Don Trump Jr. defiant after naming whistleblower as Eric Ciaramella
by Mike Brest
Washington Examiner
November 6, 2019
Donald Trump Jr. named CIA officer Eric Ciaramella as the whistleblower who filed a complaint about President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The president's eldest son, 41, sent out a link via Twitter to a Breitbart News story that named Ciaramella as the "alleged" whistleblower. Ciaramella, 33, was named in a RealClearInvestigations report last week. "Because of course he did!!! Alleged ‘Whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella Worked Closely with Anti-Trump Dossier Hoaxer," Trump Jr. tweeted.
Trump Jr. defended his tweet after facing backlash. He tweeted, "The entire media is #Triggered that I (a private citizen) tweeted out a story naming the alleged whistleblower. Are they going to pretend that his name hasn’t been in the public domain for weeks now? Numerous people & news outlets including Real Clear Politics already ID’d him." Trump Jr.'s new book is entitled Triggered.
Trump has repeatedly called for the whistleblower's identity to be revealed. Sen. Rand Paul called for the media to "do their job" and name the whistleblower this week.
Trump Jr. later pushed back on the claim that his tweet was a part of an effort to out the whistleblower in conjunction with the White House. “The outrage on this is BS. And those pretending that I would coordinate with The White House to send out a Breitbart link haven’t been watching my feed for a long time," Trump Jr. told journalist Yashar Ali.
Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid, lawyers for the whistleblower, responded in a statement: "Identifying any suspected name for the whistleblower will place their family at risk of serious harm. We will not confirm or deny any name that is published or promoted by supporters of the President. Disclosure of any name undermines the integrity of the whistleblower system and will deter any future whistleblowers. We will note, however, that publication or promotion of a name shows the desperation to deflect from the substance of the whistleblower complaint. It will not relieve the President of the need to address the substantive allegation, all of which have been substantially proven to be true."
Ciaramella, a career CIA analyst, was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and remained there during the early months of the Trump administration when he was briefly acting senior director for European and Russian affairs.
Friday, November 08, 2019
WAR ON THE POOR OR GOOD SENSE?
Las Vegas makes it illegal for homeless to sleep on street
By Lee Brown
New York Post
November 7, 2019
Las Vegas officials approved a measure this week that bans homeless people from sleeping on the street.
The controversial law, approved Wednesday despite being condemned as a “war on the poor,” will make al fresco snoozing forbidden in most downtown areas, if beds are available in established shelters.
It will be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“It’s criminalizing the homeless,” the Rev. Leonard Jackson, director of the city’s Faith Organizing Alliance, complained during a City Hall protest before the law was approved.
“This is the most disgusting and embarrassing policy I have ever seen,” said Annette Magnus, the executive director for activist group Battle Born Progress, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The law was passed by a 5-2 vote late Wednesday following a daylong City Council meeting that saw several protesters getting booted.
“Housing not handcuffs! Hey hey, ho ho — the war on the poor has got to go!” protesters chanted, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who sponsored the measure, insisted it was necessary to crack-down on a clear homelessness crisis there.
“This is flawed but it is a start,” the mayor said, according to the Gazette Journal. “We have been having these conversations for 20 years, and we must have results.”
The law applies to the city’s downtown urban core, not the tourist-heavy Las Vegas Strip, which is overseen by a different jurisdiction. It goes into effect on Sunday, although the legal punishments will not begin until the new year.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law from Boise, Idaho, last year — calling it unconstitutional to prosecute people for sleeping in public places when there aren’t enough shelter beds.
The Las Vegas law was crafted to withstand a similar legal challenge by stressing it only applied “if beds are available” in shelters, City Attorney Brad Jerbic said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ship the Las Vegas homeless to Austin where they are welcome to sleep on the streets.
By Lee Brown
New York Post
November 7, 2019
Las Vegas officials approved a measure this week that bans homeless people from sleeping on the street.
The controversial law, approved Wednesday despite being condemned as a “war on the poor,” will make al fresco snoozing forbidden in most downtown areas, if beds are available in established shelters.
It will be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“It’s criminalizing the homeless,” the Rev. Leonard Jackson, director of the city’s Faith Organizing Alliance, complained during a City Hall protest before the law was approved.
“This is the most disgusting and embarrassing policy I have ever seen,” said Annette Magnus, the executive director for activist group Battle Born Progress, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The law was passed by a 5-2 vote late Wednesday following a daylong City Council meeting that saw several protesters getting booted.
“Housing not handcuffs! Hey hey, ho ho — the war on the poor has got to go!” protesters chanted, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who sponsored the measure, insisted it was necessary to crack-down on a clear homelessness crisis there.
“This is flawed but it is a start,” the mayor said, according to the Gazette Journal. “We have been having these conversations for 20 years, and we must have results.”
The law applies to the city’s downtown urban core, not the tourist-heavy Las Vegas Strip, which is overseen by a different jurisdiction. It goes into effect on Sunday, although the legal punishments will not begin until the new year.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law from Boise, Idaho, last year — calling it unconstitutional to prosecute people for sleeping in public places when there aren’t enough shelter beds.
The Las Vegas law was crafted to withstand a similar legal challenge by stressing it only applied “if beds are available” in shelters, City Attorney Brad Jerbic said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ship the Las Vegas homeless to Austin where they are welcome to sleep on the streets.
SUCCESSFUL BUT DUMBASS ESCAPEES SHOULD HAVE REMAINED IN MEXICO
2 Murder Suspects Arrested by Border Officials Days After Escaping Monterey County Jail
Associated Press
November 6, 2019
Two murder suspects who escaped from a jail on California's central coast eluded an intense manhunt, traveled hundreds of miles and crossed into Mexico but were arrested trying to walk back into the United States, authorities said Wednesday.
Jonathan Salazar, 20, and Santos Fonseca, 21, were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at a port of entry in San Ysidro — the nation's largest border crossing — early Wednesday, said Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg.
Thornburg said the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and were on their way to a jail in Salinas, a farming city of about 160,000 people roughly 100 miles south of San Francisco.
Salazar and Fonseca escaped Sunday from the jail in Salinas after climbing through a hole they made in the ceiling of a bathroom, squeezing through a hollow wall and kicking open a hatch. Officials found their jail-issued jumpsuits outside the building. Inmates often wear their own clothes under the jumpsuits, Thornburg said.
Investigators have not yet determined how long they worked on making the hole or if anyone else helped them escape or helped them after they were out. They were reported missing at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
Thornburg said authorities received a tip that the pair, both born and raised in Salinas, had been spotted in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, around 400 miles south of Monterey County, and alerted federal officials.
CBP spokeswoman Jackie Wasiluk said the men didn't present any documents. They said they were U.S. citizens, and a check of law enforcement databases told border inspectors that they were wanted by authorities.
How the pair made it to Mexico, why they decided to travel together since they allegedly belong to rival gangs and why they returned to the United States is under investigation, Thornburg said.
"The good news here is they are in custody again," Thornburg said.
Salazar and Fonseca will be housed separately in a different housing unit from the one they escaped, Thornburg said, adding that officials had already made security improvements to the jail. He said he couldn't provide details.
Before being spotted in Tijuana, investigators received a credible tip from an employee at a motel in Marina about 10 miles from the jail who told authorities Salazar had checked in there Tuesday morning, but authorities found no one in the room after a nearly eight-hour standoff, Thornburg said.
"It all looked like we had Mr. Salazar in a motel," he said. "Unfortunately, last night he wasn't there."
Both had been in custody since 2018 and were awaiting trial on murder counts and "numerous other felony charges" in separate cases.
Salazar was arrested in the shooting death of 20-year-old Jaime Martinez as the victim drove in Salinas with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son. The woman was shot and treated at a hospital, while the child wasn't hurt.
Police investigated the Oct. 12, 2017, shooting as gang-related. Officers said his tattoos, including the letter P on his cheek, refer to his Sureño offshoot gang, La Posada Trece, the Californian reported. His trial was scheduled to begin in January.
Fonseca told police after his arrest on homicide charges that his gang leader told him to kill someone to prove he was still loyal to the Boronda Boys, a subset of the Norteño gang, Detective Gabriela Contreras testified.
Fonseca is charged with shooting Lorenzo Gomez Acosta, 37, to death on June 2, 2018, while the victim sat in his car on a video call with his wife in Mexico, the Californian reported.
She saw a scuffle, heard her husband screaming "no" and then gunshots rang out, Salinas police Officer Froylan Aranda said. Acosta was reportedly chosen at random.
Three days later, Fonseca shot and killed Ernesto Garcia Cruz, 27, in a Salinas park, authorities said. He told police that the gang leader also ordered the slaying and that he picked his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend "to send him a message," Contreras said.
Associated Press
November 6, 2019
Two murder suspects who escaped from a jail on California's central coast eluded an intense manhunt, traveled hundreds of miles and crossed into Mexico but were arrested trying to walk back into the United States, authorities said Wednesday.
Jonathan Salazar, 20, and Santos Fonseca, 21, were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at a port of entry in San Ysidro — the nation's largest border crossing — early Wednesday, said Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg.
Thornburg said the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and were on their way to a jail in Salinas, a farming city of about 160,000 people roughly 100 miles south of San Francisco.
Salazar and Fonseca escaped Sunday from the jail in Salinas after climbing through a hole they made in the ceiling of a bathroom, squeezing through a hollow wall and kicking open a hatch. Officials found their jail-issued jumpsuits outside the building. Inmates often wear their own clothes under the jumpsuits, Thornburg said.
Investigators have not yet determined how long they worked on making the hole or if anyone else helped them escape or helped them after they were out. They were reported missing at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
Thornburg said authorities received a tip that the pair, both born and raised in Salinas, had been spotted in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, around 400 miles south of Monterey County, and alerted federal officials.
CBP spokeswoman Jackie Wasiluk said the men didn't present any documents. They said they were U.S. citizens, and a check of law enforcement databases told border inspectors that they were wanted by authorities.
How the pair made it to Mexico, why they decided to travel together since they allegedly belong to rival gangs and why they returned to the United States is under investigation, Thornburg said.
"The good news here is they are in custody again," Thornburg said.
Salazar and Fonseca will be housed separately in a different housing unit from the one they escaped, Thornburg said, adding that officials had already made security improvements to the jail. He said he couldn't provide details.
Before being spotted in Tijuana, investigators received a credible tip from an employee at a motel in Marina about 10 miles from the jail who told authorities Salazar had checked in there Tuesday morning, but authorities found no one in the room after a nearly eight-hour standoff, Thornburg said.
"It all looked like we had Mr. Salazar in a motel," he said. "Unfortunately, last night he wasn't there."
Both had been in custody since 2018 and were awaiting trial on murder counts and "numerous other felony charges" in separate cases.
Salazar was arrested in the shooting death of 20-year-old Jaime Martinez as the victim drove in Salinas with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son. The woman was shot and treated at a hospital, while the child wasn't hurt.
Police investigated the Oct. 12, 2017, shooting as gang-related. Officers said his tattoos, including the letter P on his cheek, refer to his Sureño offshoot gang, La Posada Trece, the Californian reported. His trial was scheduled to begin in January.
Fonseca told police after his arrest on homicide charges that his gang leader told him to kill someone to prove he was still loyal to the Boronda Boys, a subset of the Norteño gang, Detective Gabriela Contreras testified.
Fonseca is charged with shooting Lorenzo Gomez Acosta, 37, to death on June 2, 2018, while the victim sat in his car on a video call with his wife in Mexico, the Californian reported.
She saw a scuffle, heard her husband screaming "no" and then gunshots rang out, Salinas police Officer Froylan Aranda said. Acosta was reportedly chosen at random.
Three days later, Fonseca shot and killed Ernesto Garcia Cruz, 27, in a Salinas park, authorities said. He told police that the gang leader also ordered the slaying and that he picked his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend "to send him a message," Contreras said.
FRESH DATA SHOWS HOW FOCUSED DETERRENCE CAN KEEP AT-RISK PEOPLEFROM CRIME
A wide body of evidence demonstrates the crime-prevention strategy's ability to curb community gun violence. In Detroit, new research also shows its potential for reducing recidivism
By Champe Barton
The Trace
November 5, 2019
For the past 30 years, Detroit has struggled to contain a persistent homicide problem. Since 1990, the earliest year for which reliable data exists, the city’s murder rate slipped below the country’s top five only once. The year was 1996, and Detroit ranked sixth.
The vast majority of Detroit’s violence scars the city’s East and West Sides. In 2013, the Detroit Police Department decided to tailor its response to these hot spots with an evidence-based intervention called focused deterrence, in which police use data to directly intervene with people at a high risk for involvement in violent crime. Detroit’s focused deterrence strategy is part of a national program called Ceasefire.
Officers using this intervention partner with social workers and parole officers to arrange call-ins with at-risk people, where they emphasize the legal and lethal risks of criminal behavior, and steer them to social service programs like GED courses and job training.
A study published last week in the journal Crime and Delinquency by Giovanni Circo, a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, and Julie Krupa, Edmund McGarrell, and Alaina DeBiasi, all criminologists at Michigan State University, examined Detroit’s effort over its first three years — and found new evidence for its efficacy.
What did it find?
The study’s authors tried to answer a central question: When a city implements a focused deterrence program like Ceasefire, does it deter criminals from committing crime, or simply force them to move their operations elsewhere?
They found evidence that people involved in call-in meetings in the first three years of Detroit’s program were 30 percent less likely to be re-arrested for any sort of crime for up to three years. The intervention had an even stronger effect on violent criminals, who were roughly 47 percent less likely to be re-arrested for violent crime.
“This was fairly credible evidence that these programs are effective, on average, at reducing the recidivism rate of criminals,” Circo said.
That’s great, but haven’t activists been arguing for less police involvement to reduce crime?
Some have. But interestingly, the end goal of focused deterrence interventions is actually fewer arrests, not more. Before adopting the strategy, the Detroit Police Department used a tactic known as a saturation patrol, in which officers flood neighborhoods in an attempt to deter criminal activity.
But saturation patrols had an unintended, if not predictable effect, exacerbating already fraught relationships between police and the city’s black community. This tension flared most notably in the 2010 killing of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
Call-ins and other associated interventions, by contrast, are preventative in nature. They work by intervening before people commit crimes, thereby keeping them out of the criminal justice system.
Is there evidence that focused deterrence works elsewhere?
Yes. Since the late 1990s, cities across the country have implemented variations of the Ceasefire program, often to great success. In Oakland, for example, the city’s Ceasefire initiative reduced gun-related homicides by 30 percent in a five-year span between 2013 and 2018.
A wide body of research has found similar evidence in other cities, almost always measuring the program’s efficacy against corresponding citywide reductions in crime. But until Circo and his colleagues’ study, few researchers had examined the program’s effect on people. Their study suggests participants themselves are less likely to be re-arrested.
Has focused deterrence made a dent in Detroit’s persistently high murder rate?
The answer is unclear. In 2017, the city’s homicide rate hit a 30-year low, and held steady the following year. But at 39.9 homicides per 100,000, the rate still ranks in the country’s top five.
That said, fatal and nonfatal shootings have dropped in a number of precincts where the city’s Ceasefire program is active. This success may be obscured citywide by the number of precincts without an active Ceasefire effort ongoing.
In the absence of a sizeable citywide effect to demonstrate the program’s efficacy, the new study provides a next-best argument for expanding Ceasefire to the rest of Detroit. The police department has already taken tentative steps to that end: In 2015, it expanded the program to the city’s West and Northwest Sides, according to Circo. He added that the department has also applied to renew the grant used to fund his research.
“As they slowly roll this all out, we’re going to be thinking about whether the size of the program will affect our findings,” Circo said. “How does this scale on a whole city level?”
By Champe Barton
The Trace
November 5, 2019
For the past 30 years, Detroit has struggled to contain a persistent homicide problem. Since 1990, the earliest year for which reliable data exists, the city’s murder rate slipped below the country’s top five only once. The year was 1996, and Detroit ranked sixth.
The vast majority of Detroit’s violence scars the city’s East and West Sides. In 2013, the Detroit Police Department decided to tailor its response to these hot spots with an evidence-based intervention called focused deterrence, in which police use data to directly intervene with people at a high risk for involvement in violent crime. Detroit’s focused deterrence strategy is part of a national program called Ceasefire.
Officers using this intervention partner with social workers and parole officers to arrange call-ins with at-risk people, where they emphasize the legal and lethal risks of criminal behavior, and steer them to social service programs like GED courses and job training.
A study published last week in the journal Crime and Delinquency by Giovanni Circo, a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, and Julie Krupa, Edmund McGarrell, and Alaina DeBiasi, all criminologists at Michigan State University, examined Detroit’s effort over its first three years — and found new evidence for its efficacy.
What did it find?
The study’s authors tried to answer a central question: When a city implements a focused deterrence program like Ceasefire, does it deter criminals from committing crime, or simply force them to move their operations elsewhere?
They found evidence that people involved in call-in meetings in the first three years of Detroit’s program were 30 percent less likely to be re-arrested for any sort of crime for up to three years. The intervention had an even stronger effect on violent criminals, who were roughly 47 percent less likely to be re-arrested for violent crime.
“This was fairly credible evidence that these programs are effective, on average, at reducing the recidivism rate of criminals,” Circo said.
That’s great, but haven’t activists been arguing for less police involvement to reduce crime?
Some have. But interestingly, the end goal of focused deterrence interventions is actually fewer arrests, not more. Before adopting the strategy, the Detroit Police Department used a tactic known as a saturation patrol, in which officers flood neighborhoods in an attempt to deter criminal activity.
But saturation patrols had an unintended, if not predictable effect, exacerbating already fraught relationships between police and the city’s black community. This tension flared most notably in the 2010 killing of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
Call-ins and other associated interventions, by contrast, are preventative in nature. They work by intervening before people commit crimes, thereby keeping them out of the criminal justice system.
Is there evidence that focused deterrence works elsewhere?
Yes. Since the late 1990s, cities across the country have implemented variations of the Ceasefire program, often to great success. In Oakland, for example, the city’s Ceasefire initiative reduced gun-related homicides by 30 percent in a five-year span between 2013 and 2018.
