Serial rapist was on the loose for years before an abandoned suitcase put a stop to his crimes
By Chris Kilmer and Allie Yang
ABC News
April 4, 2019
On the morning of Feb. 21, 2005, a utility worker, dispatched to a vacant cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Miami spotted something unusual in the weeds a few feet from the street.
It was a woman. She was naked, brutally beaten, but miraculously still alive. Miami-Dade Police estimated the petite, blond-haired woman had been unconscious for almost 24 hours.
"She was dumped out and left for dead," Miami-Dade Police Det. Alan Foote said of the victim.
But what investigators didn’t know at the time was they had stumbled into a case that would eventually lead them to a serial rapist who had already claimed victims in another state – and who, according to authorities, would strike again, and again, as he moved around the country.
The mystery woman had been stripped naked, with no means to identify her. A blue blanket was the only potential piece of evidence recovered at the trash-strewn crime scene – yet investigators were unable to gain any information from it. Officers canvassed neighbors living nearby, but turned up nothing.
The next day, the victim emerged from unconsciousness, and through a fog of pain, she tried to communicate what happened to her.
She was unable to speak, but scrawled some basic information on a piece of paper. Detectives learned that her name was Inna Budnytska, she was Ukrainian and she worked for one of the many cruise lines that operate in Miami.
She also wrote down her attorney's name and phone number -- a detail that Foote found "very unusual."
"Maybe they thought it was unusual that someone would ask for an attorney, but this woman had a horrific assault and probably was reaching for anything that she could," said her attorney, Mitchell Lipcon.
In fact, Budnytska, who was 21 at the time, said she had been injured on the ship where she worked, and had filed suit against the cruise line.
"I didn't know nobody," she said. "I was alone up here. So the only one person who I knew, that was my attorney."
While rehabilitating from her injury, Budnytska was housed by the cruise line at the Miami Airport Regency Hotel, a local hotel about 10 miles east of the cul-de-sac where she was found. The hotel would prove crucial to the mystery -- especially its sophisticated security system.
"We have 16 cameras covering the whole perimeter of the hotel," said hotel vice president Jose Vazquez. "Those cameras have a motion sensor detector. We have two security guards at night on duty. So we can see anything that happens."
Foote obtained a pile of DVDs from the hotel's cameras and started scanning them for any evidence of the crime.
Victim struggles to remember events: 'I was in shock'
Once she was able to speak, Budnytska provided a statement about her activities on the night of the attack. She said she'd gone out with a friend that night to a restaurant in Coconut Grove, Florida, returning by herself in a taxi shortly after midnight.
Security cameras recorded her leaving the hotel again at 3:33 a.m. to buy a phone card to call her mother in Ukraine, returning just seven minutes later at 3:40 a.m. Budnytska was then recorded walking to the lobby elevators at 3:41 a.m. ... and was never seen by the cameras again.
The next thing Budnytska said she remembered was regaining consciousness for a brief moment at the cul-de-sac, where she was discovered at 8:30 a.m. that morning.
"It was very cold ... and dark," she recalled. "I couldn't stand up. I could not walk."
Budnytska remembered that much, but everything that happened in between the elevator and the cul-de-sac was a total blank.
George Perez, the hotel's night manager who had a master key to all the rooms, attracted investigators' attention because he was seen on hotel surveillance video talking with Budnytska at the hotel front desk "several times," Foote said.
Then, at 2:16 a.m., there was an odd encounter -- Perez left the front desk unattended and went into the elevator with Budnytska. He was gone for approximately 15 minutes, and then returned to the desk -- alone.
Perez initially told Foote that he helped Budnytska into her room because she was intoxicated. In fact, he later admitted that he'd been socializing with Budnytska.
"I was friends with her in the workplace; I also had a friendship with her outside of the workplace," he said. "I thought very highly of her."
As the investigation advanced, one new piece of evidence emerged: Budnytska wasn't just beaten, she also was raped -- and DNA from her attacker had been recovered from her body. Samples were obtained voluntarily from Perez and another suspect, a friend of Budnytska's, Peter Dimouleas.
Budnytska also began to piece together more memories of the attack, filling in the time gap between when she last was seen on the elevator cameras and when she was found in the cul-de-sac ... but she could only recall fragments.
"I saw dreams, I saw nightmares," she said. "For me, it was very difficult to realize what was the reality, what was not the reality."
Budnytska told Foote that at least two men were responsible -- Caucasian men, possibly with Spanish accents.
"I don't remember the faces. ... I remember, a person putting, like, a pillow or something," she said. "And then it's dark, you know. It's just like a feeling that you cannot breathe."
Budnytska even tried hypnosis to clarify her memories. She said she remembered being carried down a back staircase out into a car, driving somewhere and being raped in the back seat while "somebody was laughing."
But surveillance cameras didn't show that, and Foote's frustration grew, he said.
"We reached a dead end on that point. It just didn't fit," he said.
He suspected there was more to Budnytska's story than she was able -- or willing -- to tell.
Like many hotels, the Airport Regency had a key-card security system that logged each time a guest swipes their key to enter a room. Security cameras clocked Budnytska entering the elevator for the final time at 3:41 a.m. But the log of key swipes at her door showed her entering her room at 3:58 a.m. -- an unexplained gap of 17 minutes.
That led police to suspect that Budnytska might be a prostitute. They theorized that during the 17 minutes she had gone to service a John, an encounter that could have led to the attack. But Foote said they found "absolutely zilch, nothing to indicate that she was as prostitute," and decided that was not true. Ultimately the time gap also could be explained by two separate clock systems that were not in sync.
For months, the case went nowhere. Meanwhile, Budnytska filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the hotel, citing lax security. Denying any wrongdoing, the hotel hired a private investigator named Ken Brennan to investigate her claims.
A former policeman in Long Island, New York, and a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Brennan was fascinated by the mystery surrounding the case and convinced Foote to share information.
"I knew there might be a little reluctance to share any information with me," Brennan said. "I said 'Alan, I'm a good investigator. I'm not going to mess this up on you -- just let me run with it for you.'"
One of the first things Foote shared was the DNA results on the two preliminary suspects. There was no match and both Perez and Dimouleas were cleared.
"I knew that the answer to the mystery had to be in those surveillance tapes somewhere," Brennan said. "You had to watch each and every frame on every video."
Slowly but surely, Brennan eliminated every suspect -- everybody but one.
"On the video, she goes out of the hotel early in the morning," Brennan said. "When she comes back about a half-hour later, there's a big, large, black man standing with her, and she just has a quick conversation with him. They get onto the elevator together."
The man can be seen entering the elevator with Budnytska at 3:41 a.m., then exiting the hotel with a suitcase at 5:28 a.m. But Brennan thought there was something strange about the way the suspect gave the suitcase a strange extra tug to get it loose from a gap in the elevator floor as he was leaving.
"I've done this, and you've done this countless times coming out of an elevator: did you ever get it stuck so bad that you had to yank on it like that?" asked Brennan. "A light bulb went off and I said, 'This is the guy, and she's in that suitcase.'"
Searching for clues to the man's identity on the security tapes, Brennan noticed that he was frequently accompanied by another man who had the word "Verado" written on the back of his t-shirt.
An internet search revealed the Mercury Marine company was producing a new outboard engine model called Verado. Brennan realized the two men were working at the Miami Boat Show that was held the week of the crime. Mercury was a major exhibitor, but none of that company's employees stayed at the Airport Regency.
Brennan discovered that the only shirts given out during the boat show were to food court employees working for a company named Centerplate. About two weeks later, Brennan got a call: someone remembered a man at one of Centerplate’s locations in New Orleans who matched the description, who'd been hired for the boat show out of the New Orleans area.
With the help of a friend inside the New Orleans Police Department named Capt. Ernest Demma, Brennan found out the mystery man was working at the Superdome when Hurricane Katrina hit.
The man's name was Michael Lee Jones. Sure enough, records showed Jones was staying at the hotel that night.
Unfortunately, in the wake of Katrina, Jones -- like countless others in New Orleans -- had left. By the time of Brennan's investigation in 2006, he was no longer with Centerplate and no one knew where he was.
So Brennan built a master list of the major catering and concession companies in the country. He called them one-by-one looking for a Michael Jones.
After a lengthy search, Brennan finally hit upon a company called Ovations, based in Tampa, Florida. After a subpoena was issued, the company confirmed that Michael Jones was on its payroll and managing concessions at a minor league baseball park in Frederick, Maryland.
Private detective: 'I'm going to be coming for you'
In spring 2006, Jones was living in a modest apartment in Frederick, 1,000 miles away from the Airport Regency in Miami. Foote was reluctant to collect a DNA sample from a man he believed was "just another lead.”
But Brennan was certain and convincing.
In April 2006, Foote interviewed Jones, who confirmed he was in Miami working at the boat show and staying at the Airport Regency when Inna Budnytska was attacked. But he denied ever having sex with anybody at the hotel and said he would "absolutely" provide a DNA sample.
It would take months for the DNA test to come back and, in the meantime, Brennan made his own trip to Maryland and got Jones to meet him at the ballpark.
"I interviewed him for three days," Brennan said, "and basically he told me, you know, 'I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know who you're talking about.'"
Brennan concluded those sessions with one final message: "I'm going to be back, and I'm going to be coming for you."
When Jones' DNA results matched DNA found at the crime scene, he was arrested and interrogated.
He maintained his total innocence "right to the very end, the bitter end," Brennan said.
Jones was charged with sexual battery and kidnapping, but the case nearly fell apart before it went to trial.
Brennan believed that after beating and raping Budnytska in his room, Jones stuffed her in his suitcase, walked out of the hotel without attracting the attention of the night manager George Perez, and drove off at 5:31 a.m.
His theory was that Jones dumped the body, turned around, and made it back to the hotel at 6:21 a.m. with time to spare before he was to start work that day at the boat show. He sauntered into the hotel restaurant at 7:59 a.m. and joined his friend at breakfast. Then they headed out to the parking lot and off to work.
But Budnytska refused to accept that theory, instead sticking to her original story that the attack happened in her room. And most of all, she'd originally told police she'd been attacked by a number of Caucasian men, not a lone African American man.
Her muddy memory could have been the result of the massive head trauma she sustained, or perhaps Jones slipped her some kind of drug. In any case, she made a flimsy witness.
"So unfortunately, the prosecution has to look at the fact that: Is a jury going to believe this flip-flopping?" Foote said.
Besides the circumstantial evidence on the surveillance video, the case started getting thin. The DNA match only proved that sex took place -- not necessarily rape. Under interrogation, Jones never confessed to Brennan or Foote. The suitcase never was recovered. And unfortunately, just like Michael Jones's rental car, his hotel room had been cleaned countless times in the year before he was ever identified, probably destroying any evidence.
"We believe that they couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," said Jones' defense attorney, C. Michael Cornely.
Jones was charged with a number of felonies in Budnytska’s case that stemmed from raping, kidnapping, and beating her. But, instead of having the case go to trial, he worked out a deal with Miami prosecutors in 2006 in which he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery with a weapon and aggravated battery in Budnytska’s case in return for having the more severe charges dropped. His prison sentence was just two years.
"I was angry," Budnytska said. "I couldn't do anything. I'm not familiar with the justice system. But I was upset inside."
But Brennan suspected this was not Jones' first crime.
Brennan knew Jones' work took him to cities all over the country, giving him plenty of opportunity to meet new women and then disappear.
Brennan convinced the Miami-Dade police to enter Jones' DNA into Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the FBI's national database, which they did in late 2006. Within a few years, three new hits came up for Jones’ DNA: a case in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and two cases in New Orleans.
Det. Terry Thrumston of the Colorado Springs Police Department’s sex-crime unit, received a call in 2007 notifying her there was a match in CODIS that connected Jones to a December 2005 cold case.
In that case, Jennifer Roessler, 41, was seen leaving a local convenience store just minutes before she was attacked.
"She was by herself," said Thrumston. "She was a woman, alone, walking at 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning.”
Jones was working concessions at the Colorado Springs World Arena in December 2005. It was about nine months after the 2005 attack on Inna Budnystka in Miami was reported and about three months after Jones left New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, authorities said.
"She accepted a ride from a stranger, who took her back to her apartment," Thrumston added. "He asked for a drink of water; then she asked him to leave. He then sexually assaults her."
Roessler's decision to let the man into her apartment raised the possibility the sex was consensual. The case had gone cold until the CODIS match hit on Jones.
Then there were two DNA hits in New Orleans. One was for the case of woman, who agreed to be called “Rachel,” who was visiting New Orleans for Jazz Fest in May 2003 when she reported that a man offered her a ride, then her drove to a secluded area and assaulted her.
"She was able to describe exactly what had happened to her six years later," Thrumston said.
Perhaps the most compelling evidence against Jones was a composite sketch “Rachel” made with New Orleans police of the man who raped her.
"It looked almost identical to what Michael Lee Jones looked [like] in the courtroom," said Thrumston.
Lorraine Gautreaux, the victim in the second New Orleans case, also had a similar story. Gautreaux told police she had been raped in June 2003 by a man who had offered her a ride.
“I [was] walking down the street, when he snatched me up and he put me in his car. He took me somewhere around City Park in New Orleans,” Gautreaux said. “He had me pinned to where I couldn’t even move… At one point he put a knife to my throat, told me if I’d go to the police, he would find me again one day and kill me…. I was scared to death.”
Gautreaux said she also believed “he had done this before” based on his demeanor: “He was calm, cool and collected, he never raised his voice… ‘cause he knew exactly what he was doing.”
Both New Orleans cases had sat unsolved for years until the CODIS hits.
In July 2008, as Jones’ Florida prison sentence for the Budnytska’s case was coming to an end, he was extradited to Colorado Springs to stand trial for attacking Roessler.
Roesseler died from natural causes unrelated to her rape before she had a chance to testify against Jones by the time he went to trial in 2009, so prosecutors called on Budnytska and the New Orleans to serve as witnesses.
Jones pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in the Colorado case. At trial, the defense tried to argue the sex with Roessler was consensual, but with DNA hits from multiple women all claiming rape, the jury didn't buy it.
"Within a couple hours, the jury came back and said he's guilty," Thrumston recalled.
Jones was sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for the attack on Roessler.
"I feel happy," Budnytska said of Jones' sentence. "The criminal is where he's supposed to be, and he is never gonna hurt nobody in the future."
Friday, April 05, 2019
PREMIER IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITY FUNDS SPEAKERS WHO CALL FOR THE EUTHANASIA OF ISRAEL
Harvard Votes to Fund Israeli Apartheid Week
By David Lazarus
Israel Today
April 4, 2019
The Palestine Solidarity Committee cheered a decision by Harvard University to fund a week of events accusing Israel of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Jewish students on campus were appalled that the Ivy League school would endorse speakers invited to the event who support terrorism and boycotts against Israel, the Harvard Crimson reported.
The headliner of the week-long event is Omar Barghouti, founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement who is a radical anti-Zionist and outspoken Palestinian who has said that he supports the euthanasia of Zionism.
The bill to fund the event at Harvard, which started Saturday and runs until Thursday, passed by a vote of 21-13-4. The money to run the anti-Zionist propaganda campaign will come from a grant earmarked to address “race relations,” according to the Harvard Crimson. How absurd that funds would be used in support of a “relations” activity that is polarizing in the extreme and no more than a thinly-veiled antisemitic hate-fest.
Israeli Apartheid Week is a global anti-Israel campaign that brings lectures, film screenings, cultural performances and other events to college campuses around the world to “expose Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime,” according to their website. The Palestinian group that organizes the events equates life in Israel to South African apartheid, a deeply twisted and false narrative. Celebrity speakers participating in Israeli Apartheid Week at the Cambridge, Mass. campus include the extremist film producer Ahlam Muhtaseb, who made the ahistorical film 1948: Creation and Catastrophe. This movie develops the antisemitic trope that Jews invaded the Arab ancestral homeland in a fashion akin to Western imperialism, while avoiding any mention of the 3,000-year history of Jews in Israel. The theme for this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week is "Stop Arming Colonialism.”
One Harvard student sarcastically commented: “The KKK, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Muslim Brotherhood, Louis Farrakhan, David Duke, ISIS, al Qaeda, the Mullahs of Iran, neo-Nazis, David Corbyn, tiki torch marchers and any anti-Jewish bigots not already mentioned above thank the Harvard Council and the Palestine Solidarity Committee for siding with Hamas, the PLO/PA and Hezbollah in their efforts to eliminate Israel.”
Another scoffed at the decision and suggested, “If they're going to be fair, Harvard should fund the other side's Take A Terrorist/Jihadi To Lunch Week.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Being Jewish, this is hard for me to swallow. The pro-Palestinian and BDS movements have a strong foothold in most of our leading universities, but with the exception of Harvard, I have not heard that any of them fund speakers that call for the obliteration of Israel.
I wonder if any of the 21 members of the university's Undergraduate Council who voted to fund this event were Jewish?
By David Lazarus
Israel Today
April 4, 2019
The Palestine Solidarity Committee cheered a decision by Harvard University to fund a week of events accusing Israel of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Jewish students on campus were appalled that the Ivy League school would endorse speakers invited to the event who support terrorism and boycotts against Israel, the Harvard Crimson reported.
