Jasmine Pennix was filmed violently shoving a student and wrapping his hands around the 14-year-old's neck while calling him a 'nigger' and 'little motherfucker'
By Jessica Chia
Daily Mail
April 23, 2016
A teacher's aide in Milwaukee was charged with the physical abuse of a child after he was captured on camera attacking a high school student while calling him a 'nigger' and 'little motherfucker'.
Jasmine Pennix, 39, was fired from Bay View High School in Wisconsin, where several boys were 'ripping on each other' in biology class on Wednesday morning, according to a criminal complaint.
Pennix got into an argument with a 14-year-old boy, and now faces up to six years in jail along with a $10,000 fine if he is found guilty.
A number of students were 'ripping on each other' in biology class when one 14-year-old told the teachers aide to 'shut the fuck up', according to court documents cited by the Journal Sentinel.
Pennix pulled the back of the boy's chair, causing him to fall on the floor before he put him in a headlock, the documents stated.
They separated, but when the student egged Pennix on a second time, saying 'come on, do something', the teacher obliged.
In the unsettling 18-second video, Pennix can be seen violently shoving the high school student onto the desks in the classroom.
The boy eventually falls to the ground with Pennix's hands around his neck, as the teacher's aide can be heard calling the student a 'nigger' and asking: 'The fuck I tell you, little motherfucker?'
Tony Tagliavia, a spokesperson for Milwaukee Public Schools, said Pennix was fired after administrators found out about the 'deeply disturbing' incident.
The 39-year-old, who has had a clean record, was arrested the next day and held in Milwaukee County Jail on $2,5000 bail. His next hearing is on May 10.
The boy was treated at this hospital for minor injuries to his neck, hips and back, according to the criminal complaint.
One parent James Sinkey told CBS58: 'He should have just marched out right away. There's no need for actions like that, it's just too much.'
Democratic state senator Lena Taylor also issued a statement condemning Pennix's response. She said: 'I believe violence is a major educational barrier for our kids.
'We need to create schools and communities free of violence so that our kids can focus on learning, not looking over their shoulders.
'Until that day comes, we must ensure that our kids have access to school therapists who they can talk to about any trauma they experienced. Additionally, we must ensure workers have special training to address conflict.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Shit, how times have changed. Back when I was in high school, this guy would have gotten a commendation instead of getting fired and charged with a crime. But with the first name of ‘Jasmine’ he probably would not have been hired in the first place.
Monday, April 25, 2016
THERE’S A $15,000 GAP BETWEEN MEDIAN INCOME AND LIVING COMFORTABLE IN HOUSTON
Miami, has a gap that was more than three times larger than Houston’s
By Leif Reigstad
Houston Press
April 22, 2016
According to a recently released study, the average Houstonian needs to earn nearly $61,000 per year to "live comfortably." Of course, most people don't make that much, so there's a pretty big gap between the median household income and that magic 61-K mark — a $15,067 gap, to be exact.
GoBankingRates.com, a financial research website, compiled the income information in a study ranking the top 50 cities with the biggest gap between the "needed" income and "actual" income. Houston had the 11th-largest gap in the U.S. and the largest in Texas, at more than $15,000, which isn't so bad considering the city atop the list, Miami, had a gap that was more than three times larger than ours. The overall income needed to live comfortably here is half as much as San Francisco's, which was by far the most expensive city ($119,570).
The website said it accounted for "rent, groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare" costs before doubling that total "to find how much money a single person needs to earn in that city to follow a 50-30-20 budget," which, it explains, means "50 percent of income covers necessities, 30 percent is for discretionary items and 20 percent is saved." Keep in mind, this probably doesn't account for common expenditures specific to Houstonians, like bullets, boots and barbecue.
Overall, Houston's grade here isn't awful. But it's still not great. We were, however, two spots below Detroit, so at least there's that.
