said China could be responsible even though no credible evidence has emerged to suggest anyone other than Russia might be to blame.

KIM FOXX, FAMOUS FOR THEJUSSIE SMOLLETT SCANDAL, WANTS CHARGES AGAINST DRUG DEALERS DROPPED

Kim Foxx’s vision: Automatically erase more serious convictions for weed dealing, expunge cocaine or heroin arrests

 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx detailed a bold vision for drug enforcement as she laid out a plan to automatically wipe clean the records of convicted weed dealers and opened the door to expunging offenses for heroin and cocaine possession.

In an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times, Foxx framed cannabis legalization as a “test balloon” for reexamining the country’s drug laws — and their toll on the communities that have suffered the most.

“I think this is the gateway conversation to deeper conversations around treating addiction as a public health issue and looking at the drug economy that has flourished in these neighborhoods while every other bit of economy has abandoned [them],” Foxx said.

High on her list is helping those caught up in the drug war move on with their lives by automatically expunging criminal records so those convicted don’t have to take any actions to get their records wiped clean after they serve their sentences. Her office has already automatically expunged about 2,200 low-level pot convictions for possession of 30 grams or less, the amount of weed that’s now legal to have.

But Foxx ultimately wants to use her office’s existing infrastructure for identifying cases to similarly wipe out more serious offenses for selling cannabis, which she acknowledged typically involves more than 30 grams. Currently, those convicted of a crime dealing with 30 to 500 grams of pot must petition the court to have their record expunged.

“We should also make it easier for those who had those sales convictions for higher amounts to also be able to have their convictions vacated automatically,” Foxx said.

“No, they didn’t have a license. And no, it wasn’t legal. But it was the only economy that they had,” she said, noting that legal pot firms are now “doing the exact same thing and making a ton of of money.”

The comments appear to be the first time Foxx has spoken about automatically expunging records of those found guilty of more serious drug offenses than low-level possession. Previously she said she thought those convictions should be reviewed on a “case-by-case basis.”

Sarah Sinovic, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney, clarified that Foxx doesn’t yet have any immediate plans to begin automatically expunging those records.

“It’s a vision that she has,” Sinovic said.

For now, Foxx’s office is most focused on meeting the deadlines for automatically expunging convictions that were put forth in the state’s legalization law took effect earlier this year.

The first batch of records, which include convictions from 2013 through this year, must be completed by Jan. 1. The next set of 11,000 expected cases stretches from 2000 to 2012 and has to be completed by the start of 2023, while earlier convictions must be expunged over the following two years.

Foxx said she had hoped to move through the low-level cases “more expeditiously” so her office could begin tackling the more serious offenses. However, the COVID-19 outbreak ultimately “shut things down” along with other complications.

Not just pot

Amid those hiccups, Foxx made it clear that her vision for reform doesn’t end with weed.

“What has been a long concern of mine … is other drugs that are still illegal, that are still being prosecuted, in some of these very neighborhoods that are being devastated by the war on drugs,” Foxx said. “And marijuana was but one of the drugs. It wasn’t the totality of the devastation.”

Using the West Side as an example, Foxx noted the crack cocaine epidemic that started in the 1980s has now given way to the deadly opioid crisis. Through those decades of destruction, Foxx complained the area’s “economic infrastructure” still hasn’t been rebuilt.

Now, Foxx is looking to address the systemic issues that underlie those scourges. Currently, possession of 15 grams or less of heroin or cocaine can result in a felony conviction that typically can’t be expunged from criminal records.

Asked whether she would advocate for expunging convictions for possession of those harder drugs, Foxx answered “yes” — as long as it’s part of a larger, progressive approach to handling addiction.

“If we recognize substance abuse disorder as a health condition, then we must modify our justice system to treat it as such,” Foxx said. “Criminalizing health is not in the interest of public safety.”

Public support grows

Foxx’s push is in line with national trends, experts said, but even they are surprised at how far society has come in pushing back on the drug war.

“It is clear that public support for harsh drug sentences is fading, and this is particularly true for minor possession and use cases,” said Ralph Weisheit, a professor of criminal justice at Illinois State University. “Decriminalizing minor possession of hard drugs, as has happened in Oregon, is something I would not have predicted even five years ago.”

Even more surprising is that someone in Foxx’s position is leading the charge, he said.