A wide body of research has found similar evidence in other cities, almost always measuring the program’s efficacy against corresponding citywide reductions in crime. But until Circo and his colleagues’ study, few researchers had examined the program’s effect on people. Their study suggests participants themselves are less likely to be re-arrested.
Has focused deterrence made a dent in Detroit’s persistently high murder rate?
The answer is unclear. In 2017, the city’s homicide rate hit a 30-year low, and held steady the following year. But at 39.9 homicides per 100,000, the rate still ranks in the country’s top five.
That said, fatal and nonfatal shootings have dropped in a number of precincts where the city’s Ceasefire program is active. This success may be obscured citywide by the number of precincts without an active Ceasefire effort ongoing.
In the absence of a sizeable citywide effect to demonstrate the program’s efficacy, the new study provides a next-best argument for expanding Ceasefire to the rest of Detroit. The police department has already taken tentative steps to that end: In 2015, it expanded the program to the city’s West and Northwest Sides, according to Circo. He added that the department has also applied to renew the grant used to fund his research.
“As they slowly roll this all out, we’re going to be thinking about whether the size of the program will affect our findings,” Circo said. “How does this scale on a whole city level?”
Thursday, November 07, 2019
POOR OLD JOE NOW SUCKING HIND TIT
by Bob Walsh
Joe "the Hairsniffer" Biden is now FOURTH in the polling data in Iowa, behind Pocahontas, Crazy Bernie and Mayor Pete. Since the Iowa Caucuses are coming around in roughly 90 days we are getting to the point where the polling may be in the same time zone as reality. Joe himself in now dialing it back, saying he won't jump off the bridge if he doesn't win in Iowa and / New Hamshire. (If, however, he bombs in both of them and South Carolina he will truly be in deep kimchi.)
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Trump running against Liz Warren or Bernie Sanders? I can see the Demo-Lemmings lining up on the cliffs right now. It is, I assure you, a beautiful sight to behold.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't pop the cork yet! That's only Iowa. All the national polls show Biden comfortably ahead of the left-wing crazies. Odds are Trump will face Biden come next November and he will be a strong opponent.
Joe "the Hairsniffer" Biden is now FOURTH in the polling data in Iowa, behind Pocahontas, Crazy Bernie and Mayor Pete. Since the Iowa Caucuses are coming around in roughly 90 days we are getting to the point where the polling may be in the same time zone as reality. Joe himself in now dialing it back, saying he won't jump off the bridge if he doesn't win in Iowa and / New Hamshire. (If, however, he bombs in both of them and South Carolina he will truly be in deep kimchi.)
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Trump running against Liz Warren or Bernie Sanders? I can see the Demo-Lemmings lining up on the cliffs right now. It is, I assure you, a beautiful sight to behold.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't pop the cork yet! That's only Iowa. All the national polls show Biden comfortably ahead of the left-wing crazies. Odds are Trump will face Biden come next November and he will be a strong opponent.
TRADITION WINS OUT IN KANSAS CITY, MO
by Bob Walsh
For several years a vocal minority in Kansas City has attempted to get a 10 mile long street called The Paseo renamed to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In January the city council decided to rename the street on the city's east side, which is a largely Black area.
However, a lot of residents didn't like it. They kept using The Paseo as the street name, and launched a campaign to get the street name changed back. They needed 1,700 signatures to get the issue on the ballot. They got well over 2,800 signatures.
Many of the supporters of the original name were pissed that the city council did not follow their own rules in making the change and did not accept any input from locals in the matter. They just did it. The Paseo is a historic name, over 100 years old, and a portion of the street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The supporters of the original name were often referred to as RACISTS by the supporters of the name change. Gee, what a surprise.
The Save The Paseo group won, getting 70% of the vote in the election two days ago.
For several years a vocal minority in Kansas City has attempted to get a 10 mile long street called The Paseo renamed to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In January the city council decided to rename the street on the city's east side, which is a largely Black area.
However, a lot of residents didn't like it. They kept using The Paseo as the street name, and launched a campaign to get the street name changed back. They needed 1,700 signatures to get the issue on the ballot. They got well over 2,800 signatures.
Many of the supporters of the original name were pissed that the city council did not follow their own rules in making the change and did not accept any input from locals in the matter. They just did it. The Paseo is a historic name, over 100 years old, and a portion of the street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The supporters of the original name were often referred to as RACISTS by the supporters of the name change. Gee, what a surprise.
The Save The Paseo group won, getting 70% of the vote in the election two days ago.
13-YEAR OLD DOUBLE MURDER SUSPECT ESCAPES FROM N.C. COURTHOUSE
by Bob Walsh
I am guessing the security at the Robeson County, N.C. juvenile court house is going to be increased or at least evaluated fairly soon. A 13-year old suspect, identified only as Jericho W., accused in a robbery and double murder, beat feet successfully from the courthouse on Tuesday.
The young man has an extensive record of violence and unpredictable behavior and is thought to be a significant danger to the public.
While at the court he was wearing a white t-shirt, tan pants and no shoes. He was wearing leg irons but no other restraints.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Leg irons? How cruel! This is just a poor child in need of attention. His prior behavior was just a cry for help.
I am guessing the security at the Robeson County, N.C. juvenile court house is going to be increased or at least evaluated fairly soon. A 13-year old suspect, identified only as Jericho W., accused in a robbery and double murder, beat feet successfully from the courthouse on Tuesday.
The young man has an extensive record of violence and unpredictable behavior and is thought to be a significant danger to the public.
While at the court he was wearing a white t-shirt, tan pants and no shoes. He was wearing leg irons but no other restraints.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Leg irons? How cruel! This is just a poor child in need of attention. His prior behavior was just a cry for help.
PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR POLICIES WILL HAVE PREDICTABLE RESULTS … MORE CRIME AND MORE VICTIMS
These prosecutors won office vowing to fight the system. Now, the system is fighting back
By Mark Berman
The Washington Post
November 5, 2019
Prosecutors in Boston went to court days after the controversial “Straight Pride Parade” this summer with plans to drop some of the cases against counterprotesters, deeming one disorderly conduct charge “inappropriate.”
When the judge pushed back, attempting to continue that prosecution over their objections, District Attorney Rachael Rollins publicly denounced him and appealed to the state’s high court. She won a judgment stating that Judge Richard J. Sinnott had overstepped his authority.
It was the kind of action Rollins had promised voters when running for office in Suffolk County, Mass., last year, pledging fewer lower-level prosecutions as she took aim at the criminal justice system. That approach quickly propelled Rollins into the heart of a clash over the future of district attorneys, a remarkably public debate pitting law enforcement officials against each other across the country.
“We’re getting back to the work that the people of Suffolk County elected me to do,” Rollins told reporters after the high court backed her in September, “and changing a system that doesn’t work well for a majority of people that come into contact with it.”
Rollins is among more than two dozen recently elected prosecutors who are pushing progressive policies across the country — including in Philadelphia, Dallas and Orlando — and breaking from decades of tough-on-crime thinking. Progressive candidates are also on the ballot Tuesday in closely-watched prosecutor elections in Virginia and San Francisco.
Progressive prosecutors, as they are generally known, have been elected on platforms that included abandoning cash bail, declining low-level charges, not pursuing marijuana cases and closely scrutinizing police conduct, in efforts to reform a system that they say overincarcerates and disproportionately punishes poor people and racial minorities.
They vowed to change that system, but the system is fighting back. Powerful figures — including lawmakers, governors, police union leaders, fellow district attorneys and Trump administration officials — have been sharply critical, with some saying progressive prosecutors are improperly using their roles to decline charges and arguing that their policies will drive up crime rates.
After Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot said he would not prosecute certain crimes, the Texas governor and attorney general accused him of promoting “lawlessness.” In San Antonio, District Attorney Joe Gonzales pledged to reject criminal trespass charges for homeless people, a decision that the police union assailed as “a total abdication of [a] D.A.’s responsibility, which is to hold the guilty accountable.”
In Philadelphia, where the district attorney directed prosecutors to seek less severe sentences and not impose charges for some offenses, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain accused him of causing a “public safety crisis” there.
“The role of the prosecutor in America today is clearly to enforce the law and not to make the law and not to pretend that you’re a legislator,” McSwain said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner dismissed McSwain as an “attack dog” echoing rhetoric from President Trump, who has criticized progressive prosecutors.
The country’s top law enforcement official also joined the fray. In an August speech to a police group, Attorney General William P. Barr called progressive prosecutors “anti-law enforcement” and “dangerous to the public safety.”
Their policies will have “predictable” results, Barr said: “More crime and more victims.”
Candidates for top prosecutor jobs have long campaigned as being tough on crime, an approach that had consequences, particularly for poor people and minorities, progressive prosecutors say.
“Disastrous policies have resonated for decades. . . . The old approach messed everything up,” Krasner said. “We ended up with a level of mass incarceration that makes us the most incarcerated country in the world.”
In response, many advocates for criminal justice reform have shifted their attention in recent years to top prosecutors, who are usually locally elected and wield remarkable power within the system. Prosecutors have discretion to decide who to prosecute, what to charge and, in many cases, can determine how cases are resolved, legal experts said.
“In cases that are plea bargained, which in this country are the vast majority of cases, the prosecutor decides what kind of plea bargain to offer or to accept,” said David Alan Sklansky, a Stanford Law School professor who wrote a guidebook for progressive prosecutors. “That means, as a practical matter, that the prosecutor is also often determining what the sentencing will be.”
Once in office, top prosecutors typically face little risk of losing their jobs, said Ronald Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University. Wright studied district attorney races that unfolded in 10 states between 1996 and 2006 and found that 95 percent of incumbent prosecutors were reelected, with many facing no opposition.
Prosecutors like Rollins — who bested a crowded field last year after the incumbent district attorney decided against seeking a fifth term — are pushing what they describe as a holistic approach to criminal justice.
Violent criminals should be prosecuted, Rollins said, but she also believes more people should be sent to treatment and fewer put behind bars.
Part of her approach is about “focusing our limited resources” on more serious crimes and going after those, Rollins said, and showing respect to people no matter how they encounter the system.
“Today’s defendant is potentially tomorrow’s victim and was yesterday’s witness,” Rollins said. “And so, if I treat you horribly as a defendant but then want to be nice to you when you’re a victim or ask you to come forward when you’re a witness? People aren’t stupid.”
Changing the face of prosecution
Rollins, who was raised in Cambridge, developed her views about the justice system in part through her experience as a federal prosecutor in Boston. The system also touched her personal life; two of her siblings are incarcerated, she said, and a third is in recovery for opioid addiction. In addition to her own teenage daughter, she said, Rollins is the guardian for two nieces because of her siblings’ circumstances.
“I come to work with a very different lens every day,” Rollins said.
Her personal and professional worlds have collided in sometimes uncomfortable ways. In the fall of 2012, the year after she left the U.S. attorney’s office, Rollins was back in a Boston courtroom and saw a judge whom she had argued in front of before. Rollins said he greeted her with a smile before his expression changed.
“With a perplexed look,” Rollins recalled, the judge “tilted his head to say without saying it, ‘What are you doing here?’ ”
His answer walked through the door: Rollins’s brother, handcuffed by U.S. marshals and facing drugs and weapons charges filed by her former office.
“It was an incredibly humbling moment,” she said.
Rollins took office as Suffolk County District Attorney in January, with jurisdiction over Boston and three neighboring communities. A few months later, she released a 65-page policy memo expanding on her campaign pledge not to prosecute what she called “low-level, nonviolent offenses,” including disorderly conduct, drug possession and resisting arrest.
These charges are frequently fueled by issues including poverty and mental health, her memo said, and are “best addressed through diversion or declined for prosecution entirely.” She noted some exceptions, including when a person poses a dangerous threat.
Her policies triggered criticism from the Boston police union and a fellow district attorney. Thomas A. Turco III, the Massachusetts public safety secretary, released a public letter to Rollins, praising her “efforts to think differently about criminal justice” but saying these policies could hurt the state’s efforts against the opioid epidemic.
Rollins, the first black woman elected to her position, said Turco’s letter “never would have happened” if she were a man.
She and some other progressive prosecutors point out that many of them are women or people of color, while district attorneys are usually white men. They believe that factors into the criticism and say there is a benefit to expanding who holds these roles.
“When a diverse prosecutor sits in this chair, we should be expecting diverse thought as a result of diverse experience,” said Aramis Ayala, the progressive state attorney in Orlando.
Turco’s office did not respond to interview requests for this story. Through a court spokeswoman, Sinnott, the judge who objected to how Rollins’s office handled the “Straight Pride Parade” charges, declined an interview request.
“There are a lot of men that are very, very nervous about it because we’re looking at things differently,” Rollins said in an interview before her dispute with Sinnott. “And the system is now going to work the same for everyone, not just those that understand it or have access.”
Other prosecutors have also questioned her ideas. Michael O’Keefe, district attorney for the Cape and Islands in Massachusetts, took aim at Rollins’s policies and other progressive prosecutors in a Boston Globe op-ed lambasting what he called “social justice district attorneys.”
In an interview, O’Keefe praised Rollins personally and said his disagreement with her is solely about policy. Prosecutors already exercise discretion in cases, he said, but Rollins’s plans reach far beyond that.
“Our discretion operates within a . . . narrow set of circumstances having to do with the individual facts of an individual case,” he said. “We don’t have the discretion to eliminate an entire category of crime.”
O’Keefe said the way to reduce the number of people charged with crimes is to reduce crime, not prosecutions.
“The criminal justice system is an inert entity. It doesn’t go out looking for customers,” he said. “It sits there and customers are brought to it. And they’re brought to it because there’s probable cause to believe they’ve committed a crime.”
Rollins said her plans are no different from the discretion he and other prosecutors already use.
“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of laws on the books that we don’t prosecute,” Rollins said. She added: “It’s very interesting that there were very few articles about the discretion a D.A. has when we were on a freight train toward mass incarceration and racial disparities.”
Mike Hestrin, district attorney in Riverside County, Calif., said reform isn’t new to prosecutors’ offices, but he disputed that this is what “these so-called progressives” are pushing.
“I don’t see them as reformers,” Hestrin said. “What they’re after is to destroy the system, the criminal justice system, that they very deeply misunderstand. . . . This is not progressive. It’s not reform. It’s just, it’s politics and ideology-driven.”
The effect on crime rates
In Philadelphia, the top federal prosecutor and district attorney have traded barbs since both took office last year, including arguing about that city’s crime rates.
Homicides went up last year in Philadelphia, the seventh time in a decade they increased, while overall violent crime decreased slightly, according to police statistics.
McSwain, the U.S. attorney, blamed Krasner, the district attorney, for the increase in homicides. He said his office shifted resources to charge more violent crime cases and that the crime numbers would be worse if he hadn’t acted.
Krasner called McSwain dishonest and emphasized the decline in violent crime despite the city’s “serious problem right now with shootings and with homicide.”
Opponents of progressive prosecutors often point to the potential effect of their policies on crime rates. Reform advocates say the warnings are fearmongering.
“All those prosecutors who say this is going to endanger our communities, have they been to our communities?” said the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, a pastor and activist in Boston. “Those of us who live this reality know it’s a little more complex than the ‘lock ’em up’ policies that have been sold. I don’t believe those policies are working for our communities.”
Richard Berk, a statistics and criminology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said it is too early to know how Krasner’s policies and those of other progressive prosecutors could be impacting crime rates.
“There’s a natural variation in things like homicide, natural in the sense that we don’t know what causes it,” Berk said. “And we basically try to treat it as noise and don’t try to tell a story until we have that nailed down.”
McSwain and other critics also have decried the support many progressive prosecutors have received from liberal megadonor George Soros, who has been funneling money into campaigns across the country.
“Especially on a local race, that’s going to have an effect,” said Duffie Stone, a prosecutor in South Carolina and president of the National District Attorneys Association. “You’re going to win some races if you put a lot of money into it.”
Whitney Tymas, who chairs the Justice & Public Safety PAC funded by Soros and others, said prosecutors “rarely face challengers” and that her group helps give “voters a real choice.”
“Critics use Soros to deflect attention from the reality that too many prosecutor elections are not competitive,” Tymas said in a written response to questions.
Scott Colom, a progressive district attorney in eastern Mississippi, said he benefited from unexpected Soros backing in 2015. He campaigned as a reformer, ousting a veteran prosecutor who had said at the time that Colom would be akin to another defense lawyer if he won the election.
Colom thinks grass-roots efforts, not big donations, are what help elect similar candidates. He pointed out that he’s running unopposed for a second term in Tuesday’s general election, something Colom attributes to the changing thinking around criminal justice.
In Boston, Rollins said she wants to see what the data will show after her changes have been in place for a longer period. If they aren’t working or there’s “an unintended consequence,” Rollins said she will adapt.
Rollins also wants to find other ways to change her office, saying she seeks out young, new staffers and tells them: “Explain to me how amazing your job is. And then also show me all the things that need to change.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the progressive prosecutors are more interested in prosecuting cops than criminals.
By Mark Berman
The Washington Post
November 5, 2019
Prosecutors in Boston went to court days after the controversial “Straight Pride Parade” this summer with plans to drop some of the cases against counterprotesters, deeming one disorderly conduct charge “inappropriate.”
When the judge pushed back, attempting to continue that prosecution over their objections, District Attorney Rachael Rollins publicly denounced him and appealed to the state’s high court. She won a judgment stating that Judge Richard J. Sinnott had overstepped his authority.
It was the kind of action Rollins had promised voters when running for office in Suffolk County, Mass., last year, pledging fewer lower-level prosecutions as she took aim at the criminal justice system. That approach quickly propelled Rollins into the heart of a clash over the future of district attorneys, a remarkably public debate pitting law enforcement officials against each other across the country.
“We’re getting back to the work that the people of Suffolk County elected me to do,” Rollins told reporters after the high court backed her in September, “and changing a system that doesn’t work well for a majority of people that come into contact with it.”
Rollins is among more than two dozen recently elected prosecutors who are pushing progressive policies across the country — including in Philadelphia, Dallas and Orlando — and breaking from decades of tough-on-crime thinking. Progressive candidates are also on the ballot Tuesday in closely-watched prosecutor elections in Virginia and San Francisco.