By Leif Reigstad
Houston Press
April 22, 2016
According to a recently released study, the average Houstonian needs to earn nearly $61,000 per year to "live comfortably." Of course, most people don't make that much, so there's a pretty big gap between the median household income and that magic 61-K mark — a $15,067 gap, to be exact.
GoBankingRates.com, a financial research website, compiled the income information in a study ranking the top 50 cities with the biggest gap between the "needed" income and "actual" income. Houston had the 11th-largest gap in the U.S. and the largest in Texas, at more than $15,000, which isn't so bad considering the city atop the list, Miami, had a gap that was more than three times larger than ours. The overall income needed to live comfortably here is half as much as San Francisco's, which was by far the most expensive city ($119,570).
The website said it accounted for "rent, groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare" costs before doubling that total "to find how much money a single person needs to earn in that city to follow a 50-30-20 budget," which, it explains, means "50 percent of income covers necessities, 30 percent is for discretionary items and 20 percent is saved." Keep in mind, this probably doesn't account for common expenditures specific to Houstonians, like bullets, boots and barbecue.
Overall, Houston's grade here isn't awful. But it's still not great. We were, however, two spots below Detroit, so at least there's that.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
ANOTHER REMARKABLE EARLY PRISON RELEASE STORY
After serving 19 years of a 20-40 year sentence on a murder rap, Malcom Benson was paroled from a Michigan prison because of his ‘exceptionally good behavior’
In order to justify their jobs, prison and parole authorities like to boast about prison inmate rehabilitation successes. Well, here’s one convict they might not be in a rush to brag about.
In 1995, Malcom B. Benson, then 29, was arrested in Wayne County, Michigan and charged with first degree murder. He copped a plea to second degree murder so he wouldn’t have to serve the rest of his life in prison. He received a 20-40 year sentence.
Benson was paroled January 13, 2015 after serving 19 years of his sentence. He was released early from prison because of his exceptionally good behavior.
Benson’s exceptionally good behavior in prison apparently did not transfer to the outside world. On Thursday a Wayne County judge sentenced Benson to life in prison.
Benson was convicted of robbing and killing Army veteran Stanley Carter, 59, at a bus stop in Highland Park on September 23, 2015, just eight months after his early release.
Of course, this is not the first time a paroled murderer has murdered again. Here’s a case in which the murder occurred almost immediately after the convicted murderer’s release:
According to NBC Philadelphia, Steven Pratt was released in October 2014 after serving a 30-year murder sentence. Pratt was sentenced as an adult when he was 15 for the 1984 shooting death of his next door neighbor. After serving his full sentence, he was released and his family held a “welcome home” party for him. However, just two days after the release and celebration, Pratt murdered his own mother, beating her to death during an argument.
Well, at least Pratt did not get out of prison on an early release.
In order to justify their jobs, prison and parole authorities like to boast about prison inmate rehabilitation successes. Well, here’s one convict they might not be in a rush to brag about.
In 1995, Malcom B. Benson, then 29, was arrested in Wayne County, Michigan and charged with first degree murder. He copped a plea to second degree murder so he wouldn’t have to serve the rest of his life in prison. He received a 20-40 year sentence.
Benson was paroled January 13, 2015 after serving 19 years of his sentence. He was released early from prison because of his exceptionally good behavior.
Benson’s exceptionally good behavior in prison apparently did not transfer to the outside world. On Thursday a Wayne County judge sentenced Benson to life in prison.
Benson was convicted of robbing and killing Army veteran Stanley Carter, 59, at a bus stop in Highland Park on September 23, 2015, just eight months after his early release.
Of course, this is not the first time a paroled murderer has murdered again. Here’s a case in which the murder occurred almost immediately after the convicted murderer’s release:
According to NBC Philadelphia, Steven Pratt was released in October 2014 after serving a 30-year murder sentence. Pratt was sentenced as an adult when he was 15 for the 1984 shooting death of his next door neighbor. After serving his full sentence, he was released and his family held a “welcome home” party for him. However, just two days after the release and celebration, Pratt murdered his own mother, beating her to death during an argument.