The headliner of the week-long event is Omar Barghouti, founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement who is a radical anti-Zionist and outspoken Palestinian who has said that he supports the euthanasia of Zionism.
The bill to fund the event at Harvard, which started Saturday and runs until Thursday, passed by a vote of 21-13-4. The money to run the anti-Zionist propaganda campaign will come from a grant earmarked to address “race relations,” according to the Harvard Crimson. How absurd that funds would be used in support of a “relations” activity that is polarizing in the extreme and no more than a thinly-veiled antisemitic hate-fest.
Israeli Apartheid Week is a global anti-Israel campaign that brings lectures, film screenings, cultural performances and other events to college campuses around the world to “expose Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime,” according to their website. The Palestinian group that organizes the events equates life in Israel to South African apartheid, a deeply twisted and false narrative. Celebrity speakers participating in Israeli Apartheid Week at the Cambridge, Mass. campus include the extremist film producer Ahlam Muhtaseb, who made the ahistorical film 1948: Creation and Catastrophe. This movie develops the antisemitic trope that Jews invaded the Arab ancestral homeland in a fashion akin to Western imperialism, while avoiding any mention of the 3,000-year history of Jews in Israel. The theme for this year’s Israeli Apartheid Week is "Stop Arming Colonialism.”
One Harvard student sarcastically commented: “The KKK, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Muslim Brotherhood, Louis Farrakhan, David Duke, ISIS, al Qaeda, the Mullahs of Iran, neo-Nazis, David Corbyn, tiki torch marchers and any anti-Jewish bigots not already mentioned above thank the Harvard Council and the Palestine Solidarity Committee for siding with Hamas, the PLO/PA and Hezbollah in their efforts to eliminate Israel.”
Another scoffed at the decision and suggested, “If they're going to be fair, Harvard should fund the other side's Take A Terrorist/Jihadi To Lunch Week.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Being Jewish, this is hard for me to swallow. The pro-Palestinian and BDS movements have a strong foothold in most of our leading universities, but with the exception of Harvard, I have not heard that any of them fund speakers that call for the obliteration of Israel.
I wonder if any of the 21 members of the university's Undergraduate Council who voted to fund this event were Jewish?
NICE TRY, ASSHOLE
'Teenager' found wandering the streets in Kentucky, claiming to be missing Timmothy Pitzen, 14, is revealed to be a 23-YEAR-OLD MAN after FBI conducted DNA tests
Daily Mail
April 4, 2019
Police have revealed that a 'boy' claiming to missing child Timmoty Pitzen is actually a 24-year-old man called Brian Rini.
Rini was found wandering the streets, and told officials that he had escaped kidnappers who had been holding him for seven years.
Law enforcement carried out DNA, while Pitzen's family said they were 'cautiously hopeful' that their relative had finally been found.
Pitzen vanished seven years ago, after his mother committed suicide in a motel leaving a note saying her son was safe but would never be found.
The FBI said investigators continued to establish the Cincinnati boy's real identity.
Daily Mail
April 4, 2019
Police have revealed that a 'boy' claiming to missing child Timmoty Pitzen is actually a 24-year-old man called Brian Rini.
Rini was found wandering the streets, and told officials that he had escaped kidnappers who had been holding him for seven years.
Law enforcement carried out DNA, while Pitzen's family said they were 'cautiously hopeful' that their relative had finally been found.
Pitzen vanished seven years ago, after his mother committed suicide in a motel leaving a note saying her son was safe but would never be found.
The FBI said investigators continued to establish the Cincinnati boy's real identity.
NETANYAHU COLLUDED WITH RUSSIA TO RECOVER THE REMAINS OF ISRAELI SOLDIER KILLED IN1982
PM thanks Putin for finding remains of missing IDF soldier
Israel Hayom
April 4, 2019
A day after the Israel Defense Forces announced it had recovered remains of Zachary (Zechariah) Baumel, who went missing in a 1982 battle in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for making it possible.
Speaking at the Kremlin alongside Putin, Netanyahu said Israel “thanks you for taking care of this matter by finding the remains, what you did will not be forgotten by our people.”
Netanyahu said that Baumel’s family members were overwhelmed with emotion after they were informed his remains were found.
“I told them that Russian troops risked their lives to search for his remains and they were left speechless,” Netanyahu said.
Putin responded that “this was not easy for our soldiers.”
Baumel, who immigrated to Israel with his parents from New York in 1970, was 21 when he fought in Israel’s Operation Peace for the Galilee in Lebanon and was declared missing in action (MIA) along with two other soldiers in the Battle of Sultan Yaaqub, in which Israel suffered heavy casualties.
Baumel’s remains were flown to Israel by El Al Israel Airlines several days ago.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to say how or where the body of Baumel, a tank crewman and sergeant, was recovered in what was described as an intelligence operation.
Israel Hayom
April 4, 2019
A day after the Israel Defense Forces announced it had recovered remains of Zachary (Zechariah) Baumel, who went missing in a 1982 battle in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for making it possible.
Speaking at the Kremlin alongside Putin, Netanyahu said Israel “thanks you for taking care of this matter by finding the remains, what you did will not be forgotten by our people.”
Netanyahu said that Baumel’s family members were overwhelmed with emotion after they were informed his remains were found.
“I told them that Russian troops risked their lives to search for his remains and they were left speechless,” Netanyahu said.
Putin responded that “this was not easy for our soldiers.”
Baumel, who immigrated to Israel with his parents from New York in 1970, was 21 when he fought in Israel’s Operation Peace for the Galilee in Lebanon and was declared missing in action (MIA) along with two other soldiers in the Battle of Sultan Yaaqub, in which Israel suffered heavy casualties.
Baumel’s remains were flown to Israel by El Al Israel Airlines several days ago.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to say how or where the body of Baumel, a tank crewman and sergeant, was recovered in what was described as an intelligence operation.
COPS DID A PISS POOR JOB OPPOSING BILL TO LIMIT ARRESTS FOR CLASS-C MISDEMEANORS
Vetting police arguments against limiting Class-C misdemeanor arrests
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
April 2, 2019
In preparation for tomorrow's hearing on HB 482 (Thompson) limiting Class C misdemeanor arrests Texas House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, I just watched last session's hearing on Chairwoman Senfronia Thompson's similar bill, which passed out of that committee on a 7-1 vote.
A few thoughts:
First, on defining the problem: the ship has sailed on the idea that Class C misdemeanor arrests are rare or only used in extraordinary circumstances. They happen tens of thousands of times around the state every year. and are a significant contributor to local county jail costs. No need for that debate again. The problem is much bigger than even the most vocal critics estimated.
Second, nobody has "Spidey Sense": Almost all the police testimony involved war stories of times when an officer had no evidence of a crime but sensed something was wrong and arrested a serious criminal on a hunch. The problem is, nobody knows how many times officers guess wrong, and the likelihood is, it's a lot. After all, every time a defendant is booked on Class C charges, it means the officer was unsuccessful at finding evidence of anything more serious. And that happens tens of thousands of times per year.
In the comic books, Peter Parker may have a "Spidey Sense" that lets him detect danger. But police officers aren't superheroes who've been bitten by radioactive spiders. And they are constrained by legal doctrines like "probable cause" and "reasonable suspicion" that do not concern masked comic-book vigilantes.
Third, a police officer opposing the bill outlined a scenario where a suspect left a drug buy and police wanted to arrest them with the evidence, but chose to arrest them for a Class C misdemeanor traffic violation because they didn't want to "burn" their confidential informant.
Grits had so many questions on this one! So you're not going to mention the confidential informant or the undercover drug operation in the arrest report, even though you're going to charge the person with drug possession? I am not a lawyer, but wasn't this officer in essence admitting to using Class C misdemeanor arrests to get around the Michael Morton Act and Brady v. Maryland? Nobody asked, but the whole scenario didn't sound kosher.
Fourth, nearly everything specific that police named as a problem, like public intoxication or Class-C assault, are excepted in the committee substitute, which allows police to arrest for Class Cs if failing to do so would result in a continued breach of the peace.
Finally, the lobbyist for CLEAT repeated a phony re-imagining of the Timothy McVeigh story to argue against the bill. Grits has written about this before. McVeigh was arrested because he informed the Oklahoma state trooper who pulled him over that he was carrying an illegal handgun. That's what he was arrested for, not a fine-only traffic offense. The trooper has said so publicly many times.
None of that sounded too convincing, frankly, which I suppose is why the bill passed out of committee two years ago by a 7-1 margin, dying on the General State Calendar on the final day awaiting a House floor vote. Now that the legislation has returned with new life, having been endorsed by both state political party platforms after being stripped out of the Sandra Bland Act in 2017, here's hoping the committee looks favorably on Rep. Thompson's bill once again. It's time is now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The lame arguments put forth by the cops are an embarrassment to law enforcement.
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
April 2, 2019
In preparation for tomorrow's hearing on HB 482 (Thompson) limiting Class C misdemeanor arrests Texas House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, I just watched last session's hearing on Chairwoman Senfronia Thompson's similar bill, which passed out of that committee on a 7-1 vote.
A few thoughts:
First, on defining the problem: the ship has sailed on the idea that Class C misdemeanor arrests are rare or only used in extraordinary circumstances. They happen tens of thousands of times around the state every year. and are a significant contributor to local county jail costs. No need for that debate again. The problem is much bigger than even the most vocal critics estimated.
Second, nobody has "Spidey Sense": Almost all the police testimony involved war stories of times when an officer had no evidence of a crime but sensed something was wrong and arrested a serious criminal on a hunch. The problem is, nobody knows how many times officers guess wrong, and the likelihood is, it's a lot. After all, every time a defendant is booked on Class C charges, it means the officer was unsuccessful at finding evidence of anything more serious. And that happens tens of thousands of times per year.
In the comic books, Peter Parker may have a "Spidey Sense" that lets him detect danger. But police officers aren't superheroes who've been bitten by radioactive spiders. And they are constrained by legal doctrines like "probable cause" and "reasonable suspicion" that do not concern masked comic-book vigilantes.
Third, a police officer opposing the bill outlined a scenario where a suspect left a drug buy and police wanted to arrest them with the evidence, but chose to arrest them for a Class C misdemeanor traffic violation because they didn't want to "burn" their confidential informant.
Grits had so many questions on this one! So you're not going to mention the confidential informant or the undercover drug operation in the arrest report, even though you're going to charge the person with drug possession? I am not a lawyer, but wasn't this officer in essence admitting to using Class C misdemeanor arrests to get around the Michael Morton Act and Brady v. Maryland? Nobody asked, but the whole scenario didn't sound kosher.
Fourth, nearly everything specific that police named as a problem, like public intoxication or Class-C assault, are excepted in the committee substitute, which allows police to arrest for Class Cs if failing to do so would result in a continued breach of the peace.
Finally, the lobbyist for CLEAT repeated a phony re-imagining of the Timothy McVeigh story to argue against the bill. Grits has written about this before. McVeigh was arrested because he informed the Oklahoma state trooper who pulled him over that he was carrying an illegal handgun. That's what he was arrested for, not a fine-only traffic offense. The trooper has said so publicly many times.
None of that sounded too convincing, frankly, which I suppose is why the bill passed out of committee two years ago by a 7-1 margin, dying on the General State Calendar on the final day awaiting a House floor vote. Now that the legislation has returned with new life, having been endorsed by both state political party platforms after being stripped out of the Sandra Bland Act in 2017, here's hoping the committee looks favorably on Rep. Thompson's bill once again. It's time is now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The lame arguments put forth by the cops are an embarrassment to law enforcement.
Thursday, April 04, 2019
PROSECUTORS PLAYING HARDBALL (SO FAR) IN ADMISSIONS SCANDAL
by Bob Walsh
At this stage of the game federal prosecutors are asserting that they want some time in the slammer for everybody involved in the admissions cheating scandal.
The charges currently are for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. They could get 20 years. Realistically they are looking at 6-20 months. Or at least semi-realistically. Does anybody really think that Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman are going to club fed? I grant you it is possible, even deserving, but.......
I understand one of Laughlin's ungrateful daughters has already unloaded on her and daddy, claiming that she didn't want to go to college anyway and now she has lost all of her cushy endorsement deals.
Most of the parents are expected to make deals by the middle of this month. There are 33 parents charged, as well as assorted participants on the other side of the equation.
At this stage of the game federal prosecutors are asserting that they want some time in the slammer for everybody involved in the admissions cheating scandal.
The charges currently are for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. They could get 20 years. Realistically they are looking at 6-20 months. Or at least semi-realistically. Does anybody really think that Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman are going to club fed? I grant you it is possible, even deserving, but.......
I understand one of Laughlin's ungrateful daughters has already unloaded on her and daddy, claiming that she didn't want to go to college anyway and now she has lost all of her cushy endorsement deals.
Most of the parents are expected to make deals by the middle of this month. There are 33 parents charged, as well as assorted participants on the other side of the equation.
SO, IS BERNIE TRYING TO BURN DOWN JOE BITE-ME ?
by Bob Walsh
Right now Joe Bite-Me is the only person polling ahead of Crazy Bernie. Even though he isn't formally in the race yet. Now FOUR women have come forward to complain that Joe is more than a little bit too hand-on. He is, among other things, a hair sniffer and a nose rubber.
Is this sexual, is it a power play, or is it just Joe being Joe? Damned if I know. I do know that Crazy Bernie supporters would really like to see him president, they really think he can beat Trump and they believe (probably correctly) the best way for Bernie to edge out Joe is to make sure that Joe never jumps into the flaming dumpster that is the Democrap party nomination race.
Damn, the next 20 months are going to be amusing.
__________
Three MORE women accuse Joe Biden of touching them inappropriately: Number of allegations against the former Vice President rises to SEVEN just hours after he promised to be more mindful of personal space
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
Three more women have come forward claiming they were touched inappropriately by former Vice President Joe Biden soon after he promised to be 'much more mindful' of respecting personal space.
The women, Vail Kohnert-Yount, Sofie Karasek and Ally Coll, told the Washington Post late Wednesday about instances where they were made to feel uncomfortable when touched by Biden. It brings the total number of women who have spoken out publicly in recent days to seven.
Just hours before the latest allegations surfaced, Biden acknowledged in a Twitter video that his tendency toward physical displays of affection and encouragement has made some women uncomfortable.
__________
Biden breaks his silence on Creepy Joe scandal to admit he HAS made women 'uncomfortable' and promises to respect 'personal space' but does NOT apologize for 'connecting with people'
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
'I want to talk about gestures of support and encouragement that I've made to some women and some men and I've made them uncomfortable,' he said in a video posted on Twitter.
'I always try to be in my career, always tried to make a human connection. That's my responsibility, I think. I shake hands, I hug people. I grab men and women by the shoulders and say you can do this, whether they're women, men, young, old. It's the way I've always been and tried to show that I care about them and I'm listening,' he said.
__________
'Get close enough to smell my hair and you may lose some teeth': Republican senator blasts Joe Biden over inappropriate touching allegations and says 'this is no country for creepy old men'
Daily Mail
April 4, 2019
'I've said this before, just because you're accused of something doesn't mean you're guilty of it,' John Kennedy of Louisiana said in remarks to reporters on Tuesday in the Senate office building.
'This is America and you do have a right to due process. On the other hand, this is no country for creepy old men,' he continued. 'It needs to stop,' Kennedy said.
'Do I think it's inappropriate to smell someone's hair? Yes! I mean, duh. You know, if somebody gets close enough to smell my hair, they may, you know, get to smell my hair but they may lose some teeth.'
Right now Joe Bite-Me is the only person polling ahead of Crazy Bernie. Even though he isn't formally in the race yet. Now FOUR women have come forward to complain that Joe is more than a little bit too hand-on. He is, among other things, a hair sniffer and a nose rubber.
Is this sexual, is it a power play, or is it just Joe being Joe? Damned if I know. I do know that Crazy Bernie supporters would really like to see him president, they really think he can beat Trump and they believe (probably correctly) the best way for Bernie to edge out Joe is to make sure that Joe never jumps into the flaming dumpster that is the Democrap party nomination race.
Damn, the next 20 months are going to be amusing.
__________
Three MORE women accuse Joe Biden of touching them inappropriately: Number of allegations against the former Vice President rises to SEVEN just hours after he promised to be more mindful of personal space
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
Three more women have come forward claiming they were touched inappropriately by former Vice President Joe Biden soon after he promised to be 'much more mindful' of respecting personal space.
The women, Vail Kohnert-Yount, Sofie Karasek and Ally Coll, told the Washington Post late Wednesday about instances where they were made to feel uncomfortable when touched by Biden. It brings the total number of women who have spoken out publicly in recent days to seven.
Just hours before the latest allegations surfaced, Biden acknowledged in a Twitter video that his tendency toward physical displays of affection and encouragement has made some women uncomfortable.
__________
Biden breaks his silence on Creepy Joe scandal to admit he HAS made women 'uncomfortable' and promises to respect 'personal space' but does NOT apologize for 'connecting with people'
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
'I want to talk about gestures of support and encouragement that I've made to some women and some men and I've made them uncomfortable,' he said in a video posted on Twitter.
