Thursday, January 08, 2015

JEFF ‘PACO’ DOYLE (MARCH 16, 1959 – JANUARY 7, 2015)

Paco, the founder of and guiding light behind PACOVILLA Corrections blog, suddenly passed away of a heart attack yesterday

The news that Jeff passed away came as a terrible shock to me. He gave me the opportunity to vent with my rants on PACOVILLA. His dad has been a friend for ages. We served together in the Riverside Sheriff’s Department.

Jeff’s brother Greg, the Gadfly, wrote a moving eulogy on PACOVILLA. Here it is:

PACO’S LAST RIDE (FAREWELL TO THE SILVER FOX)
By Greg 'Gadfly’ Doyle

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 7, 2015

Please forgive me. I have borrowed the title of author C.S. Lewis’ book on the death of his wife in order to announce the passing of my brother, Jeff Doyle (aka: Paco), from an apparent heart attack in his home on Wednesday evening. He leaves behind his lovely wife, Loni, two adult daughters, Lynnette Boughton and Jessica Ruley, and three grandchildren, Jesse Boughton, Paul Ruley, Elise Ruley, and an unborn grandson due in a few months. He is also survived by his parents, Gerald and Theresa Doyle of Perris, California, and me, his older brother, Greg.

Jeff was a uniquely gifted man who loved satire and helping the underdog. Suffice it to say, as we grew up most of Jeff’s friends were underdogs—people who were not popular, who needed help, who needed a good friend. And Jeff was a good friend to many. He spoke to me often of his role as a parole agent before his retirement. He helped many underdogs in the CDCR prison system on both sides of the bars. Members of the Sacramento Police Department, especially those who worked in Sacramento South, appreciated Jeff’s keen abilities as a parole agent. They dubbed him the Silver Fox because of his prematurely gray hair and his uncanny ability for finding absconders in the gang-infested areas of that part of town.

Jeff was my roommate until I left for the Army in 1975. Though we fought like cats and dogs as kids, we loved each other as brothers often do. Through thick and thin, Jeff was my companion as well as my beloved antagonist. And we were common allies against the bully who lived next door. Aside from having a father who was in law enforcement, perhaps Jeff and I entered law enforcement, in part, because that bully taught us to stand up for ourselves and others who were being picked on. I was never more surprised and proud of Jeff than the day he joined corrections.

In 1974, we shared a creative writing class in high school when I was a senior and Jeff a freshman. He once wrote a brilliant satirical story about a man who wrote a thank you letter to then President Nixon. In the story, due to government bureaucracy and blunder, the poor man was eventually accused of plotting to kill the president, arrested, and sent to federal prison. It was simply a brilliant piece! That our teacher hated it elevated Jeff’s stature as a satirist to new and dizzying heights.

Jeff loved his profession but hated the hypocrisy and the politics that came with working in the law enforcement profession, particularly asinine administrators and blathering bureaucrats within the corrections system. His involvement in the CCPOA union was in keeping with his love for the underdog. And this blog, Pacovilla, began as his satirical brainchild to expose the hypocrisy of the political powers that made working in corrections in California frustratingly and increasingly difficult. He turned leaders into lovable potatoes and lampooned governors, political hacks, and administrators with barbs of their own making. It was pure genius!

The shock of his death is more than I can express in these few words. Late in life, Jeff found God through faith in Jesus. I take comfort in that in spite of my insurmountable sorrow at his passing. He was preceded by my cousin Paul Waddell, whom Jeff beautifully eulogized in March of 2014, and wrote about concerning miracles in this blog. Now they are in the presence of God together and learning what the meaning of life is truly about in eternity. He was one of the most generous people I ever knew. And I love and miss him.

JUDGE LAURA JOHNSON HAD FOUR OPTIONS DURING A BAIL HEARING FOR TWO BLACK COP HATERS WHO THEREATENED TO KILL NY COPS

The judge chose to release Devon Coley and Travis Maye without bail, thereby putting the lives of NY cops at risk

On Monday, Devon Coley, 18, appeared for a bail hearing before Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson. Coley had been arrested for posting an online photo of a gunman shooting into an NYPD patrol car. Coley’s Facebook post came only hours after the assassination of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. In addition to the photo, the post included the phrase “73Nextt”, a clear threat to officers of the 73rd precinct. The prosecutor requested bail be set at $250,000.

On Tuesday, Travis Maye, 26, appeared for a bail hearing before Judge Johnson. Maye had been arrested after fighting with cops, punching one officer in the eye and injuring him to the extent that he had to be treated at a hospital. The cops resorted to pepper spray and Taser to subdue the black thug. Once he was handcuffed, Maye yelled “I Googled all of you. Find out where you live. I don’t know about dead cops or your families. I will meet you in a bodega and get you. You will die.” The prosecutor requested that bail be set at $100,000.

Bail cannot be used as punishment. But bail can be and should be used to protect the public when there is a credible threat to its safety, in this case proven threats by two black cop haters to kill NY police officers.

At the hearings to determine bail for Coley and Maye, Judge Johnson had four options:

The judge could have (1) ordered the two black scumbags held without bail, (2) she could have set the bail as requested by the prosecutors, (3) she could have set bail in any amount she desired, and (4) she could have released them without bail.

In both cases, Judge Johnson chose the fourth option, thereby putting the lives of NY cops at risk.

After she had set Coley free without bail, a court administrator admonished her not to do the same with Maye, telling her that she should be setting an example to the public that threatening or assaulting police officers isn’t an acceptable thing.

Ignoring the court administrator’s admonishment, Judge Johnson also set Maye free without bail. And right thereafter, Bill de Blasio, that sorry ass excuse for a mayor, rewards this sorry ass excuse for a judge by reappointing her to another term on the bench.

Judge Johnson by her rulings, and de Blasio by reappointing her, both slugged every NY cop below the belt. And at a news conference, de Blasio had the nerve to condemn those cops for disrespecting him.

SENATOR RAND PAUL WANTS U.S. AID TO PALESTINIANS STOPPED

“I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure this president and this Congress stop treating Israel's enemies as American allies”

Sen. Ramd Paul is incensed that the Palestinians are joining the International Criminal Court in order to have Israel and its government and military leaders prosecuted for war crimes. He wants to stop the $400 million in aid that the U.S. gives annually to the Palestinian Authority. I say, Right on, Senator Paul.

It should be noted that some of that U.S. aid goes to pay Palestinian terrorists and their families. The Palestinian Authority spends $54 million a year in payments to the families of suicide bombers and to Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons and their families.

As for the $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel, that aid requires Israel to buy much of its military hardware from American defense contractors. That in turn provides thousands of Americans well-paying jobs.

SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL TO CUT AID TO PALESTININANS

Associated Press
January 7, 2015

Republican Sen. Rand Paul introduced a bill on Wednesday that would immediately halt U.S. aid to the Palestinians until they halt their effort to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' recent turn to the international court at The Hague marked a major policy shift and transformed his relations with Israel from strained to openly hostile. Abbas has been under heavy domestic pressure to take stronger action against Israel after a 50-day war between the Jewish state and militants in Gaza over the summer, tensions over holy sites in Jerusalem and the failure of the last round of U.S.-led peace talks.

While Palestinian membership in the court doesn't automatically incur U.S. punishment, existing law says any Palestinian case against Israel at the court would trigger an immediate cutoff of U.S. financial support. The Kentucky senator's bill would ban assistance until the Palestinians stop their move to become a member of the court.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said late Tuesday that the state of Palestine will join the International Criminal Court on April 1. On Monday, the Obama administration said it was reviewing its annual $440 million aid package to the Palestinians because of the decision to join the ICC.

"We are currently sending roughly $400 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority," Paul said. "Certainly, groups that threaten Israel cannot be allies of the U.S. I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure this president and this Congress stop treating Israel's enemies as American allies."

Paul, a likely Republican presidential contender, generally favors a smaller American footprint in the world and in 2011 offered a budget plan that called for ending foreign aid to all nations, including Israel.

On a visit to Israel in 2013, Paul gave a speech calling for a gradual reduction of foreign aid — despite Israel's status as one of the top recipients of American assistance. The country gets about $3 billion a year in military aid from the U.S. He says even Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he welcomes a day when Israel is independent of American aid.

WHO LEFT THE THREE ROSES AND WHY?

The Unconventional Gazette
January 7, 2015

A sexually active middle aged woman informed her plastic surgeon that she wanted her vaginal lips reduced in size because, over the years they have become loose and floppy. Out of embarrassment, she insisted that the surgery be kept secret and, of course, the surgeon agreed.

Awakening from the anesthesia, she found 3 roses carefully placed beside her on the bed. Outraged, she immediately called in the surgeon.

"I thought I specifically asked you not to tell anyone about my operation!"

The surgeon told her he had carried out her wish for confidentiality and that the first rose was from him.

"I felt so sad for you, because you went through this all by yourself."

"The second rose is from my nurse. She assisted me in the surgery and understood perfectly, as she had the same procedure done some time ago."

"And what about the third rose?" she asked.

"That's from a man in the burn unit - he wanted to thank you for his new ears.”

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

DE BLASIO REWARDS JUDGE FOR FREEING TWO BLACK THUGS WHO THREATENED TO KILL COPS

Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson is reappointed to her position by Mayor Bill de Blasio right after she released without bail two black cop haters who threatened to kill NY cops

On Monday, Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson released black gang member Devon Coley, 18, without bail after he had been arrested for posting an online photo of a gunman shooting into an NYPD patrol car. Coley’s Facebook post came only hours after the assassination of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. In addition to the photo, the post included the phrase “73Nextt”, a clear threat to officers of the 73rd precinct. Judge Johnson disregarded the prosecutor’s request for $250,000 bail and cut the gangster loose without requiring any bail.