Well, at least Pratt did not get out of prison on an early release.
PUBLIC ASSURED ESCAPED CONVICT HAS 24 YEARS OF REHABILITATION UNDER HIS BELT
The Onion
April 21, 2016
CREST HILL, IL—While alerting the public Thursday that inmate Leonard Sawyer had escaped from the facility during the night and was currently at large, officials from Stateville Correctional Center sought to assuage local residents’ concerns by emphasizing that the convict has 24 years of rehabilitation under his belt.
“Sawyer’s whereabouts are unknown at this time, but the public can rest assured that this is a man whose lengthy incarceration gave him ample time to reform his violent tendencies and remake himself into a productive member of society,” said Stateville spokesman Richard Mulberry, noting that Sawyer, who was convicted of double homicide and who physically overpowered two guards in his escape, has had every day since 1992 to reflect on his past decisions and commit to turning his life around. “While we dispatch teams to scour the area and set up roadblocks within a 20-mile perimeter, we want to make it clear to those living in the area that Sawyer held down a laundry room job for over a decade in the maximum-security cell block, providing him with the discipline and responsibility necessary to develop a more constructive outlook and approach to life. And on top of all that, he spent the last four years in solitary confinement, an environment free of distractions in which he could truly focus on his personal rehabilitation.”
At press time, the “completely changed man” was holed up with two hostages in a gas station and letting state troopers know his demands.
April 21, 2016
CREST HILL, IL—While alerting the public Thursday that inmate Leonard Sawyer had escaped from the facility during the night and was currently at large, officials from Stateville Correctional Center sought to assuage local residents’ concerns by emphasizing that the convict has 24 years of rehabilitation under his belt.
“Sawyer’s whereabouts are unknown at this time, but the public can rest assured that this is a man whose lengthy incarceration gave him ample time to reform his violent tendencies and remake himself into a productive member of society,” said Stateville spokesman Richard Mulberry, noting that Sawyer, who was convicted of double homicide and who physically overpowered two guards in his escape, has had every day since 1992 to reflect on his past decisions and commit to turning his life around. “While we dispatch teams to scour the area and set up roadblocks within a 20-mile perimeter, we want to make it clear to those living in the area that Sawyer held down a laundry room job for over a decade in the maximum-security cell block, providing him with the discipline and responsibility necessary to develop a more constructive outlook and approach to life. And on top of all that, he spent the last four years in solitary confinement, an environment free of distractions in which he could truly focus on his personal rehabilitation.”
At press time, the “completely changed man” was holed up with two hostages in a gas station and letting state troopers know his demands.
NATION TOO SAD TO FUCK EVEN THOUGH IT’S WHAT PRINCE WOULD HAVE WANTED
The Onion
April 21, 2016
CHANHASSEN, MN—After hearing the shocking news of the iconic pop star’s unexpected death, the U.S. populace reported Thursday that it was simply too sad to fuck, even though they knew it was what Prince would have wanted.
“If Prince is looking down on us right now, I know he’d want to see us all get down and fuck, but I’m still just so upset that he’s gone that I don’t think I could get in the mood,” said 37-year-old Arizona resident Carol Parnum, echoing the sentiment of tens of millions of Americans across the country, who acknowledged that, despite recognizing that nothing would have brought more joy to the seven-time Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist than everyone getting freaky and fucking all night long, their emotions were still much too raw to do so. “Look, I understand that Prince wouldn’t want us to be moping around with our heads in our hands, crying about how he’s gone and never coming back—no, he would want us to fuck raw and to fuck nasty. But I...I just can’t. My heart just isn’t in it right now.”
After much personal anguish, the teary-eyed nation reportedly took a deep breath and solemnly mustered the resolve to get naked and start fucking, saying it was simply the right thing to do.