'I always try to be in my career, always tried to make a human connection. That's my responsibility, I think. I shake hands, I hug people. I grab men and women by the shoulders and say you can do this, whether they're women, men, young, old. It's the way I've always been and tried to show that I care about them and I'm listening,' he said.
__________
'Get close enough to smell my hair and you may lose some teeth': Republican senator blasts Joe Biden over inappropriate touching allegations and says 'this is no country for creepy old men'
Daily Mail
April 4, 2019
'I've said this before, just because you're accused of something doesn't mean you're guilty of it,' John Kennedy of Louisiana said in remarks to reporters on Tuesday in the Senate office building.
'This is America and you do have a right to due process. On the other hand, this is no country for creepy old men,' he continued. 'It needs to stop,' Kennedy said.
'Do I think it's inappropriate to smell someone's hair? Yes! I mean, duh. You know, if somebody gets close enough to smell my hair, they may, you know, get to smell my hair but they may lose some teeth.'
HONEST TO GOD SHOOTOUT IN STOCKTON
by Bob Walsh
This happened just around the corner and down the block from my humble abode, at a drug store. It wasn't the Earps and the Clantons, but it wasn't for lack of trying. One clerk whipped out his gat and shot it out with two armed robbers. The robbers fled. Nobody was injured. The cops are investigating.
I have only been in this particular store I think TWICE in the 30-odd years I have lived here. It looks like a hole and I don't like the people who hang out in the area. Now there is a CVS on the same corner, CLOSER to me than this establishment so if for some reason I ever need a quicky script filled or a roll of 2" gauze bandage that would be where I would go. Nevertheless it is worthy of note.
This happened just around the corner and down the block from my humble abode, at a drug store. It wasn't the Earps and the Clantons, but it wasn't for lack of trying. One clerk whipped out his gat and shot it out with two armed robbers. The robbers fled. Nobody was injured. The cops are investigating.
I have only been in this particular store I think TWICE in the 30-odd years I have lived here. It looks like a hole and I don't like the people who hang out in the area. Now there is a CVS on the same corner, CLOSER to me than this establishment so if for some reason I ever need a quicky script filled or a roll of 2" gauze bandage that would be where I would go. Nevertheless it is worthy of note.
GAY BLACK WOMAN ELECTED MAYOR OF CHICAGO
by Bob Walsh
Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, has been elected mayor of Chicago. She defeated another black woman, long-time local politician Toni Preckwinkle, for the gig. She begins her term May 20th.
Her claimed main program is to clean up the corruption in Chicago. Lots of luck there. The incident that triggered her candidacy was the shooting of Laquan McDonald by a white Chicago P D officer.
Her opposition kept telling this voters "This is not an entry level job." Lightfoot responded that she had no desire to climb the ladder of a corrupt political party. Obviously the voters agreed. Now lets see if she can actually pull it off.
Remember what is often said about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? Personally I liked Al Capone's view on things better. He said, "A pleasant attitude and a gun will get you more than a pleasant attitude by itself." Good intentions are wonderful, power and the willingness and ability to use it effectively will be necessary to do the job. Time will tell.
Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, has been elected mayor of Chicago. She defeated another black woman, long-time local politician Toni Preckwinkle, for the gig. She begins her term May 20th.
Her claimed main program is to clean up the corruption in Chicago. Lots of luck there. The incident that triggered her candidacy was the shooting of Laquan McDonald by a white Chicago P D officer.
Her opposition kept telling this voters "This is not an entry level job." Lightfoot responded that she had no desire to climb the ladder of a corrupt political party. Obviously the voters agreed. Now lets see if she can actually pull it off.
Remember what is often said about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? Personally I liked Al Capone's view on things better. He said, "A pleasant attitude and a gun will get you more than a pleasant attitude by itself." Good intentions are wonderful, power and the willingness and ability to use it effectively will be necessary to do the job. Time will tell.
WHEN THE LAWSUITS ARE OVER, OUTLAW BIKERS WILL OWN WACO AND MCLENNAN COUNTY
Waco biker shooting: Prosecutors drop all charges in deadly shootout at Twin Peaks restaurant
Associaed Press
April 3, 2019
WACO, Texas — No one will be convicted or otherwise held accountable for the 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco restaurant parking lot that left nine people dead and at least 20 injured, prosecutors in Central Texas said Tuesday.
In a statement announcing all charges will be dropped in the deadliest biker shooting in U.S. history, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said any further effort to prosecute the case would be a "waste of time, effort and resources."
"In my opinion, had this action been taken in a timely manner, it would have, and should have, resulted in numerous convictions and prison sentences against many of those who participated in the Twin Peaks brawl," Johnson said. "Over the next three years the prior district attorney failed to take that action, for reasons that I do not know to this day."
The shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015, involved rival biker gangs, the Bandidos and Cossacks, and occurred as bikers from various groups were gathering to talk over matters of concern. Fights and gunfire broke out. Waco police officers monitoring the gathering also fired on the bikers, killing at least two.
Surveillance footage showed many bikers running from the scene and ducking for cover after gunshots rang out. A smaller number could be seen pointing and firing weapons, slinging a chain or participating in fistfights. Law enforcement officers recovered dozens of firearms, knives and other weapons from the restaurant and adjacent parking lot, many of which officers organized indiscriminately into piles on the pavement and in the back of a police vehicle, dash-cam video showed.
Law enforcement officials took the extraordinary step of arresting 177 bikers after the shooting, then charged 155 of them with engaging in organized criminal activity. Many were held on a $1 million bond.
Former District Attorney Abel Reyna ultimately dropped charges against all but 24 and re-indicted them on riot charges. Those were the cases that came to an end Tuesday.
Only one case was prosecuted in court and that ended in a mistrial.
More than 100 bikers have filed civil rights lawsuits alleging McLennan County, the city and others violated the plaintiffs' civil rights by arresting them without probable cause after the shooting.
"It's a travesty that so many people were rounded up and then investigated, instead of vice versa," Mark Snodgrass, president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said Tuesday. "A lot of these people's lives were put on hold for four years."
In a statement, Reyna said he disagrees "with the overall result as well as several statements and accusations within Mr. Johnson's press release; however, it is solely his decision on how to proceed with any case in the District Attorney's Office."
Associaed Press
April 3, 2019
WACO, Texas — No one will be convicted or otherwise held accountable for the 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco restaurant parking lot that left nine people dead and at least 20 injured, prosecutors in Central Texas said Tuesday.
In a statement announcing all charges will be dropped in the deadliest biker shooting in U.S. history, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said any further effort to prosecute the case would be a "waste of time, effort and resources."
"In my opinion, had this action been taken in a timely manner, it would have, and should have, resulted in numerous convictions and prison sentences against many of those who participated in the Twin Peaks brawl," Johnson said. "Over the next three years the prior district attorney failed to take that action, for reasons that I do not know to this day."
The shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015, involved rival biker gangs, the Bandidos and Cossacks, and occurred as bikers from various groups were gathering to talk over matters of concern. Fights and gunfire broke out. Waco police officers monitoring the gathering also fired on the bikers, killing at least two.
Surveillance footage showed many bikers running from the scene and ducking for cover after gunshots rang out. A smaller number could be seen pointing and firing weapons, slinging a chain or participating in fistfights. Law enforcement officers recovered dozens of firearms, knives and other weapons from the restaurant and adjacent parking lot, many of which officers organized indiscriminately into piles on the pavement and in the back of a police vehicle, dash-cam video showed.
Law enforcement officials took the extraordinary step of arresting 177 bikers after the shooting, then charged 155 of them with engaging in organized criminal activity. Many were held on a $1 million bond.
Former District Attorney Abel Reyna ultimately dropped charges against all but 24 and re-indicted them on riot charges. Those were the cases that came to an end Tuesday.
Only one case was prosecuted in court and that ended in a mistrial.
More than 100 bikers have filed civil rights lawsuits alleging McLennan County, the city and others violated the plaintiffs' civil rights by arresting them without probable cause after the shooting.
"It's a travesty that so many people were rounded up and then investigated, instead of vice versa," Mark Snodgrass, president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said Tuesday. "A lot of these people's lives were put on hold for four years."
In a statement, Reyna said he disagrees "with the overall result as well as several statements and accusations within Mr. Johnson's press release; however, it is solely his decision on how to proceed with any case in the District Attorney's Office."
NY DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE SCORES ANOTHER VICTORY IN THE WAR ON DRUGS BY SEIZING 77 POUNDS OF HEROIN MIXED WITH FENTANYL IN HARLEM
Drug packages featuring a photo of Pablo Escobar’s face seized in $20M Harlem bust
By Andrew Denney
New York Post
April 1, 2019
Up to $20 million in heroin and fentanyl was seized from a Harlem apartment last week — including some in packages paying homage to one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins.
Some of the illicit drugs bore the labels “Pablo” and “Escobar’’ and had a photo of the infamous late Colombian drug lord on them, authorities said Monday.
“This organization used a photo of Pablo Escobar, who was known as the King of Cocaine, to mark their product. Albeit, this seizure was not cocaine, it shows a sign of the times, that heroin/fentanyl are the traffickers most profitable and plentiful product and the public’s deadliest threat,’’ DEA Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan said in a statement.
Two dealers were rounded up amid the massive haul — estimated at being worth between $10 million and $20 million, depending on its yet-undetermined potency — at 630 Lenox Ave. near West 141st Street and the Harlem River Drive.
Ariel Hernandez was arrested and charged in Manhattan Criminal Court with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; Luisuidyn Garcia Mena was arrested and charged with conspiracy in the second degree and false personation.
Members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations carried out the raid as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking ring, officials said.
Authorities also found $200,000 in cash at the scene.
By Andrew Denney
New York Post
April 1, 2019
Up to $20 million in heroin and fentanyl was seized from a Harlem apartment last week — including some in packages paying homage to one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins.
Some of the illicit drugs bore the labels “Pablo” and “Escobar’’ and had a photo of the infamous late Colombian drug lord on them, authorities said Monday.
“This organization used a photo of Pablo Escobar, who was known as the King of Cocaine, to mark their product. Albeit, this seizure was not cocaine, it shows a sign of the times, that heroin/fentanyl are the traffickers most profitable and plentiful product and the public’s deadliest threat,’’ DEA Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan said in a statement.
Two dealers were rounded up amid the massive haul — estimated at being worth between $10 million and $20 million, depending on its yet-undetermined potency — at 630 Lenox Ave. near West 141st Street and the Harlem River Drive.
Ariel Hernandez was arrested and charged in Manhattan Criminal Court with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; Luisuidyn Garcia Mena was arrested and charged with conspiracy in the second degree and false personation.
Members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations carried out the raid as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking ring, officials said.
Authorities also found $200,000 in cash at the scene.
WITH ELECTIONS 2 WEEKS AWAY, NETANYAHU LIKE TRUMP IS ACCUSED OF COLLUSION WITH THE RUSSIANS
Although he is routinely blasted by America’s liberal Jews as being bent on avoiding peace with the Palestinians, Netanyahu should be recognized as the most skillful diplomat to ever lead Israel
By Jonathan S. Tobin
Israel Hayom
April 3, 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never hesitated to get into the trenches and fight dirty with his political life on the line. But foreign policy, not retail politics, remains his strong suit.
In an announcement that must have shocked his opponents, and in particular Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, whose chances of being able to form a governing coalition appear to be shrinking along with the once-healthy lead he had over the Likud, the government announced Netanyahu would be traveling to Moscow for a brief working meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin just five days before Israelis go to the polls.
The initial reaction to the news from some on the left was to claim that Putin was intervening in the election. But while those trying to argue that the prime minister is a puppet of the Russian autocrat are peddling conspiracy theories, those who think Putin would prefer Netanyahu remain in office are not wrong.
While there is certainly much for Netanyahu and Putin to talk about, the timing of the meeting is politically motivated. The Russians are providing the prime minister with an opportunity to showcase his command of the world stage at a moment when that can only help him with the voters. The only plausible explanation for this is that Putin wants to do Netanyahu a favor.
But the reason for this preference doesn't have anything to do with crackpot theories that hold that Netanyahu is part of an international league of authoritarians in which he and U.S. President Donald Trump, operating under the supervision of Putin, are plotting to undermine democracy. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that the situation in Syria is so dangerous that the Russians are concerned by the possibility of Israeli policy being directed by an inexperienced leader.
In Netanyahu, the Russians have an adversary who advocates for policies with which they don't agree – such as trying to force Putin's Iranian allies out of Syria, and insisting Israel will carry out strikes on Syrian territory aimed at stopping both Tehran and its Hezbollah auxiliaries from accumulating too much power – but whom they nevertheless trust won't go too far. The Russians worry Gantz might overreact in a crisis because of the need to answer criticism from those who under a Blue and White government would be right-wing members of the opposition but under Netanyahu, would be junior coalition partners.
In contrast to the close relations that Netanyahu has with Trump, whose actions have also made it abundantly clear he favors the prime minister's re-election, Putin and Israel share only one common goal or interest with Israel except one: avoiding an escalation in Syria. With so much invested there in terms of troop deployments and prestige, the stakes are so high that the Russians believe they are better off dealing with the tough customer they know than having to worry about a diplomatic novice, even one as thoroughly versed in security issues as former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gantz. Above all, Putin has come to trust in Netanyahu's innate caution when it comes to deploying Israel's considerable military strength.
Rather than being an example of collusion with Russia – a specious charge that some of those who resent the American efforts to bolster Netanyahu have also raised with respect to current U.S. foreign policy – the fact that both Washington and Moscow are in agreement about their desired outcome in the April 9 elections says a lot more about Netanyahu's deft handling of Israel's foreign policy than anything else.
Although he is routinely blasted in liberal American circles as a hard-liner bent only on avoiding peace with the Palestinians, Netanyahu should be acknowledged as the most skillful diplomat to ever lead his country.
One of the most underreported stories in the past 10 years has been the progress made on Netanyahu's watch with respect to foiling efforts to isolate Israel. The prime minister has helped his country achieve breakthroughs with Third World nations in Africa, as well as in Eastern Europe and South America. His achievements also include creating close working relations with Arab nations who were virulent enemies, but now look to the Jewish state as an ally against Iran and Islamist terror groups – something that cannot be underestimated.
A number of these developments are the result of actions that were beyond Israel's power to control, such as then-U.S. President Barack Obama's appeasement of Iran or the Arab Spring protests in 2011 that led to chaos and war in Syria. But there is no doubt that Netanyahu took advantage of the opportunities offered to Israel by events that have otherwise presented a clear threat to the country's security.
Many still focus on Netanyahu's terrible relationship with Obama and point to his decision to address U.S. Congress about the dangers of the nuclear deal with Iran at the invitation of the Republicans. But while that speech did more harm than good in terms of persuading Congress to reject the agreement, the breakdown of relations with America during the last administration was the fault of Obama, not Netanyahu's efforts to push back against a president who wanted more daylight between the two allies and thought he had to "save Israel from itself."
It remains to be seen what either Trump or Putin will ask something in return for these favors if Netanyahu wins re-election. But the prime minister trusts in his ability to talk his way out of those dilemmas once he gets there.
After so many foreign efforts to oust him in past elections, Netanyahu welcomes the international support. He has done his best to cultivate the myth that he is his country's indispensable man, and his ability to get Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights and Putin to acquiesce to military strikes in Syria reinforce that somewhat fanciful claim. It won't decide Israel's election, but both Washington and Moscow prefer Netanyahu's experience to Gantz's learning curve.
Netanyahu might not be the only person who can cope with dangerous foes on Israel's borders and a not-so-friendly power like Russia firmly ensconced in Syria. Still, there's no denying the value of having someone that both Washington and Moscow trust leading the Jewish state.
By Jonathan S. Tobin
Israel Hayom
April 3, 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never hesitated to get into the trenches and fight dirty with his political life on the line. But foreign policy, not retail politics, remains his strong suit.
In an announcement that must have shocked his opponents, and in particular Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, whose chances of being able to form a governing coalition appear to be shrinking along with the once-healthy lead he had over the Likud, the government announced Netanyahu would be traveling to Moscow for a brief working meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin just five days before Israelis go to the polls.
The initial reaction to the news from some on the left was to claim that Putin was intervening in the election. But while those trying to argue that the prime minister is a puppet of the Russian autocrat are peddling conspiracy theories, those who think Putin would prefer Netanyahu remain in office are not wrong.
While there is certainly much for Netanyahu and Putin to talk about, the timing of the meeting is politically motivated. The Russians are providing the prime minister with an opportunity to showcase his command of the world stage at a moment when that can only help him with the voters. The only plausible explanation for this is that Putin wants to do Netanyahu a favor.
But the reason for this preference doesn't have anything to do with crackpot theories that hold that Netanyahu is part of an international league of authoritarians in which he and U.S. President Donald Trump, operating under the supervision of Putin, are plotting to undermine democracy. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that the situation in Syria is so dangerous that the Russians are concerned by the possibility of Israeli policy being directed by an inexperienced leader.
In Netanyahu, the Russians have an adversary who advocates for policies with which they don't agree – such as trying to force Putin's Iranian allies out of Syria, and insisting Israel will carry out strikes on Syrian territory aimed at stopping both Tehran and its Hezbollah auxiliaries from accumulating too much power – but whom they nevertheless trust won't go too far. The Russians worry Gantz might overreact in a crisis because of the need to answer criticism from those who under a Blue and White government would be right-wing members of the opposition but under Netanyahu, would be junior coalition partners.