Progressive prosecutors, as they are generally known, have been elected on platforms that included abandoning cash bail, declining low-level charges, not pursuing marijuana cases and closely scrutinizing police conduct, in efforts to reform a system that they say overincarcerates and disproportionately punishes poor people and racial minorities.
They vowed to change that system, but the system is fighting back. Powerful figures — including lawmakers, governors, police union leaders, fellow district attorneys and Trump administration officials — have been sharply critical, with some saying progressive prosecutors are improperly using their roles to decline charges and arguing that their policies will drive up crime rates.
After Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot said he would not prosecute certain crimes, the Texas governor and attorney general accused him of promoting “lawlessness.” In San Antonio, District Attorney Joe Gonzales pledged to reject criminal trespass charges for homeless people, a decision that the police union assailed as “a total abdication of [a] D.A.’s responsibility, which is to hold the guilty accountable.”
In Philadelphia, where the district attorney directed prosecutors to seek less severe sentences and not impose charges for some offenses, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain accused him of causing a “public safety crisis” there.
“The role of the prosecutor in America today is clearly to enforce the law and not to make the law and not to pretend that you’re a legislator,” McSwain said.
District Attorney Larry Krasner dismissed McSwain as an “attack dog” echoing rhetoric from President Trump, who has criticized progressive prosecutors.
The country’s top law enforcement official also joined the fray. In an August speech to a police group, Attorney General William P. Barr called progressive prosecutors “anti-law enforcement” and “dangerous to the public safety.”
Their policies will have “predictable” results, Barr said: “More crime and more victims.”
Candidates for top prosecutor jobs have long campaigned as being tough on crime, an approach that had consequences, particularly for poor people and minorities, progressive prosecutors say.
“Disastrous policies have resonated for decades. . . . The old approach messed everything up,” Krasner said. “We ended up with a level of mass incarceration that makes us the most incarcerated country in the world.”
In response, many advocates for criminal justice reform have shifted their attention in recent years to top prosecutors, who are usually locally elected and wield remarkable power within the system. Prosecutors have discretion to decide who to prosecute, what to charge and, in many cases, can determine how cases are resolved, legal experts said.
“In cases that are plea bargained, which in this country are the vast majority of cases, the prosecutor decides what kind of plea bargain to offer or to accept,” said David Alan Sklansky, a Stanford Law School professor who wrote a guidebook for progressive prosecutors. “That means, as a practical matter, that the prosecutor is also often determining what the sentencing will be.”
Once in office, top prosecutors typically face little risk of losing their jobs, said Ronald Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University. Wright studied district attorney races that unfolded in 10 states between 1996 and 2006 and found that 95 percent of incumbent prosecutors were reelected, with many facing no opposition.
Prosecutors like Rollins — who bested a crowded field last year after the incumbent district attorney decided against seeking a fifth term — are pushing what they describe as a holistic approach to criminal justice.
Violent criminals should be prosecuted, Rollins said, but she also believes more people should be sent to treatment and fewer put behind bars.
Part of her approach is about “focusing our limited resources” on more serious crimes and going after those, Rollins said, and showing respect to people no matter how they encounter the system.
“Today’s defendant is potentially tomorrow’s victim and was yesterday’s witness,” Rollins said. “And so, if I treat you horribly as a defendant but then want to be nice to you when you’re a victim or ask you to come forward when you’re a witness? People aren’t stupid.”
Changing the face of prosecution
Rollins, who was raised in Cambridge, developed her views about the justice system in part through her experience as a federal prosecutor in Boston. The system also touched her personal life; two of her siblings are incarcerated, she said, and a third is in recovery for opioid addiction. In addition to her own teenage daughter, she said, Rollins is the guardian for two nieces because of her siblings’ circumstances.
“I come to work with a very different lens every day,” Rollins said.
Her personal and professional worlds have collided in sometimes uncomfortable ways. In the fall of 2012, the year after she left the U.S. attorney’s office, Rollins was back in a Boston courtroom and saw a judge whom she had argued in front of before. Rollins said he greeted her with a smile before his expression changed.
“With a perplexed look,” Rollins recalled, the judge “tilted his head to say without saying it, ‘What are you doing here?’ ”
His answer walked through the door: Rollins’s brother, handcuffed by U.S. marshals and facing drugs and weapons charges filed by her former office.
“It was an incredibly humbling moment,” she said.
Rollins took office as Suffolk County District Attorney in January, with jurisdiction over Boston and three neighboring communities. A few months later, she released a 65-page policy memo expanding on her campaign pledge not to prosecute what she called “low-level, nonviolent offenses,” including disorderly conduct, drug possession and resisting arrest.
These charges are frequently fueled by issues including poverty and mental health, her memo said, and are “best addressed through diversion or declined for prosecution entirely.” She noted some exceptions, including when a person poses a dangerous threat.
Her policies triggered criticism from the Boston police union and a fellow district attorney. Thomas A. Turco III, the Massachusetts public safety secretary, released a public letter to Rollins, praising her “efforts to think differently about criminal justice” but saying these policies could hurt the state’s efforts against the opioid epidemic.
Rollins, the first black woman elected to her position, said Turco’s letter “never would have happened” if she were a man.
She and some other progressive prosecutors point out that many of them are women or people of color, while district attorneys are usually white men. They believe that factors into the criticism and say there is a benefit to expanding who holds these roles.
“When a diverse prosecutor sits in this chair, we should be expecting diverse thought as a result of diverse experience,” said Aramis Ayala, the progressive state attorney in Orlando.
Turco’s office did not respond to interview requests for this story. Through a court spokeswoman, Sinnott, the judge who objected to how Rollins’s office handled the “Straight Pride Parade” charges, declined an interview request.
“There are a lot of men that are very, very nervous about it because we’re looking at things differently,” Rollins said in an interview before her dispute with Sinnott. “And the system is now going to work the same for everyone, not just those that understand it or have access.”
Other prosecutors have also questioned her ideas. Michael O’Keefe, district attorney for the Cape and Islands in Massachusetts, took aim at Rollins’s policies and other progressive prosecutors in a Boston Globe op-ed lambasting what he called “social justice district attorneys.”
In an interview, O’Keefe praised Rollins personally and said his disagreement with her is solely about policy. Prosecutors already exercise discretion in cases, he said, but Rollins’s plans reach far beyond that.
“Our discretion operates within a . . . narrow set of circumstances having to do with the individual facts of an individual case,” he said. “We don’t have the discretion to eliminate an entire category of crime.”
O’Keefe said the way to reduce the number of people charged with crimes is to reduce crime, not prosecutions.
“The criminal justice system is an inert entity. It doesn’t go out looking for customers,” he said. “It sits there and customers are brought to it. And they’re brought to it because there’s probable cause to believe they’ve committed a crime.”
Rollins said her plans are no different from the discretion he and other prosecutors already use.
“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of laws on the books that we don’t prosecute,” Rollins said. She added: “It’s very interesting that there were very few articles about the discretion a D.A. has when we were on a freight train toward mass incarceration and racial disparities.”
Mike Hestrin, district attorney in Riverside County, Calif., said reform isn’t new to prosecutors’ offices, but he disputed that this is what “these so-called progressives” are pushing.
“I don’t see them as reformers,” Hestrin said. “What they’re after is to destroy the system, the criminal justice system, that they very deeply misunderstand. . . . This is not progressive. It’s not reform. It’s just, it’s politics and ideology-driven.”
The effect on crime rates
In Philadelphia, the top federal prosecutor and district attorney have traded barbs since both took office last year, including arguing about that city’s crime rates.
Homicides went up last year in Philadelphia, the seventh time in a decade they increased, while overall violent crime decreased slightly, according to police statistics.
McSwain, the U.S. attorney, blamed Krasner, the district attorney, for the increase in homicides. He said his office shifted resources to charge more violent crime cases and that the crime numbers would be worse if he hadn’t acted.
Krasner called McSwain dishonest and emphasized the decline in violent crime despite the city’s “serious problem right now with shootings and with homicide.”
Opponents of progressive prosecutors often point to the potential effect of their policies on crime rates. Reform advocates say the warnings are fearmongering.
“All those prosecutors who say this is going to endanger our communities, have they been to our communities?” said the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, a pastor and activist in Boston. “Those of us who live this reality know it’s a little more complex than the ‘lock ’em up’ policies that have been sold. I don’t believe those policies are working for our communities.”
Richard Berk, a statistics and criminology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said it is too early to know how Krasner’s policies and those of other progressive prosecutors could be impacting crime rates.
“There’s a natural variation in things like homicide, natural in the sense that we don’t know what causes it,” Berk said. “And we basically try to treat it as noise and don’t try to tell a story until we have that nailed down.”
McSwain and other critics also have decried the support many progressive prosecutors have received from liberal megadonor George Soros, who has been funneling money into campaigns across the country.
“Especially on a local race, that’s going to have an effect,” said Duffie Stone, a prosecutor in South Carolina and president of the National District Attorneys Association. “You’re going to win some races if you put a lot of money into it.”
Whitney Tymas, who chairs the Justice & Public Safety PAC funded by Soros and others, said prosecutors “rarely face challengers” and that her group helps give “voters a real choice.”
“Critics use Soros to deflect attention from the reality that too many prosecutor elections are not competitive,” Tymas said in a written response to questions.
Scott Colom, a progressive district attorney in eastern Mississippi, said he benefited from unexpected Soros backing in 2015. He campaigned as a reformer, ousting a veteran prosecutor who had said at the time that Colom would be akin to another defense lawyer if he won the election.
Colom thinks grass-roots efforts, not big donations, are what help elect similar candidates. He pointed out that he’s running unopposed for a second term in Tuesday’s general election, something Colom attributes to the changing thinking around criminal justice.
In Boston, Rollins said she wants to see what the data will show after her changes have been in place for a longer period. If they aren’t working or there’s “an unintended consequence,” Rollins said she will adapt.
Rollins also wants to find other ways to change her office, saying she seeks out young, new staffers and tells them: “Explain to me how amazing your job is. And then also show me all the things that need to change.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the progressive prosecutors are more interested in prosecuting cops than criminals.
ENDING FOR POSSIBLE EXCITING MOVIE STARRING JASON STATHAM AND AWKWAFINA
Kentucky 'drug dealer', 39, and his girlfriend are captured ALIVE but with gunshot wounds to the head in dramatic police stand-off, two days after escaping from a Thai court
Daily Mail
November 6, 2019
An American fugitive and his Thai girlfriend who staged a violent escape from a Thai courtroom two days ago were captured today with gunshot wounds to the head after trying to kill themselves in a stand-off.
Bart Allen Helmus, 39, and Sirinapha Wisetrit, 41, were surrounded by police near the Cambodian border today and taken to hospital in a police truck.
Helmus was found unresponsive but alive with a head wound from a handgun, while Wisetrit was also injured but conscious.
The couple, who were already facing a possible death sentence for drug trafficking, will now face further charges after the gunfight in which they escaped on Monday
A third prisoner who escaped with them, Noi Ton Nintet, 41, was captured in a nearby field in his underpants.
Police lieutenant colonel Hiran Burana confirmed the suspects had been captured, and said a getaway car they used had also been recovered.
Daily Mail
November 6, 2019
An American fugitive and his Thai girlfriend who staged a violent escape from a Thai courtroom two days ago were captured today with gunshot wounds to the head after trying to kill themselves in a stand-off.
Bart Allen Helmus, 39, and Sirinapha Wisetrit, 41, were surrounded by police near the Cambodian border today and taken to hospital in a police truck.
Helmus was found unresponsive but alive with a head wound from a handgun, while Wisetrit was also injured but conscious.
The couple, who were already facing a possible death sentence for drug trafficking, will now face further charges after the gunfight in which they escaped on Monday
A third prisoner who escaped with them, Noi Ton Nintet, 41, was captured in a nearby field in his underpants.
Police lieutenant colonel Hiran Burana confirmed the suspects had been captured, and said a getaway car they used had also been recovered.
AOC AVOIDS COURTROOM SHOWDOWN
AOC says she’s sorry for blocking Dov Hikind on Twitter
By Marisa Schultz
New York Post
November 4, 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has settled a lawsuit with former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind — sparing her from having to testify in federal court Tuesday over why she blocked him on Twitter, The Post has learned.
“I have reconsidered my decision to block Dov Hikind from my Twitter account,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement obtained by The Post on Monday. “Mr. Hikind has a First Amendment right to express his views and should not be blocked for them.”
As part of a settlement deal reached, Ocasio-Cortez issued an apology.
“In retrospect, it was wrong and improper and does not reflect the values I cherish. I sincerely apologize for blocking Mr. Hikind,” her statement said. “Now and in the future, however, I reserve the right to block users who engage in actual harassment or exploit my personal/campaign account, @AOC, for commercial or other improper purposes.”
Hikind sued the Bronx progressive darling in July, claiming she violated his First Amendment rights by blocking him on Twitter.
The prominent Jewish leader had criticized Ocasio-Cortez’s comments comparing migrant centers at the border to concentration camps.
A surprised Hikind on Monday called the outcome a “great victory.”
“She never apologizes,” Hikind said at a press conference.
“So this is rather remarkable that she sincerely apologizes for blocking me. This is a great moment. I hope that more good can come out of this.”
He said he still doesn’t understand why Ocasio-Cortez blocked him.
“I knew that I never harassed her, because that’s not what I do, I have a different point of view,” Hikind said.
Hikind had been itching for the court battle.
He released a video on Halloween previewing the “D-day” court battle and solicited donations for the Americans Against Antisemitism group he founded.
“On November 5th we will find out why Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has taken the path of cowardice until now, why she needed to block the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism at a time of rising violent antisemitism,” Hikind said in the video.
Hikind on Monday invited the congresswoman to the Jewish community to talk to survivors whose family members went to the gas chambers and were worked to death in the Holocaust.
“Let the survivors share with her what a concentration camp means to a survivor of the Holocaust,” Hikind said.
Ocasio-Cortez has 5.7 million Twitter followers. She insisted she’s blocked fewer than 20 people.
“I’ve blocked less than 20 and it’s for harassment, not for political views,” she said in August.
“While people have a right to say whatever they want, they do not have a right to force me to hear it,” she added.
By Marisa Schultz
New York Post
November 4, 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has settled a lawsuit with former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind — sparing her from having to testify in federal court Tuesday over why she blocked him on Twitter, The Post has learned.
“I have reconsidered my decision to block Dov Hikind from my Twitter account,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement obtained by The Post on Monday. “Mr. Hikind has a First Amendment right to express his views and should not be blocked for them.”
As part of a settlement deal reached, Ocasio-Cortez issued an apology.
“In retrospect, it was wrong and improper and does not reflect the values I cherish. I sincerely apologize for blocking Mr. Hikind,” her statement said. “Now and in the future, however, I reserve the right to block users who engage in actual harassment or exploit my personal/campaign account, @AOC, for commercial or other improper purposes.”
Hikind sued the Bronx progressive darling in July, claiming she violated his First Amendment rights by blocking him on Twitter.
The prominent Jewish leader had criticized Ocasio-Cortez’s comments comparing migrant centers at the border to concentration camps.
A surprised Hikind on Monday called the outcome a “great victory.”
“She never apologizes,” Hikind said at a press conference.
“So this is rather remarkable that she sincerely apologizes for blocking me. This is a great moment. I hope that more good can come out of this.”
He said he still doesn’t understand why Ocasio-Cortez blocked him.
“I knew that I never harassed her, because that’s not what I do, I have a different point of view,” Hikind said.
Hikind had been itching for the court battle.
He released a video on Halloween previewing the “D-day” court battle and solicited donations for the Americans Against Antisemitism group he founded.
“On November 5th we will find out why Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has taken the path of cowardice until now, why she needed to block the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism at a time of rising violent antisemitism,” Hikind said in the video.
Hikind on Monday invited the congresswoman to the Jewish community to talk to survivors whose family members went to the gas chambers and were worked to death in the Holocaust.
“Let the survivors share with her what a concentration camp means to a survivor of the Holocaust,” Hikind said.
Ocasio-Cortez has 5.7 million Twitter followers. She insisted she’s blocked fewer than 20 people.
“I’ve blocked less than 20 and it’s for harassment, not for political views,” she said in August.
“While people have a right to say whatever they want, they do not have a right to force me to hear it,” she added.
WAR ON DRUGS VICTORY IN GEORGIA
2,133 lb cocaine bust in Savannah, Georgia sets new record
CNN
November 5, 2019
Customs agents seized $31 million worth of cocaine last week in Savannah, Georgia — the largest cocaine seizure ever at the Port of Savannah.
Officers found the cocaine, weighing 2,133 pounds, on a vessel from South America on October 29, US Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday. The discovery came when they noticed something odd about a shipping container that was supposed to be filled with scrap wire.
When officers opened the container, they found 21 duffel bags containing a whopping 818 bricks of cocaine, the agency said.
“I truly believe that we have disrupted these transnational organizations,” said Christopher Kennally, Area Port Director Savannah, during a news conference Tuesday. “This is a significant blow to what they’re trying to do.”
The container was being shipped from South America to Europe. Authorities haven’t made any arrests yet, but Homeland Security is investigating, trying to determine at what point the cocaine was hidden and where exactly it was heading.
Previously, the biggest cocaine seizure at the Port of Savannah took place in May, when officers seized 1,280 pounds of the drug. That seizure was worth about $19 million on the street.
In 2018, CBP agents seized an average of 4,657 pounds of narcotics every day across the United States.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For those who perpetrate the myth that we are losing the War on Drugs, it should be noted that drugs are being seized daily somewhere in the US and overseas, drugs that would otherwise be sold on the streets.
CNN
November 5, 2019
Customs agents seized $31 million worth of cocaine last week in Savannah, Georgia — the largest cocaine seizure ever at the Port of Savannah.
Officers found the cocaine, weighing 2,133 pounds, on a vessel from South America on October 29, US Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday. The discovery came when they noticed something odd about a shipping container that was supposed to be filled with scrap wire.
When officers opened the container, they found 21 duffel bags containing a whopping 818 bricks of cocaine, the agency said.
“I truly believe that we have disrupted these transnational organizations,” said Christopher Kennally, Area Port Director Savannah, during a news conference Tuesday. “This is a significant blow to what they’re trying to do.”