April 21, 2016
CHANHASSEN, MN—After hearing the shocking news of the iconic pop star’s unexpected death, the U.S. populace reported Thursday that it was simply too sad to fuck, even though they knew it was what Prince would have wanted.
“If Prince is looking down on us right now, I know he’d want to see us all get down and fuck, but I’m still just so upset that he’s gone that I don’t think I could get in the mood,” said 37-year-old Arizona resident Carol Parnum, echoing the sentiment of tens of millions of Americans across the country, who acknowledged that, despite recognizing that nothing would have brought more joy to the seven-time Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist than everyone getting freaky and fucking all night long, their emotions were still much too raw to do so. “Look, I understand that Prince wouldn’t want us to be moping around with our heads in our hands, crying about how he’s gone and never coming back—no, he would want us to fuck raw and to fuck nasty. But I...I just can’t. My heart just isn’t in it right now.”
After much personal anguish, the teary-eyed nation reportedly took a deep breath and solemnly mustered the resolve to get naked and start fucking, saying it was simply the right thing to do.
DRUG DRONE OPERATOR SENTENCED; JUST WANTED POT
Case was first drone drug-smuggling seizure along the Southwest border
By Kristina Davis
The San Diego Union-Tribune
April 21, 2016
San Diego -- Brayan Valle was looking to buy some marijuana. When he reached out to a business associate of his uncle’s, a drug connection, Valle became involved in a much more serious — and novel — offense. Rather than sell him the marijuana, the associate asked for Valle’s help to smuggle drugs over the U.S.-Mexico border by drone.
The case signals the first drone drug-smuggling seizure along the Southwest border.
On Thursday, Valle, now 21, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in operating the drone remote control and loading up 30 pounds of heroin dropped into a Calexico-area field on April 28.
“Use of drones appear to be on the horizon,” U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel said before declaring the sentence. “The court needs to be clear these cases present considerable danger to our community.”
Authorities say law enforcement have since then intercepted at least two more drone drug loads, including one near Yuma, Ariz., that netted about 30 pounds of marijuana in January. Doubts have been raised, however, as to how popular the smuggling method might become due to the small amount of drugs a drone can carry.
In Valle’s case, it took hours for the drone to make four drops over the border fence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson.
It started when Valle approached his uncle’s friend about obtaining some marijuana, said Valle’s defense lawyer, Kathryn Thickstun. The friend instead suggested helping him smuggle marijuana over the border in exchange for some.
Valle agreed but later tried to back out, Thickstun said. She said he was told he had no choice in the matter.
Valle recruited a friend from high school he’d only known a month, Jonathan Elias, to drive him to and from the drop-off point, a field. The smugglers provided Valle with cellphones to coordinate the transaction via the encrypted WhatsApp messaging application, as well as the drone remote control, which would allow Valle to release the drugs from the drone’s claw, prosecutors said.
For hours in a field about a half-mile from the border, Valle collected the bubble-wrapped drugs, which he thought were marijuana packages but turned out to be heroin. He filled a backpack to capacity. He was observed by Border Patrol agents loading it into Elias’ trunk on Highway 98 before being caught.
Both Valle and Elias pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to distribute.
The prosecutor said Valle’s role in pulling off the smuggling should not be minimized, while Valle’s lawyer said Mexican drug traffickers had taken advantage of a “young, malleable, impressionable man who was looking to buy a small quantity of drugs.”
The judge noted Valle’s criminal record, which includes a battery conviction and reports of making violent threats to his ex-girlfriend, were a factor in the decision to sentence him to custody.
Elias is to be sentenced June 3.
By Kristina Davis
The San Diego Union-Tribune
April 21, 2016
San Diego -- Brayan Valle was looking to buy some marijuana. When he reached out to a business associate of his uncle’s, a drug connection, Valle became involved in a much more serious — and novel — offense. Rather than sell him the marijuana, the associate asked for Valle’s help to smuggle drugs over the U.S.-Mexico border by drone.
The case signals the first drone drug-smuggling seizure along the Southwest border.