“That prosecutors would express any support for these changes is not something I would have expected. Historically, prosecutors have not led the charge for decriminalization,” he said.

Even some who have been opposed to legalization in the past are OK with the push for expungement — even for low-level dealers.

Riverside Police Chief Thomas Wietzel, an executive board member of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, former president of the West Suburban Chiefs of Police Association and a member of the state’s Impaired Driving Task Force, spoke in opposition to legalizing both medical and recreational marijuana.

Now he sees expungement for possession of less than 30 grams as something he supports. And he would accept that for drug dealers — with caveats.

“If it’s a small amount they are convicted of selling, that’s more difficult. But if they’re not selling to juveniles, at public parks ... I would be OK with that,” he said.

But automatically expunging for convictions involving the larger amounts Foxx advocates, he says, is too much: “I think that large manufacturing and delivery cases, that’s a different story.

GASCON GIVES INTO FLACK ..... SORT OF

Los Angeles County’s New Progressive D.A. Changes Policy After Public Outcry

 

LAPPL News Watch

December 21, 2020 



Following a heavy public backlash, Los Angeles County’s newly-elected, controversial district attorney reversed course on Friday, reinstating the use of some sentencing enhancements for cases involving “the most vulnerable” victims. 

In a memo to his staff, D.A. George Gascón reportedly said he had re-evaluated a special directive issued just 11 days earlier after taking the oath of office. 

The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), a union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, issued a statement after Gascón’s reversal. “It took a national outcry for him to understand that child rapists, human traffickers, and perpetrators of violent hate crimes should spend some more time behind bars,” it read. “Yet he’s still willing to go easy on gang members who terrorize our neighborhoods or criminals that shoot cops in the back of the head.”

__________

 

Mom Of 20-Year-Old Man Brutally Murdered, Thrown Off Cliff Lashes Out At LA County DA George Gascón

 

The mother of a young man who was brutally murdered and thrown off a cliff in Azusa is outraged after learning her son's suspected killers had special charges dismissed in court Friday morning. The dismissals came under new Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. 

The mother, Desiree Andrade, tells FOX 11 she saw her son's alleged killers smirk in court earlier in the day as all their special circumstance charges were dismissed, meaning none of them will face life without parole. 

"It's sick," Andrade said. "This is all sick." "I felt let down by this justice system," she added. Her son, 20-year-old Julian Andrade, was viciously murdered in May 2018 by five suspects who thought he stole some of their weed. "They brutally murdered my son," said the grieving mother. 

The suspects are accused of repeatedly beating and stabbing Julian Andrade for several minutes until he lost consciousness. The suspects then drove up to the mountains to toss Andrade's body. 

However, during that drive, prosecutors say the suspects stomped on his head when they realized Andrade was still alive. The suspects threw Andrade off the cliff and heard him still struggling. One of the suspects went down to attack Andrade some more. 

Julian Andrade's body was found two days after the deadly incident. 

ONLY 15 PERCENT OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS FIRED THEIR WEAPONS DURING THE WW2 BATTLES IN WHICH THEY PARTICIPTED

Training a castrated infantry

 

By Akiva Bigman  

 

Israel Hayom

December 21, 2020 


Footage of an Israeli soldier not shooting a terrorist who set alight and threw a Molotov cocktail at him caused a justifiable uproar. Following the incident, a number of voices blamed in on a number of factors: the effect of the trial of Elor Azaria; the lengthy and complicated open-fire protocol; too cautious a commander, and more. There is truth in these claims, but it's important to note another angle, which in my opinion is deeper and more important than any other, and has to do with the training of infantry soldiers.

Despite prevailing beliefs, soldiers in a democratic army, in which they are citizen-soldiers, are pacifists by nature. This is nothing unique to the Israeli soldier or the result of our long years of dealing with Palestinian terrorism, it is a universal phenomenon. Brig. Gen. Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, who researched the battles of World War II for the US Army, reached the same conclusion after looking at statistics from 20 battles and interviewing hundreds of soldiers. Marshall learned that only about 15% of soldiers fired their weapons during the battles in which they participated, and even when wounded and casualties were factored in, that percentage did not exceed 25%. This was true for all fronts in all conditions, including instances in which at least 80% of the soldiers said they were in a situation to open fire. This statistic is supported by testimony collected in research on other wars of the modern era, and demands an explanation.