The container was being shipped from South America to Europe. Authorities haven’t made any arrests yet, but Homeland Security is investigating, trying to determine at what point the cocaine was hidden and where exactly it was heading.
Previously, the biggest cocaine seizure at the Port of Savannah took place in May, when officers seized 1,280 pounds of the drug. That seizure was worth about $19 million on the street.
In 2018, CBP agents seized an average of 4,657 pounds of narcotics every day across the United States.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For those who perpetrate the myth that we are losing the War on Drugs, it should be noted that drugs are being seized daily somewhere in the US and overseas, drugs that would otherwise be sold on the streets.
IRON DOME WILL BE UNABLE TO DOWN MANY OF INCOMING ROCKETS
What Awaits Israel in the Coming War With Iran
By Yochanan Visser
Israel Today
November 6, 2019
On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet convened for the third time in one month to discuss Israel’s increasingly complicated security situation.
The meeting took place more than a day after the Iranian proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza pounded the southern Israeli town of Sederot with a barrage of ten rockets which were all but one neutralized by the Iron Dome anti-missile shield.
Islamic Jihad is an Iran-trained and funded terrorist organization which is competing with Hamas in the effort to keep Israel under constant pressure in the war of attrition against the Jewish State which effectively began in March 2018 when Hamas and the other terrorist factions in Gaza decided to launch the ‘Great March of Return, the weekly orgy of violence along the Israeli border.
The missile barrage on Friday night came out of the blue and seemed to be a test ordered by Qassem Soleimani the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps who is interested in a continuing war of attrition against Israel.
PIJ tested the capabilities of the Iron Dome system earlier when it fired a large number of rockets at one target in Israel to see if Iron Dome could cope with it.
The missile attack showed again that the anti-missile shield is not waterproof because a house in Sederot took a direct hit while its occupants were safely hiding in the security room of the building.
Prior to the meeting of the Security Cabinet Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu warned that Israel is “in a very sensitive and volatile security period on several fronts – north, east and south.”
“We will continue to take action on all fronts for the security of the State of Israel, both openly and covertly, on land, sea, and in the air,” the caretaker PM added.
After the meeting media reported that the ministers were in consensus that the Israeli military should concentrate on the threat coming from the north but would not ignore attacks coming from Gaza.
The most dangerous foe Israel is facing is Iran concluded the security cabinet and Israel should prepare for a multi-front conflict with the Islamic Republic and its various proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza.
Former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren just painted in chilling detail how such a multi-front war would test Israel’s resolve and the capabilities of the IDF and the Israeli air force (IAF).
In an article for The Atlantic the former Israeli envoy to the US revealed that the Israeli Security Cabinet ministers also examined a botched Iranian drone attack on Israel and a successful Iranian attack with drones and cruise missiles against Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in early September.
The Israeli military in the north has been “placed on war footing” as a result of the increasing Iranian threat Oren wrote, something which is in particular visible in the skies above northern Israel where IAF warplanes are constantly holding drills for more than one month now.
The Israeli military has recently also adopted an emergency plan code-named ‘Momentum’ to boost Israel’s missile defense capabilities and to further improve the intelligence gathering on Iran and its proxies while a decision was made to increase training of IDF soldiers for urban warfare.
“Israel is girding for the worst and acting on the assumption that fighting could break out at any time,” according to Michael Oren.
The former Israeli diplomat then painted a very shilling picture of what Israel could expect when the long-anticipated war with Iran becomes a fact.
The Israeli military would have to cope with 4.000 incoming missiles and rockets daily during such a conflict and all of Israel would come under fire.
Many of these missiles would be aimed at vital military and civil infrastructure such as the Kiryah, the IDF’s headquarters in central Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s ports, electrical grids and possibly the Dimona nuclear reactor as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has indicated.
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens could be evacuated from the north to other parts of Israel and the tourist industry would effectively be shut down during the war as well as many companies, Oren expects.
Long-range ballistic missiles with large payloads would be launched at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Syria while Hamas and PIJ would lob their rocket arsenal on southern Israel.
You might ask if Israel’s impressive anti-missile defenses would not suffice to neutralize the incoming missiles.
The answer is no.
Iron Drome has an effective interception rate of 90 percent as the PIJ rocket attack this weekend once again proved meaning that out of every 100 incoming rockets 10 would reach their target, Oren says.
The David Sling interceptor has been tested in real-time conflict only once and costs more than $1 million per interception meaning Israel’s economy could also be damaged as a result of the missile war.
The whole scenario is not far-fetched according to Oren who says that the members of the Security Cabinet have been contemplating precisely this scenario repeatedly.
The ministers reportedly prefer to confront Iran now “than in five years, after Iran has completed its Middle East conquests encircled Israel, and acquired nuclear bombs,” according to Oren.
Another factor which may influence the decision making in the Security Cabinet is the fact that Israel is currently working with most pro-Israel US Administration ever and the US is expected to help Israel with its air defenses.
The Americans have already stationed the state-of-the-art X-band radar system in Israel and recently deployed the THAAD anti-missile system temporarily in Israel.
EDITOR’S NOTE: There is no way that Iron Dome or any other missile defense system can stop all of thousands of incoming missiles.
By Yochanan Visser
Israel Today
November 6, 2019
On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet convened for the third time in one month to discuss Israel’s increasingly complicated security situation.
The meeting took place more than a day after the Iranian proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza pounded the southern Israeli town of Sederot with a barrage of ten rockets which were all but one neutralized by the Iron Dome anti-missile shield.
Islamic Jihad is an Iran-trained and funded terrorist organization which is competing with Hamas in the effort to keep Israel under constant pressure in the war of attrition against the Jewish State which effectively began in March 2018 when Hamas and the other terrorist factions in Gaza decided to launch the ‘Great March of Return, the weekly orgy of violence along the Israeli border.
The missile barrage on Friday night came out of the blue and seemed to be a test ordered by Qassem Soleimani the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps who is interested in a continuing war of attrition against Israel.
PIJ tested the capabilities of the Iron Dome system earlier when it fired a large number of rockets at one target in Israel to see if Iron Dome could cope with it.
The missile attack showed again that the anti-missile shield is not waterproof because a house in Sederot took a direct hit while its occupants were safely hiding in the security room of the building.
Prior to the meeting of the Security Cabinet Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu warned that Israel is “in a very sensitive and volatile security period on several fronts – north, east and south.”
“We will continue to take action on all fronts for the security of the State of Israel, both openly and covertly, on land, sea, and in the air,” the caretaker PM added.
After the meeting media reported that the ministers were in consensus that the Israeli military should concentrate on the threat coming from the north but would not ignore attacks coming from Gaza.
The most dangerous foe Israel is facing is Iran concluded the security cabinet and Israel should prepare for a multi-front conflict with the Islamic Republic and its various proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza.
Former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren just painted in chilling detail how such a multi-front war would test Israel’s resolve and the capabilities of the IDF and the Israeli air force (IAF).
In an article for The Atlantic the former Israeli envoy to the US revealed that the Israeli Security Cabinet ministers also examined a botched Iranian drone attack on Israel and a successful Iranian attack with drones and cruise missiles against Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in early September.
The Israeli military in the north has been “placed on war footing” as a result of the increasing Iranian threat Oren wrote, something which is in particular visible in the skies above northern Israel where IAF warplanes are constantly holding drills for more than one month now.
The Israeli military has recently also adopted an emergency plan code-named ‘Momentum’ to boost Israel’s missile defense capabilities and to further improve the intelligence gathering on Iran and its proxies while a decision was made to increase training of IDF soldiers for urban warfare.
“Israel is girding for the worst and acting on the assumption that fighting could break out at any time,” according to Michael Oren.
The former Israeli diplomat then painted a very shilling picture of what Israel could expect when the long-anticipated war with Iran becomes a fact.
The Israeli military would have to cope with 4.000 incoming missiles and rockets daily during such a conflict and all of Israel would come under fire.
Many of these missiles would be aimed at vital military and civil infrastructure such as the Kiryah, the IDF’s headquarters in central Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s ports, electrical grids and possibly the Dimona nuclear reactor as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has indicated.
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens could be evacuated from the north to other parts of Israel and the tourist industry would effectively be shut down during the war as well as many companies, Oren expects.
Long-range ballistic missiles with large payloads would be launched at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Syria while Hamas and PIJ would lob their rocket arsenal on southern Israel.
You might ask if Israel’s impressive anti-missile defenses would not suffice to neutralize the incoming missiles.
The answer is no.
Iron Drome has an effective interception rate of 90 percent as the PIJ rocket attack this weekend once again proved meaning that out of every 100 incoming rockets 10 would reach their target, Oren says.
The David Sling interceptor has been tested in real-time conflict only once and costs more than $1 million per interception meaning Israel’s economy could also be damaged as a result of the missile war.
The whole scenario is not far-fetched according to Oren who says that the members of the Security Cabinet have been contemplating precisely this scenario repeatedly.
The ministers reportedly prefer to confront Iran now “than in five years, after Iran has completed its Middle East conquests encircled Israel, and acquired nuclear bombs,” according to Oren.
Another factor which may influence the decision making in the Security Cabinet is the fact that Israel is currently working with most pro-Israel US Administration ever and the US is expected to help Israel with its air defenses.
The Americans have already stationed the state-of-the-art X-band radar system in Israel and recently deployed the THAAD anti-missile system temporarily in Israel.
EDITOR’S NOTE: There is no way that Iron Dome or any other missile defense system can stop all of thousands of incoming missiles.
WHILE AUSTIN WELCOMED HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS, GOV. ABBOT SAYS NOT IN MY CITY
Texas governor orders cleanups of Austin homeless encampments after the city relaxed its laws
By Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Joel Delarosa
CNN
November 5, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas -- Tent cities emerged across Austin this summer after the city effectively made it legal for homeless residents to camp under highway overpasses.
The move sparked a fierce debate across the city over the best way of dealing with what some residents describe as a homelessness crisis.
Steve Adler, Austin's mayor, says while it might seem that the homeless population has grown, the new city ordinance decriminalizing city camping has simply brought people experiencing homelessness out of the shadows.
"They're more visible and I know that's disconcerting to a lot of people. It's disconcerting to see poverty in this city," Adler said. "We haven't created any more people experiencing homelessness."
The mayor argues that by allowing homeless residents to camp on city streets, it's made their lives safer. He says fewer are sleeping hidden away in the city's wooded areas.
The city's approach has drawn the ire of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican governor has unleashed months of social media attacks arguing the relaxed rules spurred lawlessness and indecency in the streets. Even some frustrated Democrats in this liberal city find themselves applauding the Republican governor after he used state resources on Monday to clean up the underpasses.
The Texas Department of Transportation posted notices last week at 17 locations announcing it would soon clear out the encampments. Just days later, workers in bright orange vests were scooping up piles of trash and left-behind belongings. The sounds of shovels scraping the concrete competed with the deafening roar of cars driving overhead.
The controversial cleanups started Monday under a highway in the southwest part of the city. However, the cleanups only went so far. It's still legal for people to camp under the highways due to the city's revised ordinances, and many of the homeless are expected to return.
William Rainey, 56, knew the cleanup was coming and he packed up all of his belongings into two shopping carts. He sat and watched the crews fill dumpsters of discarded items. Rainey says he welcomes the cleanup to remove trash but that the efforts aren't going to help homeless people like him.
Rainey ended up on the streets two years ago. He says his life unraveled after his wife died and he fell into a bad crowd. Now he describes himself as "depressed, down and out." He says after the city changed its camping ordinance he moved out of the woods and started sleeping under the bridge that was being cleaned out.
"I'm safe. I feel safe. I'm around people that I know, that camp with me," Rainey said. "Some people don't like homeless people. They'd rather not see us out here."
Chris Baker, the executive director of a homeless advocacy group called The Other Ones Foundation, loaded up a white truck with bicycles, bags, and tents amid the cleanups, sparing them from becoming trash.
"This is theater, this is political theater," Baker said of the cleanups. "This is just a shuffling around of people that will go on and on forever until we find places that people can be... safe and they can be stable."
John Wittman, a spokesman for the governor's office, said Abbott would order the cleanups on a weekly basis -- or even more often, if need be -- while the state continues to work on what it says is a plan for a longer-term option.
In the meantime, homeless residents like Andrea Aguilar say they're going to keep returning to the underpasses as long as possible.
"I'm not going to run and hide in the woods," said Aguilar, who packed up her things and kept them just off to the side of an underpass, waiting for the state to come do the cleanup on Monday. "I'm going to go right back under the bridge. Right back under there."
'Austin is way too kind'
In June, the city council made it easier for homeless people to sit, lie, and camp in more spaces across Austin, including many sidewalks. Previously, homeless residents were ticketed for such actions, leading to court dates and fines that people wouldn't attend or pay. That made it harder for them to get jobs and housing, said Chris Harris, a homeless advocate who works with a group called Homes Not Handcuffs.
The new rules also made it possible for the homeless to congregate in the downtown area and stay closer to resources and jobs, rather than in the woods, away from view. "People that have come out of hiding now are getting medical attention that they weren't getting," said Adler. "They are getting access to housing and services in ways that did not happen before."
The outcome resulted in fierce pushback from some business owners and residents across the city. They formed groups opposing the new rules, and launched a petition against the ordinances. Some were seen Monday gathering signatures to recall the mayor.
Mark Garcia, who leads the group Take Back Austin, said he's not protesting homelessness but what he called the vagrancy of those taking advantage of the new rules and being homeless by choice. "The vagrants are clogging up the system and preventing actual homeless people from getting the resources that they need."
Rainey, who's been residing under an overpass, expressed frustration with others who lived there and who wouldn't pick up their own trash. "A lot of homeless people are taking advantage and they just don't care. If everybody cared, we... wouldn't have this problem at all. They wouldn't be coming out here to have to clean up."
Another man who said he was recently out of prison and now lived under an Austin overpass said he doesn't blame people who are upset about the new rules. "I wouldn't want to see my city like this."
"Austin is way too kind," he continued. "I'm from Houston. They would never let me do this."
Aguilar said the new rules are simply letting people live more comfortably while homeless. "And why can't we be comfortable?"
'It's a bizarre world'
Austin resident Cleo Petricek formed a group called the SAFE Project that has tracked crime near homeless encampments and shelters since the new ordinances went into place. She actively lobbies the city council to come up with another solution to the homelessness problem.
A diehard Democrat, Petricek feels frustrated that she's now supporting the actions of a Republican governor, but she's glad someone is using their "bully pulpit to say 'Hey, Austin, this needs to stop right now.' We're at a crisis point."
Kent Dahlgren, who described himself as a progressive Democrat, moved to Austin from Portland after the Oregon city's relaxed rules on homelessness affected his wife's business. He said people would sleep and defecate outside the door of the business and harass customers.
Though he feels the new rules in Austin are rooted in compassion, the end result is "catastrophe," and he worries it will turn the political makeup of the city. "I've never voted Republican, and I'm worried they're going to turn this town red."
Dahlgren said he can't believe he lines up with politicians like Abbott or even President Donald Trump, who's been admonishing West Coast cities over how they're handling homelessness. "It's bizarre," he said, expressing bewilderment that he agrees with Trump's rhetoric. "It's a bizarre world."
In the same vein, Abbott has also taken to Twitter to scold the state's capital and Democratic mayor, posting videos -- some of which have now been debunked -- of what he claims are homeless people causing disarray in Austin. He drew outrage after he retweeted video of a man attacking a car at a stoplight and implied the man was homeless. The man's family told CNN he was not homeless, but was mentally ill and was not taking his medication that day.
Critics felt the governor was inflaming the homelessness issue in Austin by worsening stereotypes and stoking fear. Abbott did not respond to a CNN request to be interviewed for this story.
Last month, the governor threatened that if the city didn't drastically change its laws by November 1, the state would intervene. He took his first step on Monday with the cleanups under highways, but he also listed other measures the state could enact in Austin, such as bringing in the Health and Human Services Commission to address what he called public safety concerns or using the attorney general's office to seek "civil penalties for violations of Texas statutes and rules requiring abatement of public health nuisances."
Critics say Abbott is merely politicizing the issue and playing to his base, not creating any meaningful solutions.
"I don't think he cares about homeless people. I think he cares about the homeless issue in so far as he... wants it to be eradicated," said Baker, the homeless advocate. "If this is the solution that... they're going to try to bring, this is no solution at all."
By Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Joel Delarosa
CNN
November 5, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas -- Tent cities emerged across Austin this summer after the city effectively made it legal for homeless residents to camp under highway overpasses.
The move sparked a fierce debate across the city over the best way of dealing with what some residents describe as a homelessness crisis.
Steve Adler, Austin's mayor, says while it might seem that the homeless population has grown, the new city ordinance decriminalizing city camping has simply brought people experiencing homelessness out of the shadows.
"They're more visible and I know that's disconcerting to a lot of people. It's disconcerting to see poverty in this city," Adler said. "We haven't created any more people experiencing homelessness."
The mayor argues that by allowing homeless residents to camp on city streets, it's made their lives safer. He says fewer are sleeping hidden away in the city's wooded areas.
The city's approach has drawn the ire of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican governor has unleashed months of social media attacks arguing the relaxed rules spurred lawlessness and indecency in the streets. Even some frustrated Democrats in this liberal city find themselves applauding the Republican governor after he used state resources on Monday to clean up the underpasses.
The Texas Department of Transportation posted notices last week at 17 locations announcing it would soon clear out the encampments. Just days later, workers in bright orange vests were scooping up piles of trash and left-behind belongings. The sounds of shovels scraping the concrete competed with the deafening roar of cars driving overhead.
The controversial cleanups started Monday under a highway in the southwest part of the city. However, the cleanups only went so far. It's still legal for people to camp under the highways due to the city's revised ordinances, and many of the homeless are expected to return.
William Rainey, 56, knew the cleanup was coming and he packed up all of his belongings into two shopping carts. He sat and watched the crews fill dumpsters of discarded items. Rainey says he welcomes the cleanup to remove trash but that the efforts aren't going to help homeless people like him.
Rainey ended up on the streets two years ago. He says his life unraveled after his wife died and he fell into a bad crowd. Now he describes himself as "depressed, down and out." He says after the city changed its camping ordinance he moved out of the woods and started sleeping under the bridge that was being cleaned out.