Judge Johnson followed that up on Tuesday by freeing Travis Maye, 26, without bail. Maye had been arrested after fighting with cops, punching one officer in the eye and injuring him to the extent that he had to be treated at a hospital. The cops resorted to pepper spray and Taser to subdue the black thug. Once he was handcuffed, Mayes yelled “I Googled all of you. Find out where you live. I don’t know about dead cops or your families. I will meet you in a bodega and get you. You will die.”

Apparently, after releasing Coley, Judge Johnson was admonished by a court administrator. According to the New York Post, she “blatantly disregarded an Office of Court Administration boss who said she ‘should be setting an example to the public that threatening or assaulting police officers isn’t an acceptable thing,’ a courthouse source said. The court administrator told her she exercised poor judgment, and that she had a case on later that night, and that she should exercise better judgment in that case. ‘It was a stern conversation,’ the source added. ‘And she totally ignored it.’”

Judge Johnson not only ignored the court administrator’s admonishment, but she also refused the prosecutor’s request to set Maye’s bail at $100,000. According to the Post, she told the court that “the incident ‘appears to have been an extraordinarily emotion-laden and hectic situation,’ adding that it would be ‘wrong’ to impose bail ‘because of the current climate.’ I would have unquestionably released Mr. Maye a week ago without even thinking about it.”

Judge Johnson had been appointed to her post by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Her term expired Wednesday. By releasing the two black cop haters without bail, she slugged every NY cop below the belt. And what was Mayor de Blasio’s reaction to the judge’s outrageous rulings. De Blasio rewarded Judge Johnson by reappointing this worthless piece of shit to another term on the bench.

This is just one more example of why New York cops hate their mayor. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton wants his cops to treat his boss de Blasio with respect. Come on Bill, you’ve got to be kidding.

DARING PLAN TO KEEP COPS FROM KILLING BLACKS

Abdul al Shabazz Washington, a UC Berkeley graduate in African-American studies, gets thumbs up for his two-pronged plan after meeting with President Obama and Attorney General Holder

By Adolf der Schweinehund

The Unconventional Gazette
January 6, 2015

Abdul al Shabazz Washington, 27, a UC Berkeley graduate in African-American studies, is a young man with a plan to keep cops from killing black men. After a White House meeting Monday with President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Al Sharpton, Washington called a news conference Tuesday in front of the Oakland, California police headquarters to reveal his two-pronged plan to keep cops from killing black men.

The first prong of Washington’s plan requires a different approach to firearms training for all law enforcement officers. It calls for the elimination of all center-mass targets. Instead, new targets will only depict an arm and hand holding a weapon. Trainees will be instructed to shoot at and hit the weapon or the hand holding it.

Under Washington’s plan, officers will be prohibited from aiming at the center-mass of any gunman they are confronting on the street. “If John Wayne and Clint Eastwood can shoot a weapon out of an adversary’s hand,” said Washington, “then so should a well-trained police officer.”

The other prong in Washington’s plan would alter the way in which the criminal justice systems now works in police shootings. Grand juries will no longer hear police shooting cases. Instead, any cop who shoots a citizen, whether armed or not, will be charge and tried for using excessive force. It will be up to a cop to prove to a jury of his peers that the shooting was justified.

“I guarantee you,” said Washington, “my plan will all but eliminate the killing of black men by police officers of any color. I hereby call on the Oakland Police Department and all law enforcement agencies in the United States to take immediate steps in order to put my plan into effect.”

The UG contacted Josh Earnest, President Obama’s press secretary. Earnest confirmed that Washington did indeed have a meeting Monday in the East Room of the White House with the president, along with Holder, Johnson and Sharpton. Earnest said:

“As you know, the president has been deeply troubled by the extraordinary number of black men getting killed by the police and especially since almost all of those black men were shot by white cops.

The president was shown Mr. Washington’s plan while he was vacationing in Hawaii. He was so impressed with this young man’s plan that he made it his first order of business upon returning from his vacation to meet with Abdul in the White House. The president instructed the Attorney General and the Homeland Security Secretary to be present, and he invited his trusted adviser, the Reverend Al Sharpton, to attend the meeting.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the President instructed General Holder to order all federal law enforcement agencies to put the new firearms training into effect. He instructed Secretary Johnson to contact all state and local law enforcement agencies to request they do the same.

The president admits that Washington’s plan is revolutionary but he agrees with this brilliant young man that the plan will reduce, if not eliminate, the killing of black men by the police. And the president also believes that by taking the grand juries out of the process, the black community will come to feel that blacks will finally achieve some measure of equal justice.”


The UG contacted Sharpton to get his thoughts on Washington’s plan:

“This young man has come up with a plan that should actually work. Why didn’t I think of it? Why this is even better than body cameras. All I will say at this time is that I am for any plan that will keep white killer cops from shooting down black men in the streets like dogs.”

The UG contacted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and he said:

“This is a brilliant plan. I am going to call Bill Bratton within the hour and instruct him to put Mr. Washington’s firearms training into effect ASAP. Come to think of it, if this plan had been in effect all along, I would never have had to literally train my dear son Dante to beware of white cops.”

Finally the UG contacted Sean Whent, Oakland’s chief of police:

“I am about as liberal and progressive as any police administrator in the country. All I can say is, this is crazy!”

COPS KILL YET ANOTHER YAHOO WITH FAKE GUN

The shooting turned out to be a successful case of suicide by cop

By Bob Walsh

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 5, 2015

The San Francisco PD shot a man to death on Sunday who was armed with what turned out to be a fake gun.

The shooting happened just outside the Mission District Station on Valencia St. The man was spotted by officers inside a restricted parking area, which is not uncommon as the gate is typically not closed. They told him to move along and went out to their vehicles. The man, however, did not leave the lot.

The cops went back and told him he needed to move along. At that time he went for a gun in his waistband. Two Police Sergeants opened fire, hitting the man a total of three times. He died that evening at San Francisco General Hospital.

The dead guy, Matthew Hoffman, 32, left a suicide note. He apologized for using the cops to do something he was unwilling to do himself.

BETTER THAN A FLU SHOT

The Unconventional Gazette
January 7, 2015

Miss Beatrice, the church organist, was in her eighties and had never been married. She was admired for her sweetness and kindness to all.

One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea...

As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a cut glass bowl sitting on top of it. The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated.. of all things, a condom!

When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist.

'Miss Beatrice', he said, 'I wonder if you would tell me about this?’ pointing to the bowl.

'Oh, yes,' she replied, 'Isn't it wonderful? I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground. The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that it would prevent the spread of disease. Do you know I haven't had the flu all winter.’

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

DE BLASIO BLASTS NY COPS FOR TURNING THEIR BACKS TO HIM

The mayor accused the cops of being disrespectful of the slain officers’ families, thereby disregarding the fact that he earned the disrespect of officers all over the U.S.

New York’s Sandinista-loving mayor is thoroughly pissed off because thousands of cops disrespected him by turning their backs to the giant TV screen as he was giving a eulogy during the funerals of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

At a press conference Monday, de Blasio lashed out at the cops:

"They were disrespectful to the families involved. I can't understand why anyone would do such a thing in the context like that, and I think it defies a lot of what we all feel is the right and decent thing to do. I also think they were disrespectful to the people of this city, who in fact honor the work of the NYPD."

What a crock of supreme shit! The cops were in no way disrespecting the families of the slain officers nor the people of New York. What de Blasio fails to understand, or refuses to acknowledge, is that he earned the disrespect of officers all over the country because of the public anti-police remarks he made after a grand jury absolved the cops involved in the fateful arrest of Eric Garner.

As expected, de Blasio’s lapdog police commissioner piped in to support his boss. Commissioner Bill Bratton said his cops “embarrassed themselves.” Another crock of supreme shit! Actually, they embarrassed Bratton by ignoring his plea not to turn their backs to de Blasio.

ATTACKS AGAINST COPS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED AS HATE CRIMES

The Fraternal Order of Police wants attacks against cops which are motivated by an anti-police bias to be prosecuted as hate crimes

Angry over the assassination of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu and alarmed over the death threats being made against cops, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation’s largest police union with more than 300,000 members, urged President Obama and Congressional leaders on Monday to expand the Congressional Hate Crimes Statute to include attacks against cops when those attacks are motivated by an anti-police bias.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the national FOP says:

“Right now, it’s a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their skin, but it ought to be a hate crime if you attack someone solely because of the color of their uniform as well.”

And Chuck Canterbury, president of the national FOP says:

“Enough is enough! It’s time for Congress to do something to protect the men and women who protect us.”

The union expressed the belief that most ambush attacks against cops stem from hatred for the police. Yahoo News reports that “according to FBI statistics, about 21.7 percent of non-accidental law enforcement deaths since 2004 were ambush attacks.”

21.7 percent is a significant number and it does not take into account the number of hate-motivated attacks in which the cops were not killed. Those attacks warrant expanding the hate crimes statute to include attacks against cops when those attacks are motivated by an anti-police bias.

Look for Republicans to support such a measure if it gets introduced in the Congress and look for some Democrats to oppose it.