On Thursday, Valle, now 21, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in operating the drone remote control and loading up 30 pounds of heroin dropped into a Calexico-area field on April 28.
“Use of drones appear to be on the horizon,” U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel said before declaring the sentence. “The court needs to be clear these cases present considerable danger to our community.”
Authorities say law enforcement have since then intercepted at least two more drone drug loads, including one near Yuma, Ariz., that netted about 30 pounds of marijuana in January. Doubts have been raised, however, as to how popular the smuggling method might become due to the small amount of drugs a drone can carry.
In Valle’s case, it took hours for the drone to make four drops over the border fence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson.
It started when Valle approached his uncle’s friend about obtaining some marijuana, said Valle’s defense lawyer, Kathryn Thickstun. The friend instead suggested helping him smuggle marijuana over the border in exchange for some.
Valle agreed but later tried to back out, Thickstun said. She said he was told he had no choice in the matter.
Valle recruited a friend from high school he’d only known a month, Jonathan Elias, to drive him to and from the drop-off point, a field. The smugglers provided Valle with cellphones to coordinate the transaction via the encrypted WhatsApp messaging application, as well as the drone remote control, which would allow Valle to release the drugs from the drone’s claw, prosecutors said.
For hours in a field about a half-mile from the border, Valle collected the bubble-wrapped drugs, which he thought were marijuana packages but turned out to be heroin. He filled a backpack to capacity. He was observed by Border Patrol agents loading it into Elias’ trunk on Highway 98 before being caught.
Both Valle and Elias pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to distribute.
The prosecutor said Valle’s role in pulling off the smuggling should not be minimized, while Valle’s lawyer said Mexican drug traffickers had taken advantage of a “young, malleable, impressionable man who was looking to buy a small quantity of drugs.”
The judge noted Valle’s criminal record, which includes a battery conviction and reports of making violent threats to his ex-girlfriend, were a factor in the decision to sentence him to custody.
Elias is to be sentenced June 3.
NETANYAHU SAYS HE GOT RUSSIAN ASSURANCES OVER SYRIA
By Ilya Arkhipov and Jonathan Ferziger
Bloomberg
April 20, 2016
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he received assurances of military coordination in a trip to Moscow that would help Israel stop the transfer of weapons through Syria to its Iranian-backed Hezbollah enemy in Lebanon.
Netanyahu said his meeting Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin was "very successful." His senior military advisers will meet with Russian counterparts to work out a plan to help "preserve freedom of movement for the Israel Defense Forces and Air Force in the places most important to our security," according to a text message from his office in Jerusalem.
Putin greeted Netanyahu at the Kremlin where he told reporters at a picture-taking session before the meeting he was "very happy that we have regular contacts at the highest level." The discussions were intense because of "the difficult situation in the region," Putin said.
Netanyahu told Putin he made the day trip because Israel must "do everything we can to prevent the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah," the Lebanese Islamic movement that warred with the Israeli military in 2006 and is now fighting alongside government forces in Syria.
He repeated his April 17 declaration that Israel will never give up control of the southern section of the Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Netanyahu also said he was invited back to Moscow for a June 7 visit marking 25 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations.
While Israel has largely stayed out of the Syria conflict, it has voiced fears that the Syrian section of the Golan will become a launching pad for regular militant attacks against it. Netanyahu confirmed earlier this month that Israel operates over the border to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining game-changing weapons, though officials have declined to comment on reports of Israeli involvement in specific attacks.
"Israel has clear red lines connected to our security," Netanyahu said. "Whether with an agreement or without an agreement, the Golan Heights will remain under Israeli sovereignty."
Netanyahu last met Putin in September when he flew to Moscow to make sure Israeli forces on the Golan were coordinated with the just-launched Russian military operations in Syria, which turned the war's tide. Putin's surprise order in March of a partial military withdrawal from Syria put pressure on the sides in the civil war to reach a peace deal, though a Russian-backed government offensive has threatened the viability of a seven-week truce.