"I'm safe. I feel safe. I'm around people that I know, that camp with me," Rainey said. "Some people don't like homeless people. They'd rather not see us out here."
Chris Baker, the executive director of a homeless advocacy group called The Other Ones Foundation, loaded up a white truck with bicycles, bags, and tents amid the cleanups, sparing them from becoming trash.
"This is theater, this is political theater," Baker said of the cleanups. "This is just a shuffling around of people that will go on and on forever until we find places that people can be... safe and they can be stable."
John Wittman, a spokesman for the governor's office, said Abbott would order the cleanups on a weekly basis -- or even more often, if need be -- while the state continues to work on what it says is a plan for a longer-term option.
In the meantime, homeless residents like Andrea Aguilar say they're going to keep returning to the underpasses as long as possible.
"I'm not going to run and hide in the woods," said Aguilar, who packed up her things and kept them just off to the side of an underpass, waiting for the state to come do the cleanup on Monday. "I'm going to go right back under the bridge. Right back under there."
'Austin is way too kind'
In June, the city council made it easier for homeless people to sit, lie, and camp in more spaces across Austin, including many sidewalks. Previously, homeless residents were ticketed for such actions, leading to court dates and fines that people wouldn't attend or pay. That made it harder for them to get jobs and housing, said Chris Harris, a homeless advocate who works with a group called Homes Not Handcuffs.
The new rules also made it possible for the homeless to congregate in the downtown area and stay closer to resources and jobs, rather than in the woods, away from view. "People that have come out of hiding now are getting medical attention that they weren't getting," said Adler. "They are getting access to housing and services in ways that did not happen before."
The outcome resulted in fierce pushback from some business owners and residents across the city. They formed groups opposing the new rules, and launched a petition against the ordinances. Some were seen Monday gathering signatures to recall the mayor.
Mark Garcia, who leads the group Take Back Austin, said he's not protesting homelessness but what he called the vagrancy of those taking advantage of the new rules and being homeless by choice. "The vagrants are clogging up the system and preventing actual homeless people from getting the resources that they need."
Rainey, who's been residing under an overpass, expressed frustration with others who lived there and who wouldn't pick up their own trash. "A lot of homeless people are taking advantage and they just don't care. If everybody cared, we... wouldn't have this problem at all. They wouldn't be coming out here to have to clean up."
Another man who said he was recently out of prison and now lived under an Austin overpass said he doesn't blame people who are upset about the new rules. "I wouldn't want to see my city like this."
"Austin is way too kind," he continued. "I'm from Houston. They would never let me do this."
Aguilar said the new rules are simply letting people live more comfortably while homeless. "And why can't we be comfortable?"
'It's a bizarre world'
Austin resident Cleo Petricek formed a group called the SAFE Project that has tracked crime near homeless encampments and shelters since the new ordinances went into place. She actively lobbies the city council to come up with another solution to the homelessness problem.
A diehard Democrat, Petricek feels frustrated that she's now supporting the actions of a Republican governor, but she's glad someone is using their "bully pulpit to say 'Hey, Austin, this needs to stop right now.' We're at a crisis point."
Kent Dahlgren, who described himself as a progressive Democrat, moved to Austin from Portland after the Oregon city's relaxed rules on homelessness affected his wife's business. He said people would sleep and defecate outside the door of the business and harass customers.
Though he feels the new rules in Austin are rooted in compassion, the end result is "catastrophe," and he worries it will turn the political makeup of the city. "I've never voted Republican, and I'm worried they're going to turn this town red."
Dahlgren said he can't believe he lines up with politicians like Abbott or even President Donald Trump, who's been admonishing West Coast cities over how they're handling homelessness. "It's bizarre," he said, expressing bewilderment that he agrees with Trump's rhetoric. "It's a bizarre world."
In the same vein, Abbott has also taken to Twitter to scold the state's capital and Democratic mayor, posting videos -- some of which have now been debunked -- of what he claims are homeless people causing disarray in Austin. He drew outrage after he retweeted video of a man attacking a car at a stoplight and implied the man was homeless. The man's family told CNN he was not homeless, but was mentally ill and was not taking his medication that day.
Critics felt the governor was inflaming the homelessness issue in Austin by worsening stereotypes and stoking fear. Abbott did not respond to a CNN request to be interviewed for this story.
Last month, the governor threatened that if the city didn't drastically change its laws by November 1, the state would intervene. He took his first step on Monday with the cleanups under highways, but he also listed other measures the state could enact in Austin, such as bringing in the Health and Human Services Commission to address what he called public safety concerns or using the attorney general's office to seek "civil penalties for violations of Texas statutes and rules requiring abatement of public health nuisances."
Critics say Abbott is merely politicizing the issue and playing to his base, not creating any meaningful solutions.
"I don't think he cares about homeless people. I think he cares about the homeless issue in so far as he... wants it to be eradicated," said Baker, the homeless advocate. "If this is the solution that... they're going to try to bring, this is no solution at all."
Wednesday, November 06, 2019
TWO PRISON COPS HURT AT CCI TEHACHAPI.
by Bob Walsh
Two Correctional Officers were injured in a disturbance on Monday at the California Correctional Institution (CCI) at Tehachapi, CA.
Two inmates attacked the two officers. The prisoners are Alfonso Verduzco, 26, out of Riverside County and Christian Rodriguez, 24, out of Ventura County. Both prisoners are doing LWOP for murder.
The matter is being considered an attempted murder against the officers. This is unusual in that most staff injured are collateral damage during inmate riots and not because the officers were targeted specifically.
Two Correctional Officers were injured in a disturbance on Monday at the California Correctional Institution (CCI) at Tehachapi, CA.
Two inmates attacked the two officers. The prisoners are Alfonso Verduzco, 26, out of Riverside County and Christian Rodriguez, 24, out of Ventura County. Both prisoners are doing LWOP for murder.
The matter is being considered an attempted murder against the officers. This is unusual in that most staff injured are collateral damage during inmate riots and not because the officers were targeted specifically.
OFFICER DIES AS POSSIBLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN BIZARRE MURDER - SUICIDE
by bob Walsh
Johnathan Diaz, a Lemoore, CA police officer, was killed in a shooting at a birthday party on Saturday.
Officer Diaz stepped in between a situation that was getting nasty between Ramiro Trevino Jr., a welfare fraud investigator, and Trevino's girlfriend. The situation went completely to shit and Trevino opened fire on Officer Diaz and his own father, Ramiro Trevino Sr. Trevino Jr. then killed himself.
Diaz was 31 years old and had three children.
Diaz was off-duty and a guest at the party when the shooting occurred. The department is considering this to be a line-of-duty death.
Johnathan Diaz, a Lemoore, CA police officer, was killed in a shooting at a birthday party on Saturday.
Officer Diaz stepped in between a situation that was getting nasty between Ramiro Trevino Jr., a welfare fraud investigator, and Trevino's girlfriend. The situation went completely to shit and Trevino opened fire on Officer Diaz and his own father, Ramiro Trevino Sr. Trevino Jr. then killed himself.
Diaz was 31 years old and had three children.
Diaz was off-duty and a guest at the party when the shooting occurred. The department is considering this to be a line-of-duty death.
GOOD RIDDANCE ….. BUT DE BLASIO WILL JUST APPOINT ANOTHER LAP DOG
James O’Neill privately fumed about criminal justice reforms before NYPD resignation
By Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Julia Marsh and Aaron Feis
New York Post
November 4, 2019
Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced his resignation Monday amid record-low New York City crime rates — while privately warning that extreme criminal-justice reform could unravel the hard-won gains.
“It’s only gonna get worse,” O’Neill repeatedly said in the weeks before his resignation, referring to the Big Apple’s climate under criminal-friendly initiatives out of City Hall and Albany like Raise the Age and bail reform, according to police sources.
O’Neill, 62, will finish out the month as top cop before turning over the keys to the NYPD to current Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea, 50, and decamping for a private-sector gig in California.
“I came into this job with one mission, and that was to fight crime and keep everybody safe,” said O’Neill, whose last day will be Dec. 1, during a City Hall press briefing. “And we did it, and we continue to do it.”
But while O’Neill publicly wore a smile and maintained that he was moving on only because he received a private-sector offer he “couldn’t pass up,” he fumed behind closed doors that soft-on-crime measures at the city and state levels threaten to undo the best efforts of the Finest, sources said.
He specifically referenced the Raise the Age initiative — which lets many 16- and 17-year-old suspects avoid being charged as adults — and bail reforms taking effect next year that will see more suspects released pending trial for crimes including non-violent felonies, sources said.
The responsibility for guiding the NYPD through waters increasingly hostile to law-enforcement will now fall to Shea — a 28-year department veteran widely known as an ardent devotee of CompStat and analytics-driven policing — who becomes Mayor de Blasio’s third top cop after O’Neill and Bill Bratton.
“We’ve redefined in the last six years how we police this great city,” said Shea, touting NYPD efforts to drive down crime as well as arrests. “We’ve done what many said was impossible. [But] we cannot and will not rest until all New Yorkers feel safe.”
De Blasio expressed total confidence in Shea’s ability to guide an NYPD that has been beset in recent months by anti-police vitriol in the streets, reports of flagging morale and an epidemic of cop suicides.
“Dermot brings a wealth of leadership experience, and he knows what policing needs to be in the 21st century,” said Hizzoner. “He definitely has big shoes to fill, but Dermot Shea is ready.”
O’Neill agreed.
“I know Dermot is the right person, and it’s the right time,” he said. “New York is in great hands.”
Shea’s successor was not immediately named.
O’Neill spoke frankly about the stresses of leading the nation’s largest police force under de Blasio since September 2016 — advising Shea, “this is a job that consumes you” — but admitted that he does not leave easily.
“I’m gonna miss it,” said O’Neill, who took a moment during his remarks to name each of the Finest who died in the line of duty on his watch — as well as a handful from years prior.
“I love being a cop,” he said.
Flatbush-reared O’Neill’s storied law-enforcement career began in 1983, when he joined the Transit Police — then a distinct entity from the NYPD.
By the time the Transit Police and Housing Police were absorbed by the NYPD in 1995, O’Neill had attained the rank of lieutenant — but his rise through the ranks had only begun.
He was eventually named the executive officer of the 52nd Precinct in the northern Bronx, and went on to lead three other commands — Central Park, East Harlem’s 25th Precinct and the Bronx’s 44th Precinct — as well as citywide units, including vice and narcotics.
Following stints as Chief of Patrol and Chief of Department under Bratton, O’Neill was tapped by de Blasio as the NYPD’s 43rd commissioner.
The O’Neill era was marked by a record-low crime rate, including murders, as well as a deeper commitment by the NYPD to using analytics and neighborhood policing — a push credited with driving down crime while strengthening relationships between cops and those they protect.
O’Neill, however, often found himself caught on the tightrope that was striving to simultaneously please City Hall and rank-and-file cops — a balancing act exemplified by the handling of Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s fate.
The Staten Island cop — charged departmentally in Eric Garner’s 2014 death — was ultimately fired by O’Neill in August, leaving many within the department feeling betrayed.
That sentiment earned O’Neill a scathing send-off from Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins.
“Like any coward, Commissioner O’Neill chose to run off before the entire empire falls,” said Mullins in a statement. “I believe he will go down as the worst Police Commissioner in NYPD history.”
But O’Neill said Monday that how he’s remembered is of little interest to him.
“I’m not particularly concerned about my legacy,” he said. “I think that all the work that we all do together, the executive staff and 54,000 members of the New York City Police Department, I think that speaks for itself.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: O’Neil should have told de Blasio to fuck himself instead of firing Daniel Pantaleo for trying to control 390-pound Eric Garner. And instead of keeping his thoughts private, O’Neil should have spoken out against New York’s criminal justice reforms.
By Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Julia Marsh and Aaron Feis
New York Post
November 4, 2019
Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced his resignation Monday amid record-low New York City crime rates — while privately warning that extreme criminal-justice reform could unravel the hard-won gains.
“It’s only gonna get worse,” O’Neill repeatedly said in the weeks before his resignation, referring to the Big Apple’s climate under criminal-friendly initiatives out of City Hall and Albany like Raise the Age and bail reform, according to police sources.
O’Neill, 62, will finish out the month as top cop before turning over the keys to the NYPD to current Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea, 50, and decamping for a private-sector gig in California.
“I came into this job with one mission, and that was to fight crime and keep everybody safe,” said O’Neill, whose last day will be Dec. 1, during a City Hall press briefing. “And we did it, and we continue to do it.”
But while O’Neill publicly wore a smile and maintained that he was moving on only because he received a private-sector offer he “couldn’t pass up,” he fumed behind closed doors that soft-on-crime measures at the city and state levels threaten to undo the best efforts of the Finest, sources said.
He specifically referenced the Raise the Age initiative — which lets many 16- and 17-year-old suspects avoid being charged as adults — and bail reforms taking effect next year that will see more suspects released pending trial for crimes including non-violent felonies, sources said.
The responsibility for guiding the NYPD through waters increasingly hostile to law-enforcement will now fall to Shea — a 28-year department veteran widely known as an ardent devotee of CompStat and analytics-driven policing — who becomes Mayor de Blasio’s third top cop after O’Neill and Bill Bratton.
“We’ve redefined in the last six years how we police this great city,” said Shea, touting NYPD efforts to drive down crime as well as arrests. “We’ve done what many said was impossible. [But] we cannot and will not rest until all New Yorkers feel safe.”
De Blasio expressed total confidence in Shea’s ability to guide an NYPD that has been beset in recent months by anti-police vitriol in the streets, reports of flagging morale and an epidemic of cop suicides.
“Dermot brings a wealth of leadership experience, and he knows what policing needs to be in the 21st century,” said Hizzoner. “He definitely has big shoes to fill, but Dermot Shea is ready.”
O’Neill agreed.
“I know Dermot is the right person, and it’s the right time,” he said. “New York is in great hands.”
Shea’s successor was not immediately named.
O’Neill spoke frankly about the stresses of leading the nation’s largest police force under de Blasio since September 2016 — advising Shea, “this is a job that consumes you” — but admitted that he does not leave easily.
“I’m gonna miss it,” said O’Neill, who took a moment during his remarks to name each of the Finest who died in the line of duty on his watch — as well as a handful from years prior.
“I love being a cop,” he said.
Flatbush-reared O’Neill’s storied law-enforcement career began in 1983, when he joined the Transit Police — then a distinct entity from the NYPD.
By the time the Transit Police and Housing Police were absorbed by the NYPD in 1995, O’Neill had attained the rank of lieutenant — but his rise through the ranks had only begun.
He was eventually named the executive officer of the 52nd Precinct in the northern Bronx, and went on to lead three other commands — Central Park, East Harlem’s 25th Precinct and the Bronx’s 44th Precinct — as well as citywide units, including vice and narcotics.
Following stints as Chief of Patrol and Chief of Department under Bratton, O’Neill was tapped by de Blasio as the NYPD’s 43rd commissioner.
The O’Neill era was marked by a record-low crime rate, including murders, as well as a deeper commitment by the NYPD to using analytics and neighborhood policing — a push credited with driving down crime while strengthening relationships between cops and those they protect.
O’Neill, however, often found himself caught on the tightrope that was striving to simultaneously please City Hall and rank-and-file cops — a balancing act exemplified by the handling of Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s fate.
The Staten Island cop — charged departmentally in Eric Garner’s 2014 death — was ultimately fired by O’Neill in August, leaving many within the department feeling betrayed.
That sentiment earned O’Neill a scathing send-off from Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins.
“Like any coward, Commissioner O’Neill chose to run off before the entire empire falls,” said Mullins in a statement. “I believe he will go down as the worst Police Commissioner in NYPD history.”
But O’Neill said Monday that how he’s remembered is of little interest to him.
“I’m not particularly concerned about my legacy,” he said. “I think that all the work that we all do together, the executive staff and 54,000 members of the New York City Police Department, I think that speaks for itself.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: O’Neil should have told de Blasio to fuck himself instead of firing Daniel Pantaleo for trying to control 390-pound Eric Garner. And instead of keeping his thoughts private, O’Neil should have spoken out against New York’s criminal justice reforms.
MASSACRE OF AMERICAN MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN MEXICO
A.G. of Chihuahua: Los Jaguares of Sinaloa Cartel are responsible for the LeBaron Family Massacre
By Chivis Martinez from Sinembargo
Borderland Beat
November 5, 2019
The Attorney General of Chihuahua, César Augusto Peniche Espejel, said in an interview with this media that the attack on the LeBarón families occurred in the municipality of Bavispe, Sonora. There three women and seven children died; six other children were injured and one more is still missing, activist Julián LeBarón confirmed.
Mexico City, November 4 (SinEmbargo) .– Julián LeBarón , an activist and member of the Mormon community LeBarón in Chihuahua, confirmed Monday that three mothers and seven of their youngest children were killed in an armed attack at Rancho La Mora , Bavispe, Sonora, in a mountain area bordering the state of Chihuahua.
At least six more children survived, some are injured. The children managed to escape the events, and it was reported that at least one girl was still missing until 10:30 at night.
The attorney general says that Los Jaguares of SInaloa Cartel are responsible for the massacre.
These are three families traveling in the same number of Suburban SJUVs from La Mora, in the municipality of Bavispe, Sonora, to the LeBarón community, in the municipality of Galeana, Chihuahua. They were going to visit relatives, said Julián LeBarón. However, during the journey they were attacked by alleged members of organized crime.
According to the information, in total there were 17 people in three different trucks, three women and thirteen minors - ten children and three babies.
In the afternoon, Lafe Langford Jr, a relative of the victims, uploaded a video where he initially reported the death of a mother, Rhonita Miller LeBarón and her four children: Howard Jr, Krystal, and the twins Titus and Tiana. They were aboard the van caught fire after the attack. In addition, he announced that two more women and their children were missing. It was about Dawna Ray Langford with her nine children and Christina Langford Johnson with her baby, Faith.
Hours later, Langford also confirmed to this writing that the tragic balance had risen - until the close of the edition - to three lifeless women and at least six deceased children, while other children had survived.
Julián LeBarón explained that the other children managed to survive because they escaped. According to the story, the children - some with gunshot wounds – they walked to Rancho La Mora, which is about 15 kilometers away.