‘PEACEFUL’ PROTESTERS SHOUT DOWN OREGON SENATOR’S TOWN HALL MEETING

Shouting 'Hands up, don't shoot' and 'I can't breathe,' more than 100 mostly black protesters disrupted Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s town hall meeting and forced it to shut down

The ‘peaceful’ protesters forced their way into a town hall meeting at Portland Community College's Southeast Campus by threatening to break a campus cop’s jaw. The meeting had been planned by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden to discuss issues with constituents and to award a 100-year-old WWII navy veteran some medals. Following 'Hands up, don't shoot' and 'I can't breathe’ shouts, Wyden was able to present the medals.

However, the shouting continued and one protester announced “we are going to take time to pay respect to everybody who has been killed by police in this nation,” and another insisted the meeting “belongs to the black people.” Wyden then shut down the meeting. But afterwards the far-left senator made a statement that seemed to excuse the lawlessness of the protesters, saying they were exercising their First Amendment rights.

‘SHOW A LITTLE RESPECT’: 100-YEAR-OLD NAVY VETERAN WINS A LEGION OF FANS AFTER HE TAKES ON ANTI-COP PROTESTERS AT MEDAL CEREMONY
Black protesters shouted down Navy veteran Dario Raschio in his moment of honor and those who came to discuss issues with Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden applauded when Raschio scolded them to 'show a little respect'

By David Martosko

Mail Online
January 5, 2015

A senator's town hall meeting in Portland, Oregon was called off early on Saturday after anti-police and minimum-wage-hike protesters shouted down a 100-year-old U.S. Navy veteran's medal ceremony,

Shouting 'Hands up, don't shoot' and 'I can't breathe,' more than 100 mostly African-American activists jousted verbally with hecklers from the audience who were assembled for a dialog with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden – and to honor Dario Raschio.

When the ensuing chaos reached a fever pitch, the centenarian Raschio took the microphone to scold the protesters.

'Give me a chance,' the soft-spoken vet said. 'Let's show a little respect for this occasion.'

'God bless America. And you people who are here for a cause, whatever it might be – show respect to Senator Wyden,' he urged, bringing an eruption of applause from the audience.

But the boisterous chants grew so loud – including shouts for a $15 minimum wage and the end of U.S. military intervention in the Middle East – that the meeting was disbanded 45 minutes after it was scheduled to begin.

Raschio's medal presentation was the only part of the day's agenda that actually happened.

The senator awarded him the U.S. Naval Aviator Badge, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the "Ruptured Duck" award and the U.S. Navy Honorable discharge pin.

He also received a flag that was flown over the U.S Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Wyden never got a chance to conduct his planned question-and-answer session with the public.

But the liberal stalwart seemed unperturbed, telling The Oregonian that 'the symbolism of having a veteran, 100 years old, who fought so gallantly so that those who disagree with government policies and want to exercise their First Amendment rights could be heard – that's what made today so poignant.'

Wyden is a far-left politician who has leveraged organized protesters in the past to help him pass legislation.

Campus public safety officers attempted to keep some of the protesters outside the building at Portland Community College, drawing threats from one of them.

'I'll bust your jaw, old man!' he shouted in an exchange caught on video.

Another argued with an officer who asked if there was 'a possible way that we could get on with the meeting.'

'No,' she said. 'We're taking over the town hall. This is our town hall now. ... it belongs to the black people.'

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN REVERSE

U.S. citizen was captured in Mexico after shooting rampages north and south of the border resulting in the death of a heroic Mexican cop who died shielding children from gunfire

Whenever we read or hear anything about illegal immigration, Mexicans immediately come to mind. But what about U.S. citizens who go to Mexico in order to escape the clutches of John Law? Most criminals fleeing to Mexico where in the U.S. illegally to begin with, but there are a substantial number of U.S. citizens that flee to Mexico after committing a serious crime in this country, usually murder.

Ignacio Ruiz, 37, is such a man. He was born in San Jose, California and that makes him a citizen of the U.S. Iggy is not a very nice man. He is on parole for the attempted capital murder of a cop. He has told family and friends, “I am not going back to prison. I will shoot it out.”

On New Year’s day, Iggy shot and killed Joshua Vidales and wounded another person in a residence in Atascosa, Texas, a town about 20 miles southwest of San Antonio. Iggy fled with Janel Cerda to El Paso in his Mazda. Janel who was present during the killing of her cousin Joshua is thought to have been Iggy’s girlfriend. They crossed the border into Piedras Negras where they ended up in a taxicab. The cab driver was ordered to stay away from any area with police. When the cab came upon some cops, Iggy got really pissed off. The cabbie abandoned the cab and tried to get away. Ruiz shot him fur times and he later died.

Then Iggy took off in the cab followed by the police in a high-speed chase. When they forced him off the road, he shot it out with the police, mortally wounding Piedras Negras officer Antonio Sorina de Luna, 24, and wounding two women bystanders before he gave up.

Shoot it out he did, but whatever happened to “I am not going back to prison"?

Janel was also taken into custody. Iggy told the cops that he had forced Janel to accompany him because she witnessed him killing her cousin.

The slain officer was described as a special hero because he died while trying to shield two children from Ruiz’s gunfire.

Now the Mexicans can complain about illegal immigrants from the U.S. committing crimes in their country.

DISRUPTIVE JERKS WANT CHARGES DROPPED (DUH!)

Busted demonstrators accuse cops of discriminating against them for being black

By Bob Walsh

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 4, 2015

‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters are now petitioning the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board of directors to drop the charges against the 14 “activists” (disruptive assholes) who blocked service at the West Oakland BART station the day after Thanksgiving, disrupting the lives of thousand of people.

The disruptive assholes have been charged with misdemeanor trespassing on a railroad. If found guilty they could collectively be on the business end of a $70,000 restitution claim. The spokes asshole for the disruptive assholes claims it is racial discrimination as the group of “peaceful demonstrators” was all black.

So far the BART board is showing some spine and refusing to back down. So far.

Monday, January 05, 2015

NY COPS IGNORE BRATTON’S PLEA TO RESPECT DE BLASIO

Just as they did during the funeral for Rafael Ramos, thousands of cops turned their backs to Mayor de Blasio during Wenjian Liu’s funeral, despite an impassionate plea from Police Commissioner Bratton to respect the mayor

On December 27 and estimated 25,000 cops, many from out of state, attended the funeral of assassinated NY police officer Rafael Ramos. Thousands of cops lined the street outside the church where the funeral was being held and watched the proceedings on a giant TV screen. When Mayor de Blasio appeared, almost all of them turned their backs to protest anti-police remarks made by the mayor in the wake of Eric Garner’s death.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was infuriated at that display of disrespect for the mayor and made an impassionate plea to all NY cops not to give a repeat performance at the upcoming funeral of Officer Wenjian Liu.

Inside the funeral home where the services for Liu were being conducted Sunday morning, the NYPD brass treated Mayor de Blasio with the utmost respect. But that was not the case with rank-and-file cops. Again, thousands of cops lined the street who could not get inside the funeral home. As with the Ramos funeral, they watched the proceeding on a giant TV screen. And when de Blassio appeared on the screen, thousands of cops - including those from out of the state - defied Bratton’s plea by turning their backs to the mayor.

I’m with the rank-and-file cops. When de Blasio tells everyone that he warned his black teenage son to fear white cops, he more than earned that disrespect. The cops who turned their backs were just being honest about their feelings, which is more than I can say for the ass-kissing brass.

NEWT GINGRICH SOUNDS OFF ON THE DIVIDE BETWEEN COPS AND BLACKS

Gingrich says that despite us having the first black president and first black attorney general, whites and blacks are further apart than before Obama and Holder took office

Newt Gingrich, a frequent guest on TV news shows, appeared on Sunday’s CBS Face the Nation. After host Bob Schieffer had finished interviewing Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) on the divide between the police and the black community, he brought on Gingrich.

From the Face the Nation transcript:

SCHIEFFER: Next up, former speaker of the House and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. He is also a CNN contributor.

I just want to get the Republican take on what we have been hearing and what we have been talking about this morning.

GINGRICH: Well, look, first of all, I think we do need criminal justice reform. We have seen people like Rick Perry in Texas and Nathan Deal, the governor of Georgia, do it.

The system doesn't work right. We have people locked up who shouldn't be. We tear apart communities that need young men to be able to go back home. So, I think we need serious hearings at the federal level. Second, there has to be some recognition -- and this will probably get me in trouble -- young people should be told, when a policeman tells you to stop, stop.

There's a dual requirement here. You have to first African- American president. You have an African-American attorney general. And six years into their effort, we're in some ways further apart, not closer together. That's a tragic failure of leadership at the very top.

You have -- the community has to respect the police. And the police have to respect the community. And both have failed.

SCHIEFFER: Well, are you somehow saying that this is the fault of Barack Obama?

GINGRICH: I'm saying that the president spends a lot of his time using language which is divisive, automatically jumps to conclusions about things he doesn't know. I'm saying the attorney general clearly has given speeches that are divisive. And I'm just suggesting to you this is a tragic lost opportunity. You would think that six years into the first African- American president, there would be a sense in the community of us coming closer together. That hasn't happened.

And let me just remind you, the two people who have done the most to save African-American lives in New York City were Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg. Their policing techniques, led by Chief Bratton, who invented them, actually have saved thousands of lives by focusing on crime in a very intelligent way.

And, candidly, if Chicago were being as aggressive about it as New York, you would be saving hundreds of African-American lives a year in Chicago.