In contrast to the close relations that Netanyahu has with Trump, whose actions have also made it abundantly clear he favors the prime minister's re-election, Putin and Israel share only one common goal or interest with Israel except one: avoiding an escalation in Syria. With so much invested there in terms of troop deployments and prestige, the stakes are so high that the Russians believe they are better off dealing with the tough customer they know than having to worry about a diplomatic novice, even one as thoroughly versed in security issues as former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gantz. Above all, Putin has come to trust in Netanyahu's innate caution when it comes to deploying Israel's considerable military strength.
Rather than being an example of collusion with Russia – a specious charge that some of those who resent the American efforts to bolster Netanyahu have also raised with respect to current U.S. foreign policy – the fact that both Washington and Moscow are in agreement about their desired outcome in the April 9 elections says a lot more about Netanyahu's deft handling of Israel's foreign policy than anything else.
Although he is routinely blasted in liberal American circles as a hard-liner bent only on avoiding peace with the Palestinians, Netanyahu should be acknowledged as the most skillful diplomat to ever lead his country.
One of the most underreported stories in the past 10 years has been the progress made on Netanyahu's watch with respect to foiling efforts to isolate Israel. The prime minister has helped his country achieve breakthroughs with Third World nations in Africa, as well as in Eastern Europe and South America. His achievements also include creating close working relations with Arab nations who were virulent enemies, but now look to the Jewish state as an ally against Iran and Islamist terror groups – something that cannot be underestimated.
A number of these developments are the result of actions that were beyond Israel's power to control, such as then-U.S. President Barack Obama's appeasement of Iran or the Arab Spring protests in 2011 that led to chaos and war in Syria. But there is no doubt that Netanyahu took advantage of the opportunities offered to Israel by events that have otherwise presented a clear threat to the country's security.
Many still focus on Netanyahu's terrible relationship with Obama and point to his decision to address U.S. Congress about the dangers of the nuclear deal with Iran at the invitation of the Republicans. But while that speech did more harm than good in terms of persuading Congress to reject the agreement, the breakdown of relations with America during the last administration was the fault of Obama, not Netanyahu's efforts to push back against a president who wanted more daylight between the two allies and thought he had to "save Israel from itself."
It remains to be seen what either Trump or Putin will ask something in return for these favors if Netanyahu wins re-election. But the prime minister trusts in his ability to talk his way out of those dilemmas once he gets there.
After so many foreign efforts to oust him in past elections, Netanyahu welcomes the international support. He has done his best to cultivate the myth that he is his country's indispensable man, and his ability to get Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights and Putin to acquiesce to military strikes in Syria reinforce that somewhat fanciful claim. It won't decide Israel's election, but both Washington and Moscow prefer Netanyahu's experience to Gantz's learning curve.
Netanyahu might not be the only person who can cope with dangerous foes on Israel's borders and a not-so-friendly power like Russia firmly ensconced in Syria. Still, there's no denying the value of having someone that both Washington and Moscow trust leading the Jewish state.
HITLER SAID ‘I’M ENDING IT TODAY’, THEN KILLED HIMSELF IN HIS BUNKER
Diary of former close friend offers fascinating insight into last moments of the Fuhrer
By Jessica Green
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
Adolf Hitler's 'final words' before he killed himself in Berlin have allegedly been unearthed in the personal diary of the Nazi leader's pilot.
The journal of Lieutenant-general Hans Baur, one of Hitler's most trusted members of staff, offers rarely seen pictures of the Führer as well as an account of the dictator's last moments on April 30, 1945.
Brought together in his re-released memoirs titled 'I was Hitler's Pilot', the book details what it claims to be the Nazi leader's emotional last words to Baur.
The pilot said Hitler told him 'I'm ending it today' before killing himself moments later alongside his wife Eva Braun.
'Hitler came up to me and took both my hands in his', recalled Baur, who died in 1993 aged 96.
'"Baur, I want to say goodbye to you. The time has come. My generals have betrayed me; my soldiers don't want to go on and I can't go on."'
The pilot added: 'I tried to persuade him that there were still planes available, and that I could get him away to Japan or the Argentine, or to one of the Sheiks, who were all very friendly to him on account of his attitude to the Jews.
'"The war will end with the fall of Berlin," Hitler declared. "And I stand or fall with Berlin."'
The Führer then apparently said: 'A man must summon up courage enough to face the consequences - and therefore I'm ending it now. I know that tomorrow millions of people will curse me - that's fate.
'The Russians know perfectly well that I am here in this bunker, and I'm afraid they'll use gas shells. There are gas-locks here, I know, but can you rely on them?'
Finishing his speech to his friend, Hitler said: ‘In any case, I'm not - and I'm ending it today,’ according to the diary.
The Nazi leader was then said to have offered Baur a valuable painting as a gift for his 12 years of service before killing himself moments later alongside his wife Eva Braun.
Following his talk with Hitler, Baur was shot in his attempts to escape and lost his leg as a result. He then spent ten years in a Soviet prison where he was relentlessly tortured for information about Hitler.
Despite his key role in the Führer's inner circle, Baur claimed he was not involved in the politics of the Third Reich, stating he was 'a pilot, not a politician'.
Meanwhile, remarkable photographs included in the diary show Baur and Hitler warmly greeting each other on an airfield, standing alongside each other whilst throwing a Nazi salute, and the soon-to-be leader of the Third Reich posturing stony-faced whilst serving as best man for his beaming captain.
Baur, who survived the First World War as an airman and went on to become one of German airline Luft Hansa's first pilots, transported some of the Third Reich's highest ranking ministers, as well as various heads of state, and Mussolini.
His friendship with Hitler was sparked in the early 1930s when the pilot was hired to help Hitler campaign around Germany. Just three years later, Hitler was Baur's best man at his wedding.
There was no doubt that Hitler shared a special bond with Baur, with the Nazi leader even purchasing the pilot a brand new car for his 40th birthday.
'Hitler's complete confidence in me had led to a more intimate and friendly relationship,' Baur said in his dairy. 'After all, again and again his life depended on my skill, and he realised that I always did my level best for him.'
He continued: 'So one day he told me that henceforth I was to consider myself as his personal friend and permanent guest as well as his pilot. From now on I was to be allowed to go in and out of his house whenever I liked without special pass or permission.
'After that I almost always had lunch and dinner with him, and I found it very interesting to get to know the way he lived, and in particular how he relaxed.
'In the garden of the Reich Chancellory there were a number of very tame squirrels, and whenever he went out into the garden they would come running up to jump on his shoulders. They wanted nuts, of course, and when Hitler went into the garden, he always took some with him.
'Once when the supply was exhausted I offered to go back to the Reich Chancellory and get some more, but Hitler refused: "No, Baur. Your job is flying me, not waiting on me."'
The first German edition of Baur's memoirs Ich flog Mächtige der Erde (I Flew with the World's Powerful), was published in 1956, but the diary has now been reprinted and re-released by Frontline Books in English with the title I was Hitler's Pilot.
By Jessica Green
Daily Mail
April 3, 2019
Adolf Hitler's 'final words' before he killed himself in Berlin have allegedly been unearthed in the personal diary of the Nazi leader's pilot.
The journal of Lieutenant-general Hans Baur, one of Hitler's most trusted members of staff, offers rarely seen pictures of the Führer as well as an account of the dictator's last moments on April 30, 1945.
Brought together in his re-released memoirs titled 'I was Hitler's Pilot', the book details what it claims to be the Nazi leader's emotional last words to Baur.
The pilot said Hitler told him 'I'm ending it today' before killing himself moments later alongside his wife Eva Braun.
'Hitler came up to me and took both my hands in his', recalled Baur, who died in 1993 aged 96.
'"Baur, I want to say goodbye to you. The time has come. My generals have betrayed me; my soldiers don't want to go on and I can't go on."'
The pilot added: 'I tried to persuade him that there were still planes available, and that I could get him away to Japan or the Argentine, or to one of the Sheiks, who were all very friendly to him on account of his attitude to the Jews.
'"The war will end with the fall of Berlin," Hitler declared. "And I stand or fall with Berlin."'
The Führer then apparently said: 'A man must summon up courage enough to face the consequences - and therefore I'm ending it now. I know that tomorrow millions of people will curse me - that's fate.
'The Russians know perfectly well that I am here in this bunker, and I'm afraid they'll use gas shells. There are gas-locks here, I know, but can you rely on them?'
Finishing his speech to his friend, Hitler said: ‘In any case, I'm not - and I'm ending it today,’ according to the diary.
The Nazi leader was then said to have offered Baur a valuable painting as a gift for his 12 years of service before killing himself moments later alongside his wife Eva Braun.
Following his talk with Hitler, Baur was shot in his attempts to escape and lost his leg as a result. He then spent ten years in a Soviet prison where he was relentlessly tortured for information about Hitler.
Despite his key role in the Führer's inner circle, Baur claimed he was not involved in the politics of the Third Reich, stating he was 'a pilot, not a politician'.
Meanwhile, remarkable photographs included in the diary show Baur and Hitler warmly greeting each other on an airfield, standing alongside each other whilst throwing a Nazi salute, and the soon-to-be leader of the Third Reich posturing stony-faced whilst serving as best man for his beaming captain.
Baur, who survived the First World War as an airman and went on to become one of German airline Luft Hansa's first pilots, transported some of the Third Reich's highest ranking ministers, as well as various heads of state, and Mussolini.
His friendship with Hitler was sparked in the early 1930s when the pilot was hired to help Hitler campaign around Germany. Just three years later, Hitler was Baur's best man at his wedding.
There was no doubt that Hitler shared a special bond with Baur, with the Nazi leader even purchasing the pilot a brand new car for his 40th birthday.
'Hitler's complete confidence in me had led to a more intimate and friendly relationship,' Baur said in his dairy. 'After all, again and again his life depended on my skill, and he realised that I always did my level best for him.'
He continued: 'So one day he told me that henceforth I was to consider myself as his personal friend and permanent guest as well as his pilot. From now on I was to be allowed to go in and out of his house whenever I liked without special pass or permission.
'After that I almost always had lunch and dinner with him, and I found it very interesting to get to know the way he lived, and in particular how he relaxed.
'In the garden of the Reich Chancellory there were a number of very tame squirrels, and whenever he went out into the garden they would come running up to jump on his shoulders. They wanted nuts, of course, and when Hitler went into the garden, he always took some with him.
'Once when the supply was exhausted I offered to go back to the Reich Chancellory and get some more, but Hitler refused: "No, Baur. Your job is flying me, not waiting on me."'
The first German edition of Baur's memoirs Ich flog Mächtige der Erde (I Flew with the World's Powerful), was published in 1956, but the diary has now been reprinted and re-released by Frontline Books in English with the title I was Hitler's Pilot.
Wednesday, April 03, 2019
FLASH: OBAMA’S WOULD BE NEXT SUPREME COURT APPOINTEE BUSTED FOR MURDER
LAPD has arrested Eric Holder for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle
The Unconventional Gazette
April 2, 2019
When I heard on the news that Eric Holder, President Obama’s Attorney General, has been busted by LAPD for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle, I broke out in uncontrollable laughter.
Just think, Holder is the guy Obama would have appointed to the Supreme Court upon the expected retirement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I was still rolling on the floor in laughter when my dog started barking. She wanted me to watch the TV news report on Holder’s arrest.
God damn it! It turns out that Eric Holder was indeed busted for the rapper’s murder, but he’s not the former Attorney General.
But wait a minute. That was on NBC. It must be fake news. CBS and ABC reported it as well. More fake News? Finally, I turned on Fox. God damn it! I guess it’s true.
The arrested Eric Holder is a member of LA’s Rollin’ 60s gang and goes by the gang moniker of Shitty Cuz.
Shitty it is! I’m no longer laughing, but wouldn’t it have been great if Obama’s next choice for the Supreme Court had been Nipsey’s killer, instead of Shitty Cuz.
Come to think of it, the moniker Shitty Cuz is a perfect fit for the former attorney general.
The Unconventional Gazette
April 2, 2019
When I heard on the news that Eric Holder, President Obama’s Attorney General, has been busted by LAPD for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle, I broke out in uncontrollable laughter.
Just think, Holder is the guy Obama would have appointed to the Supreme Court upon the expected retirement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I was still rolling on the floor in laughter when my dog started barking. She wanted me to watch the TV news report on Holder’s arrest.
God damn it! It turns out that Eric Holder was indeed busted for the rapper’s murder, but he’s not the former Attorney General.
But wait a minute. That was on NBC. It must be fake news. CBS and ABC reported it as well. More fake News? Finally, I turned on Fox. God damn it! I guess it’s true.
The arrested Eric Holder is a member of LA’s Rollin’ 60s gang and goes by the gang moniker of Shitty Cuz.
Shitty it is! I’m no longer laughing, but wouldn’t it have been great if Obama’s next choice for the Supreme Court had been Nipsey’s killer, instead of Shitty Cuz.
Come to think of it, the moniker Shitty Cuz is a perfect fit for the former attorney general.
CUTTING THEIR OWN THROATS ??
by Bob Walsh
The Sacramento teachers union has announced a one-day strike for April 11. The school is actively recruiting substitutes, at $500 per day.
The school district is hovering on the edge of insolvency and being taken over by the state. If that happens it seems probably that one of the first things that would happen is that the contracts would be frozen, and possibly unilaterally shitcanned by the receiver.
I am not in the labor relations game any more so maybe I am off base, but I don't see how the teachers union has any up side on this situation.
The Sacramento teachers union has announced a one-day strike for April 11. The school is actively recruiting substitutes, at $500 per day.
The school district is hovering on the edge of insolvency and being taken over by the state. If that happens it seems probably that one of the first things that would happen is that the contracts would be frozen, and possibly unilaterally shitcanned by the receiver.
I am not in the labor relations game any more so maybe I am off base, but I don't see how the teachers union has any up side on this situation.
ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE ?
by Bob Walsh
Democrap nominee contestant Kirsten Gilibrand yesterday introduced a Constitutional Amendment to shitcan the electoral college. (Personally I doubt she even knows how the process works.) It has zero chance of passage as about 40-odd states will NEVER vote for it as it would reduce their importance in presidential elections to exactly zero.
That being said she has the courage of her convictions. She does not mind looking like a fucking idiot as long as she looks like a LIBERAL fucking idiot.
Democrap nominee contestant Kirsten Gilibrand yesterday introduced a Constitutional Amendment to shitcan the electoral college. (Personally I doubt she even knows how the process works.) It has zero chance of passage as about 40-odd states will NEVER vote for it as it would reduce their importance in presidential elections to exactly zero.
That being said she has the courage of her convictions. She does not mind looking like a fucking idiot as long as she looks like a LIBERAL fucking idiot.
GRAVITY STILL WORKS
by Bob Walsh
Yesterday the main spillway at the Oroville dam was used for the first time since the catastrophic failure and $1.1 billion repair from two years ago. It was truly remarkable, gravity still operates in the formerly great state of California.
The flood gates were opened upslope. The water fell downslope all by itself. Damn. Who would have ever thought that could happen.
Yesterday the main spillway at the Oroville dam was used for the first time since the catastrophic failure and $1.1 billion repair from two years ago. It was truly remarkable, gravity still operates in the formerly great state of California.
The flood gates were opened upslope. The water fell downslope all by itself. Damn. Who would have ever thought that could happen.
BREXIT, NINE DAYS AND COUNTING
by Bob Walsh
The House of Commons has voted to reject four more proposals for a semi-orderly exit of the U. K. from the E. U. Literally everybody seems to agree that a no-deal exit would simply mean chaos and most people are not huge fans of chaos. Trouble is the disparate groups are unable to get their shit together and agree on something that has some remote possibility of both working and being accepted by the remaining 27 members of the E. U.\
A reasonably solid push is being made to allow the U. K. to stay in the customs union but back out of the control that the E. U. has over member nations. I vaugely think that Norway has this sort of an agreement with the E. U. (though I will not bet money on it.) Whether that push will be successful is anybody's guess right now.
For what my opinion is worth, which may not be much, I think a lot of this is a big FUCK YOU from their own "administrative state" to the people of the U. K. for having the audacity to want to have their own sovereignty back. I hope they stick it out. Having control over your own country is worth some short-term and medium-term chaos.
The House of Commons has voted to reject four more proposals for a semi-orderly exit of the U. K. from the E. U. Literally everybody seems to agree that a no-deal exit would simply mean chaos and most people are not huge fans of chaos. Trouble is the disparate groups are unable to get their shit together and agree on something that has some remote possibility of both working and being accepted by the remaining 27 members of the E. U.\
A reasonably solid push is being made to allow the U. K. to stay in the customs union but back out of the control that the E. U. has over member nations. I vaugely think that Norway has this sort of an agreement with the E. U. (though I will not bet money on it.) Whether that push will be successful is anybody's guess right now.
For what my opinion is worth, which may not be much, I think a lot of this is a big FUCK YOU from their own "administrative state" to the people of the U. K. for having the audacity to want to have their own sovereignty back. I hope they stick it out. Having control over your own country is worth some short-term and medium-term chaos.