At the scene, the other two trucks were shot and the women's bodies: “We are where the trucks are, and here were the two housewives and two children who were killed. One of the ladies was lying on the ground, next to the truck, I imagine she was trying to hide to survive when she was shot; and the baby ”added LeBarón.
The activist stressed that the Army and the Police are already in place. On the facts, Lase presumes that there was apparently a confrontation and the families were caught in the middle: "I don't know if there was confusion, because they are women and children who go innocently from their home," LeBarón said.
Area of dispute
The area where the states of Chihuahua and Sonora collide is a region that is mainly disputed by two criminal organizations: La Línea, a criminal group related to the Juarez Cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel, “Los Chapos,” confirmed the Prosecutor.
"These are the criminal organizations that in some way or another have a presence in that area of the mountains, and among whom we assume there could be clashes over the control of the area of Agua Sonora," said Peniche Espejel.
This is a territory that due to its proximity to the United States is prone "to the activity of criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking and migrant trafficking," explained the Prosecutor.
LeBaron hurt by crime
The LeBarón community has been severely hurt by crime for more than a decade. In May 2009, when the state was still ruled by the PRI José Reyes Baeza Terrazas, the young Erick LeBarón, then 17, was kidnapped. Their captors asked for a million dollars, however, the family refused to pay the ransom motivated by the idea that they would not encourage more cases like that to occur not only in their community, but throughout the country.
The kidnapping of the young Mormon raised a strong protest movement. Hundreds of citizens of Galeana moved to the City of Chihuahua to demonstrate against insecurity.
The protests were led by Benjamin LeBaron, 36, who fought against the insecurity, extortion and kidnappings that members of his community lived after the arrival of organized crime groups.
Given the social pressure that reached the LeBaron movement, the kidnappers let Erick free, but that struggle cost the lives of two family members: Benjamín LeBarón and Luis Widmar Stubbs, were kidnapped and killed two months later.
After the murder, a blanket was placed near the victim's home. It said that the crime against Benjamin occurred in retaliation for his mobilizations and activism against insecurity.
A fight for the plaza: Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación, the Nueva Línea Cartel and Los Salazar in dispute"
"Los Jaguares," a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel , has been reported as the likely perpetrators of the massacre to the LeBarón family where three women and six children died, Chihuahua prosecutor César Augusto Peniche revealed.
In an interview the prosecutor explained that the area where the attack was carried out is disputed by criminal groups seeking control of the "plaza."
However, it is "Los Jaguares" - as they call themselves - who currently have a greater presence in that area, so it is speculated that they would be responsible for the massacre, although this information has not been officially confirmed.
He explained that this criminal group is a cell related to the Sinaloa Cartel (also called the Pacific Cartel), which has had internal disputes following the arrests of some of its most important members, as well as other groups, which has intensified the conflicts.
The prosecutor described "Los Jaguares" as "a group that has a presence in the Agua Prieta area and that has broad dominance in that area for drug crossing and may also be involved in the movement of migrants to the United States."
He said that one of its leaders would be " "un tal Arvizu", and that there are likely to be more leaders in different factions of the group.
He added that the adjoining area between Sonora and Chihuahua has been a violent scenario since the last few years due to the strong disputes that organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación, the Nueva Línea Cartel and Los Salazar have for the "plaza".
By Chivis Martinez from Sinembargo
Borderland Beat
November 5, 2019
The Attorney General of Chihuahua, César Augusto Peniche Espejel, said in an interview with this media that the attack on the LeBarón families occurred in the municipality of Bavispe, Sonora. There three women and seven children died; six other children were injured and one more is still missing, activist Julián LeBarón confirmed.
Mexico City, November 4 (SinEmbargo) .– Julián LeBarón , an activist and member of the Mormon community LeBarón in Chihuahua, confirmed Monday that three mothers and seven of their youngest children were killed in an armed attack at Rancho La Mora , Bavispe, Sonora, in a mountain area bordering the state of Chihuahua.
At least six more children survived, some are injured. The children managed to escape the events, and it was reported that at least one girl was still missing until 10:30 at night.
The attorney general says that Los Jaguares of SInaloa Cartel are responsible for the massacre.
These are three families traveling in the same number of Suburban SJUVs from La Mora, in the municipality of Bavispe, Sonora, to the LeBarón community, in the municipality of Galeana, Chihuahua. They were going to visit relatives, said Julián LeBarón. However, during the journey they were attacked by alleged members of organized crime.
According to the information, in total there were 17 people in three different trucks, three women and thirteen minors - ten children and three babies.
In the afternoon, Lafe Langford Jr, a relative of the victims, uploaded a video where he initially reported the death of a mother, Rhonita Miller LeBarón and her four children: Howard Jr, Krystal, and the twins Titus and Tiana. They were aboard the van caught fire after the attack. In addition, he announced that two more women and their children were missing. It was about Dawna Ray Langford with her nine children and Christina Langford Johnson with her baby, Faith.
Hours later, Langford also confirmed to this writing that the tragic balance had risen - until the close of the edition - to three lifeless women and at least six deceased children, while other children had survived.
Julián LeBarón explained that the other children managed to survive because they escaped. According to the story, the children - some with gunshot wounds – they walked to Rancho La Mora, which is about 15 kilometers away.
At the scene, the other two trucks were shot and the women's bodies: “We are where the trucks are, and here were the two housewives and two children who were killed. One of the ladies was lying on the ground, next to the truck, I imagine she was trying to hide to survive when she was shot; and the baby ”added LeBarón.
The activist stressed that the Army and the Police are already in place. On the facts, Lase presumes that there was apparently a confrontation and the families were caught in the middle: "I don't know if there was confusion, because they are women and children who go innocently from their home," LeBarón said.
Area of dispute
The area where the states of Chihuahua and Sonora collide is a region that is mainly disputed by two criminal organizations: La Línea, a criminal group related to the Juarez Cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel, “Los Chapos,” confirmed the Prosecutor.
"These are the criminal organizations that in some way or another have a presence in that area of the mountains, and among whom we assume there could be clashes over the control of the area of Agua Sonora," said Peniche Espejel.
This is a territory that due to its proximity to the United States is prone "to the activity of criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking and migrant trafficking," explained the Prosecutor.
LeBaron hurt by crime
The LeBarón community has been severely hurt by crime for more than a decade. In May 2009, when the state was still ruled by the PRI José Reyes Baeza Terrazas, the young Erick LeBarón, then 17, was kidnapped. Their captors asked for a million dollars, however, the family refused to pay the ransom motivated by the idea that they would not encourage more cases like that to occur not only in their community, but throughout the country.
The kidnapping of the young Mormon raised a strong protest movement. Hundreds of citizens of Galeana moved to the City of Chihuahua to demonstrate against insecurity.
The protests were led by Benjamin LeBaron, 36, who fought against the insecurity, extortion and kidnappings that members of his community lived after the arrival of organized crime groups.
Given the social pressure that reached the LeBaron movement, the kidnappers let Erick free, but that struggle cost the lives of two family members: Benjamín LeBarón and Luis Widmar Stubbs, were kidnapped and killed two months later.
After the murder, a blanket was placed near the victim's home. It said that the crime against Benjamin occurred in retaliation for his mobilizations and activism against insecurity.
A fight for the plaza: Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación, the Nueva Línea Cartel and Los Salazar in dispute"
"Los Jaguares," a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel , has been reported as the likely perpetrators of the massacre to the LeBarón family where three women and six children died, Chihuahua prosecutor César Augusto Peniche revealed.
In an interview the prosecutor explained that the area where the attack was carried out is disputed by criminal groups seeking control of the "plaza."
However, it is "Los Jaguares" - as they call themselves - who currently have a greater presence in that area, so it is speculated that they would be responsible for the massacre, although this information has not been officially confirmed.
He explained that this criminal group is a cell related to the Sinaloa Cartel (also called the Pacific Cartel), which has had internal disputes following the arrests of some of its most important members, as well as other groups, which has intensified the conflicts.
The prosecutor described "Los Jaguares" as "a group that has a presence in the Agua Prieta area and that has broad dominance in that area for drug crossing and may also be involved in the movement of migrants to the United States."
He said that one of its leaders would be " "un tal Arvizu", and that there are likely to be more leaders in different factions of the group.
He added that the adjoining area between Sonora and Chihuahua has been a violent scenario since the last few years due to the strong disputes that organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación, the Nueva Línea Cartel and Los Salazar have for the "plaza".
FLORIDA 911 DISPATCHER LOGGED SHOOTING AS SUAPICIOUS INCIDENT WHILE SUPERVISOR WAS WATCHING NETFLIX
911 supervisor playing Netflix movie didn’t flag call as a shooting
By Lisa J. Huriash
South Florida Sun Sentinel
November 4, 2019
A Coral Springs police dispatch supervisor was at work playing a Netflix movie when she didn’t catch an incorrectly logged 911 call.
A woman phoned 911 to report someone had just shot at her car, piercing her back window, hitting her front windshield and almost shooting her in the head. But there was a half-hour delay in the call being dispatched to an officer.
Julie Vidaud was the shift supervisor minutes before 7 p.m. on a June evening.
The woman who phoned 911 said during the shooting, a hot metal piece landed in her lap, which later turned out to be a bullet. The 911 dispatcher assured the woman that help was on the way.
But the woman, Guadalupe Herrera, called back about 16 minutes later “very upset and concerned that they may shoot again,” according to police records.
Herrera called 911 again four minutes later, saying she was going to drive herself to the police station. Herrera recalled Monday how she was devastated that she called for help and nobody came.
“It was a very hard situation,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It was a drive-by shooting. My windshield was shattered. Nobody showed up — I had to drive myself to the agency.”
By 7:30 p.m., Herrera’s sister called to complain nobody ever came out to help.
Investigators later realized the call had been logged by dispatchers as a “suspicious incident” when it should have gotten a priority “shooting.” About 34 minutes went by between when Herrera first called 911 and when it was dispatched to officers.
But investigators wanted to know how the error happened and why the boss of the two call-takers had missed it.
They pulled data from Vidaud’s computer over 30 days to find the most-used applications were Netflix, Hulu and Xfinity TV. They found that the movie “I Am Mother,” with actress Hilary Swank, played at her workstation for almost two hours while the 911 caller was reporting the shooting.
On June 9, the day of the shooting, Vidaud’s computer also showed use of “numerous site clicks for websites related to shopping, news stories, streaming TV, movies, vacation planning, and fewer that could be considered work related,” according to an internal affairs investigation report released Monday.
Vidaud told an investigator that movies play in the background but that doesn’t mean she was watching a flick for two hours. She said the supervisor’s console has five monitors. She said “there was a good chance that Netflix was running but that she would not have been watching during that period of time,” according to the report.
The investigator, Sgt. Dave Kirkland, told her this call was handled so badly he would describe it as a “catastrophic failure,” according to records.
Kirkland, who oversees internal investigations, wrote in his report that "the evidence conclusively shows that Vidaud spends an inordinate amount of time conducting personal business” on her police work computer, including movies and streaming TV.
Kirkland said the original 911 call-taker was fired. The second person who handled the call, a dispatcher, “was disciplined and has since been terminated,” police said.
Vidaud, who is not represented by the police union, couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
Vidaud, whose discipline is pending, is expected to receive a two-day suspension without pay, police said. The investigation’s findings were inconclusive on what Vidaud was doing at the specific time of the incident, “however based on the investigation she will be facing discipline for ‘Failure to Supervise,'” police said.
Vidaud promised she no longer would have Netflix playing at work, the report said. But that’s going to be the case from now on for all dispatchers: The agency policy was changed to prohibit any streaming of media services during their shifts, police said.
Herrera said she was pleased that the agency was considering a suspension for the supervisor. “It definitely helps.”
Kirkland said the suspect in the shooting has charged with premeditated attempted murder.
According to the arrest affidavit, the woman was in her red Volkswagen leaving a gas station when Kyriakos Manolas, 33, of Coconut Creek, allegedly shot out her rear windshield. The bullet traveled through the head rest and steering wheel, hit the front windshield and then landed in her lap.
Surveillance video from several businesses linked Manolas, who was driving his father’s Mitsubishi, to the shooting, according to the affidavit.
By Lisa J. Huriash
South Florida Sun Sentinel
November 4, 2019
A Coral Springs police dispatch supervisor was at work playing a Netflix movie when she didn’t catch an incorrectly logged 911 call.
A woman phoned 911 to report someone had just shot at her car, piercing her back window, hitting her front windshield and almost shooting her in the head. But there was a half-hour delay in the call being dispatched to an officer.
Julie Vidaud was the shift supervisor minutes before 7 p.m. on a June evening.
The woman who phoned 911 said during the shooting, a hot metal piece landed in her lap, which later turned out to be a bullet. The 911 dispatcher assured the woman that help was on the way.
But the woman, Guadalupe Herrera, called back about 16 minutes later “very upset and concerned that they may shoot again,” according to police records.
Herrera called 911 again four minutes later, saying she was going to drive herself to the police station. Herrera recalled Monday how she was devastated that she called for help and nobody came.
“It was a very hard situation,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It was a drive-by shooting. My windshield was shattered. Nobody showed up — I had to drive myself to the agency.”
By 7:30 p.m., Herrera’s sister called to complain nobody ever came out to help.
Investigators later realized the call had been logged by dispatchers as a “suspicious incident” when it should have gotten a priority “shooting.” About 34 minutes went by between when Herrera first called 911 and when it was dispatched to officers.
But investigators wanted to know how the error happened and why the boss of the two call-takers had missed it.
They pulled data from Vidaud’s computer over 30 days to find the most-used applications were Netflix, Hulu and Xfinity TV. They found that the movie “I Am Mother,” with actress Hilary Swank, played at her workstation for almost two hours while the 911 caller was reporting the shooting.
On June 9, the day of the shooting, Vidaud’s computer also showed use of “numerous site clicks for websites related to shopping, news stories, streaming TV, movies, vacation planning, and fewer that could be considered work related,” according to an internal affairs investigation report released Monday.
Vidaud told an investigator that movies play in the background but that doesn’t mean she was watching a flick for two hours. She said the supervisor’s console has five monitors. She said “there was a good chance that Netflix was running but that she would not have been watching during that period of time,” according to the report.
The investigator, Sgt. Dave Kirkland, told her this call was handled so badly he would describe it as a “catastrophic failure,” according to records.
Kirkland, who oversees internal investigations, wrote in his report that "the evidence conclusively shows that Vidaud spends an inordinate amount of time conducting personal business” on her police work computer, including movies and streaming TV.
Kirkland said the original 911 call-taker was fired. The second person who handled the call, a dispatcher, “was disciplined and has since been terminated,” police said.
Vidaud, who is not represented by the police union, couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
Vidaud, whose discipline is pending, is expected to receive a two-day suspension without pay, police said. The investigation’s findings were inconclusive on what Vidaud was doing at the specific time of the incident, “however based on the investigation she will be facing discipline for ‘Failure to Supervise,'” police said.
Vidaud promised she no longer would have Netflix playing at work, the report said. But that’s going to be the case from now on for all dispatchers: The agency policy was changed to prohibit any streaming of media services during their shifts, police said.
Herrera said she was pleased that the agency was considering a suspension for the supervisor. “It definitely helps.”
Kirkland said the suspect in the shooting has charged with premeditated attempted murder.
According to the arrest affidavit, the woman was in her red Volkswagen leaving a gas station when Kyriakos Manolas, 33, of Coconut Creek, allegedly shot out her rear windshield. The bullet traveled through the head rest and steering wheel, hit the front windshield and then landed in her lap.
Surveillance video from several businesses linked Manolas, who was driving his father’s Mitsubishi, to the shooting, according to the affidavit.
THIS STORY HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF A GOOD MOVIE
American 'drug dealer' and his girlfriend facing execution in Thailand ESCAPE from court after he 'stabs a police officer' during a gunfight
By Ross Ibbetson
Daily Mail
November 4, 2019
An American alleged drug dealer and his girlfriend who are facing execution in Thailand have dramatically escaped from court in a blistering gunfight.
Bart Allen Helmus, 39, is accused of stabbing one of the guards before his accomplice Noi Ton Nintet, 41, allegedly shot the same man in Pattaya on Monday afternoon.
Helmus, along with his Thai girlfriend Sirinapha Wisetrit, 31, and the third accomplice Noi, were seen dashing out of the cell door with their chains still clamped to their legs.
CCTV shows one prisoner brandishing a 9mm pistol at officers, while another wrestles a guard to the floor. The officer appears to be writhing around in agony following the altercation.
Footage from the parking lot showed the trio bounding off, one still holding the pistol, where they got into a waiting bronze Isuzu pickup truck.
Courts of Justice spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai told the Bangkok Post that Noi shot police officer Captain Thanameth Potiphan and Helmus stabbed him.
Captain Thanameth was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
The trio were facing charges that carried a maximum of the death sentence, Suriyan told the Bangkok paper.
Police described the fugitives as 'extremely dangerous' and set up checkpoints and roadblocks in the the area.
Lieutenant General Nanthachart Supamongkhol said the U.S. Embassy had been contacted and all border points were on alert.
He added: 'The three prisoners who escaped were all in chains at the time. We are investigating how they had weapons with them.
'Officers are checking CCTV to trace the escape route and find the fugitives.'
Police said the group were being transferred from a nearby prison to appear in court when they were being held in an area surrounded by metal bars behind the court building.
Witnesses said there was one gun shot from outside the building which sparked panic from guards, who ran towards a vehicle.
But while they were chasing the car, a scuffle erupted with the prisoners and three more shots were fire before the group fled into the vehicle.
The injured officer was found with a silver knife in the left side of his body after being stabbed.
Police now believe that the fugitives are hiding out in the Chonburi province to wait before fleeing through one of the country's notoriously porous borders.
Lieutenant General Nanthachart added: 'The fugitives are extremely dangerous and should not be approached by members of the public.
'We cannot determine how the prisoners received a 9mm pistol but if we find any accomplices they will be punished severely.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: The movie starring Jason Statham as Helmus and Awkwafina as Wisetrit.