Israel's military deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, says coordination with Russia is good with regard to Syria.
"The Russians come with the right mix of power," Golan said Wednesday at a briefing in Jerusalem. "We work hard to avoid negative engagements in the air, land and sea." He said any future military operation in Lebanon would be "much harsher than anything we've experienced in the last 20 years," causing "devastating damage" to Lebanese infrastructure and homes.
Netanyahu's relationship with Russia has flourished even as he passed up an invitation last month to meet President Barack Obama, with whom he's fallen out over his outspoken campaign against the White House-backed nuclear deal with Iran.
Israel and Russia, once Cold War foes, have been knitted together through the emigration to Israel of about 1 million Jews after the Soviet Union collapsed. Israeli exports to Russia have risen about 40 percent to $1.1 billion since Netanyahu took office in 2009 and Putin told Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Moscow last month that the two countries must boost trade.
"There is some chance for Israel to find guarantees for its security given the new changing situation in the region and in Syria," Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East expert at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said in a phone interview before the meeting. "Putin needs Netanyahu. It's not clear what will happen in Syria at the end, while Israel can be one of the most reliable partners for Russia."
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the Israeli government no longer trusts President Obama, it must feel it has no choice but to partner up with Putin’s Russia. Score this one as another Obama foreign policy blunder.
Bloomberg
April 20, 2016
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he received assurances of military coordination in a trip to Moscow that would help Israel stop the transfer of weapons through Syria to its Iranian-backed Hezbollah enemy in Lebanon.
Netanyahu said his meeting Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin was "very successful." His senior military advisers will meet with Russian counterparts to work out a plan to help "preserve freedom of movement for the Israel Defense Forces and Air Force in the places most important to our security," according to a text message from his office in Jerusalem.
Putin greeted Netanyahu at the Kremlin where he told reporters at a picture-taking session before the meeting he was "very happy that we have regular contacts at the highest level." The discussions were intense because of "the difficult situation in the region," Putin said.
Netanyahu told Putin he made the day trip because Israel must "do everything we can to prevent the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah," the Lebanese Islamic movement that warred with the Israeli military in 2006 and is now fighting alongside government forces in Syria.
He repeated his April 17 declaration that Israel will never give up control of the southern section of the Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Netanyahu also said he was invited back to Moscow for a June 7 visit marking 25 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations.
While Israel has largely stayed out of the Syria conflict, it has voiced fears that the Syrian section of the Golan will become a launching pad for regular militant attacks against it. Netanyahu confirmed earlier this month that Israel operates over the border to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining game-changing weapons, though officials have declined to comment on reports of Israeli involvement in specific attacks.
"Israel has clear red lines connected to our security," Netanyahu said. "Whether with an agreement or without an agreement, the Golan Heights will remain under Israeli sovereignty."
Netanyahu last met Putin in September when he flew to Moscow to make sure Israeli forces on the Golan were coordinated with the just-launched Russian military operations in Syria, which turned the war's tide. Putin's surprise order in March of a partial military withdrawal from Syria put pressure on the sides in the civil war to reach a peace deal, though a Russian-backed government offensive has threatened the viability of a seven-week truce.
Israel's military deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, says coordination with Russia is good with regard to Syria.
"The Russians come with the right mix of power," Golan said Wednesday at a briefing in Jerusalem. "We work hard to avoid negative engagements in the air, land and sea." He said any future military operation in Lebanon would be "much harsher than anything we've experienced in the last 20 years," causing "devastating damage" to Lebanese infrastructure and homes.
Netanyahu's relationship with Russia has flourished even as he passed up an invitation last month to meet President Barack Obama, with whom he's fallen out over his outspoken campaign against the White House-backed nuclear deal with Iran.
Israel and Russia, once Cold War foes, have been knitted together through the emigration to Israel of about 1 million Jews after the Soviet Union collapsed. Israeli exports to Russia have risen about 40 percent to $1.1 billion since Netanyahu took office in 2009 and Putin told Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Moscow last month that the two countries must boost trade.