AMERICA’S BLACK BLACKMAILER

Al Sharpton reportedly shook down some of America’s leading corporations to buy the racial rabble rouser’s silence on accusations of racism

The New York Post alleges that racial rabble rouser Al Sharpton has received loads of cash for himself and his National Action Network from American corporations to buy his silence on accusations of racism and to buy his support for some of their planned projects. If true, then Al Sharpton is king in the ‘Art of the Shakedown.’

Sharpton has been following in the footsteps of Jesse Jackson, that other race hustler who was adept at blackmailing corporations in order to keep him from urging blacks to boycott their businesses. Instead of threatening them with a boycott, Sharpton threatens to accuse corporations of racism.

Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal & Policy Center, a Virginia-based watchdog group that has produced a book on Sharpton, is quoted as saying:

“Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with him. Put simply, Sharpton specializes in shakedowns.”

The Post claims that:

“For more than a decade, corporations have shelled out thousands of dollars in donations and consulting fees to Sharpton’s National Action Network. What they get in return is the reverend’s supposed sway in the black community or, more often, his silence.”

And a source who has worked with Sharpton told the Post that:

“Once Sharpton’s on board, he plays the race card all the way through. He just keeps asking for more and more money.”

Sharpton and his National Action Network have been enriched by sizable donations from some of America’s leading corporations, including AT&T, McDonald’s, Verizon, Walmart, Macy’s, General Motors, American Honda and Chrysler.

Now you do not have to be at the top of your university graduating class to figure out those donations do not pass the smell test. Surely, those corporations did not fork over all that cash out of love for the racial rabble rouser.

And Sharpton is the guy President Obama turns to as his go-to-guy on matters of race. Furthermore, Sharpton is a close adviser to Sandinista-loving NY Mayor Bill de Blasio, who ran for office on an anti-police platform and who warned his son to fear white cops.

I say shame on all those corporations for caving in to the demands of that “Race Pimp” and “Disgusting Pig”, as actor James Woods calls Sharpton. And what is even sadder is that the President of the United States opens his arms to Sharpton for advice.

Sunday, January 04, 2015

ISRAEL WILL RETALIATE IF PALESTINIANS JOIN THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

If the Palestinians join the International Criminal Court, Israel will withhold tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority and prosecute its leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, for war crimes

After losing a motion last week in the U.N. Security Council to set a 2017 deadline for a Palestinian state to be established in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted documents to the U.N. for membership in the International Criminal Court, which will allow the Palestinians to file War Crimes charges against Israeli government and military leaders.

ISRAEL WITHHOLDS FUNDS, WEIGHS LAWSUITS AGAINST PALESTINIANS

Thomson/Reuters
January 3, 2015

Israel will withhold critical tax revenue and seek ways to bring war crimes prosecutions against Palestinian leaders in retaliation for Palestinian moves to join the International Criminal Court, Israeli officials said on Saturday.

On Friday, the Palestinians delivered documents to U.N. headquarters in New York on joining the Rome Statute of the ICC in The Hague and other global treaties with the aim of prosecuting Israelis for what they consider war crimes committed on their territory.

In a first punitive response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided in consultation with senior ministers on Thursday to withhold the next monthly transfer of tax revenue, totaling some 500 million shekels ($125 million), an Israeli official said on Saturday.

The ICC was set up to try war crimes and crimes against humanity such as genocide. Israel and the United States object to unilateral approaches by the Palestinians to world bodies, saying they undermine prospects for negotiating a peaceful settlement of the decades-old Middle East conflict.

The tax revenues are critical to running the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule, and paying public sector salaries. Israel took a similar step in December 2012, freezing revenue transfers for three months in anger at the Palestinians' launch of a campaign for recognition of statehood at the United Nations.

"This is highway robbery. Not only is this illegal, they are adding money theft to land theft. The revenues belong to the Palestinian people, they go to pay salaries and support our economy. Israel has no business deciding to steal our funds," senior Palestinian negotiator Hanan Ashrawi told Reuters.

Under interim peace deals from the 1990s, Israel collects at least $100 million a month in duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

‘Large-scale prosecution’

In addition to the revenue freeze, an Israeli official said Israel was "weighing the possibilities for large-scale prosecution in the United States and elsewhere" of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials.

Israel would probably press these cases via non-governmental groups and pro-Israel legal organizations capable of filing lawsuits abroad, a second Israeli official said.

Israel sees the heads of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank as collaborators with the Islamist militant group Hamas, which dominates Gaza, because of a unity deal they forged in April, the officials said.

Netanyahu had previously warned that unilateral moves by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations would expose its leaders to prosecution over support for Hamas, viewed by Israel and much of the West as a terrorist organization.

Hamas "commits war crimes, shooting at civilians from civilian-populated areas," one official said, referring to the war in Gaza last summer in which more than 2,100 Palestinians and more than 70 Israelis died.

Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Momentum to recognize a Palestinian state has been building since Abbas succeeded in a bid for de facto recognition at the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, which made Palestinians eligible to join the ICC.

Abbas opted to join the ICC after losing a motion last week in the U.N. Security Council to set a 2017 deadline for a Palestinian state to be established in land occupied by Israel.

The United States, Israel's main ally, supports an eventual independent Palestinian state, but has argued against unilateral moves like Friday's, saying they could damage the peace process.

Washington sends about $400 million in economic support to the Palestinians every year. Under U.S. law, that aid would be cut off if the Palestinians used membership in the ICC to press claims against Israel.

SMALL HOUSE BUILDERS FROM THE BIG HOUSE

Texas convicts build Habitat for Humanity homes under the watchful eyes of correctional officers

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) is a Christian rehabilitation program run by Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries. It is designed to help prison inmates who are within 24 to 18 months of their scheduled release. The program was introduced to the Texas prison system at the Carol Vance Unit in Richmond, a small town near Houston. In 1998, InnerChange teamed up with Habitat for Humanity, the charity that builds small homes for the poor.

InnerChange consists of a two-phase prison program. According to IFI:

Phases one and two occur during the prisoner's incarceration; phase one concerns what the program refers to as the inmate's "personal values and thought processes and encourages the development of spiritual and moral filters." The second phase "tests the inmate's value system in real-life settings and prepares him/her for life after prison. Inmates may spend much of the day in off-site prison work programs or involved in the reentry portion of the IFI curriculum."

After release, the prisoner participates in IFI programming for an additional 12 months, with volunteer mentors providing mentoring and support.


According to Wikipedia:

The 15-hour days of the participants are dominated by Christian beliefs. Many Bible study sessions are held. The program considers drug addiction to be a sin instead of a disease. The program tells prisoners that homosexuality, masturbation, and premarital sexual intercourse are sins. In order to graduate from IFI, one has to be employed for six months after he is released, as well as meet with a trained local mentor, and attend a pro-social group.

Some of the IFI participants are released from the Vance Unit to construct Habitat for Humanity houses. They work five hours a day, five days per week and obtain on-site skills training as they work under the watchful eyes of correctional officers. Since 1998, Vance inmates have worked on more than 600 houses. According to IFI, at least 15 of those workers have found paying jobs with Habitat after their release from prison.

The Houston Chronicle reports that “inmates from all over the state apply for admission to the Vance-based program. At present, about 320 prisoners participate in InnerChange, and applications number in the thousands.”

InnerChange executive director Tommie Dorsett claims that about 9.5 percent of IFI graduates are returned to prison. The Texas prison system claims that only 23 percent of its inmates are returned to prison within three years of their release. That claimed recidivism rate is highly suspect since in most states the rate hovers around 40-50 percent.

Whether the recidivism rate for IFI graduates is as low as claimed by Dorsett or double that, it looks like a very good program. But I’m sure liberals do not like IFI because it teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

ADVICE TO THE FIRST-TIME GUN BUYER

Get a small or medium frame .38 Special revolver

By Bob Walsh

I am a gun person. I am a well-trained, knowledgeable and experienced gun person.

For starters, there is almost nothing so useless and even dangerous as a firearm, especially a handgun, in the possession of an inexperienced, untrained individual. If you are not willing to get training from someone who knows what they are doing, and are not willing to spend a little time and money in the process, you are much better off without one.

When someone asks me about what sort of gun they should buy and carry I almost always recommend a small or medium frame .38 Special revolver.

A lot of my reasoning is because the revolver, as opposed to the semi-auto, is operationally simple. They are fewer things to do wrong. There is only one way to load it. If you pull the trigger it will almost certainly fire. If it doesn’t pulling the trigger again will almost certainly fix it.

I have seen people load ammunition backwards into semi-auto magazines. I have seen people jam magazines backwards into weapons so hard they had to be pounded out of the gun with a hammer.

The .38 Special has adequate power for self-defense, especially with a proper bullet and loading. It is almost certainly capable of more accuracy than the person using it is. Ammunition is easy to get and relatively cheap (though not nearly as cheap as it used to be). The guns are available new and used in good shape in a variety of sizes and, with the proper grips, will fit almost anybody well. They can be had small enough to conceal well.

.38 Special revolvers are a decent all-around choice for the newbie.

RETIREE MENTAL ACUITY TEST

The Unconventional Gazette
January 3, 2015

To you who may be looking forward to Retirement...!!!

This test is to ascertain your mental state now. If you get one right you are doing ok, if you get none right you better go for counseling. (I'll meet you there.)

There are 4 questions. Don't miss one.

Giraffe Test

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Stop and think about it and decide on your answer before you scroll down.

Elephant Test

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Lion Test

3. The Lion King is hosting an Animal Conference. All the animals attend ...except one. Which animal does not attend?

Crocodile Test

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

(Answers at end.)