According to Marshall, these soldiers come from a cultured environment in which the aggression entailed in taking a human life is forbidden and unacceptable. He concluded that the fear of aggression has been so thoroughly inculcated and absorbed that it comprises the biggest obstacle when civilian soldiers go into battle.

The soldier in the controversial footage is no exception – he is the norm. Evading conflict and fear of killing are natural to every cultured person. However, they are also the main challenge to military training. Taking civilians and turning them into fighters means taking pacifists and instilling in them killer instincts. This is exactly what the training and drills are intended to do.

Infantry training is full of sudden transitions from a calm situation to one of shooting from various points, with the soldiers having to shoot as rapidly as possible toward the target's center mass. Shoot to kill, with the understanding that the moment a threat is identified, this is the immediate response required, without consideration. That is the soldier and that is what he is supposed to do.

In recent years, these basic principles have eroded in operations in Judea and Samaria. Years ago, I wrote an expose about how soldiers were being trained to aim for targets' knees, which was designed to change their mindset from "shoot to kill" to "shoot to disarm."

There are also long hours of lectures about open-fire protocol, which get longer and more complicated all the time. In the field, a soldier has to make an instinctive decision, but according to protocol, he should consider a number of parameters such as whether or not the enemy has "a weapon" with which to attack, "an intent" of doing so, and "the possibility" of carrying out an attack. Aside from the difficulty of identifying the weapon, "intent" and "possibility" are subjective and cannot be measured.

Then we have the rules that prohibit shooting unless there is clear and present danger, in other words – even when someone is preparing a weapon (like lighting Molotov cocktail), they still cannot be shot until he raises his arm to throw it. And we haven't even discussed cases in which a commander must give a soldier permission to fire, which makes what still remained instinctive into a techno-bureaucratic jumble and firing shots into battle into a drawn-out struggle.

Marshall observed that even in his time, training soldiers was hampered by too heavy an emphasis on shooting protocol, to an extent that nearly obscured that the basic problem was to train soldiers to shoot freely – and that was in the face of enemies like the Nazis or the Japanese Imperial Army. The castrated training the IDF offers its infantry soldiers just makes the situation worse, and there will be a heavy price to pay.

ICE HOCKEY MAKES HISTORY IN THE DESERT

History has been made in Dubai: the first professional sports game between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and it’s hockey!

 

By Yossi Aloni

 

Israel Today

December 21, 2020


Ice Hockey Makes History in the Desert
Bat Yam Chiefs

History has been made in Dubai: for the first time since the peace agreement was signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the first professional sports event took place between teams from Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The first was an ice hockey game between the “Chiefs” from Bat Yam and the “Camels” from Dubai, that was held at a professional ice hockey arena in Dubai.

The Bat Yam team, who is the reigning Israeli champion from the 2018/2019 season, defeated the Camels from Dubai 9 – 6 in the game held over the weekend. Israel’s Foreign Ministry noted that this is the first time that such a sports match has been held between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, although a number of agreements have been signed between the various sports associations.

The commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), the most prestigious hockey league in the world, Gary Bettman, sent a recorded greeting for the game and said: “We send our congratulations for this historic event. The first professional game between a team from Israel and a team from the Emirates. We are proud that hockey can bring people together. We want to wish all the participants a congratulations and hope that this is the first event out of many.” 

Monday, December 21, 2020

DIN'T LET YOUR HOLIDAY PARTIES TURN INTO A TRAGEDY

 

nhtsa-drive-sober

THAT WAS VERY NICE OF THEM

by Bob Walsh


I went over to some friends last evening and they had prepared me a very nice Yule feast.  I had travel bread (a fairly coarse, heavy bread with reindeer sausage and cheese baked into it) along with broiled lamb and warm, spiced cider.  With some lemon-vanilla cookies for desert.  It was very pleasant indeed.  It is good to have friends, especially around the holidays.  

WHEN WILLIE BROWN TALKS, YOU SHOULD LISTEN

by Bob Walsh


For many years Willie Brown was the second most powerful politician in formerly great state of California.  In fact the CA term limits law was enacted specifically to get  him out of the legislature.  

If the talking heads are to be believed he has counselled Gavin Newsom that he should get his head out of his ass and take the current recall campaign against him seriously.  Personally I hope he does not, so we can throw his happy ass out of office.  