TEXAS JURY WAS FAR TOO LENIENT WITH SHOOTER Of COP
Man gets 4 years for shooting Texas officer who was serving murder warrant
By Claire Z. Cardona
The Dallas Morning News
April 1, 2019
FORT WORTH, Texas — A 26-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for the 2016 shooting of an Arlington police officer who was trying to serve a warrant for the slaying of a Saginaw teenager.
A Tarrant County jury found Joel McCommon guilty Friday of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting that wounded Officer Eddie Johnston.
McCommon faced up to 20 years in prison on the charge and up to life in prison had he been convicted of the original charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer.
Arlington and Saginaw police had been attempting to serve McCommon with a murder warrant April 25, 2016, when McCommon fired on Johnston from inside an apartment in the 400 block of Summit Avenue, near the University of Texas at Arlington campus.
Johnston fired back and wounded McCommon. The officer, a three-year veteran of the department, was shot once and released from the hospital the next day.
Johnston said Tuesday that his wife has had to seek help explaining to the couple's two children that their father had been shot, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
"Every day before I leave for work, my 6-year-old tells me, 'Dad, don't get shot today,'" he said. "We try to laugh it off. To this day, I haven't been able to tell them about it. They still don't know the details."
An Arlington police spokesman said the department continues "to support our officer, the department and community during this ordeal."
"We are thankful that our officer has returned to full duty and how this case has proceeded through the criminal justice system," the spokesman said.
Two days before the shootout with police, McCommon was accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Jordan Miles in broad daylight during a failed marijuana transaction.
During the trial, McCommon said he was planning to sell a small amount of marijuana to someone he thought was a woman, but Miles and two other men got into McCommon's car, Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Rodgers said.
McCommon testified that during the transaction, Miles pulled out a realistic-looking airsoft gun. Thinking it was real, McCommon took out his own gun and shot Miles, Rodgers said.
The two men in the back seat got out and ran while Miles got McCommon's gun and stumbled out. McCommon then got out, tackled Miles to get the gun back and drove off, Rodgers said.
Miles was found lying on the ground in the 200 block of Creekside Drive near his home. The Saginaw High senior died at a local hospital days before his 18th birthday. His cause of death was a gunshot wound in the abdomen, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.
"If he thought he was justified in using self-defense against Jordan, he should have called police," Tarrant County prosecutor Dawn Ferguson said. "He showed you absolutely no remorse for what happened in Saginaw. All he cares about is himself and his gun."
McCommon could still face trial on the murder charge in Miles' death, Rodgers said. He said the decision was made to bring the aggravated assault case first based on the "totality of everything."
During the trial, McCommon's attorney Deric Walpole said his client was acting in self-defense because he thought Miles had a real gun, the Star-Telegram reported. He also said that the officers did not announce they were police when they knocked on McCommon's door that night.
Prosecutors said McCommon changed his story several times, including details such as which way he was pointing the gun the night Johnston was shot.
Two days after Miles was shot, Saginaw and Arlington police knocked on the apartment door because they weren't sure McCommon was there. He opened the door after a while, closed it immediately, opened it again and fired, Rodgers said.
McCommon said during the trial that he thought it was the two men who had been with Miles and not the police. Johnston, the officer, said he yelled "police," Rodgers said.
Ultimately the jury determined McCommon, who was a senior math major at UT-Arlington, was not acting in self-defense but did not know that he was shooting at a police officer, Rodgers said.
He said he hopes the four-year sentence does not lead people to believe that shootings of police officers don't matter.
"It’s really important to us to prosecute fully when a police officer gets shot, but the jury obviously felt there was a lot of mitigation on behalf of the defendant in coming to the decision they did," Rodgers said.
By Claire Z. Cardona
The Dallas Morning News
April 1, 2019
FORT WORTH, Texas — A 26-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for the 2016 shooting of an Arlington police officer who was trying to serve a warrant for the slaying of a Saginaw teenager.
A Tarrant County jury found Joel McCommon guilty Friday of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting that wounded Officer Eddie Johnston.
McCommon faced up to 20 years in prison on the charge and up to life in prison had he been convicted of the original charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer.
Arlington and Saginaw police had been attempting to serve McCommon with a murder warrant April 25, 2016, when McCommon fired on Johnston from inside an apartment in the 400 block of Summit Avenue, near the University of Texas at Arlington campus.
Johnston fired back and wounded McCommon. The officer, a three-year veteran of the department, was shot once and released from the hospital the next day.
Johnston said Tuesday that his wife has had to seek help explaining to the couple's two children that their father had been shot, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
"Every day before I leave for work, my 6-year-old tells me, 'Dad, don't get shot today,'" he said. "We try to laugh it off. To this day, I haven't been able to tell them about it. They still don't know the details."
An Arlington police spokesman said the department continues "to support our officer, the department and community during this ordeal."
"We are thankful that our officer has returned to full duty and how this case has proceeded through the criminal justice system," the spokesman said.
Two days before the shootout with police, McCommon was accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Jordan Miles in broad daylight during a failed marijuana transaction.
During the trial, McCommon said he was planning to sell a small amount of marijuana to someone he thought was a woman, but Miles and two other men got into McCommon's car, Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Rodgers said.
McCommon testified that during the transaction, Miles pulled out a realistic-looking airsoft gun. Thinking it was real, McCommon took out his own gun and shot Miles, Rodgers said.
The two men in the back seat got out and ran while Miles got McCommon's gun and stumbled out. McCommon then got out, tackled Miles to get the gun back and drove off, Rodgers said.
Miles was found lying on the ground in the 200 block of Creekside Drive near his home. The Saginaw High senior died at a local hospital days before his 18th birthday. His cause of death was a gunshot wound in the abdomen, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.
"If he thought he was justified in using self-defense against Jordan, he should have called police," Tarrant County prosecutor Dawn Ferguson said. "He showed you absolutely no remorse for what happened in Saginaw. All he cares about is himself and his gun."
McCommon could still face trial on the murder charge in Miles' death, Rodgers said. He said the decision was made to bring the aggravated assault case first based on the "totality of everything."
During the trial, McCommon's attorney Deric Walpole said his client was acting in self-defense because he thought Miles had a real gun, the Star-Telegram reported. He also said that the officers did not announce they were police when they knocked on McCommon's door that night.
Prosecutors said McCommon changed his story several times, including details such as which way he was pointing the gun the night Johnston was shot.
Two days after Miles was shot, Saginaw and Arlington police knocked on the apartment door because they weren't sure McCommon was there. He opened the door after a while, closed it immediately, opened it again and fired, Rodgers said.
McCommon said during the trial that he thought it was the two men who had been with Miles and not the police. Johnston, the officer, said he yelled "police," Rodgers said.
Ultimately the jury determined McCommon, who was a senior math major at UT-Arlington, was not acting in self-defense but did not know that he was shooting at a police officer, Rodgers said.
He said he hopes the four-year sentence does not lead people to believe that shootings of police officers don't matter.
"It’s really important to us to prosecute fully when a police officer gets shot, but the jury obviously felt there was a lot of mitigation on behalf of the defendant in coming to the decision they did," Rodgers said.
KIDS JUST PASSING THE TIME
Kentucky man, 64, has the bones in his face broken after two teenage boys, 14 and 15, 'hurl a 5lb rock through his windshield from the side of the road'
By Jennifer Smith
Daily Mail
April 2, 2019
A man has been left with horrific facial injuries after two teenage boys allegedly hurled a rock threw his windshield while he was driving.
William Wehner, 64, had the bones in his face broken and will need reconstructive surgery as a result of the incident.
He was driving down the street in Burlington, Kentucky, at around 10.30pm on Saturday night when the boys, who had been having a sleepover in one's home nearby, allegedly hurled the rock from the side of the road.
It was raining heavily at the time and the boys ran away as soon as the rock crashed through the man's windshield, police say.
He was able to contact the emergency services and was transported to the hospital where he remains.
The boys were apprehended after police investigating the incident asked local school police resource officers who they thought might have been involved.
When deputies went to one of the boy's homes, they say he confessed and said his friend had been involved too.
The 14-year-old, who allegedly threw the rock, has been charged with 1st degree assault and criminal mischief.
The 15-year-old has been charged with criminal mischief and accessory to assault.
Around an hour before Wehner was hit, the 15-year-old is said to have thrown a rock at a different car but it bounced off the side.
A spokesman for the Boone County Sheriff's Office told DailyMail.com the pair would be tried as juveniles. Their names are being withheld because of their age.
The spokesman added that Wehner was probably trying to concentrate on 'just staying in his lane' when the rock came hurtling towards him.
'It was raining like hell. It was raining cats and dogs,' he said. He added that he did not know how fast the man was going at the time.
The boys had initially planned to throw sticks at the cars but, for some reason, decided instead to launch rocks.
It is unclear if they are remorseful.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Remorseful? Come on, get real! These are just two children in need of supervision as they are too young to know what the consequences of their rock hurling might be. When he gets out of the hospital, they should arrest the old fart for reckless driving by driving into the path of that rock.
By Jennifer Smith
Daily Mail
April 2, 2019
A man has been left with horrific facial injuries after two teenage boys allegedly hurled a rock threw his windshield while he was driving.
William Wehner, 64, had the bones in his face broken and will need reconstructive surgery as a result of the incident.
He was driving down the street in Burlington, Kentucky, at around 10.30pm on Saturday night when the boys, who had been having a sleepover in one's home nearby, allegedly hurled the rock from the side of the road.
It was raining heavily at the time and the boys ran away as soon as the rock crashed through the man's windshield, police say.
He was able to contact the emergency services and was transported to the hospital where he remains.
The boys were apprehended after police investigating the incident asked local school police resource officers who they thought might have been involved.
When deputies went to one of the boy's homes, they say he confessed and said his friend had been involved too.
The 14-year-old, who allegedly threw the rock, has been charged with 1st degree assault and criminal mischief.
The 15-year-old has been charged with criminal mischief and accessory to assault.
Around an hour before Wehner was hit, the 15-year-old is said to have thrown a rock at a different car but it bounced off the side.
A spokesman for the Boone County Sheriff's Office told DailyMail.com the pair would be tried as juveniles. Their names are being withheld because of their age.
The spokesman added that Wehner was probably trying to concentrate on 'just staying in his lane' when the rock came hurtling towards him.
'It was raining like hell. It was raining cats and dogs,' he said. He added that he did not know how fast the man was going at the time.
The boys had initially planned to throw sticks at the cars but, for some reason, decided instead to launch rocks.
It is unclear if they are remorseful.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Remorseful? Come on, get real! These are just two children in need of supervision as they are too young to know what the consequences of their rock hurling might be. When he gets out of the hospital, they should arrest the old fart for reckless driving by driving into the path of that rock.
AUTHORITIES NOT FOOLED BY CLAIM SHE GOT HER LAMBORGHINI BY PROFITS FROM AN ICE CREAM SHOP AND EXCHANGING FOREIGN CURRENCIES
Miami social media influencer, 26, is arrested in Colombia probe after her flashy Instagram posts tipped off authorities to her family's massive money laundering scheme
Daily Mail
April 2, 2019
Colombian social media influencer based in Miami Jenny Ambuila, 26, was arrested on Friday for money laundering along with her parents after authorities investigated the flashy purchases she flaunted on social media including her red Lamborghini.
Ambuila lived a lavish lifestyle in Miami frequently posting her designer digs, expensive car, and her luxury vacations in Europe on Facebook and Instagram.
Her father Omar Ambuila is accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes in his role as a mid-levels customs inspector at Colombian sea port of Buenaventura, in exchange for letting untaxed goods pass into the country.
Jenny has been charged with money laundering and is currently under house arrest in Colombia. Her father Omar and mother Elba Chara are in prison on additional charges of aiding smugglers and corruption.
She was arrested after investigators looked into Jenny's extravagant purchases including her red Lamborghini, worth more than $300,000.
The Miami University graduate claimed she bought her luxury purchases by developing businesses that included an ice cream shop and a forex trading service
Daily Mail
April 2, 2019
Colombian social media influencer based in Miami Jenny Ambuila, 26, was arrested on Friday for money laundering along with her parents after authorities investigated the flashy purchases she flaunted on social media including her red Lamborghini.
Ambuila lived a lavish lifestyle in Miami frequently posting her designer digs, expensive car, and her luxury vacations in Europe on Facebook and Instagram.
Her father Omar Ambuila is accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes in his role as a mid-levels customs inspector at Colombian sea port of Buenaventura, in exchange for letting untaxed goods pass into the country.
Jenny has been charged with money laundering and is currently under house arrest in Colombia. Her father Omar and mother Elba Chara are in prison on additional charges of aiding smugglers and corruption.
She was arrested after investigators looked into Jenny's extravagant purchases including her red Lamborghini, worth more than $300,000.
The Miami University graduate claimed she bought her luxury purchases by developing businesses that included an ice cream shop and a forex trading service
HOW TO DRIVE IN TEXAS WITHOUT GETTING SHOT
There are some downright mean bastards driving on Texas roads who are armed and easy to rile up
Texas roadways are dangerous. Hardly a day goes by without someone somewhere in Texas getting shot because of road range. And from time to time some driver or passenger in his car gets shot just for looking at the driver or occupants of another car. In Houston that’s almost a daily occurrence.
Here are seven simple but important rules to follow if you don’t want to get shot in Texas by another driver or his passengers:
1. Always look straight ahead.
2. Never ever look at the driver or his passengers in another car.
3. Never pass a pickup truck whose occupants are tossing empty beer cans on the roadway.
4. If someone cuts you off, don’t call him a motherfucker or cuss him out otherwise because he may be able to read your lips.
5. If he cuts you off, back off and don’t think about passing him.
6. For God’s sake don’t give him the birdie!
7. Don’t try to shoot the bastard because you might miss and he won’t.
8. And the best rule for not getting shot on Texas roadways is to stay home!
Have a good day partner, and by all means, don’t yawl git yourself shot.
Texas roadways are dangerous. Hardly a day goes by without someone somewhere in Texas getting shot because of road range. And from time to time some driver or passenger in his car gets shot just for looking at the driver or occupants of another car. In Houston that’s almost a daily occurrence.
Here are seven simple but important rules to follow if you don’t want to get shot in Texas by another driver or his passengers:
1. Always look straight ahead.
2. Never ever look at the driver or his passengers in another car.
3. Never pass a pickup truck whose occupants are tossing empty beer cans on the roadway.
4. If someone cuts you off, don’t call him a motherfucker or cuss him out otherwise because he may be able to read your lips.
5. If he cuts you off, back off and don’t think about passing him.
6. For God’s sake don’t give him the birdie!
7. Don’t try to shoot the bastard because you might miss and he won’t.
8. And the best rule for not getting shot on Texas roadways is to stay home!
Have a good day partner, and by all means, don’t yawl git yourself shot.
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
JOE WAS ONLY COMFORTING HIMDELF ..... ERR, I MEAN THEM
"Not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately."
After former Nevada lawmaker Lucy Flores accused Joe Biden of inappropriately kissing her, the former Vice President and expected presidential candidate, defended himself by saying:
"In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort. And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention."
A woman from Connecticut has now also come forward to accuse Joe of acting inappropriately. Amy Lappos claims that during a 2009 political fundraiser he rubbed noses with her. She said:
"It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth."
Rubbed noses with her? Maybe he thought she was an Eskimo.
To be honest though, I think Joe is just a touchy-feely kind of guy and I believe him when he says he did not feel he acted inappropriately. While his behavior with Flores and Lappos was unwanted, I do not believe there was anything sexual about it.
Will Biden's behavior with women get in his way if he does decide to run for president? Only time will tell.
After former Nevada lawmaker Lucy Flores accused Joe Biden of inappropriately kissing her, the former Vice President and expected presidential candidate, defended himself by saying:
"In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort. And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention."
A woman from Connecticut has now also come forward to accuse Joe of acting inappropriately. Amy Lappos claims that during a 2009 political fundraiser he rubbed noses with her. She said:
"It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth."
Rubbed noses with her? Maybe he thought she was an Eskimo.
To be honest though, I think Joe is just a touchy-feely kind of guy and I believe him when he says he did not feel he acted inappropriately. While his behavior with Flores and Lappos was unwanted, I do not believe there was anything sexual about it.
Will Biden's behavior with women get in his way if he does decide to run for president? Only time will tell.
A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE AND DON'T TRUST COPS
by Bob Walsh
I was just made aware of an interesting piece from the Los Angeles Police Protective League concerning a survey of attitudes in general by the Urban Institute. They hit six large cities, including Stockton, CA (population 300,000 plus) and found some interesting stuff.
Only about 1/3 of the population trusts the cops. About half feel that the cops often act out of personal prejudice.
These feelings are called "police legitimacy" which is a term that social academic types use to refer to community faith in the police.
I admit I have never had any active personal beefs with the Stockton P D. My problems with them are I guess what you would call inactive beefs. I can't tell you how many times I have called the cops to report loud parties going WAY into the early hours in residential areas. (i.e. right next to my house.) I can tell you how many times the cops have responded. Zero. I can't tell you how many times I have reported dangerous fireworks discharges in the immediate area. I can tell you how many times the cops have responded. Zero.