By Ross Ibbetson
Daily Mail
November 4, 2019
An American alleged drug dealer and his girlfriend who are facing execution in Thailand have dramatically escaped from court in a blistering gunfight.
Bart Allen Helmus, 39, is accused of stabbing one of the guards before his accomplice Noi Ton Nintet, 41, allegedly shot the same man in Pattaya on Monday afternoon.
Helmus, along with his Thai girlfriend Sirinapha Wisetrit, 31, and the third accomplice Noi, were seen dashing out of the cell door with their chains still clamped to their legs.
CCTV shows one prisoner brandishing a 9mm pistol at officers, while another wrestles a guard to the floor. The officer appears to be writhing around in agony following the altercation.
Footage from the parking lot showed the trio bounding off, one still holding the pistol, where they got into a waiting bronze Isuzu pickup truck.
Courts of Justice spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai told the Bangkok Post that Noi shot police officer Captain Thanameth Potiphan and Helmus stabbed him.
Captain Thanameth was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
The trio were facing charges that carried a maximum of the death sentence, Suriyan told the Bangkok paper.
Police described the fugitives as 'extremely dangerous' and set up checkpoints and roadblocks in the the area.
Lieutenant General Nanthachart Supamongkhol said the U.S. Embassy had been contacted and all border points were on alert.
He added: 'The three prisoners who escaped were all in chains at the time. We are investigating how they had weapons with them.
'Officers are checking CCTV to trace the escape route and find the fugitives.'
Police said the group were being transferred from a nearby prison to appear in court when they were being held in an area surrounded by metal bars behind the court building.
Witnesses said there was one gun shot from outside the building which sparked panic from guards, who ran towards a vehicle.
But while they were chasing the car, a scuffle erupted with the prisoners and three more shots were fire before the group fled into the vehicle.
The injured officer was found with a silver knife in the left side of his body after being stabbed.
Police now believe that the fugitives are hiding out in the Chonburi province to wait before fleeing through one of the country's notoriously porous borders.
Lieutenant General Nanthachart added: 'The fugitives are extremely dangerous and should not be approached by members of the public.
'We cannot determine how the prisoners received a 9mm pistol but if we find any accomplices they will be punished severely.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: The movie starring Jason Statham as Helmus and Awkwafina as Wisetrit.
WILL THE US BACK ISRAEL IF IRAN ATTACKS THE JEWISH STATE?
'Iranian attack on Israel is just a matter of time'
Israel Hayom
November 5, 2019
As Iranians took to the streets this week to commemorate 40 years since the US embassy takeover in 1979, Iran announced new violations of the nuclear deal it signed in 2015. The rogue Islamic Republic admitted that it now operates 60 advanced IR-6 centrifuges and is working on a new type of centrifuge that will work 50 times faster than what is currently permitted under the deal.
This announcement comes after Iran has engaged in attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities, shooting down an American drone, and, of course, its ongoing and aggressive efforts to build a war machine against Israel in Syria and elsewhere.
For its part, on Monday the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against nine Iranian military commanders and officials. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions in an effort to curb the regime’s destabilizing behavior in the Middle East and around the globe.
Regardless, Tehran has continued to engage in destabilization efforts and heavily supports terror activity and weapons buildup in the Middle East.
Yaakov Amidror, a former national security advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and currently an analyst at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JNS that the Iranians want to remain far away from the Jewish state, but at the same time build “a ring of fire” around it. Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and the terror organization is estimated to have as many as 100,000 missiles. Iran is also trying hard to create an independent war machine in Syria, which Israel has been working to dismantle. According to foreign and some Israeli reports, Israel has struck 300 targets in Syria so far.
According to Amidror, Iran realized that Israel has been succeeding in Syria, so it began to build a branch of its independent war machine in Iraq, taking advantage of the fact that the Iraqis don’t have total control of some parts of their land. For Iran, the idea is to have a military capability close to Israel, while it itself remains at a distance.
“An interesting question,” Amidror said, “is what should Israel’s reaction be in such a situation? We know the head of the snake is in Iran. Will Israel go after targets in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon or Yemen? Or will we go directly to the head of the snake?”
Iran has the capability to attack Israel from multiple locations, including Lebanon and Syria – and now Iraq and possibly Yemen – as Netanyahu mentioned recently.
'This will be complicated'
Eytan Gilboa, professor and director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and a senior research associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, told JNS that a number of elements have changed recently that impact Israel’s preparedness and decision-making.
First, Iran attacked the Saudi oil fields. Second, the United States withdrew from Syria. And third, Iranian provocations in the Persian Gulf were not met with any aggressive American answer.
“We also see Islamic Jihad in Gaza, on orders from Iran, trying to sabotage and undermine the situation there,” he said.
Like Amidror, Gilboa noted that Israel has been trying to prevent Iran from building another front in Syria, saying “this strategy has been extended to Iraq.”
He laid out the current state of affairs from Israel’s perspective. According to Gilboa, “it is obvious, for all kinds of reasons, that Iran would not attack Israel directly from its own territory. Iran lost some of the surprise that could have been inflicted on Israel had it not used cruise missiles against Saudi Arabia.”
Israel is preparing adequate answers to this kind of threat as it expects Iran to attack it with precision-guided cruise missiles and drones.
Gilboa suggested that the components of Israeli strategy must first be to reveal Iran’s plan. Then, Israel must threaten direct and severe retaliation. Finally, Israel must make it clear that Syria and Lebanon will pay the price if attacks on Israel originate on their soil.
“If Iran orders Nasrallah to attack Israel, this will be complicated,” said Gilboa. “In the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel distinguished between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah. This is no longer the case. If Israel comes under attack, it will attack Lebanon, including Hezbollah. The same is true for Syria. Israel is trying to persuade [Syrian President] Basher Assad and Russia that if Israel comes under attack from Syria, it is Assad who will pay the price.”
Additionally, continued Gilboa, Israel must inform Russia of potential Israeli action after any attack by Iran. “These exchanges of fire between Israel and Iranian attempts to build a base in Syria is completely not in Russia’s interest, and this is why Russia is not protesting Israeli military actions in Syria,” he said.
Israel should work to procure an American statement of support and must coordinate with the United States to announce that attacks on Israel will trigger American action.
“On the face of it,” Gilboa said, “these components should create some level of deterrence. Israel’s main strategy is to create deterrence or at least limit any potential Iranian attack.”
If Iran does indeed attack, there will have to be a massive retaliation against Iranian interests.
According to Gilboa, Europe should not be expected to join in the fight against Iran’s hegemonic ambitions and support of global terrorism. They are “stupid and deaf,” he charged, and only trying to appease Iran.
Both Amidror and Gilboa agree that Iran is certainly bent on Israel in its crosshairs.
“Confrontation between Iran and Israel is unavoidable,” said Gilboa. “There is great probability for some Iranian military action; this is something Israel is preparing for.”
“Our assumption,” said Amidror, “is not a question of if, but when.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s not a given. With a Republican president, the US will probably back Israel, but with a ‘progressive’ Democratic president it may not.
Israel Hayom
November 5, 2019
As Iranians took to the streets this week to commemorate 40 years since the US embassy takeover in 1979, Iran announced new violations of the nuclear deal it signed in 2015. The rogue Islamic Republic admitted that it now operates 60 advanced IR-6 centrifuges and is working on a new type of centrifuge that will work 50 times faster than what is currently permitted under the deal.
This announcement comes after Iran has engaged in attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities, shooting down an American drone, and, of course, its ongoing and aggressive efforts to build a war machine against Israel in Syria and elsewhere.
For its part, on Monday the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against nine Iranian military commanders and officials. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions in an effort to curb the regime’s destabilizing behavior in the Middle East and around the globe.
Regardless, Tehran has continued to engage in destabilization efforts and heavily supports terror activity and weapons buildup in the Middle East.
Yaakov Amidror, a former national security advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and currently an analyst at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JNS that the Iranians want to remain far away from the Jewish state, but at the same time build “a ring of fire” around it. Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and the terror organization is estimated to have as many as 100,000 missiles. Iran is also trying hard to create an independent war machine in Syria, which Israel has been working to dismantle. According to foreign and some Israeli reports, Israel has struck 300 targets in Syria so far.
According to Amidror, Iran realized that Israel has been succeeding in Syria, so it began to build a branch of its independent war machine in Iraq, taking advantage of the fact that the Iraqis don’t have total control of some parts of their land. For Iran, the idea is to have a military capability close to Israel, while it itself remains at a distance.
“An interesting question,” Amidror said, “is what should Israel’s reaction be in such a situation? We know the head of the snake is in Iran. Will Israel go after targets in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon or Yemen? Or will we go directly to the head of the snake?”
Iran has the capability to attack Israel from multiple locations, including Lebanon and Syria – and now Iraq and possibly Yemen – as Netanyahu mentioned recently.
'This will be complicated'
Eytan Gilboa, professor and director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and a senior research associate at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, told JNS that a number of elements have changed recently that impact Israel’s preparedness and decision-making.
First, Iran attacked the Saudi oil fields. Second, the United States withdrew from Syria. And third, Iranian provocations in the Persian Gulf were not met with any aggressive American answer.
“We also see Islamic Jihad in Gaza, on orders from Iran, trying to sabotage and undermine the situation there,” he said.
Like Amidror, Gilboa noted that Israel has been trying to prevent Iran from building another front in Syria, saying “this strategy has been extended to Iraq.”
He laid out the current state of affairs from Israel’s perspective. According to Gilboa, “it is obvious, for all kinds of reasons, that Iran would not attack Israel directly from its own territory. Iran lost some of the surprise that could have been inflicted on Israel had it not used cruise missiles against Saudi Arabia.”
Israel is preparing adequate answers to this kind of threat as it expects Iran to attack it with precision-guided cruise missiles and drones.
Gilboa suggested that the components of Israeli strategy must first be to reveal Iran’s plan. Then, Israel must threaten direct and severe retaliation. Finally, Israel must make it clear that Syria and Lebanon will pay the price if attacks on Israel originate on their soil.
“If Iran orders Nasrallah to attack Israel, this will be complicated,” said Gilboa. “In the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel distinguished between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah. This is no longer the case. If Israel comes under attack, it will attack Lebanon, including Hezbollah. The same is true for Syria. Israel is trying to persuade [Syrian President] Basher Assad and Russia that if Israel comes under attack from Syria, it is Assad who will pay the price.”
Additionally, continued Gilboa, Israel must inform Russia of potential Israeli action after any attack by Iran. “These exchanges of fire between Israel and Iranian attempts to build a base in Syria is completely not in Russia’s interest, and this is why Russia is not protesting Israeli military actions in Syria,” he said.
Israel should work to procure an American statement of support and must coordinate with the United States to announce that attacks on Israel will trigger American action.
“On the face of it,” Gilboa said, “these components should create some level of deterrence. Israel’s main strategy is to create deterrence or at least limit any potential Iranian attack.”
If Iran does indeed attack, there will have to be a massive retaliation against Iranian interests.
According to Gilboa, Europe should not be expected to join in the fight against Iran’s hegemonic ambitions and support of global terrorism. They are “stupid and deaf,” he charged, and only trying to appease Iran.
Both Amidror and Gilboa agree that Iran is certainly bent on Israel in its crosshairs.
“Confrontation between Iran and Israel is unavoidable,” said Gilboa. “There is great probability for some Iranian military action; this is something Israel is preparing for.”
“Our assumption,” said Amidror, “is not a question of if, but when.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s not a given. With a Republican president, the US will probably back Israel, but with a ‘progressive’ Democratic president it may not.
TIME FOR US, NATO TO GIVE TURKEY THE BOOT
While removing Turkey from NATO would mark a sea-change in Washington and NATO's policy, and would surely drive Ankara closer to Moscow, it would certainly get Turkish President Erdogan's attention
By James Sinkinson
JNS
November 4, 2019
American arms control experts say the US Air Force is worried about the security of some 50 American B-61 nuclear bombs in storage at the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, and some believe they should be removed.
Turkey’s behavior has become so incorrigible that other foreign policy experts believe it’s time for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to boot Turkey out of the alliance.
No wonder. Despite a long, friendly relationship with Turkey, Ankara under Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become increasingly belligerent toward the United States and our allies, especially Israel and most recently the Syrian Kurds.
Turkey’s invasion of Syria this month to subdue US Kurdish allies has generated condemnations from Western European and Arab nations, as well as from Russia, India, China and, surprisingly, even Iran.
But this is only the latest dust-up: Erdoğan’s Turkey is guilty of a string of international offenses.
•In 2015, Turkey, unprovoked, shot down a Russian fighter jet.
•To Egypt’s annoyance, Turkey supports its enemy, the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
•Erdogan frequently issues anti-Semitic calumnies, is a reliable foe of Israel and in 2010 attempted to run Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which ended in the deaths of 10 Turkish activists.
•Turkey deployed a team of thugs to the streets of Washington, DC, to abduct anti-Erdogan Turkish activists.
•Turkey illegally occupies most of Cyprus.
•After buying American F-35 fighter jets, Erdogan contracted with Russia to purchase anti-aircraft batteries – against stern US objections. Erdogan runs Turkish politics with an authoritarian fist, just a short step from totalitarianism
To make matters worse, Turkey is a member of NATO, the alliance’s only Eurasian member – all others are North American or European, but Turkey has been in the group since 1952. Under Erdoğan’s leadership, Turkey has moved further from the goals and policies of other NATO members, often standing in stark opposition to the body’s will, as it is currently doing in Syria.
Vice President Mike Pence last week insisted that “the United States of America is not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion of Syria any further.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper is encouraging NATO members to take “diplomatic and economic” measures against Turkey. President Donald Trump threatened Erdogan with devastating economic sanctions, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that “military action” may be needed.
In other words, the United States is unprecedentedly threatening economic and even military war with a fellow NATO member. Some six European countries have suspended arms sales to Turkey – hardly the behavior of allies.
Erdoğan, however, remains defiant, despite negotiations with Pence and the Russians. He seems determined to secure a stretch of Syrian territory currently controlled by the Kurds in order to push the Kurds back from the Turkish border and populate the region with millions of Syrian refugees now in Turkey.
In short, it’s contradictory that an alliance like NATO, made up of liberal, democratic nations originally to counter the bullying threat of Russia, should count Turkey among its members.
Not only does Turkey undermine the interests of NATO members, but it is increasingly sidling up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, going so far as to purchase Russian weaponry that can be used to defeat NATO armaments.
While removing Turkey from NATO would mark a sea-change in US and NATO policy – and would surely drive Erdogan more resolutely into Putin’s arms – it is a step (or a threat) that would certainly get Ankara’s attention. It would also increase the global security of the US and other NATO members.
While we’re at it, let’s remove those American nuclear bombs to a more friendly country.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The US isn’t going to give Turkey the boot because Erdogan is Trump’s new-found friend. And NATO won’t do it either.
By James Sinkinson
JNS
November 4, 2019
American arms control experts say the US Air Force is worried about the security of some 50 American B-61 nuclear bombs in storage at the Incirlik airbase in Turkey, and some believe they should be removed.
Turkey’s behavior has become so incorrigible that other foreign policy experts believe it’s time for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to boot Turkey out of the alliance.
No wonder. Despite a long, friendly relationship with Turkey, Ankara under Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become increasingly belligerent toward the United States and our allies, especially Israel and most recently the Syrian Kurds.
Turkey’s invasion of Syria this month to subdue US Kurdish allies has generated condemnations from Western European and Arab nations, as well as from Russia, India, China and, surprisingly, even Iran.
But this is only the latest dust-up: Erdoğan’s Turkey is guilty of a string of international offenses.
•In 2015, Turkey, unprovoked, shot down a Russian fighter jet.
•To Egypt’s annoyance, Turkey supports its enemy, the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
•Erdogan frequently issues anti-Semitic calumnies, is a reliable foe of Israel and in 2010 attempted to run Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which ended in the deaths of 10 Turkish activists.
•Turkey deployed a team of thugs to the streets of Washington, DC, to abduct anti-Erdogan Turkish activists.
•Turkey illegally occupies most of Cyprus.
•After buying American F-35 fighter jets, Erdogan contracted with Russia to purchase anti-aircraft batteries – against stern US objections. Erdogan runs Turkish politics with an authoritarian fist, just a short step from totalitarianism
To make matters worse, Turkey is a member of NATO, the alliance’s only Eurasian member – all others are North American or European, but Turkey has been in the group since 1952. Under Erdoğan’s leadership, Turkey has moved further from the goals and policies of other NATO members, often standing in stark opposition to the body’s will, as it is currently doing in Syria.
Vice President Mike Pence last week insisted that “the United States of America is not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion of Syria any further.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper is encouraging NATO members to take “diplomatic and economic” measures against Turkey. President Donald Trump threatened Erdogan with devastating economic sanctions, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that “military action” may be needed.
In other words, the United States is unprecedentedly threatening economic and even military war with a fellow NATO member. Some six European countries have suspended arms sales to Turkey – hardly the behavior of allies.
Erdoğan, however, remains defiant, despite negotiations with Pence and the Russians. He seems determined to secure a stretch of Syrian territory currently controlled by the Kurds in order to push the Kurds back from the Turkish border and populate the region with millions of Syrian refugees now in Turkey.
In short, it’s contradictory that an alliance like NATO, made up of liberal, democratic nations originally to counter the bullying threat of Russia, should count Turkey among its members.
Not only does Turkey undermine the interests of NATO members, but it is increasingly sidling up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, going so far as to purchase Russian weaponry that can be used to defeat NATO armaments.
While removing Turkey from NATO would mark a sea-change in US and NATO policy – and would surely drive Erdogan more resolutely into Putin’s arms – it is a step (or a threat) that would certainly get Ankara’s attention. It would also increase the global security of the US and other NATO members.
While we’re at it, let’s remove those American nuclear bombs to a more friendly country.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The US isn’t going to give Turkey the boot because Erdogan is Trump’s new-found friend. And NATO won’t do it either.
Tuesday, November 05, 2019
REFLECTIONS FROM ROSTOCK
America does not need to apologize for its bulging prison population
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
November 4, 2019
I returned after a 10-day stay in Rostock, Germany just in time to watch the unfortunate last three innings in game seven of the baseball world series.