EDITOR'S NOTE: And do not forget that Kamala Harris had an affair with the married Willie Brown that propelled her into history.

KANYE IS NUMBER SEVEN

by Bob Walsh


Kanye West was seventh in the official total popular vote count for president.  He got over 60,000 votes.  It's a good thing that Justin Bieber can't run or he might be the next freaking president.

THE LONG AEM OF THE LAW GRABS NY MURDERER IN EGYPT

NYPD tracks former boxer to Middle East after he allegedly murdered his daughter on SI 

 

By Tina Moore and Laura Italiano

 

New York Post

December 19, 2020

 

The father of a woman whose body was found in a Staten Island park last year has been extradited from the Middle East and charged with her murder.

Suspect Kabary Salem had been indicted in the murder of his daughter, Ola Salem, 25, by a Staten Island grand jury Nov. 5, law enforcement sources told The Post.

 

 

The NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked him down Dec. 3, and brought him back to New York on Friday, sources said.

Salem had fled the U.S. immediately after his daughter’s body was discovered in October 2019 by a jogger in Bloomingdale Park, in the borough’s Prince Bay neighborhood.

The fully-clothed body had been dragged through the woods some 30 feet, then covered in leaves.

Salem, 52, is a former professional middleweight boxer from Egypt who went by the nickname “The Egyptian Magician” and who competed in the 1990s through early 2000s, including in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, according to his Wikipedia page.

Notoriously, Salem killed one opponent, Randie Carver, in the ring in Kansas City in Sept. 1999 after repeatedly headbutting the doomed man.

Carver never regained consciousness after being knocked out in the 10th round, and died two days later from blunt head trauma, according to Wikipedia.

The victim, who lived in Rosebank, had been an advocate for Muslim women suffering from domestic violence through her volunteer work at the New York City-based Asiyah Women’s Center, a 20-bed shelter and resource organization.

FOX EATS CROW UPON BEING THRETENED WITH LAWSUIT

Lou Dobbs debunks his own claims of election fraud — after a legal demand from Smartmatic 

 

 

The Washington Post

December 19, 2020

 

Something surprising happened Friday night on Lou Dobbs’ top-rated show on the Fox Business Network.

Dobbs, an opinion host and conservative ally of President Donald Trump who has consistently raged over the past month that the president was robbed of a second term by a rigged election, instead introduced a segment that calmly debunked several accusations of fraud that Rudolph Giuliani and other of the president’s supporters have lobbed against one election technology company, Smartmatic.

“There are lot of opinions about the integrity of the election, the irregularities of mail-in voting, of election voting machines, and voting software,” Dobbs told his viewers, before introducing Edward Perez, an expert with the nonprofit Open Source Election Technology Institute, to give “his assessment of Smartmatic and recent claims about the company.”

Perez then appeared in an apparently pretaped segment, where he shot down various conspiratorial theories in response to questions from an off-camera, unidentified voice — not Dobbs’s.

The segment, it turns out, was in response to a 20-page legal demand letter that was sent this month by Smartmatic to Fox News Media. Similar letters went to Fox’s smaller competitors on the right, Newsmax and One America News Network. The letters demanded “a full and complete retraction of all false and defamatory statements and reports” aired by the network in its coverage of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Specifically, the company charged that: “Fox News has engaged in a concerted disinformation campaign against Smartmatic. Fox News told its millions of viewers and readers that Smartmatic was founded by [the late former president of Venezuela] Hugo Chávez, that its software was designed to fix elections, and that Smartmatic conspired with others to defraud the American people and fix the 2020 U.S. election by changing, inflating, and deleting votes.”

Not only are these claims false, the company says, it only played a relatively minor role in this year’s presidential election, as a contractor for the election process in Los Angeles County, Calif.

In the legal letter, Smartmatic included multiple segments from Dobbs’s prime time show as examples of “false and defamatory statements/implications,” with some comments coming from Dobbs himself — Dobbs said on Nov. 18 that the company is comprised of “left-wing radicals” — and others from guests like Giuliani and one-time Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell.