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the Retirees they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively proves the theory that most Retirees do not have the brains of a four-year-old.

1. The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. Correct Answer : The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.

4. Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Haven’t you been lis-ten-ing? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Conference. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

Saturday, January 03, 2015

POT BLACK MARKET FLOURISHES IN COLORADO AND WASHINGTON

It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that pot heads would prefer to buy weed that is not taxed

In Colorado, licensed marijuana shops are whining that they cannot compete with the black market in pot. Hundreds of medical marijuana shops, many of them unlicensed, have popped up since recreational pot was legalized in the state. The tax on medical pot is considerably less than on recreational pot. And illegal sidewalk sales of pot are also flourishing. The State of Washington is experiencing similar problems. It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that pot heads would prefer to buy weed that is not taxed.

According to the Tax Foundation:

Colorado collects tax revenue from marijuana sales through a 15 percent excise based tax on the average wholesale market rate; a 10 percent state tax on retail marijuana sales; a state sales tax of 2.9 percent; varied local sales taxes; and local marijuana taxes such as a 3.5 percent tax in Denver. In Denver for example, a $30 eighth of pot (1/8 oz.) will have about $8.59 in taxes tacked onto it, or about a 29 percent overall tax rate. (By comparison, the equivalent tax on cigarettes is about 31 percent and on beer only about 8 percent.)

Washington State collects tax revenue from marijuana sales through a 25 percent tax on producer sales to processors; a 25 percent tax on processor sales to retailers; a 25 percent tax on retailer sales to customers; a state Business & Occupation (B&O) gross receipts tax; a state sales tax of 6.5 percent; and varied local sales taxes. The total effective tax rate to be about 44 percent. By comparison, Washington taxes cigarettes at about 104 percent and beer at about 11 percent (recently cut from 16 percent).


According to the Associated Press, “The drug is bringing in tax money, but in the mix of multibillion budgets, the drug is a small boost, not a tsunami of cash.” And Joseph Henchman, an analyst who has studied marijuana tax collections for the Tax Foundation, says, “If they’re looking at pot as something that might swoop in and save them, they need to keep looking.”

Not only are the millions of dollars in taxes that Colorado and Washington have collected on marijuana sales a mere drop in the bucket for multibillion dollar budgets, but the legalization of pot has had its downsides too.

Instead of eliminating the illegal street sales of pot, the taxes on legal marijuana have actually boosted street corner sales.

Legalization has led to a noticeable increase in the use of pot, both by adults and by children.

According to the Daily Mail, “School districts in both Colorado and Washington have reported more kids showing up at school with weed. There have also been more kids treated in emergency rooms for marijuana ingestion.” And states that legalize pot need a plan in place for how officers determine whether drivers are impaired by marijuana. After legalization, simply sniffing pot in a car or seeing a joint on the seat isn't enough to haul someone to jail.

So, the legalization of marijuana is far from the nirvana the proponent of pot keep promising us.

NO MEANS NO

After the end pf the Rose Bowl game, Oregon football players taunted Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who has been accused of rape, by chanting ‘No Means No’

In 2012 a woman accused Jameis Winston, Florida State’s star quarterback, of raping her. Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner, was never criminally charged because the state’s attorney claimed there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. And Winston was recently cleared of violating the university’s student code of conduct.

Winston is not only a star football player, but he is also a multimillion dollar commodity to the university and to the business community in Tallahassee. I suspect the state’s attorney worked just as hard, if not harder, to find a way out of having to prosecute Winston as he did to prosecute the alleged rapist. And the same holds true for the university administration’s investigation of the student conduct violation.

In Thursday’s Rose Bowl game, The University of Oregon thoroughly thumped Florida State University by a lopsided score of 59-20, thereby winning the right to play Ohio State University for the college football championship.

At the end of the game a number of Oregon players celebrated by taunting Winston with chants of “No Means No’ to the tune of the ‘Warchant’ used by Florida State fans. That infuriated Winston’s supporters. In response to the outrage, Oregon’s coach released this statement Thursday night:

"We are aware of the inappropriate behavior in the postgame. This is not what our program stands for, and the student-athletes will be disciplined internally."

Now let me think about a proper discipline for the ‘No Means No’ chanting players. Hmm ….. hmm. Eureka! I’ve got it. Coach, make them take one extra lap sprinting around the practice field.

‘LOOK AWAY. LOOK AWAY. LOOK AWAY.’ A NO NO!

The Idaho Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of a black man in a sexual abuse case because the prosecutor quoted lyrics from ‘Dixie’, thereby playing to the racial biases jurors may have held

In April 2013, James D. Kirk, then 45, a black man, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of two white girls. Kirk was found guilty of lewd conduct against a 17-year-old girl and sexual battery of a 13-year-old girl.

In rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments that the state had no physical evidence to back up the stories of the two victims, Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Erica Kallin quoted lyrics from ‘Dixie’, the anthem of the Confederacy:

“I always think of this one song. Some people know it. It's the Dixie song. Right? 'Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton. Good times not forgotten. Look away. Look away. Look away. And isn't that really what you've kind of been asked to do? Look away from the two eyewitnesses. Look away from the two victims. Look away from the nurse and her medical opinion. Look away. Look away. Look away.”

On December 19, a three-judge panel of the Idaho Court of Appeals overturned Kirk's conviction, ruling unanimously that quoting from Dixie had inadvertently introduced ‘pernicious racism’ into the trial:

“This prosecutor may not have intended to appeal to racial bias, but a prosecutor's mental state, however innocent, does not determine the message received by the jurors or their individual responses to it.

An invocation of race by a prosecutor, even if subtle and oblique, may be violative of due process or equal protection.

Nothing in the record suggests that the jurors harbored any racial prejudice or that they were actually influenced by the prosecutor's recitation of 'Dixie,' but the risk of prejudice to a defendant is magnified where the case is as sensitive as this one, involving alleged sexual molestation of minors.”

In my opinion, the three judges took leave of their senses. Nothing in that song suggests any racism. Furthermore, unlike the Confederate flag, which is recognized as a symbol of racism, I’ll bet that most of the jurors, if not all of them, don’t even know that ‘Dixie’ was the anthem of the Confederacy. And that ain’t whistling Dixie.

FARRAKHAN CALLED FOR VIOLENT RETALIATION AGAINST COPS

The Nation of Islam leader called for violent retaliation against cops 28 days before NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were assassinated

It appears that Louis Farrakhan now hates cops as much as he hates Jews. And guess who Farrakhan got to visit on January 28, 2010 – it was President Obama in the East Room of the White House.

FARRAKHAN CITED ‘LAW OF RETALIATION’ MONTH BEFORE NY COPS SLAIN
By John Blosser

Newsmax
January 2, 2015

Just 28 days before two New York police officers were brutally gunned down in retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan called for violent retaliation against white police.

"As long as they (white police) kill us and go to Wendy’s and have a burger and go to sleep, they’ll keep killing us," Farrakhan ranted, "but when we die and they die, then soon we’re going to sit at a table and talk about it," The Daily Caller reported Farrakhan told 2,000 cheering audience members at a Baltimore college on Nov. 22.

"We’re tired! We want some of this earth or we’ll tear this goddamn country up!"

On Dec. 20, self-described Muslim Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley murdered NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in their patrol car and later killed himself, The New York Times reports.

Farrakhan was speaking at taxpayer-funded Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, and cited a "law of retaliation" in both the Bible and the Muslim Koran.

He called white people "crackers" and said in his two-hour speech that "they (whites) know an explosion is going to come. You leaders are the worst. Tonight in Ferguson everyone is on edge. White folks ain’t never been on edge after they’ve killed a black man. Tonight they’re on edge — so on edge that our president has come out from behind the curtain to ask black young people, 'cool it,' " the Nation of Islam newspaper, the Final Call, reported.

"But the young, they're God's children, and they're not going down being peaceful. Listen, listen, watch now, because once it starts, it's on. You may not want to fight, but you better get ready. Teach your babies how to throw the bottle if they can't fight. We're going to die anyway — lets die for something," Farrrakhan said.

"His mere presence at Morgan State University serves to confer legitimacy upon a person whose views should make him a pariah," Jay Bernstein, host of a Jewish radio show, Shalom USA, told the Baltimore Sun.

The Daily Caller notes that 40 students from the Booker T. Washington Middle School, between 11-15 years old, were taken to hear Farrakhan's speech, as well as a speech by Pam Africa, one-time Black Panther defense minister and founder of a group fighting to free convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Marshall Eddie Conway, former defense minister of the Baltimore Black Panther Party.

The Student Government Association of MSU sponsored Farrakhan's speech at a conference on reparations for slavery.

Friday, January 02, 2015

A PIPE TO HIT A THING FOR CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

A pipe and a ‘thing’ to hit it with is the latest ‘tool’ for California correctional officers

On Thursday’s PACOVILLA Correctional blog, Dr. Richard Krupp, a former executive with the California corrections department, identified four persons to watch in the coming year. One was Jeff Beard, who was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to head California's prison system. Dr. Krupp quoted Beard as saying:

“The one big thing that we did is we installed what’s called a Guard One system in all of our segregation units, and this is a system where the officer has a (tool), like a pipe, that they walk around and they hit a thing on each door. And so it actually ensures that somebody is making regular rounds in the housing unit.”

To that retired correctional officer Dave Freeman says:

“Banging doors with a pipe every half hour does not insure that the officer actually looks inside each cell and takes the time to view ‘live, breathing flesh.’ It merely means the officer walked the unit knocking on doors and, most assuredly pissing off everyone housed therein. This is a training and supervision issue which does not really require this sort of advanced technology.