They did respond to an attempted burglary at my home. They did responded to two "shots fired" calls when I called them in because I was the shooter. One of those times their response was very leisurely and the situation almost turned to shit before they showed up, after a second call when I told them there was going to be more shots fired if they didn't get somebody there pretty damn quick.
I do not believe the cops are lazy or stupid. I do believe they are overstretched, a problem that the city is moving (like a glacier, but moving) to solve. I do know the cops no longer respond for stolen cars or hit-and-run accidents unless there is a body on the ground. I also know the snitches-get-stitches mentality is prevalent in the community.
And I don't see it changing any time soon.
EDITOR'S NOTE: You should have disguised your voice to sound like a female and told the dispatcher you've locked yourself out of the house and you're naked. Then the sheriff deputies, the CHP and even cops from Modesto would have run hot to back up the Stockton cops.
I was just made aware of an interesting piece from the Los Angeles Police Protective League concerning a survey of attitudes in general by the Urban Institute. They hit six large cities, including Stockton, CA (population 300,000 plus) and found some interesting stuff.
Only about 1/3 of the population trusts the cops. About half feel that the cops often act out of personal prejudice.
These feelings are called "police legitimacy" which is a term that social academic types use to refer to community faith in the police.
I admit I have never had any active personal beefs with the Stockton P D. My problems with them are I guess what you would call inactive beefs. I can't tell you how many times I have called the cops to report loud parties going WAY into the early hours in residential areas. (i.e. right next to my house.) I can tell you how many times the cops have responded. Zero. I can't tell you how many times I have reported dangerous fireworks discharges in the immediate area. I can tell you how many times the cops have responded. Zero.
They did respond to an attempted burglary at my home. They did responded to two "shots fired" calls when I called them in because I was the shooter. One of those times their response was very leisurely and the situation almost turned to shit before they showed up, after a second call when I told them there was going to be more shots fired if they didn't get somebody there pretty damn quick.
I do not believe the cops are lazy or stupid. I do believe they are overstretched, a problem that the city is moving (like a glacier, but moving) to solve. I do know the cops no longer respond for stolen cars or hit-and-run accidents unless there is a body on the ground. I also know the snitches-get-stitches mentality is prevalent in the community.
And I don't see it changing any time soon.
EDITOR'S NOTE: You should have disguised your voice to sound like a female and told the dispatcher you've locked yourself out of the house and you're naked. Then the sheriff deputies, the CHP and even cops from Modesto would have run hot to back up the Stockton cops.
POSSIBLY A PRETTY CLEVER SLEAZE MOVE
Brexit Chapter 984
by Bob Walsh
One of the things being kicked around in the House of Commons is kicking the can backward down the road. Specifically a few people have proposed an "exit plan referendum" which would (presumably) include a decision to not bail out after all.
Nobody seems to think that Theresa May will still be the P.M. in two weeks. Allegedly-supposedly the drop dead date is April 12 for a plan. At that time under the current law and rules the U. K. will no longer be part of the E. U. UNLESS parliament comes up with and approves an exit plan before then which also must be approved by ALL of the remaining 27 members of the E.U. Even if that happens the exit is supposed to happen not later than May 22, because on May 23 the E. U. holds elections.
OMG, what a cluster-fuck.
by Bob Walsh
One of the things being kicked around in the House of Commons is kicking the can backward down the road. Specifically a few people have proposed an "exit plan referendum" which would (presumably) include a decision to not bail out after all.
Nobody seems to think that Theresa May will still be the P.M. in two weeks. Allegedly-supposedly the drop dead date is April 12 for a plan. At that time under the current law and rules the U. K. will no longer be part of the E. U. UNLESS parliament comes up with and approves an exit plan before then which also must be approved by ALL of the remaining 27 members of the E.U. Even if that happens the exit is supposed to happen not later than May 22, because on May 23 the E. U. holds elections.
OMG, what a cluster-fuck.
PERV PRIEST ARRESTED IN FREMONT, CA
by Bob Walsh
The Rev. Hector David Mendoza-Vela, 42, the head priest at the Corpus Christi Parish in Fremont, CA, is now a guest of the county on charges of felony sexual abuse of a child. He is being held pending $900,000 bail.
Mendoza-Velez had been assigned to St. John the Baptist parish in San Lorenzo, also in Alameda County, prior to his move to Fremont. The cops are actively searching for other possible victims.
He came to the U. S. from El Salvador in 2008 and is a legal resident alien.
The Rev. Hector David Mendoza-Vela, 42, the head priest at the Corpus Christi Parish in Fremont, CA, is now a guest of the county on charges of felony sexual abuse of a child. He is being held pending $900,000 bail.
Mendoza-Velez had been assigned to St. John the Baptist parish in San Lorenzo, also in Alameda County, prior to his move to Fremont. The cops are actively searching for other possible victims.
He came to the U. S. from El Salvador in 2008 and is a legal resident alien.
ATTACK OF THE MAGA NINJA
by Bob Walsh
OK, he wasn't a Ninja, he was more of a pirate, but Maga Ninja looks better in the headline.
Police in the People's Republic of San Francisco are searching for a man who was hanging around outside of the Church of Eight Wheels (a roller rink) in the Western Addition. He was wearing a MAGA hat and engaging in verbal altercations with patrons. A man attempted to grab the MAGA hat off his head (attempted robbery under CA law) when the man reached behind his back and came up with a "pirate sword" (presumably a cutlass of some sort) and slashed his attacker, cutting his hand and wrist. The swordsman then fled, leaving his MAGA hat behind.
The man did appear in surveillance video. The cops are looking for a Trump supporter with a cold head and a bad attitude. Since he was shouting homophobic slurs you can damn well bet the cops will pull out all the stops to find him.
I wonder where Jussie Smollett was. Just asking.
OK, he wasn't a Ninja, he was more of a pirate, but Maga Ninja looks better in the headline.
Police in the People's Republic of San Francisco are searching for a man who was hanging around outside of the Church of Eight Wheels (a roller rink) in the Western Addition. He was wearing a MAGA hat and engaging in verbal altercations with patrons. A man attempted to grab the MAGA hat off his head (attempted robbery under CA law) when the man reached behind his back and came up with a "pirate sword" (presumably a cutlass of some sort) and slashed his attacker, cutting his hand and wrist. The swordsman then fled, leaving his MAGA hat behind.
The man did appear in surveillance video. The cops are looking for a Trump supporter with a cold head and a bad attitude. Since he was shouting homophobic slurs you can damn well bet the cops will pull out all the stops to find him.
I wonder where Jussie Smollett was. Just asking.
IF YOU ARE A FUCKING MORON YOU SHOULD NOT PUT TOO MUCH SHIT IN WRITING
by Bob Walsh
It seems that, on Friday, Alexandria Occasionally Correct, aka AOC, aka Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, put out out a really interesting tweet. She asserted that the evil rotten Republican bastards passed the 22nd Amendment to keep FDR from getting re-elected.
Since FDR was in fact elected four times and died in office, and the 22nd amendment was not passed until six years AFTER he died it is obvious that Congresswoman AOC is, by any reasonable measurement, a fucking moron.
Do you think that if Regan or either Bush had said this it would not have been spread all over every newspaper in the country? Well, this happened Friday. Where have you seen or heard a reference to it. I didn't even hear about it until Monday and I sort of keep an ear open for this sort of thing.
It seems that, on Friday, Alexandria Occasionally Correct, aka AOC, aka Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, put out out a really interesting tweet. She asserted that the evil rotten Republican bastards passed the 22nd Amendment to keep FDR from getting re-elected.
Since FDR was in fact elected four times and died in office, and the 22nd amendment was not passed until six years AFTER he died it is obvious that Congresswoman AOC is, by any reasonable measurement, a fucking moron.
Do you think that if Regan or either Bush had said this it would not have been spread all over every newspaper in the country? Well, this happened Friday. Where have you seen or heard a reference to it. I didn't even hear about it until Monday and I sort of keep an ear open for this sort of thing.
ANONYMOUS LETTER CLAIMS NYPD COPS SUSPECTED ‘JACKED UP WHITE GUYS’ AS THE KILLERS
Lawyers in Vetrano murder trial to challenge prosecutors after anonymous letter says info was withheld from defense
By Graham Rayman
New York Daily News
March 29, 2019
Lawyers for the man accused of murdering Queens jogger Karina Vetrano are going to file motions on Monday, based on an anonymous letter, alleging prosecutors failed to disclose information that could increase doubt about the suspect’s guilt, sources said.
The Legal Aid Society received an anonymous letter that claimed cops initially believed two “jacked up white guys from Howard Beach” murdered Vetrano while she was jogging in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2 2016, and that an NYPD official made that comment in meetings with senior investigators. The letter was also sent anonymously to a Daily News reporter.
The significance of the remark is that it suggests cops initially suspected one or more white men of killing Vetrano, not Chanel Lewis, who is black.
Prosecutors have said Lewis, 22, grabbed Vetrano as she went for an evening run through Spring Creek Park near her Howard Beach home. He raped and strangled the 30-year-old, they said, and left her body in weeds.
Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge at the Legal Aid Society, said defense lawyers had received “troubling and reliable information” indicating police withheld from them critical information about other potential suspects.
“We learned that the police approached Mr. Lewis to obtain a DNA swab as part of a race-biased dragnet, which involved the swabbing of over 360 African-American men in Howard Beach and other neighboring sections of Brooklyn and Queen,” said Luongo.
“In light of this case-altering information, we plan to submit motions on Monday seeking a hearing as to the prosecution’s failure to disclose this exculpatory evidence and a new hearing challenging the Department’s unconstitutional racial profiling throughout their investigation,” Luongo said.
“As we have throughout the course of this trial, we will respond in Court accordingly,” a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney said, declining further comment.
The anonymous letter claimed detectives who took DNA material from Lewis after he was detained told a senior officer that Lewis was “too dimwitted and puny” to have committed the crime. The letter claimed that was passed on to another senior officer but not disclosed to the defense.
The letter alleged that the initial stop of Lewis was illegal because there was no specific justification for stopping him and police did not complete a stop and frisk form as required. It’s illegal to “swab” someone for DNA without particularized suspicion of criminal activity. A lawyer familiar with the case said, “The courts have held that you can’t go up and seek consent. You have to have some element of criminality.”
The letter claimed an NYPD officer lobbied for all white males in Howard Beach to be swabbed, and that when DNA recovered from Vetrano’s body appeared to match a black male, the officer verbally ordered all black men arrested in Brooklyn and Queens to be swabbed for DNA, including all black men arrested in Howard Beach.
According to the letter, the NYPD took DNA from more than 360 black men.
A police official told the Daily News that contrary to the letter, males of all ethnicities and backgrounds were swabbed, and that a black male was considered a possible suspect two to three days into the investigation. The official said the legality of stopping Lewis held up in court.
According to the official, police have denied ordering all white men in Howard Beach to be swabbed.
An NYPD spokesman said, “The NYPD has painstakingly investigated the murder of Karina Vetrano, and as the Queens District Attorney’s prosecution demonstrates, the evidence clearly shows that Chanel Lewis is responsible for her death. Multiple legal hearings and two criminal trials, over more than two years, have already exhaustively examined the issues in this anonymous, 11th-hour letter, a missive riddled with falsehoods and inaccuracies.”
By Graham Rayman
New York Daily News
March 29, 2019
Lawyers for the man accused of murdering Queens jogger Karina Vetrano are going to file motions on Monday, based on an anonymous letter, alleging prosecutors failed to disclose information that could increase doubt about the suspect’s guilt, sources said.
The Legal Aid Society received an anonymous letter that claimed cops initially believed two “jacked up white guys from Howard Beach” murdered Vetrano while she was jogging in Spring Creek Park on Aug. 2 2016, and that an NYPD official made that comment in meetings with senior investigators. The letter was also sent anonymously to a Daily News reporter.
The significance of the remark is that it suggests cops initially suspected one or more white men of killing Vetrano, not Chanel Lewis, who is black.
Prosecutors have said Lewis, 22, grabbed Vetrano as she went for an evening run through Spring Creek Park near her Howard Beach home. He raped and strangled the 30-year-old, they said, and left her body in weeds.
Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge at the Legal Aid Society, said defense lawyers had received “troubling and reliable information” indicating police withheld from them critical information about other potential suspects.
“We learned that the police approached Mr. Lewis to obtain a DNA swab as part of a race-biased dragnet, which involved the swabbing of over 360 African-American men in Howard Beach and other neighboring sections of Brooklyn and Queen,” said Luongo.
“In light of this case-altering information, we plan to submit motions on Monday seeking a hearing as to the prosecution’s failure to disclose this exculpatory evidence and a new hearing challenging the Department’s unconstitutional racial profiling throughout their investigation,” Luongo said.
“As we have throughout the course of this trial, we will respond in Court accordingly,” a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney said, declining further comment.
The anonymous letter claimed detectives who took DNA material from Lewis after he was detained told a senior officer that Lewis was “too dimwitted and puny” to have committed the crime. The letter claimed that was passed on to another senior officer but not disclosed to the defense.
The letter alleged that the initial stop of Lewis was illegal because there was no specific justification for stopping him and police did not complete a stop and frisk form as required. It’s illegal to “swab” someone for DNA without particularized suspicion of criminal activity. A lawyer familiar with the case said, “The courts have held that you can’t go up and seek consent. You have to have some element of criminality.”
The letter claimed an NYPD officer lobbied for all white males in Howard Beach to be swabbed, and that when DNA recovered from Vetrano’s body appeared to match a black male, the officer verbally ordered all black men arrested in Brooklyn and Queens to be swabbed for DNA, including all black men arrested in Howard Beach.
According to the letter, the NYPD took DNA from more than 360 black men.
A police official told the Daily News that contrary to the letter, males of all ethnicities and backgrounds were swabbed, and that a black male was considered a possible suspect two to three days into the investigation. The official said the legality of stopping Lewis held up in court.
According to the official, police have denied ordering all white men in Howard Beach to be swabbed.
An NYPD spokesman said, “The NYPD has painstakingly investigated the murder of Karina Vetrano, and as the Queens District Attorney’s prosecution demonstrates, the evidence clearly shows that Chanel Lewis is responsible for her death. Multiple legal hearings and two criminal trials, over more than two years, have already exhaustively examined the issues in this anonymous, 11th-hour letter, a missive riddled with falsehoods and inaccuracies.”
MAFIA JUSTICE DISREGARDS NY DEATH PENALTY BAN
Mafia-imposed death penalty a likely sentence for Staten Island suspect in murder of Gambino boss Frank Cali
By Larry McShane
New York Daily News
March 24, 2019
It’s Mob Justice 101, and there are no appeals: The unsanctioned killing of a Mafia boss carries the death penalty.
The longstanding organized crime maxim is bad news for the life expectancy of Anthony Comello, the suspect jailed in the Staten Island shooting death of Gambino family head Frank (Frankie Boy) Cali.
“He must know his life is worth nothing,” said one-time Bonanno family associate Joe Barone. “He doesn’t have a chance in hell. It’s a matter of time. Even if the wiseguys don’t get him, he’ll get whacked by somebody looking to make a name.”
Comello, 24, remains in protective custody in a Jersey Shore jail, held without bail in the March 13 slaying of Cali outside his Staten Island home. Cali was shot 10 times in what initially appeared to be the first hit of a sitting New York mob boss since the execution of his long-ago Gambino predecessor Paul Castellano.
Veteran mob chronicler Selwyn Raab, author of the seminal “Five Familes: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mob Empires,” said retribution might not occur instantly. But Comello’s best-case scenario is a life spent looking over his shoulder.
“Very simply, the old rules in the Mafia are you don’t let somebody get away with something like this," said Raab. “As long as the Mafia exists, he’s in danger. And it’s not just the Gambinos — anybody from any of the other families could go after him. If they get an opportunity to knock him off, they will."
Even the Cali family’s initial refusal to share security video with the NYPD was consistent with the mob’s approach to crime family business.
“That’s a big message: We’ll take care of this ourselves,” said Barone, who became an FBI informant.
The Castellano murder, orchestrated by his Gambino family successor John Gotti in December 1985, led to a trio of retaliatory killings sanctioned by Genovese family boss Vincent (The Chin) Gigante.
The Greenwich Village-based Gigante was outraged that Gotti ordered the hit without his approval. The murders were spread across five years and meant to culminate with the killing of Gotti, who instead died behind bars after his underlings were picked off.
Victim No. 1, dispatched by a Brooklyn car bomb, was Gambino underboss Frank DiCicco in April 1987.
Castellano shooter Eddie Lino became Victim No. 2 after a November 1990 traffic stop on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. Unfortunately for him, the officers involved were the infamous “Mafia Cops” — who killed the mob gunman for a $75,000 fee.
And finally, Victim No. 3: Bobby Borriello, the driver and bodyguard for the Dapper Don, murdered April 13, 1991, in the driveway of his Brooklyn home.
The mob doesn’t always get its man. Notorious informants like Gotti’s right-hand man Sammy (The Bull) Gravano and Henry Hill of “Goodfellas” fame bolted from the Witness Protection Program and survived for decades.