Fox News confirmed to The Washington Post on Saturday that the fact-checking segment seen on Dobbs’s show Friday night will also air on “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” hosted on Saturday night by Jeanine Pirro, and “Sunday Morning Futures,” hosted on Sunday morning by Maria Bartiromo, on which Powell made many of the comments included in the complaint. (Smartmatic had demanded that the corrections “must be published on multiple occasions” and must be made during prime time shows, so as to “match the attention and audience targeted with the original defamatory publications.”)

OSET Institute did not respond to a request for comment but put out a statement praising Dobbs on Twitter and said it was “good on him” to “set the record straight.” Perez, the organization said, “was happy to help do so.”

In the segment, Perez also clarified that Smartmatic is “for all intents and purposes,” a completely separate company from Dominion Voting Systems, another voting technology company that has faced unsubstantiated charges of wrongdoing. In a Nov. 12 appearance on Dobbs’s show, Giuliani claimed that Dominion is owned by Smartmatic; on Nov. 16, Dobbs said that “Dominion has connections” to Smartmatic, while also claiming the since-denied theory that Smartmatic “had ties to” Venezuela’s Chavez.

During Friday night’s fact-checking segment, the questioner asked Perez: “Have you seen any evidence of Smartmatic sending U.S. votes to be tabulated in foreign countries?” 

This appeared to be a reference to Giuliani’s Nov. 12 claim on the show that with Smartmatic software, “the votes actually go to Barcelona, Spain.” Perez responded, “No, I’m not aware of any evidence that Smartmatic is sending U.S. votes to be tabulated in foreign countries.”

It is unclear if the fact-checking segment fulfilled Smartmatic’s demand for a retraction. The company did not respond to questions from The Post Friday night. In the legal demand letter, Smartmatic said that the comments made on Fox will cost the company “hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars” in value.

Thus far, Fox appears to be the only network that has publicly made amends in response to Smartmatic’s complaint. Newsmax, which only began referring to Biden as “president-elect” on Monday, released a statement responding to Smartmatic’s demand letter by placing the burden of blame onto the guests who expressed those views on-air.

“Individuals, including plaintiff’s attorneys, congressmen and others, have appeared on Newsmax raising questions about the company and its voting software, citing legal documents or previously published reports about Smartmatic,” the company said. “As any major media outlet, we provide a forum for public concerns and discussion. In the past we have welcomed Smartmatic and its representatives to counter such claims they believe to be inaccurate and will continue to do so.”

'IT'S JUST ABOUT SKIN COLOR NOW'

Uproar at NYC’s posh Dalton School after faculty issues 8-page anti-racism manifesto

 

By Susan Edelman and Dana Kennedy

 

New York Post

December 19, 2020

 

One of NYC’s poshest private schools is in an uproar over an anti-racist manifesto signed by dozens of faculty members with a sweeping list of demands.

The Dalton School — which boasts stars Anderson Cooper, Christian Slater and Claire Danes as alumni — is wrestling with eight pages of “proposals” to overhaul the staffing, curriculum and treatment of black students.


 

Yearly tuition for grades K-12 at the Upper East Side institution is $54,180 a year.

The proposals — first reported this week by The Naked Dollar blog — grew out of the George Floyd police-brutality protests and long-simmering student complaints of racism at the prestigious school.

But some parents say the backlash has become oppressive. 

“My ancestors experienced white supremacy by being slaughtered,” a Jewish parent told The Post.  “The idea that being white automatically means you are privileged or a white supremacist is ridiculous. My child comes from people who had to fight for everything they got.

“It’s just about skin color now.”

Those who disagree remain silent, the insider said. “Parents are terrified to speak up for fear of retribution. Parents are acting like spineless wimps.”

One Dalton father, who said he’s removed his children from the school as a result of the manifesto, said Dalton “has totally failed in its mission to uplift the very people it professes to help.

“It’s completely absurd and a total step backwards,” the father, who did not want to be identified, told the Post. 

“This supposed anti-racist agenda is asking everyone to look at black kids and treat them differently because of the color of their skin,” he said. “The school is more focused on virtue-signaling this nonsense than it is in actually helping students of color. More parents are going to be pulling their kids out.”