Rostock is a beautiful city, as are the nearby villages and towns. Rostock, a Baltic Sea port in Northeastern Germany, has a population of more than 200,000 people. Near the end of WW2, the Soviet army captured Rostock without bombarding it, thereby saving the city, unlike in Berlin, where the Russians reduced to rubble what had not already been destroyed by allied bombings. Thus, Rostock’s historic architecture of buildings and homes was preserved. Until the reunification of Germany, Rostock was part of communist East Germany.
Some reflections from Rostock
The city is very clean, not at all like trashy Houston. Rostock has a mass transit system that Houstonians would die for. It has a massive rail system and its homes are all within walking distance of a bus stop. Unlike Metro’s rail system, Rostock’s trains do not run on the streets. The rail lines run either along a right-of-way on one side of the street or on a median.
Surprisingly, there was lots of graffiti in Rostock, but almost all of it was of the artistic tagger variety. There was hardly any of the crude gangbanger-type graffiti, like that so prevalent in Houston.
Many of Rostock’s streets are historically preserved with cobble stones. The concrete pavement was free of pot holes, but in fairness to Houston, Rostock does not sit on a clay base.
Rostock has several huge Protestant gothic-style churches with domineering spires. They are several hundred years old. There are no Protestant denominations – no Baptists, Methodists, Prespetyrians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals – just Protestants. There are few Catholics in Rostock.
The city provides free housing and cost of living allowances to the homeless. There are no homeless encampments in the city.
Politically, the people of Rostock, as well as many other Europeans, consider Trump’s election a bad joke made by the stupid Americans. MAGA just doesn’t ring true to them. They see Trump’s withdrawal from the Global Warming Accord, his scrapping of the US-Russian nuclear arms treaty, and his abandonment of the Kurds as signs of weakness, not of strength. They are losing their respect for the US as the world’s leader and, instead, see Putin as making Russia great gain. If given a choice between Trump and Obama, Trump would lose by a seismic landslide. Fortunately for us, the Europeans do not get to vote in our elections.
The crime rate in Western Europe has been relatively low. The only cops I saw were at the Berlin Tegel Airport. During my 10 days in Rostock and the nearby towns and villages, I did not see a single police officer or cop car.
However, the crime rate has been rising significantly. The rise in crimes is being blamed on an influx of Muslim immigrants from North Africa – including Ilhan Omar’s birthplace of Somalia – and the Arab countries, as well as on immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria.
In Germany, the immigrants are provided free housing, free medical care and cost of living allowances, all paid for by the taxpayers. Most of the Muslims refuse to assimilate with the Germans and refuse to learn how to speak German. Women who do not cover their heads and hair with a hijab are fair game for sexual assaults by Muslim men. Muslim women keep popping out babies one after another. Many Muslim men refuse to work – but that should come as no surprise since they get free housing and a cost of living allowance from the government.
It’s too bad that there is no land bridge between Europe and Central America. Such a land bridge would solve our immigration problem. The Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorians would all flock to Europe for all the freebies they would get there. There would be no need for Trump’s wall.
The Germans appear to be well satisfied with their socialized medicine program. But the taxpayers pay dearly for all of Germany’s social programs, including free housing and cost of living allowances for the homeless and the immigrants. In addition to an income tax, there is a value added tax of 19 percent on all purchases, except that some foods are taxed at only seven percent.
Crime rates and imprisonment
The Europeans have always smugly shamed us for our huge prison population. Of course, with a low crime rate, especially a low rate of violent crimes, they could afford to build country club-like prisons for the relatively few criminals that would be sentenced to serve time there.
Here in the US, the hug-a-criminal Liberals have been howling for prison reforms that would release thousands of felonious criminals to prey on our law-abiding citizens. Don’t forget that during the Democratic debate in Houston, Joe Biden said “Nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”
Sadly, the Liberals have been joined by Conservatives who see emptying our prisons as being fiscally responsible. Even Trump has been touting the bipartisan bill he signed last December which shortened the sentences of many federal prisoners, most of them doing time for drug possession. But make no mistake about it, those inmates were not actually doing time for possession, they were in prison for being drug dealers. The inmates benefiting the most from the shortened sentences are the drug dealers who copped a plea to the lesser crime of possession because that would give them a much shorter sentence than for trafficking in drugs.
One need only look at California’s criminal justice reform measures to see how the Liberals are putting public safety at risk. Former Gov. Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown’s prison realignment program reduced the state’s prison overcrowding by dumping prison inmates on the county jails and probation departments. That has resulted in a notable increase in crime. And then, to make matters worse, Proposition 47 reduced some felonies to misdemeanors. That led to a significant increase in property crimes with San Francisco now having the highest property crime rate per capita in the nation.
Unlike Europe, the US has always had a relatively high crime rate. That is why our prisons are bulging with inmates. We have long stopped sending people to prison for simple possession of marijuana. Blacks are not in prison for being black and Latinos are not in prison for being Latino. They are in prison for committing felonious crimes.
It must be noted that almost none of America’s prison inmates are first-time offenders. Almost without exception, this country’s prison inmates have been arrested three or four times on serious charges, or even more often, before they were finally sent to prison. Many inmates have absolutely no desire to go straight – they simply enjoy being career criminals. All those prison facial tattoos are a sign that upon release, they do not want to find any legal work. Who will hire some guy that looks like a freak? No one, and the inmates know it.
My trip to Rostock has reinforced my belief that America does not need to apologize for its bulging prison population. Most of the inmates are right where they belong, if not as punishment, then for the safety of law-abiding citizens and the protection of their property.
As for Crazy Joe Biden not wanting to lock up anyone for a nonviolent crime, here is a phrase I coined some years ago: A ‘nonviolent’ criminal in jail is one less criminal on the streets! And for those, like Biden, who draw a distinction between violent and nonviolent criminals, it must be noted that today’s nonviolent criminal may turn out to be tomorrow’s violent criminal.
Although I was very impressed with Rostock, it is good to be back in the good old USA and my hometown of Houston, even though I returned just as the Astros were losing game 7 to the Nationals.
(Photo: Rostock’s Neuer Markt Square - by Nick Katz)
__________
TRAVEL TIP: If planning a trip to Germany and back, make sure you get booked on Lufthansa planes and not on any United Airlines plane. The meals and the service with Lufthansa is better. Believe me, because I’ve experienced both.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
November 4, 2019
I returned after a 10-day stay in Rostock, Germany just in time to watch the unfortunate last three innings in game seven of the baseball world series.
Rostock is a beautiful city, as are the nearby villages and towns. Rostock, a Baltic Sea port in Northeastern Germany, has a population of more than 200,000 people. Near the end of WW2, the Soviet army captured Rostock without bombarding it, thereby saving the city, unlike in Berlin, where the Russians reduced to rubble what had not already been destroyed by allied bombings. Thus, Rostock’s historic architecture of buildings and homes was preserved. Until the reunification of Germany, Rostock was part of communist East Germany.
Some reflections from Rostock
The city is very clean, not at all like trashy Houston. Rostock has a mass transit system that Houstonians would die for. It has a massive rail system and its homes are all within walking distance of a bus stop. Unlike Metro’s rail system, Rostock’s trains do not run on the streets. The rail lines run either along a right-of-way on one side of the street or on a median.
Surprisingly, there was lots of graffiti in Rostock, but almost all of it was of the artistic tagger variety. There was hardly any of the crude gangbanger-type graffiti, like that so prevalent in Houston.
Many of Rostock’s streets are historically preserved with cobble stones. The concrete pavement was free of pot holes, but in fairness to Houston, Rostock does not sit on a clay base.
Rostock has several huge Protestant gothic-style churches with domineering spires. They are several hundred years old. There are no Protestant denominations – no Baptists, Methodists, Prespetyrians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals – just Protestants. There are few Catholics in Rostock.
The city provides free housing and cost of living allowances to the homeless. There are no homeless encampments in the city.
Politically, the people of Rostock, as well as many other Europeans, consider Trump’s election a bad joke made by the stupid Americans. MAGA just doesn’t ring true to them. They see Trump’s withdrawal from the Global Warming Accord, his scrapping of the US-Russian nuclear arms treaty, and his abandonment of the Kurds as signs of weakness, not of strength. They are losing their respect for the US as the world’s leader and, instead, see Putin as making Russia great gain. If given a choice between Trump and Obama, Trump would lose by a seismic landslide. Fortunately for us, the Europeans do not get to vote in our elections.
The crime rate in Western Europe has been relatively low. The only cops I saw were at the Berlin Tegel Airport. During my 10 days in Rostock and the nearby towns and villages, I did not see a single police officer or cop car.
However, the crime rate has been rising significantly. The rise in crimes is being blamed on an influx of Muslim immigrants from North Africa – including Ilhan Omar’s birthplace of Somalia – and the Arab countries, as well as on immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria.
In Germany, the immigrants are provided free housing, free medical care and cost of living allowances, all paid for by the taxpayers. Most of the Muslims refuse to assimilate with the Germans and refuse to learn how to speak German. Women who do not cover their heads and hair with a hijab are fair game for sexual assaults by Muslim men. Muslim women keep popping out babies one after another. Many Muslim men refuse to work – but that should come as no surprise since they get free housing and a cost of living allowance from the government.
It’s too bad that there is no land bridge between Europe and Central America. Such a land bridge would solve our immigration problem. The Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorians would all flock to Europe for all the freebies they would get there. There would be no need for Trump’s wall.
The Germans appear to be well satisfied with their socialized medicine program. But the taxpayers pay dearly for all of Germany’s social programs, including free housing and cost of living allowances for the homeless and the immigrants. In addition to an income tax, there is a value added tax of 19 percent on all purchases, except that some foods are taxed at only seven percent.
Crime rates and imprisonment
The Europeans have always smugly shamed us for our huge prison population. Of course, with a low crime rate, especially a low rate of violent crimes, they could afford to build country club-like prisons for the relatively few criminals that would be sentenced to serve time there.
Here in the US, the hug-a-criminal Liberals have been howling for prison reforms that would release thousands of felonious criminals to prey on our law-abiding citizens. Don’t forget that during the Democratic debate in Houston, Joe Biden said “Nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”
Sadly, the Liberals have been joined by Conservatives who see emptying our prisons as being fiscally responsible. Even Trump has been touting the bipartisan bill he signed last December which shortened the sentences of many federal prisoners, most of them doing time for drug possession. But make no mistake about it, those inmates were not actually doing time for possession, they were in prison for being drug dealers. The inmates benefiting the most from the shortened sentences are the drug dealers who copped a plea to the lesser crime of possession because that would give them a much shorter sentence than for trafficking in drugs.
One need only look at California’s criminal justice reform measures to see how the Liberals are putting public safety at risk. Former Gov. Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown’s prison realignment program reduced the state’s prison overcrowding by dumping prison inmates on the county jails and probation departments. That has resulted in a notable increase in crime. And then, to make matters worse, Proposition 47 reduced some felonies to misdemeanors. That led to a significant increase in property crimes with San Francisco now having the highest property crime rate per capita in the nation.
Unlike Europe, the US has always had a relatively high crime rate. That is why our prisons are bulging with inmates. We have long stopped sending people to prison for simple possession of marijuana. Blacks are not in prison for being black and Latinos are not in prison for being Latino. They are in prison for committing felonious crimes.
It must be noted that almost none of America’s prison inmates are first-time offenders. Almost without exception, this country’s prison inmates have been arrested three or four times on serious charges, or even more often, before they were finally sent to prison. Many inmates have absolutely no desire to go straight – they simply enjoy being career criminals. All those prison facial tattoos are a sign that upon release, they do not want to find any legal work. Who will hire some guy that looks like a freak? No one, and the inmates know it.
My trip to Rostock has reinforced my belief that America does not need to apologize for its bulging prison population. Most of the inmates are right where they belong, if not as punishment, then for the safety of law-abiding citizens and the protection of their property.
As for Crazy Joe Biden not wanting to lock up anyone for a nonviolent crime, here is a phrase I coined some years ago: A ‘nonviolent’ criminal in jail is one less criminal on the streets! And for those, like Biden, who draw a distinction between violent and nonviolent criminals, it must be noted that today’s nonviolent criminal may turn out to be tomorrow’s violent criminal.
Although I was very impressed with Rostock, it is good to be back in the good old USA and my hometown of Houston, even though I returned just as the Astros were losing game 7 to the Nationals.
(Photo: Rostock’s Neuer Markt Square - by Nick Katz)
__________
TRAVEL TIP: If planning a trip to Germany and back, make sure you get booked on Lufthansa planes and not on any United Airlines plane. The meals and the service with Lufthansa is better. Believe me, because I’ve experienced both.
STOCK MARKET FUN AND GAMES
by Bob Walsh
The Dow Jones Industrial Averages closed at a record high of 27,462 yesterday. The S&P Index and the NASDAQ also closed at record highs.
Trading in P G & E was stopped twice yesterday due to volatility in the stock, which has dropped significantly in value since their bankruptcy filing. It used to be a class, reliable, Widows, Orphans and Institutional investment. Not so much any more.
A lot of people vote from their wallets. A good DOW is good for Trump. Some Democrats are openly expressing hope for a bad economy as a political point against Trump. I wonder how the working class in flyover country will react to that? We may find out in Iowa in 90 days or so.
The Dow Jones Industrial Averages closed at a record high of 27,462 yesterday. The S&P Index and the NASDAQ also closed at record highs.
Trading in P G & E was stopped twice yesterday due to volatility in the stock, which has dropped significantly in value since their bankruptcy filing. It used to be a class, reliable, Widows, Orphans and Institutional investment. Not so much any more.
A lot of people vote from their wallets. A good DOW is good for Trump. Some Democrats are openly expressing hope for a bad economy as a political point against Trump. I wonder how the working class in flyover country will react to that? We may find out in Iowa in 90 days or so.
MORE PUSSY PROBLEMS FOR POTUS
E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of rape, just filed a defamation lawsuit against the president
By Ashley Collman
Business Insider
November 4, 2019
Longtime Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump on Monday.
Carroll made headlines this summer when she published an account of how Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s.
Trump denied the allegation and said he had never met Carroll, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.
"I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled," Carroll said in a statement on Monday, according to the Washington Post. "No person in this country should be above the law – including the president."
She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told Business Insider that "the lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud — just like the author."
"I guess since the book did not make any money she's trying to get paid another way. The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period. Her version of events is not even feasible if you've ever tried on clothing in a dressing room of a crowded department store," Grisham added.
As Business Insider's Eliza Relman reported in June, Carroll's accusation was published in New York magazine as an excerpt from her new book, "What Do We Need Men For?"
Carroll said she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store, and agreed to help him select a present for a girl after he asked her for advice. She wrote that Trump assaulted her after she entered a dressing room with him inside the store.
"The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips," she wrote. "The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I'm not certain — inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle."
Carroll wrote that she physically fought Trump off of her and fled the scene of the encounter, which took "no more than three minutes."
"I try to stomp his foot. I try to push him off with my one free hand — for some reason, I keep holding my purse with the other — and I finally get a knee up high enough to push him out and off and I turn, open the door, and run out of the dressing room," she wrote.
Carroll said she told two close friends, both female journalists whose names she did not publicly disclose, about the assault two decades ago. Both women confirmed to New York magazine that they had these conversations with Carroll.
__________
Federal judges rule Donald Trump MUST let his tax returns be released to Manhattan DA probing Stormy Daniels payments - setting up Supreme Court clash
Daily Mail
November 4, 2019
President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to New York prosecutors, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday in the latest setback for Trump in his tenacious efforts to keep his finances secret.
The ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the ability of prosecutors to enforce a subpoena for the returns against accounting firm Mazars LLP. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. sought the records in a broader probe that includes payments made to buy the silence of two women - Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal - who claim they had affairs with the president before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's lawyer told the three-judge appeals panel this month that Trump is immune from state criminal law even if he shoots someone because he's president. At the time, Trump attorney William Consovoy faced skeptical questions from the judicial panel, and was asked a variation of Trump's famous he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose any support.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Grab ’em by the pussy at work.
By Ashley Collman
Business Insider
November 4, 2019
Longtime Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump on Monday.
Carroll made headlines this summer when she published an account of how Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-90s.
Trump denied the allegation and said he had never met Carroll, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.
"I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled," Carroll said in a statement on Monday, according to the Washington Post. "No person in this country should be above the law – including the president."
She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told Business Insider that "the lawsuit is frivolous and the story is a fraud — just like the author."
"I guess since the book did not make any money she's trying to get paid another way. The story she used to try and sell her trash book never happened, period. Her version of events is not even feasible if you've ever tried on clothing in a dressing room of a crowded department store," Grisham added.
As Business Insider's Eliza Relman reported in June, Carroll's accusation was published in New York magazine as an excerpt from her new book, "What Do We Need Men For?"
Carroll said she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store, and agreed to help him select a present for a girl after he asked her for advice. She wrote that Trump assaulted her after she entered a dressing room with him inside the store.
"The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips," she wrote. "The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I'm not certain — inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle."
Carroll wrote that she physically fought Trump off of her and fled the scene of the encounter, which took "no more than three minutes."
"I try to stomp his foot. I try to push him off with my one free hand — for some reason, I keep holding my purse with the other — and I finally get a knee up high enough to push him out and off and I turn, open the door, and run out of the dressing room," she wrote.
Carroll said she told two close friends, both female journalists whose names she did not publicly disclose, about the assault two decades ago. Both women confirmed to New York magazine that they had these conversations with Carroll.
__________
Federal judges rule Donald Trump MUST let his tax returns be released to Manhattan DA probing Stormy Daniels payments - setting up Supreme Court clash
Daily Mail
November 4, 2019
President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm must hand over eight years of his tax returns to New York prosecutors, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday in the latest setback for Trump in his tenacious efforts to keep his finances secret.
The ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the ability of prosecutors to enforce a subpoena for the returns against accounting firm Mazars LLP. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. sought the records in a broader probe that includes payments made to buy the silence of two women - Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal - who claim they had affairs with the president before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's lawyer told the three-judge appeals panel this month that Trump is immune from state criminal law even if he shoots someone because he's president. At the time, Trump attorney William Consovoy faced skeptical questions from the judicial panel, and was asked a variation of Trump's famous he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose any support.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Grab ’em by the pussy at work.
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