So now there are at least two new issues for prisoner rights groups to pursue this year. Officers walking around ‘intimidating inmates with pipes’, and officers using those pipes to disrupt inmates trying to sleep.”


Jeff ‘Paco’ Doyle responds to Dave:

“EXACTLY! These hilarious check-in stations are seen as some kind of hi-tech, 21st century marvel. This new-fangled Guard 1 contraption documents that someone who had the electronic ‘pipe’ at the time touched it to the ‘thing.’ DOH!”

And Dr. Krupp also responds to Dave:

“Maybe to prove the officer looked inside the cell they could have another ‘thing’ to hit on the door. They could call them Thing One and Thing Two. Dr Seuess would be proud.”

Folks, that’s why I call it Kookfornia!


WINE CONNOISSEUR BURGLAR HITS THE FRENCH LAUNDRY

A burglar with a knowledge of fine wines made off with 76 bottles from Napa Valley’s celebrated The French Laundry restaurant, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a French Burgundy that sells for more than $10,000 a bottle

The French Laundry is an upscale Napa Valley restaurant that has been awarded the coveted three-Michelin-star rating. Employees are usually at the restaurant 24/7, but Christmas Day was different. A burglar, who had to be a connoisseur of fine wines, took advantage of the unoccupied eatery by pilfering 76 bottles of wine with an estimated value of $300,000. The burglar or burglars broke through the French Laundry’s wine cellar door sometime after 2 p.m. on Christmas Day.

The burglar passed up moderately priced bottles, taking only the most prized wines, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a French Burgundy that sells for more than $10,000 a bottle. The thief also took bottles of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, the finest wine produced in the Napa Valley.

The crook or crooks will have a hard time disposing of their loot. Each bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has a serial number that can be traced back to The French Laundry. Since that wine is so rare, selling it in bulk would immediately arouse suspicions. The best bet is to sell it one bottle at a time spread out over a period of many months. And to avoid tracing of the serial numbers, it would almost certainly have to be sold to Europeans.

As for the burglary, it should be noted that no one set the alarm for the restaurant’s wine cellar. One would immediately conclude, aha, it’s an inside job. But since employees are almost always there 24/7, it is easy to understand that no one would think about setting the alarm.

The investigation is being conducted by the Napa County Sheriff’s Department.

For now at least, some crooked wine connoisseur is having a very, very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

NEW YEAR’S EVE STUPIDITY

By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 1, 2015

It happens several times a year around the country.

According to KFBK radio one Stanley Michael Lewis, 24, is under arrest in Sacramento for accidentally shooting his lady friend while engaging in “celebratory gunfire” last night. The unnamed 20-year old woman is in the hospital and is unlikely to survive.

Anybody stupid enough to actually do something like this, especially in a built-up area, deserves all the bad things that are likely to happen to them. Morons should not have guns.

kl2008a says: “Maybe she was holding an empty beer can on her head so her boyfriend could show off his marksmanship, but since he’s the one who emptied the can(s) his aim was a little low. He missed his target by that much!”

Thursday, January 01, 2015

GUNFIGHT AT THE LIVING WATER FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

Pistol packing pastor shoot and wounds maintenance man who shot at him after being told he was fired

Hot diggity dog, it’s a shootout at the OK Corral - oops - it’s not the corral, it’s a church in Kissimmee, Florida.

Terry L. Howell, 61, pastor at the Living Water Fellowship church, told maintenance man Benjamin Parangan, 47, Tuesday morning that he was fired. Apparently Benny wasn’t too happy about getting canned, so he drew a gun and opened fire on Rev. Howell. The pistol packing pastor then drew his own gun and shot and wounded bad shot Benny.

The former maintenance man is recovering in a hospital and, when released, will be jailed on a charge of aggravated assault with intent to kill.

Sheriff’s officers believe this is a case of self defense, but the investigation is continuing. Both men had concealed-carry licenses.

If Benny wasn’t any better as a maintenance man than he was as a shooter, I can see why he got fired.

ONLY ONE OUT OF EVERY SIX TRAFFIC VIOLATORS STOPPED BY NASHVILLE COPS ARE TICKETED

In most cities a cop would be severely disciplined if he wrote a citation to only one out of every six traffic violators that he stopped

Nashville, Tennessee Police Chief Steve Anderson responded to a recent email from a citizen who complained about Nashville cops allowing protesters to block a freeway and to block shoppers at a mall from going about their shopping.

Chief Anderson said that zero tolerance for minor offenses was not always the best course and that police officers must sometimes use their discretion by doing what’s best for all of Nashville, in this case allowing the protesters to do their thing even though it was against the law.

The chief gave the following example of police discretion:

“In the year 2013, our officers made over four hundred thousand vehicle stops, mostly for traffic violations. A citation was issued in only about one in six of those stops. Five of the six received warnings. This is the police exercising discretion for minor violations of the law. Few, if any, persons would argue that the police should have no discretion.”

Now that is simply amazing. Most cities count on traffic fines as a cash cow for their budgets. Many police departments have unwritten traffic ticket quotas. That has been the case in Houston. I know that a Houston cop who wrote a citation to only one out of every six traffic violators that he stopped, would be suspended, demoted or possibly even be fired.

Chief Anderson and his Nashville cops deserve to be commended for their extraordinary approach to traffic enforcement.

LEFTISTS RULE THE DAY AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES

Our universities have become a corruption where leftist activism and ideology triumph over any pretense of reason

Brandeis University, a non-sectarian Jewish institution, is no different from any other American university. Leftists rule the day. Freedom of speech for all is a myth. Free speech is given only to those who adhere to leftist ideology and denied to those who would criticize it.

Brandeis student Daniel Mael has been vilified for criticizing Khadijah Lynch, a student leader and adviser to impressionable younger students, because she expressed her hatred for the NYPD and America. Mael took to the internet to expose atrocious statements Lynch - who is majoring in African and Afro-American Studies - made on her Twitter account. Here are just a couple of them:

"I have no sympathy for the nypd officers who were murdered today."

"lmao, all i just really dont have sympathy for the cops who were shot. i hate this racist fucking country."


Now the leftist faculty and students at Brandeis are calling for the expulsion of Daniel Mael.

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY’S LATEST MOMENT OF SHAME
By Abraham H. Miller

Jewish World Review
December 31, 2014

The dramatic event often rips away the thin gossamer of protection that keeps a corrupt institution from exposure to the antiseptic of public outrage. Such an event is occurring for the second time in 2014 at Brandeis University.

Daniel Mael, a Brandeis student and professional blogger, took to the Internet to expose fellow student Khadijah Lynch's raw hatred for the New York Police Department, America, and the "Zionist" institution where she is getting an education and serves as a student leader and adviser to impressionable younger students. Lynch, until the exposure of her hateful invectives, was a student representative of the African and Afro-American Studies Department.

Mael didn't have to use much of his well-honed journalistic skills. Lynch's Twitter account provided a storehouse of live ammunition. Here is Lynch in her own words, as Mael recounted them:

"I have no sympathy for the nypd officers who were murdered today."

"lmao, all i just really dont have sympathy for the cops who were shot. i hate this racist fucking country."

"the fact that black people have not burned this country down is beyond me"

"a social justice themed institution grounded in zionism. word. thats a fucking fanny dooley."


The Zionist reference is to Brandeis, an institution rooted in Jewish ideals and named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish associate justice of the Supreme Court, a man whose work for social justice became legendary and who established the right of privacy in a famous Harvard Law Review article.

That someone like Lynch could emerge as a student leader at the institution says less about the ideals that once shaped it and more about what Brandeis has now become-a force not for the ideals of Louis Brandeis, but for the hatred espoused by a Khadijah Lynch. It is precisely that antipathy toward America, police, and Zionism that makes her a student leader, for it reflects the ingrained themes of a politically correct instruction and its so-called identity studies departments, a problem that transcends Brandeis.

Brandeis attracted national attention in April 2014 when it withdrew an honorary degree from leading human rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali over her criticism of Islam. When Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence claimed that Ali was consulted about the action, Ali went before the nation's media and vigorously denied Lawrence's assertion. Ironically, Lawrence is an academic expert on the First Amendment.

Predictably, the Brandeis activists are not attacking Lynch. Her hatred, and probably her vulgarities, resonate with their own ideology. The effete, academically nurtured Stalinists are calling for Mael to be expelled from their politically correct Gulag. Mael is being accused of everything from cyber bullying to harassment, if not crimes against humanity, for the audacity of publicizing Lynch's tweets.

At a time when America is mourning two slain New York police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, some people have unfortunately vented their anger and threatened Lynch. By the twisted logic so prevalent in the identity curriculum, Mael is being held responsible for these threats.

By the same logic, would Lynch be held responsible for the next policeman that takes a bullet?

Lynch and people like her represent what our universities have become, a corruption where leftist activism and ideology triumph over any pretense of reason. Identity departments do not teach, they preach. Serious students try to avoid these programs. Consequently, universities have instituted diversity requirements, making these courses compulsory, and also creating an artificial need for people to teach them.

Lynch's partisans would like to see Daniel Mael drawn and quartered on the campus green, and Frederick Lawrence, Brandeis's arbiter of the First Amendment, has conspicuously retreated into silence. Far be it for him to make a statement on behalf of Mael's right to exercise his First Amendment rights, for to do so would upset the campus leftists.