Gravano, whose testimony convicted Gotti and 36 other gangsters, walked out of an Arizona prison one year ago after serving nearly 20 years for overseeing an ecstasy ring. Hill died of natural causes in June 2012 at the age of 69, although not all are as fortunate.
Lucchese family associate Bruno Facciola was executed in August 1990, with a dead canary stuffed in his mouth as a sign that he was an informer — and a warning to other mobsters.
By Larry McShane
New York Daily News
March 24, 2019
It’s Mob Justice 101, and there are no appeals: The unsanctioned killing of a Mafia boss carries the death penalty.
The longstanding organized crime maxim is bad news for the life expectancy of Anthony Comello, the suspect jailed in the Staten Island shooting death of Gambino family head Frank (Frankie Boy) Cali.
“He must know his life is worth nothing,” said one-time Bonanno family associate Joe Barone. “He doesn’t have a chance in hell. It’s a matter of time. Even if the wiseguys don’t get him, he’ll get whacked by somebody looking to make a name.”
Comello, 24, remains in protective custody in a Jersey Shore jail, held without bail in the March 13 slaying of Cali outside his Staten Island home. Cali was shot 10 times in what initially appeared to be the first hit of a sitting New York mob boss since the execution of his long-ago Gambino predecessor Paul Castellano.
Veteran mob chronicler Selwyn Raab, author of the seminal “Five Familes: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mob Empires,” said retribution might not occur instantly. But Comello’s best-case scenario is a life spent looking over his shoulder.
“Very simply, the old rules in the Mafia are you don’t let somebody get away with something like this," said Raab. “As long as the Mafia exists, he’s in danger. And it’s not just the Gambinos — anybody from any of the other families could go after him. If they get an opportunity to knock him off, they will."
Even the Cali family’s initial refusal to share security video with the NYPD was consistent with the mob’s approach to crime family business.
“That’s a big message: We’ll take care of this ourselves,” said Barone, who became an FBI informant.
The Castellano murder, orchestrated by his Gambino family successor John Gotti in December 1985, led to a trio of retaliatory killings sanctioned by Genovese family boss Vincent (The Chin) Gigante.
The Greenwich Village-based Gigante was outraged that Gotti ordered the hit without his approval. The murders were spread across five years and meant to culminate with the killing of Gotti, who instead died behind bars after his underlings were picked off.
Victim No. 1, dispatched by a Brooklyn car bomb, was Gambino underboss Frank DiCicco in April 1987.
Castellano shooter Eddie Lino became Victim No. 2 after a November 1990 traffic stop on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. Unfortunately for him, the officers involved were the infamous “Mafia Cops” — who killed the mob gunman for a $75,000 fee.
And finally, Victim No. 3: Bobby Borriello, the driver and bodyguard for the Dapper Don, murdered April 13, 1991, in the driveway of his Brooklyn home.
The mob doesn’t always get its man. Notorious informants like Gotti’s right-hand man Sammy (The Bull) Gravano and Henry Hill of “Goodfellas” fame bolted from the Witness Protection Program and survived for decades.
Gravano, whose testimony convicted Gotti and 36 other gangsters, walked out of an Arizona prison one year ago after serving nearly 20 years for overseeing an ecstasy ring. Hill died of natural causes in June 2012 at the age of 69, although not all are as fortunate.
Lucchese family associate Bruno Facciola was executed in August 1990, with a dead canary stuffed in his mouth as a sign that he was an informer — and a warning to other mobsters.
BUT IS JERUSALEM TO BE THE UNDIVITED CAPITAL OF ISRAEL?
Abbas: U.S. to allow Israel to annex parts of West Bank, give Hamas Gaza
By Tovah Lazaroff and Khaled Abu Toameh
The Jerusalem Post
April 1, 2019
The Trump Administration will allow Israel to annex portions of the West Bank and split the Gaza Strip from the West Bank so that it can be a state of its own, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday.
Speaking at the Arab League summit in Tunisia, "What is coming from the US is more dangerous and serious,” he said. “The US will tell Israel, annex part of the Palestinian lands and grant self-rule to what's left of the land, and give the Gaza Strip a state so that Hamas can play there.
“The US administration's decision is to destroy the Arab Peace Plan and constitutes a dramatic change from the positions of previous US administrations,” Abbas continued.
The Palestinian leader spoke in advance of the anticipated roll out of what US President Donald Trump is calling the “Plan of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His comments, however, also came one week after the historic decision by Trump to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel annexed from Syria in 1981. Israel captured that territory during the defensive Six-Day War in 1967.
The Arab League on Sunday condemned the US for its recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan and said it planned to seek a UN Security Council resolution against the move.
The US declaration on the Golan has sparked speculation that the Trump administration’s next move would be to support Israel in annexing at least portions of Area C of the West Bank, where all of the Israeli settlements are located.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk tweeted on Sunday, “So by recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan, Trump is helping [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi get re-elected, which will help the right-wing annex the West Bank, which will lead to pressure from his base to recognize that too, which will doom his peace plan and Israel.”
The UN charter, the United Nations Security Council and international law in general has held that territory to be illegal occupied.
In written testimony to Congress last year, legal expert Eugene Kontorovich of the Northwestern University School of Law explained that there were exceptions to that principle. He listed the cases of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s sovereignty over north and south Vietnam after an aggressive war and India’s annexation of the Portuguese territory of Goa.
But the UN and its Security Council have made no such exception for Israel. After the Six-Day War, the UNSC passed resolution 242 that affirmed the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” as it related to territory Israel captured in that war. The resolution called for the withdrawal of the IDF “from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
Israel has since withdrawn from Gaza and the Sinai desert, has annexed eastern Jerusalem and the Golan, and has maintained military control over the West Bank.
The Trump administration’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan pushes back at UNSC’s resolution 242 and 497, which deemed Israel’s annexation of the Golan to be illegal. The administration argued that Israeli sovereignty in the Golan was necessary for the country’s security, particularly given Iran’s military presence in Syria.
Just one day later at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, US Ambassador to the Israel David Friedman hinted at the link between the Golan Heights security argument to the West Bank. In speaking of the importance of pushing forward with a peace plan, Friedman said, “Can we leave this to an administration that might not understand the existential risk to Israel if Judea and Samaria are overcome by terrorists in the manner that befell the Gaza Strip, after the IDF withdrew from this territory.”
Settler leaders and right-wing politicians in the last four years have pushed forward numerous annexation initiatives, including for the Gush Etzion Region and the Ma’aleh Adumim bloc. But if the argument is security, then Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani said he believe that the application of sovereignty to his region, situated between Jerusalem and Jordan, would be the logical first step for Israel’s next government.
ESITOR’S NOTE: Trump has got to gibe the Palestinians something. If his declared ‘Deal of the Century’ includes a divided Jerusalem with the eastern part as the Palestinian capital, that’s a non-starter for the Israelis. But an undivided Israeli Jerusalem is a non-starter for the Palestinians. Trump’s deal will be no deal.
While Trump has been the best friend of Israel since President Truman, Obama was the most unfriendly. But the Israelis better beware! If the now anti-Semitic Democrats win in 2020, the president will then surpass Obama in his/her unfriendly treatment of the Jewish state.
By Tovah Lazaroff and Khaled Abu Toameh
The Jerusalem Post
April 1, 2019
The Trump Administration will allow Israel to annex portions of the West Bank and split the Gaza Strip from the West Bank so that it can be a state of its own, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday.
Speaking at the Arab League summit in Tunisia, "What is coming from the US is more dangerous and serious,” he said. “The US will tell Israel, annex part of the Palestinian lands and grant self-rule to what's left of the land, and give the Gaza Strip a state so that Hamas can play there.
“The US administration's decision is to destroy the Arab Peace Plan and constitutes a dramatic change from the positions of previous US administrations,” Abbas continued.
The Palestinian leader spoke in advance of the anticipated roll out of what US President Donald Trump is calling the “Plan of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His comments, however, also came one week after the historic decision by Trump to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel annexed from Syria in 1981. Israel captured that territory during the defensive Six-Day War in 1967.
The Arab League on Sunday condemned the US for its recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan and said it planned to seek a UN Security Council resolution against the move.
The US declaration on the Golan has sparked speculation that the Trump administration’s next move would be to support Israel in annexing at least portions of Area C of the West Bank, where all of the Israeli settlements are located.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk tweeted on Sunday, “So by recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan, Trump is helping [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi get re-elected, which will help the right-wing annex the West Bank, which will lead to pressure from his base to recognize that too, which will doom his peace plan and Israel.”
The UN charter, the United Nations Security Council and international law in general has held that territory to be illegal occupied.
In written testimony to Congress last year, legal expert Eugene Kontorovich of the Northwestern University School of Law explained that there were exceptions to that principle. He listed the cases of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s sovereignty over north and south Vietnam after an aggressive war and India’s annexation of the Portuguese territory of Goa.
But the UN and its Security Council have made no such exception for Israel. After the Six-Day War, the UNSC passed resolution 242 that affirmed the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” as it related to territory Israel captured in that war. The resolution called for the withdrawal of the IDF “from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
Israel has since withdrawn from Gaza and the Sinai desert, has annexed eastern Jerusalem and the Golan, and has maintained military control over the West Bank.
The Trump administration’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan pushes back at UNSC’s resolution 242 and 497, which deemed Israel’s annexation of the Golan to be illegal. The administration argued that Israeli sovereignty in the Golan was necessary for the country’s security, particularly given Iran’s military presence in Syria.
Just one day later at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, US Ambassador to the Israel David Friedman hinted at the link between the Golan Heights security argument to the West Bank. In speaking of the importance of pushing forward with a peace plan, Friedman said, “Can we leave this to an administration that might not understand the existential risk to Israel if Judea and Samaria are overcome by terrorists in the manner that befell the Gaza Strip, after the IDF withdrew from this territory.”
Settler leaders and right-wing politicians in the last four years have pushed forward numerous annexation initiatives, including for the Gush Etzion Region and the Ma’aleh Adumim bloc. But if the argument is security, then Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani said he believe that the application of sovereignty to his region, situated between Jerusalem and Jordan, would be the logical first step for Israel’s next government.
ESITOR’S NOTE: Trump has got to gibe the Palestinians something. If his declared ‘Deal of the Century’ includes a divided Jerusalem with the eastern part as the Palestinian capital, that’s a non-starter for the Israelis. But an undivided Israeli Jerusalem is a non-starter for the Palestinians. Trump’s deal will be no deal.
While Trump has been the best friend of Israel since President Truman, Obama was the most unfriendly. But the Israelis better beware! If the now anti-Semitic Democrats win in 2020, the president will then surpass Obama in his/her unfriendly treatment of the Jewish state.
JAILED WHEN THE OFFENSE CARRIES NO JAIL TIME
Class C misdemeanor arrests and incarceration in Texas, by the numbers
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
March 30, 2019
Beginning with the consideration of HB 482 (Thompson) in the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, the Texas Legislature will spend quite a bit of time over the coming weeks considering the consequences of arrest and incarceration for Class C misdemeanors, which in Texas are minor offenses carrying a maximum punishment of a $500 fine and no jail time.
There are two ways people end up incarcerated over Class C misdemeanors. First, after the US Supreme Court okayed the practice in Atwater v. Lago Vista (2001), police may arrest drivers for minor traffic offenses or violations of municipal ordinances, even if the maximum punishment is only a fine. That's what happened to Sandra Bland. Though she was eventually charged with resisting, when the officer first placed her under arrest, it was for the underlying charge of failure to signal a lane change.
Alternatively, if drivers can't pay fines and fees and don't show up for court, a warrant or "capias pro fine" may be issued for their arrest. Millions of such arrest warrants are outstanding at any given time, and hundreds of thousands go to jail each year because they can't afford Class C fines.
For purposes of one-stop shopping, Grits thought it worthwhile to reiterate some of the basic data surrounding arrests and jail for fine-only offenses in Texas all in one post. For fun, let's roll them out Harper's-Index style
---
Rate of arrest for Class C misdemeanors at traffic stops in 2018 by the Texas Department of Public Safety: 18.4 per 10,000 stops.*
Rate of arrest for Class C misdemeanors at traffic stops in 2018 by Waco PD: 451.4 per 10,000 stops.*
Proportion of jail admissions in Harris County in a four-month 2016 study for which a Class C misdemeanor was the highest charge: 11%.
Proportion of traffic stops at which Texas DPS troopers used force against a driver in 2018: 17.02 per 10,000 stops.*
Proportion of traffic stops at which Austin police officers used force against a driver in 2018: 77.2 per 10,000 stops.*
Number of Texans in 2018 who sat out their Class C fines and fees in jail because they couldn't afford to pay: 524,628.**
New arrest warrants and/or capias-pro fines issued by JPs and Municipal Judges in Texas in 2018 for Class C misdemeanors: 2,141,656.**
Number of Texans for whom judges waived Class-C fines for indigence in 2018: 54,794.**
Percentage of Texans who, according to an Office of Court Administration poll, disapprove of jailing people over fines and fees when defendants cannot afford to pay: 66%.
Percentage of Texans who believe "the wealthy enjoy substantially better outcomes in the criminal justice than poor and working-class people": 81%.
Percentage of Americans the Federal Reserve says cannot pay a surprise $400 bill without selling something or going into debt: 40%.
Percentage of Americans the Federal Reserve says cannot pay their current month's bills: 20%.
* Source: Compiled from agency racial profiling reports from March 1, 2019.
** Office of Court Administration Judicial Statistics data query.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The poor get fucked while the rich pay to avoid jail and bribe their kids’ way into college.
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
March 30, 2019
Beginning with the consideration of HB 482 (Thompson) in the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, the Texas Legislature will spend quite a bit of time over the coming weeks considering the consequences of arrest and incarceration for Class C misdemeanors, which in Texas are minor offenses carrying a maximum punishment of a $500 fine and no jail time.
There are two ways people end up incarcerated over Class C misdemeanors. First, after the US Supreme Court okayed the practice in Atwater v. Lago Vista (2001), police may arrest drivers for minor traffic offenses or violations of municipal ordinances, even if the maximum punishment is only a fine. That's what happened to Sandra Bland. Though she was eventually charged with resisting, when the officer first placed her under arrest, it was for the underlying charge of failure to signal a lane change.
Alternatively, if drivers can't pay fines and fees and don't show up for court, a warrant or "capias pro fine" may be issued for their arrest. Millions of such arrest warrants are outstanding at any given time, and hundreds of thousands go to jail each year because they can't afford Class C fines.
For purposes of one-stop shopping, Grits thought it worthwhile to reiterate some of the basic data surrounding arrests and jail for fine-only offenses in Texas all in one post. For fun, let's roll them out Harper's-Index style
---
Rate of arrest for Class C misdemeanors at traffic stops in 2018 by the Texas Department of Public Safety: 18.4 per 10,000 stops.*
Rate of arrest for Class C misdemeanors at traffic stops in 2018 by Waco PD: 451.4 per 10,000 stops.*
Proportion of jail admissions in Harris County in a four-month 2016 study for which a Class C misdemeanor was the highest charge: 11%.
Proportion of traffic stops at which Texas DPS troopers used force against a driver in 2018: 17.02 per 10,000 stops.*
Proportion of traffic stops at which Austin police officers used force against a driver in 2018: 77.2 per 10,000 stops.*
Number of Texans in 2018 who sat out their Class C fines and fees in jail because they couldn't afford to pay: 524,628.**
New arrest warrants and/or capias-pro fines issued by JPs and Municipal Judges in Texas in 2018 for Class C misdemeanors: 2,141,656.**
Number of Texans for whom judges waived Class-C fines for indigence in 2018: 54,794.**
Percentage of Texans who, according to an Office of Court Administration poll, disapprove of jailing people over fines and fees when defendants cannot afford to pay: 66%.
Percentage of Texans who believe "the wealthy enjoy substantially better outcomes in the criminal justice than poor and working-class people": 81%.
Percentage of Americans the Federal Reserve says cannot pay a surprise $400 bill without selling something or going into debt: 40%.
Percentage of Americans the Federal Reserve says cannot pay their current month's bills: 20%.
* Source: Compiled from agency racial profiling reports from March 1, 2019.
** Office of Court Administration Judicial Statistics data query.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The poor get fucked while the rich pay to avoid jail and bribe their kids’ way into college.
Monday, April 01, 2019
THOSE WHO TAKE THE ADVICE OF CLOONEY ARE LOONY
George Clooney is calling for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei
The Nation of Brunei is a tiny oil and natural gas rich country on the northern coast of Borneo. It has a population of some 400,000 Muslims that are ruled by Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah. Like all Islamic nations, Brunei adheres to the belief that homosexuality and adultery are major sins.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (for short) has announced that starting this month, Sharia law ill be applied to homosexuality and adultery. That means gays, lesbians and adulterers will be stoned to death if caught having sex.
That got George Clooney’s dander all in an uproar. Brunei owns nine luxury hotels - three in Britain, two in the US, two in France and two in Italy - including the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air in Los Angeles, the Dorchester in London and Le Meurice in Paris. Clooney is calling for a boycott of all nine hotels in deference to the LGBT community.