The wide-ranging faculty demands include:

  • Hiring 12 full-time diversity officers, and multiple  psychologists to support students “coping with race-based traumatic stress.” 
  • Assigning a staffer dedicated to black students who have “complaints or face disciplinary action,” and a full-time advocate to help black kids “navigate a predominantly white institution.”
  • Paying the student debt of black staffers upon hiring them.
  • Requiring courses that focus on “Black liberation” and “challenges to white supremacy.” 
  • Compensating any student of color who appears in Dalton promotional material.
  • Abolishing high-level academic courses by 2023 if the performance of black students is not on par with non-blacks. 
  • Requiring “anti-racism” statements from all staffers.
  • Overhauling the entire curriculum, reading lists and student plays to reflect diversity and social justice themes.
  • Divesting from companies that “criminalize or dehumanize” black people, including private prisons and tech firms that manufacture police equipment or weapons.
  • Donating 50 percent of all fundraising dollars to NYC public schools if Dalton is not representative of the city in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, and immigration status by 2025.

Dalton officials said the document is just “a set of thought-starters created last summer by a group of faculty and staff responding to Dalton’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist institution.

“The school does not support all the language or actions it contains.” it added.

“Dalton’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism is grounded in our deep appreciation for the dignity of all community members, an understanding of differing life backgrounds, empathy for one another, and the ability to engage and listen with respect across differences,” the school said in a statement to The Post.

But Naked Dollar blogger Scott Johnston, who first revealed the manifesto Thursday, said of the demands: “Dalton’s teachers are refusing to come back until they are met.”

The Dalton spokesman rebutted, “We’re expecting all teachers to return after winter break.”

Johnston — the author of “Campusland,” a humorous novel about the “woke” college climate — said the “meltdown” at Dalton reflects the angst and self-imposed guilt of elite private schools across the country.

“This isn’t just Dalton, but one of the most extreme examples,” he told The Post.  “There’s a rituatualistic self-abasement these private schools feel they have to subject themselves to.”

Sources told Johnston that Dalton kids were made to watch a PBS video called Being 12, in which “white kids are shamed for the sin of their skin color and told they are complicit in perpetuating racism.” 

A Dalton fourth-grade play featured a role for a “Racist Cop,” Johnston reported, adding that the faculty petition includes a demand that every  school play have anti-racist narratives. “I’m told even ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is out these days. It’s a white man trying to save a black man. Can’t have that sort of racial paternalizing.”

In revealing the turmoil, Johnston wrote, “The rich parents play the game. They go along with every progressive fad conjured up by the administration and faculty. Many embrace them.”

But the Dalton parent who spoke to The Post predicted that 30 to 40 percent of parents of kids in the Class of 2025 will pull them out of the school and transfer them as a result of the manifesto.

Making the situation more tense, some Dalton parents are fuming over the school’s resistance to reopening classrooms since the COVID-19 outbreak, remaining fully remote while other private and public schools have resumed some or all in-person instruction.

“We are, in short, frustrated and confused and better hope to understand the school’s thought processes behind the virtual model it has adopted,” a group of parents describing themselves as physicians wrote in a letter to head of school Jim Best, Bloomberg reported in early October. 

A petition signed by more than 70 lower-school parents asked for the return of on-campus classes, Bloomberg reported. “Zoom-school is not Dalton,” it said.

But that petition was seen by some as racist because faculty of color were more likely to live in the outer boroughs or neighborhoods with high rates of COVID-19.

Dalton announced last month that it will offer campus instruction as well as remote instruction in January.

WEALTH REDISTRIBUTOR DE BLASIO ACCUSES NYPD OF USUNG EXCESSIVE FORCE AGAINST BLM MOBS

Mayor de Blasio cowardly uses NYPD as a scapegoat to blame for riots, boys in blue push back

 

By  

 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is under fire again for disrespecting law enforcement and seeming to blame officers for violent protests over the summer.

The Democrat was accused of using police officers as a “scapegoat” for the riots and violent demonstrations that unfolded in New York City following the death of George Floyd in May. The head of the union representing New York City detectives called de Blasio out in a scathing statement following his public apology for police actions.

Reacting to a Department of Investigations Protest Report released on Friday, de Blasio issued an apology in a nearly seven-minute video message expressing his “remorse” and vowing that the NYPD will “do better.”

“It’s a season of reflection right now, that’s what the holidays are,” he said. “I read this report, and I agree with it. I agree with its analysis and I agree with its recommendations, because it makes very clear we’ve got to do something different, and we’ve got to do something better.”

“I look back with remorse. I wish I had done better,” he said of his handling of the protests in May and June. “I want everyone to understand that. And I’m sorry I didn’t do better. And I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons. And I want our police department to do better. And I’m going to insist upon that.”