Decades ago, when oil spilled from a Union Oil platform in the Santa Barbara Channel, the sociologist Harvey Molotoch observed that along with the oil spilled a bit of truth about power in America. So too, at Brandeis, the episodes involving Daniel Mael and Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak to not only how Brandeis works, but also how American universities generally work.

HARPER COLLINS WIPES ISRAEL OFF THE MAP

Atlases published by HarperCollins no longer show Israel on its maps

In order to avoid offending its Muslim customers, HarperCollins has wiped Israel off the maps it publishes.

PUBLISHER HARPER COLLINS OMITS ISRAEL FROM SCHOOL ATLAS ‘TO MEET LOCAL PREFERENCES’
by Abigail Frymann Rouch

The Tablet
December 31, 2014

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has accused the publisher HarperCollins of harming peace efforts in the Middle East through its production of atlases that omit Israel from their maps. Collins Middle East Atlases, which are sold to English-speaking schools in the Muslim-majority Gulf, depict Jordan and Syria extending all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specialises in maps, told The Tablet that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and the amendment incorporated “local preferences”.

Bishop Declan Lang, chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Department of International Affairs, told The Tablet: “The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel’s belief that there exists a hostility towards their country from parts of the Arab world. It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence.”

The Tablet has also learned of customs officers in one Gulf nation allowing school atlases to reach their intended recipient only once Israel had been struck out by hand.

Dr Jane Clements, director of the Council of Christians and Jews, told The Tablet that maps that excluded Israel risked causing confusion and de-legitimising the nation in the eyes of the students who used the atlases.

She said: “Maps can be a very powerful tool in terms of de-legitimising ‘the other’ and can lead to confusion rather than clarity. We would be keen to see relevant bodies ensure that all atlases anywhere reflect the official UN position on nations, boundaries and all political features.”

SUPREME COURT GIVES A LEG UP TO THOSE SUING AS VICTIMS OF EXCESSIVE FORCE BY THE POLICE

In Tolan v. Cotton, SCOTUS made it easier for those suing the police for using excessive force to fend off summary dismissal of their civil rights lawsuits

Tolan v. Cotton is a case in which a police officer in the Houston suburb of Bellaire responded to the mistaken report of a stolen car. Officer Jeffrey Cotton confronted Robbie Tolan, the son of Major League Baseball ¬player Bobby Tolan, in his parents’ driveway. When his mother tried to intercede, the cop pushed her against the garage door. And when Tolan told him to leave his mother alone, Cotton shot him three times.

HIGH COURT CASE COULD BOOST VICTIMS OF POLICE SHOOTINGS
By Tony Mauro

New York Law Journal
December 26, 2014

A little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court ruling from May could give an unexpected boost to alleged victims of excessive force by police in their efforts to hold law enforcement officers accountable.

In the aftermath of recent police shootings, including the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner in New York, lawyers have generally viewed high court precedents as obstacles that only benefit police.

But Tolan v. Cotton, 13-551, a brief unsigned opinion issued on May 5, could point the other way, making it easier for alleged victims to fend off summary dismissal of their civil rights lawsuits against police.

Tolan admonished lower court judges that when police in such cases seek to dismiss lawsuits against them, disputed facts and inferences must be viewed in a light most favorable to the citizen making the claim.

"Courts may not resolve genuine disputes of fact in favor of the party seeking summary judgment," the high court ruled, adding that "a judge's function at summary judgment is not to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter, but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial."

Since the facts of episodes like those involving Brown and Garner are often in dispute, even when there is video evidence, the Tolan decision could give individuals claiming civil rights violations (under 42 U.S.C. 1983) a better chance of getting past summary dismissal motions. Tolan has already been invoked in more than 500 federal cases since May.

Two weeks after Tolan was issued, the Supreme Court itself cited the ruling in remanding Thomas v. Nugent, a suit brought by the family of a Louisiana man who died after a police officer repeatedly used a Taser on him.

"Tolan resonates today in many ways. We were thrilled when the court ruled as it did," said Christina Swarns, litigation director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed a brief in the case. "It was a reminder to courts that they can't supplant the role of the jury, and they can't put a thumb on the scale in favor of the state."

The decision stemmed from a ¬widely publicized suit brought by Robbie Tolan, the son of Major League Baseball ¬player Bobby Tolan. On New Year's Eve in 2008, Bellaire, Texas, police officer Jeffrey Cotton shot the younger Tolan in his parents' driveway. Police were responding to a mistaken report of a stolen car. After Cotton pushed Tolan's mother up against the garage door, Robbie Tolan told him to leave his mother alone. Apparently without warning, Cotton shot Tolan three times, leaving him alive but with permanent injuries.

Lower courts dismissed Tolan's Section 1983 suit, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling that Cotton deserved "qualified immunity" because his actions did not violate a "clearly established right."

But the Supreme Court said that in ruling that way, the Fifth Circuit improperly viewed the facts as favoring Cotton, the officer. "The court should have acknowledged and credited Tolan's evidence," the high court said, even though it recognized that "the witnesses on both sides come to this case with their own perceptions, recollections, and even potential biases."

Because of the Supreme Court's decision, a new trial in Tolan's case has been set for September. Florida civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump asked the trial court in Houston in September to be recognized as Tolan's new lawyer. Crump also represents Michael Brown's family in Missouri, as well as the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer last month.

Cotton's lawyers opposed Crump's motion, claiming he would ignore agreements made during prior proceedings in the case. The trial court accepted Crump's representation. Crump did not respond to a request for comment.

Police who are accused of civil rights violations almost always seek summary dismissal of the claim, said Martin Siegel of the Law Offices of Martin J. Siegel in Houston, who brought the Tolan case to the Supreme Court. "But Tolan reminds lower courts that the summary-judgment rules don't change just because a citizen sues an officer for excessive force."

The 11-page decision marked the first time in 10 years the court had ruled against police claiming qualified immunity from suit in a Section 1983 case.

Justice Samuel Alito Jr., joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote a concurrence criticizing the court for engaging in mere "error correction." But Alito said, "I agree that there are genuine issues of material fact and that this is a case in which summary judgment should not have been granted."

"The decision surprised us," said Eric Del Pozo, a lawyer at Jenner & Block who worked on the Legal Defense Fund's brief. "The court has protected the free speech and religious rights of corporations and requires a warrant before police can scan the call log of an arrestee's cellphone or attach a GPS device to someone's car," Del Pozo said. "Yet, for whatever reason, the court has been less solicitous of claims to civil rights infractions in money damages suits. In Tolan, at least, the pendulum swung back a bit in the opposite ¬direction."

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

WHY PEARLS BEFORE SWINE IS MY FAVORITE COMIC STRIP


Click on the image to magnify it.

15 POLICE OFFICERS SHOT TO DEATH BY AMBUSH IN 2014

It’s been open season on cops all year long for those who hate the police

The ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters claim that cops are trigger happy when confronting black men. I suspect the cops have nervous trigger fingers when it comes to all men, not just black men. The number of cops shot to death this year jumped 56 percent over last year. Of the 50 officers shot to death this year, 15 were ambushed. No wonder cops have nervous trigger fingers.

Statistics just released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund show that 50 cops died by gunfire this year compared to 32 last year. That’s bad enough, but when you consider that 15 of those officers were ambushed, one has to ask what the hell is going on in this country. It appears as though it is open season on cops for those who hate the police.

Some of the cops that were ambushed were lured to their deaths by phony calls to 9-1-1, while others like NYPD officers Ramos and Liu, died as they sat in their patrol cars.

I predict that things are only going to get worse. The post-Ferguson rhetoric, including that of President Obama, NY Mayor de Blasio, racial rabble rouser Al Sharpton and others has poisoned the atmosphere with hatred for the police. But it’s not only some African-Americans that hate the police, it’s also whites from the far-left.

The Daily Kos is a far left website. On December 21 it published a long tirade against the police by an angry author who used the pseudonym xxdr zombiexx. Here are just a few lines of what the zombie had to say:

“Cops are out of control because they never get charged with their crimes. They get away with murder and everybody around the fucking world knows it. That has to stop, cops need to be arrested and charged and tried and jailed in large numbers to send THE MESSAGE that these days of Rogue Cop, Inc are over. None of us are safe from these murderous assholes.”

If you look at the pictures of the anti-police protests, you will see a lot of white people participating. Most of those whites are young, probably college students. Many of them probably share zombie’s hatred of cops. And where did they pick up crap like that? From their leftist professors, of course!

Much is being made over the killing of unarmed blacks by the police. What people don’t seem to realize, or don’t want to understand, is that you do not have to be armed to kill someone. You can do it with your bare hands. Michael Brown, that gentle 6-4, 290-pound giant, was as dangerous as someone armed with a gun, given the chance to physically attack a smaller person. Had an unarmed Trayvon Martin continued to pound George Zimmerman’s head onto the concrete pavement, the former neighborhood watchman might be the one dead.

If I were still a cop, I would definitely have a nervous trigger finger what with all the inflammatory anti-police rhetoric being bandied about. If I thought someone was reaching for a gun to shoot me, I’d shoot that sucker before he had the chance to kill me. If it turned out that he was reaching for a pocket bible, I’d feel terrible about it. But I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by eight.