Who the fuck is Clooney to be leading the charge against the Sultan of Brunei. Clooney is nothing but a wealthy Hollywood actor married to a wealthy civil rights attorney. He is just part of a sleezy entertainment industry that includes sexual predators Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, the late child molester Michael Jackson, Black Panther Party cop-killing thugs glorifier Beyonce, hate-crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett and college admission briber Lori Loughlin. Why should anyone follow the advice of a Hollywood celebrity?
I’m not the only one slamming Clooney for his boycott call. Bill Maher did it during his ‘Real Time’ show on HBO. Maher said:
“It’s chickenshit tokenism. What about Saudi Arabia? If you really want to get back to them, stop driving, don’t use oil. This idea that the Sultan of Brunei is going over the receipts from the Polo Lounge ... ‘Oh no, we only sold two soups today.’”
Maher referred to Saudi Arabia because that nation also stones homosexuals to death.
Clooney has also been a loudmouth critic of President Trump.
I certainly do not approve of executing gays, whether by stoning, hanging, beheading or any other means. But Cooney has no standing when he, in effect, condemns the abhorrent, by Western standards, religious practices of any nation.
And that’s why I say those who take the advice of Clooney are loony.
The Nation of Brunei is a tiny oil and natural gas rich country on the northern coast of Borneo. It has a population of some 400,000 Muslims that are ruled by Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah. Like all Islamic nations, Brunei adheres to the belief that homosexuality and adultery are major sins.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (for short) has announced that starting this month, Sharia law ill be applied to homosexuality and adultery. That means gays, lesbians and adulterers will be stoned to death if caught having sex.
That got George Clooney’s dander all in an uproar. Brunei owns nine luxury hotels - three in Britain, two in the US, two in France and two in Italy - including the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air in Los Angeles, the Dorchester in London and Le Meurice in Paris. Clooney is calling for a boycott of all nine hotels in deference to the LGBT community.
Who the fuck is Clooney to be leading the charge against the Sultan of Brunei. Clooney is nothing but a wealthy Hollywood actor married to a wealthy civil rights attorney. He is just part of a sleezy entertainment industry that includes sexual predators Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, the late child molester Michael Jackson, Black Panther Party cop-killing thugs glorifier Beyonce, hate-crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett and college admission briber Lori Loughlin. Why should anyone follow the advice of a Hollywood celebrity?
I’m not the only one slamming Clooney for his boycott call. Bill Maher did it during his ‘Real Time’ show on HBO. Maher said:
“It’s chickenshit tokenism. What about Saudi Arabia? If you really want to get back to them, stop driving, don’t use oil. This idea that the Sultan of Brunei is going over the receipts from the Polo Lounge ... ‘Oh no, we only sold two soups today.’”
Maher referred to Saudi Arabia because that nation also stones homosexuals to death.
Clooney has also been a loudmouth critic of President Trump.
I certainly do not approve of executing gays, whether by stoning, hanging, beheading or any other means. But Cooney has no standing when he, in effect, condemns the abhorrent, by Western standards, religious practices of any nation.
And that’s why I say those who take the advice of Clooney are loony.
THIS MIGHT BE GOOD
by Bob Walsh
CBS All Access (which I assume is some sort of subscription service) is broadcasting a new iteration of The Twilight Zone beginning tomorrow. One of the new ones will be Nightmare At 30,000 Feet, which I assume is an homage to one of the very best of the originals. It is probably not enough to make me pay a subscription fee for more television, but for those of you who are in to such things it might be fun.
Somebody let me know how well they pull it off please.
CBS All Access (which I assume is some sort of subscription service) is broadcasting a new iteration of The Twilight Zone beginning tomorrow. One of the new ones will be Nightmare At 30,000 Feet, which I assume is an homage to one of the very best of the originals. It is probably not enough to make me pay a subscription fee for more television, but for those of you who are in to such things it might be fun.
Somebody let me know how well they pull it off please.
5 OFF-DUTY COPS BEAT UP 4 CIVILIANS IN MASSACHUSETTS BAR BRAWL, 9 COPS TRIED TO COVER IT UP, NOW ALL14 COPS INDICTED
14 Springfield Officers Charged In Connection With Violent Assault, Cover-up
By Melissa Buja and Marc Fortier
NBC Boston
March 27, 2019
Thirteen Springfield, Massachusetts police officers and one former officer have been indicted in connection with the alleged assault and beating of four civilians following an argument at a bar in 2015 and the ensuing attempt to cover up the incident.
The grand jury indictments were announced Wednesday by Attorney General Maura Healey's office and FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta.
According to the attorney general's office, five officers were off-duty when they physically assaulted four people after a confrontation at Nathan Bill's Bar & Restaurant on April 8, 2015. The victims were allegedly beaten and kicked and one or more of the defendants used weapons during the attack. The type of weapon was not released.
The victims sustained serious injuries, some of them permanent. Prosecutors have said that one of the victims lost teeth in the attack and suffered a broken leg and ligament damage to his ankle.
Daniel Billingsley, 30, of Springfield; Anthony Cicero, 29, of Hampden; Christian Cicero, 28, of Longmeadow; Igor Basovskiy, 33, Springfield; and Jameson Williams, 33, of East Longmeadow; are all charged with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault and battery, one count of assault and battery - serious bodily injury and one count of conspiracy.
After collecting statements from victims and witnesses and obtaining phone records and video evidence, nine other officers and two of the bar owners are also facing charges for participating in the incident:
…Bar owner John Sullivan, 34, of Springfield, charged with misleading a federal agent/investigator
…Bar owner Joseph Sullivan, 42, of Hampden, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/federal agent/investigator/grand jury
…Springfield Police Officer Jose Diaz, charged with misleading a police officer/investigator
…Springfield Police Officer Darren Nguyen, age 40, of Holland, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Shavonne Lewis, age 29, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Sergeant Louis Bortolussi, age 57, of East Longmeadow, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Derrick Gentry-Mitchell, age 29, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator/grand jury, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer James D’Amour, age 42, of Hampden, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer John Wajdula, age 34, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator/federal agent, filing a false police report
…Former Springfield Police Officer Nathaniel Perez, age 27, of West Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Melissa Rodriguez, age 32, of Springfield, charged with perjury
Each defendant is expected to be arraigned in Hampden and/or Worcester superior courts at later dates.
Lawyers for several of the officers previously charged said their clients were innocent.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said he and Acting Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood would continue to "root out" bad police officers.
"Needless to say, this is not a good day for our Springfield Police Department," Sarno said in a statement. "Police officers are held to a higher standard."
But Sarno's office didn't respond to requests for comment on the current status of the latest officers implicated. The officers previously charged with assault and battery had been placed on paid administrative leave.
Last year, Springfield agreed to pay $885,000 to settle federal civil rights lawsuits brought by the victims in the attack.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What in the fuck made those cops think they could get away with a coverup when the beating victims had to be hospitalized.
There’s a saying that goes something like this: When an officer is right he does not need to be defended, but when he deliberately fucks up he does not deserve defending.
By Melissa Buja and Marc Fortier
NBC Boston
March 27, 2019
Thirteen Springfield, Massachusetts police officers and one former officer have been indicted in connection with the alleged assault and beating of four civilians following an argument at a bar in 2015 and the ensuing attempt to cover up the incident.
The grand jury indictments were announced Wednesday by Attorney General Maura Healey's office and FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta.
According to the attorney general's office, five officers were off-duty when they physically assaulted four people after a confrontation at Nathan Bill's Bar & Restaurant on April 8, 2015. The victims were allegedly beaten and kicked and one or more of the defendants used weapons during the attack. The type of weapon was not released.
The victims sustained serious injuries, some of them permanent. Prosecutors have said that one of the victims lost teeth in the attack and suffered a broken leg and ligament damage to his ankle.
Daniel Billingsley, 30, of Springfield; Anthony Cicero, 29, of Hampden; Christian Cicero, 28, of Longmeadow; Igor Basovskiy, 33, Springfield; and Jameson Williams, 33, of East Longmeadow; are all charged with four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault and battery, one count of assault and battery - serious bodily injury and one count of conspiracy.
After collecting statements from victims and witnesses and obtaining phone records and video evidence, nine other officers and two of the bar owners are also facing charges for participating in the incident:
…Bar owner John Sullivan, 34, of Springfield, charged with misleading a federal agent/investigator
…Bar owner Joseph Sullivan, 42, of Hampden, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/federal agent/investigator/grand jury
…Springfield Police Officer Jose Diaz, charged with misleading a police officer/investigator
…Springfield Police Officer Darren Nguyen, age 40, of Holland, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Shavonne Lewis, age 29, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Sergeant Louis Bortolussi, age 57, of East Longmeadow, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Derrick Gentry-Mitchell, age 29, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator/grand jury, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer James D’Amour, age 42, of Hampden, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer John Wajdula, age 34, of Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator/federal agent, filing a false police report
…Former Springfield Police Officer Nathaniel Perez, age 27, of West Springfield, charged with perjury, misleading a police officer/investigator, filing a false police report
…Springfield Police Officer Melissa Rodriguez, age 32, of Springfield, charged with perjury
Each defendant is expected to be arraigned in Hampden and/or Worcester superior courts at later dates.
Lawyers for several of the officers previously charged said their clients were innocent.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said he and Acting Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood would continue to "root out" bad police officers.
"Needless to say, this is not a good day for our Springfield Police Department," Sarno said in a statement. "Police officers are held to a higher standard."
But Sarno's office didn't respond to requests for comment on the current status of the latest officers implicated. The officers previously charged with assault and battery had been placed on paid administrative leave.
Last year, Springfield agreed to pay $885,000 to settle federal civil rights lawsuits brought by the victims in the attack.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What in the fuck made those cops think they could get away with a coverup when the beating victims had to be hospitalized.
There’s a saying that goes something like this: When an officer is right he does not need to be defended, but when he deliberately fucks up he does not deserve defending.
INSTEAD OF 13-YEAR-OLD GIRLS, CREEP WILL HAVE TO SETTLE FOR SEX WITH PRISON INMATES, DOZENS OF WHOM ARE ONLY TOO HAPPY TO GIVE HIM THE RED ASS
California man arrested at a Colombian airport after allegedly offering to pay for sex with underage girls as young as 13 on Facebook
Associated Press
March 31, 2019
A California man has been arrested in Colombia's second-largest city after allegedly offering cash over Facebook to girls as young as 13 in exchange for sexual acts.
The chief prosecutor's office released Sunday a video showing Thomas Renno being handcuffed after arriving to the city of Medellin from San Francisco.
He was making his seventh trip to Colombia since 2017, during which time he is alleged to have victimized several minors, authorities said.
According to investigators, Renno allegedly used three Facebook profiles to contact girls and offer them up to $100 in return for his propositions.
He also used the social network to share explicit photos and pornographic material.
Phone messages left at what is believed to be Renno's home in Fairfax, California were not returned.
Renno had legal residency in Colombia.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I hear that Colombian prisons are rat holes where rapes are rampant.
Associated Press
March 31, 2019
A California man has been arrested in Colombia's second-largest city after allegedly offering cash over Facebook to girls as young as 13 in exchange for sexual acts.
The chief prosecutor's office released Sunday a video showing Thomas Renno being handcuffed after arriving to the city of Medellin from San Francisco.
He was making his seventh trip to Colombia since 2017, during which time he is alleged to have victimized several minors, authorities said.
According to investigators, Renno allegedly used three Facebook profiles to contact girls and offer them up to $100 in return for his propositions.
He also used the social network to share explicit photos and pornographic material.
Phone messages left at what is believed to be Renno's home in Fairfax, California were not returned.
Renno had legal residency in Colombia.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I hear that Colombian prisons are rat holes where rapes are rampant.
AMERICAN JEWS WHO SUPPORT ISRAEL NOT WELCOME BY PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS
Ilhan Omar can declare victory
By Ari Blaff
Israel Hayom
March 31, 2019
Defying the odds, accusations and invective, U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) has won.
At the very least, she has succeeded in shifting the bounds of acceptable debate on the topic of Jewish power and influence. Omar's repeated comments on Jews buying politicians, Israel hypnotizing the world and her promoting the canard of dual loyalty has resonated with a growing faction of the Democratic Party. Such statements have now been translated from fringe rhetoric to unspoken policy.
It came with little surprise, then, that leading Democratic presidential nominees decided to refrain from attending the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference. That list of luminaries included Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Beto O'Rourke. Their absence was optical: a signal to American Jews and Israelis alike that a growing faction of the Democratic Party is questioning old orthodoxies, starting with Israel.
The move was spurred on by the progressive organization MoveOn, which denounced AIPAC for opposing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and undermining Palestinian self-determination.
In conjunction with earlier comments by Omar (herself an icon of American progressivism), these developments underscore a deeper shift unfolding within the Democratic Party. Although much outrage and condemnation were dispensed in the wake of the congresswoman's comments, the choreographed vitriol proved to be little more than political doublespeak: "We condemn the promotion of Jewish conspiracy theories but, effectively, we will follow your lead." Simply a polished version of the anti-Semitic myths parroted by Omar.
Omar and MoveOn are not out of sync with the Democratic Party: They are the progressive pacesetters, the trailblazers, illuminating where liberal politics in the United States is bound. Nor are they out of step with other liberals. According to MoveOn polling, more than three-quarters of members supported the boycott in an online survey. Such findings were reiterated by an Economist-You Gov survey showing that cross-sections of the Democrats – millennial, liberal and female – no longer support Israel much.
This is the progressive core that Omar and her ilk pander to. And for these political forces, ideologies decrying the harm of Jewish influence, money and power are well and fair: "punching up," speaking truth to power.
Nowhere has this veneer of acceptability been more tolerated than when directed at Jews.
When asked about American Jewish concerns with the anti-Semitic rhetoric of Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, who has been linked to the leadership of the Women's March, progressive political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry called it "weird." Harris-Perry maintained that only Farrakhan's ability to enact, to carry out, his bigotry could drive her to denounce him. The progressive magazine Salon condemned alt-right anti-Semitism in 2017 as a "bellwether of society." However, when the shoe was on the other foot – and Omar as well as other progressive figures, including Women's March leaders Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, waded into the shoals of Jew-hatred – Salon conveniently moved the yardsticks. In its view, the political establishment had mobilized to crush Omar.
This is the ultimate irony that American Jews are only now beginning to digest: that Jews are not part and parcel of the "diversity" progressives have in mind. Jews are now too successful, too white and too powerful. In other words, Jews, or perhaps more aptly, those who support Israel, are not welcome.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Speaking of MoveOn, George Soros donated $2.5 million to that radical-left organization.
By Ari Blaff
Israel Hayom
March 31, 2019
Defying the odds, accusations and invective, U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) has won.
At the very least, she has succeeded in shifting the bounds of acceptable debate on the topic of Jewish power and influence. Omar's repeated comments on Jews buying politicians, Israel hypnotizing the world and her promoting the canard of dual loyalty has resonated with a growing faction of the Democratic Party. Such statements have now been translated from fringe rhetoric to unspoken policy.
It came with little surprise, then, that leading Democratic presidential nominees decided to refrain from attending the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference. That list of luminaries included Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Beto O'Rourke. Their absence was optical: a signal to American Jews and Israelis alike that a growing faction of the Democratic Party is questioning old orthodoxies, starting with Israel.
The move was spurred on by the progressive organization MoveOn, which denounced AIPAC for opposing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and undermining Palestinian self-determination.
In conjunction with earlier comments by Omar (herself an icon of American progressivism), these developments underscore a deeper shift unfolding within the Democratic Party. Although much outrage and condemnation were dispensed in the wake of the congresswoman's comments, the choreographed vitriol proved to be little more than political doublespeak: "We condemn the promotion of Jewish conspiracy theories but, effectively, we will follow your lead." Simply a polished version of the anti-Semitic myths parroted by Omar.
Omar and MoveOn are not out of sync with the Democratic Party: They are the progressive pacesetters, the trailblazers, illuminating where liberal politics in the United States is bound. Nor are they out of step with other liberals. According to MoveOn polling, more than three-quarters of members supported the boycott in an online survey. Such findings were reiterated by an Economist-You Gov survey showing that cross-sections of the Democrats – millennial, liberal and female – no longer support Israel much.
This is the progressive core that Omar and her ilk pander to. And for these political forces, ideologies decrying the harm of Jewish influence, money and power are well and fair: "punching up," speaking truth to power.
Nowhere has this veneer of acceptability been more tolerated than when directed at Jews.
When asked about American Jewish concerns with the anti-Semitic rhetoric of Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, who has been linked to the leadership of the Women's March, progressive political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry called it "weird." Harris-Perry maintained that only Farrakhan's ability to enact, to carry out, his bigotry could drive her to denounce him. The progressive magazine Salon condemned alt-right anti-Semitism in 2017 as a "bellwether of society." However, when the shoe was on the other foot – and Omar as well as other progressive figures, including Women's March leaders Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, waded into the shoals of Jew-hatred – Salon conveniently moved the yardsticks. In its view, the political establishment had mobilized to crush Omar.
This is the ultimate irony that American Jews are only now beginning to digest: that Jews are not part and parcel of the "diversity" progressives have in mind. Jews are now too successful, too white and too powerful. In other words, Jews, or perhaps more aptly, those who support Israel, are not welcome.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Speaking of MoveOn, George Soros donated $2.5 million to that radical-left organization.
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