Of course, many would concur that the liberal mayor has plenty to be sorry for in his mis-handling of the violence, but de Blasio was not specific about his own actions. During his regular press briefing on Friday, he was asked directly by one reporter “exactly what it is you’re apologizing for?”

“I don’t feel I did good enough, that’s why I apologized,” he replied.

Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, slammed the mayor as well as Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett.

“The irony that the DOI Commissioner is appointed directly by the Mayor of New York City should not be lost on anyone,” DiGiacomo said in a blistering statement on Friday. “Our brave men and women in blue were sent to do an impossible job by elected officials who send mix messages about what they want and have no experience in these dangerous situations.”

“As hundreds of cops were injured and businesses destroyed, there was only one thing we could count on — no support from City Hall and Albany,” he said, referring to New York’s state capital. “Perhaps our elected officials are the ones who need ‘new training.'”

The Department of Investigation report found that “heightened tensions” during the summer protests were exacerbated by excessive force used by police officers against protesters.

“NYPD use of force and crowd control tactics often failed to discriminate between lawful, peaceful protesters and unlawful actors, and contributed to the perception that officers were exercising force in some cases beyond what was necessary under the circumstances,” the 100-page report concluded.

De Blasio used the report’s findings and his vow to do things “differently” moving forward as a segue in his press briefing to announce a need to “redistribute wealth” in the city.

The Democrat addressed “systemic racism” in education and elsewhere as he targeted income inequalities, and openly declared that the redistribution of wealth is the government’s “mission” in education.

LA'S HUG A CRIMINAL DA

LA DA George Gascon slams victim’s family as they protest sentencing plan

 

By Mary Kay Linge

 

New York Post

December 19, 2020

 

Los Angeles’ controversial new district attorney told the family of a murder victim they should “keep their mouth shut” — unwittingly, he later said — as they protested his office’s kid-gloves handling of the accused killers.

“It’s unfortunate that some people do not have enough education to keep their mouth shut for a moment so we can talk,” George Gascon said in a video obtained by FOX 11 Los Angeles.

“My son can never speak again because he was murdered,” shouts a woman identified as the mother of Joshua Rodriguez, who was kidnapped and killed in 2015.

“My son matters!” she screamed as Gascon walked away. “And you’re going to do nothing about it!”

Gascon — who was elected last month promising a sweeping left-wing overhaul of the criminal justice system — was speaking to the press in front of a Pomona courthouse Friday when he was confronted by the family about his intention to drop the punishment sought against Rodriguez’s killers, eliminating the chance they could receive no-parole life sentences.

His slate of planned changes, including an end to bail and to arrests for crimes like trespass, disturbing the peace, and public intoxication, have drawn outrage from victims’ rights groups — but are in line with similar reforms being made by lefty DAs across the country.

Gascon later apologized for his outburst.

“I did not understand what they were yelling about until later, let alone that they were victims,” he said in a statement. “Regardless, it’s not how I should have reacted. Clearly, this family is in pain.”

FROM PAROLE TO 3-STAR COP

‘Thief to Chief’: How a teen gang member became a respected police officer

 

By Michael Kaplan

 

New York Post

December 19, 2020

 

It was 1974. Roaches crawled around the basement of a government-subsidized apartment building in Flushing, Queens, where six young men — members of a local gang called the Family — were “probably” high on weed. Six guns were laid out. Each person was expected to choose one and join the hunt to shoot rivals thought to have messed with a member’s cousin.

One of the teenage hoods, Kevin Lowry, was already on parole and on a path of drug dealing and petty crime — but he was about to get lucky. “Weather had driven the ­unsuspecting young men underground,” he writes of the gang’s prey, in his memoir “From Thief to Chief: A Self-Portrait of Juvenile Delinquency and Rehabilitation” (BookBaby), out Thursday. “We called it off [as the sun came up} . . . That’s when  I knew I had to get out.”

Dangerous acts dominated the life of then-17-year-old Lowry. But he recognized that murder was one step beyond the pale. “I was struggling with self-esteem and trying to be something I was not,” Lowry, now 63, told The Post. Still, the twice-arrested kid didn’t think his life would take the turn that it did, with him becoming a top uniformed cop in Nassau County, LI.