RHETORIC FROM THE PRESIDENT ON DOWN TO SHARPTON AND THE STREET PROTESTERS IMPLIES THAT COPS DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IN CONFRONTATIONS WITH BLACK MEN

An editorial by Investor's Business Daily accuses the left of starting a war on cops

The relentless anti-police rhetoric that has followed the grand jury decisions on the shooting death of Michael Brown and the deadly arrest of Eric Garner has permeated the atmosphere with hatred of the police. While I am sure that President Obama did not intend to malign all cops, his rhetoric, together with that of Sharpton and the street protesters, has contributed to the war now being waged on cops.

THE LEFT’S WAR ON COPS HAS BEGUN

Investor’s Business Daily Editorial
December 29, 2014

War On Cops: As two NYPD officers were laid to rest, deadly attacks against police have exploded across the country, the outcome of leftist anti-police protests. The left can't wash its hands of this with phony tears at funerals.

The murdered New York officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were barely in their graves after being eulogized by Vice President Joe Biden and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio when new attacks — from targeted shootings to credible Internet threats — flared up across the land.

In Durham, N.C., police were shot at in an unprovoked Christmas night attack, while on Sunday officers were shot at with rifles in Los Angeles, prompting a citywide alert. There was another shooting in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. And 11 would-be shooters in Chicago, Pennsylvania and New York all posted credible Internet threats.

In an atmosphere like this, it's pretty obvious that there's a war against the police, and not surprisingly the security of all law-abiding people is already suffering.

On Monday, the New York Post reported that police were refraining from enforcing penalties for small crimes now, fearful of any confrontation that might inflame racial tensions.

That's exceptionally bad news, given that New York was cured of its ugly "Shattered" and "Fun City" reality (as Mick Jagger and Bill Buckley respectively put it) only by Mayor Rudy Giuliani's emphasis on enforcing punishment for small crimes so that large ones could not occur — the so-called "broken windows theory" of law enforcement.

There's little doubt where the blame lies: with the race-baiters and communist organizing groups who have taken their cues from the wink-and-nod encouragement from political leaders at the top.

Leaders from President Obama to de Blasio have embraced the radical "narrative" that all police are "Bull Connor"-style predators on black people, along with the de facto message that the police do not have the right to defend themselves in a confrontation.

That was clearly evident in these political leaders' stances in favor of mob protests over grand jury rulings, first in Ferguson, Mo., when a thug attacked a cop to a bad end. It was the cop, cleared by a grand jury, who was forced to resign amid protests. Similar incidents occured in New York and Cleveland.

It didn't help that Obama used race-baiter Al Sharpton as a go-to man on race, inviting the "leader" to the White House 81 times. It also didn't help that he made apologetic remarks to the U.N. about Ferguson, again underlining that police have no right to self-defense.

With a message like that, it shouldn't surprise anyone that thugs with rifles and an urge to scream fire in a crowded theatre would act up — and very quickly.

It's a disastrous and foolish action, effectively announcing to criminals that the consequences for hunting down cops is nonexistent to small.

Personal security is the foremost of human rights, as writer Robert Young Pelton has noted, and there's no disputing that cops protect far more than they harm.

It's time for a serious response from political leaders, because the fire this time has already started.

RACIAL POLITICS HAVE PROMOTED A LYNCH MOB ATMOSPHERE TOWARD THE POLICE

By ignoring or distorting the true facts in the shootings of black men by the police, the media, politicians and demagogues have led mobs to call for the scalps of America’s cops

The rhetoric of racial rabble rouser Al Sharpton, NY Mayor de Blasio and even the president, is responsible for today’s poisonous anti-police atmosphere. But the media is the biggest contributor to the hatred of cops by publishing reports that ignore or distort the true facts in the shootings of black men by the police.

IN RACIAL POLITICS, FACTS DON’T MEAN MUCH
By Thomas Sowell

Investor’s Business Daily
December 29, 2014

Some of us who are old enough to remember the old television police series "Dragnet" may remember Sgt. Joe Friday saying, "Just the facts, ma'am." But that would be completely out of place today.

Facts are becoming obsolete, as recent events have demonstrated. What matters today is how well you can concoct a story that fits people's preconceptions and arouses their emotions.

Politicians like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, professional demagogues like Al Sharpton and innumerable irresponsible people in the media have shown that they have great talent in promoting a lynch mob atmosphere toward the police.

Grand juries that examine hard facts live in a different world from mobs who listen to rhetoric and politicians who cater to the mobs.

During the controversy over the death of Trayvon Martin, for example, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus said that George Zimmerman had tracked Trayvon Martin down and shot him like a dog.

The fact is that Zimmerman did not have to track down Martin, who was sitting right on top of him, punching him till his face was bloody.

After the death of Michael Brown, members of the Congressional Black Caucus stood up in Congress with their hands held up, saying "Don't shoot."

Kinder, Gentler Arrest

Although there were some who claimed that this is what Brown said and did, there were other witnesses — all black, by the way — who said that Brown was charging toward the policeman when he was shot.

What was decisive was not what either set of witnesses said, but what the autopsy revealed, an autopsy involving three sets of forensic experts, including one representing Brown's family. Witnesses can lie, but the physical facts don't lie, even if politicians, mobs and the media prefer to take lies seriously.

The death of Eric Garner has likewise spawned stories having little relationship to facts. The story is that Garner died because a chokehold stopped his breathing. But Garner did not die with a policeman choking him.

He died later, in an ambulance where his heart stopped. He had a long medical history of various diseases, as well as a long criminal history. No doubt the stress of his capture did not do him any good, and he might well still be alive if he had not resisted arrest. But that was his choice.

Despite people who say blithely that the police need more "training," there is no "kinder and gentler" way to capture a 350-pound man, who is capable of inflicting grievous harm, and perhaps even death, on any of his would-be captors.

Rodney King

The magic word "unarmed" means nothing in practice, however much the word may hype emotions.

If you are killed by an unarmed man, you are just as dead as if you had been annihilated by a nuclear bomb. But you don't even know who is armed or unarmed until after it is all over, and you can search him.

Incidentally, did you know that, during this same period when riots, looting and arson have been raging, a black policeman in Alabama shot and killed an unarmed white teenager — and was cleared by a grand jury? Probably not, if you depend on the mainstream media for your news.

The media do not merely ignore facts, they suppress facts. Millions of people saw the videotape of the beating of Rodney King. But they saw only a fraction of that tape because the media left out the rest, which showed King — another huge man — resisting arrest and refusing to be handcuffed so that he could be searched.

Television viewers did not get to see the other black men in the same vehicle that King was driving recklessly. Those other black men were not beaten. And the grand jury got to see the whole video, after which they acquitted the police — and the media then published the jurors' home addresses.

Such media retribution against people they don't like is part of a growing lynch mob mentality. The black witnesses in Missouri, whose testimony confirmed what the police officer said, expressed fears for their own safety for telling what the physical evidence showed was the truth.

Is this what we want? Grand juries responding to mobs and the media, instead of to the facts?

SIT NEXT TO A WOMAN? OY VEY, NEVER!

Airlines flying between the U.S. and Israel are having seating assignment problems because ultra-Orthodox Jewish men will not sit next to women who are not close family members

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, like those of the Haredi sect, are prohibited from touching any women other than their wives and close relatives. That has created seat assignment problems for airlines flying between the U.S. and Israel. In one instance, a Haredi man, who was assigned a seat next to a woman, got up as soon as the flight departed for Israel and stood in the aisle for the whole flight.

DELTA AIRLINES FLIGHT FROM NEW YORK’S JFK AIRPORT DELAYED AFTER ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEWISH MEN REFUSE TO SIT NEXT TO WOMEN
Delta Airlines Flight 468 was delayed for 30 minutes because Haredi men refused to sit next to women and the women refused to move, claiming discrimination

By Sarah Gordon

Mail Online
December 30, 2014

A Delta Airlines flight from New York's JFK Airport to Israel was delayed by half an hour when a group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men refused to sit next to female passengers.

Delta Flight 468, bound for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, was reportedly held up due to several Haredi passengers refusing to to sit in their assigned seats, which were in between two women.

The delay was prolonged when the two female passengers involved reportedly refused to move to accommodate the men's request, claiming discrimination.

According to Israel Radio, the stand-off was eventually resolved when an American travelling to Israel offered to change seats.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews cannot touch members of the opposite sex unless they are close relatives or a spouse.

It is not the first time an international flight has been delayed due to issues about seat arrangements.

In September, passengers flying with Israeli airline El Al from New York reported a delay when Haredi passengers refused to sit next to women and reportedly went as far as offering them money to move.

Fellow passengers reported men standing in the aisles and refusing to take their seats on the flight to Israel, which was due to land in time for the Jewish New Year.

Amit Ben-Natan, a passenger who was on board the plane, said: 'People stood in the aisles and refused to go forward.'

'Although everyone had tickets with seat numbers that they purchased in advance, they asked us to trade seats with them, and even offered to pay money, since they cannot sit next to a woman. It was obvious that the plane wouldn't take off as long as they keep standing in the aisles.'

Passengers claimed that despite the El Al flight crew informing travellers that they did not have to agree to switch, the plane's captain announced the flight would not be going anywhere until everyone was seated.

Once the flight had departed, one passenger claimed the ultra-Orthodox traveller sat beside her stood in the aisle for the journey rather than return to his assigned seat.

After passengers branded the flight 'an 11 hour-long nightmare', El Al promised to look into the issue and take action if passengers were in breach of safety regulations.

The airline stated: 'The company will examine the complaints and if some passengers are found to have acted out of line the company will examine its future steps.'

Following the flight, female passenger Sharon Shapiro, from Chicago, launched a petition to stop ultra-Orthodox passengers 'bullying, intimidating and discriminating against women'.