"There is some chance for Israel to find guarantees for its security given the new changing situation in the region and in Syria," Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East expert at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said in a phone interview before the meeting. "Putin needs Netanyahu. It's not clear what will happen in Syria at the end, while Israel can be one of the most reliable partners for Russia."
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the Israeli government no longer trusts President Obama, it must feel it has no choice but to partner up with Putin’s Russia. Score this one as another Obama foreign policy blunder.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
THE HORRORS OF HIROSHIMA IN CONTEXT
During a planned visit next month, President Obama is rumored to be considering an apology to Japan for America's dropping of the A-bombs 71 years ago
By Victor Davis Hanson
Townhall
April 21, 2016
The dropping of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 remains the only wartime use of nuclear weapons in history.
No one knows exactly how many Japanese citizens were killed by the two American bombs. A macabre guess is around 140,000. The atomic attacks finally shocked Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese militarists into surrendering.
John Kerry recently visited Hiroshima. He became the first Secretary of State to do so -- purportedly as a precursor to a planned visit next month by President Obama, who is rumored to be considering an apology to Japan for America's dropping of the bombs 71 years ago.
The horrific bombings are inexplicable without examining the context in which they occurred.
In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill insisted on the unconditional surrender of Axis aggressors. The bomb was originally envisioned as a way to force the Axis leader, Nazi Germany, to cease fighting. But the Third Reich had already collapsed by July 1945 when the bomb was ready for use, leaving Imperial Japan as the sole surviving Axis target.
Japan had just demonstrated with its nihilistic defense of Okinawa -- where more than 12,000 Americans died and more than 50,000 were wounded, along with perhaps 200,000 Japanese military and civilian casualties -- that it could make the Americans pay so high a price for victory that they might negotiate an armistice rather than demand surrender.
Tens of thousands of Americans had already died in taking the Pacific islands as a way to get close enough to bomb Japan. On March 9-10, 1945, B-29 bombers dropped an estimated 1,665 tons of napalm on Tokyo, causing at least as many deaths as later at Hiroshima.
Over the next three months, American attacks leveled huge swaths of urban Japan. U.S. planes dropped about 60 million leaflets on Japanese cities, telling citizens to evacuate and to call upon their leaders to cease the war.
Japan still refused to surrender and upped its resistance with thousands of Kamikaze airstrikes. By the time of the atomic bombings, the U.S. Air Force was planning to transfer from Europe much of the idle British and American bombing fleet to join the B-29s in the Pacific.
Perhaps 5,000 Allied bombers would have saturated Japan with napalm. The atomic bombings prevented such a nightmarish incendiary storm.
The bombs also cut short plans for an invasion of Japan -- an operation that might well have cost 1 million Allied lives, and at least three to four times that number of well-prepared, well-supplied Japanese defenders.
There were also some 2 million Japanese soldiers fighting throughout the Pacific, China and Burma -- and hundreds of thousands of Allied prisoners and Asian civilians being held in Japanese prisoner of war and slave labor camps. Thousands of civilians were dying every day at the hands of Japanese barbarism. The bombs stopped that carnage as well.
The Soviet Union, which signed a non-aggression pact with Japan in 1941, had opportunistically attacked Japan on the very day of the Nagasaki bombing.
By cutting short the Soviet invasion, the bombings saved not only millions more lives, but kept the Soviets out of postwar Japan, which otherwise might have experienced a catastrophe similar to the subsequent Korean War.
World War II was the most deadly event in human history. Some 60 million people perished in the six years between Germany's surprise invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, and the official Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. No natural disaster -- neither the flu pandemic of 1918 nor even the 14th-century bubonic plague that killed nearly two-thirds of Europe's population -- came close to the death toll of World War II.
Perhaps 80 percent of the dead were civilians, mostly Russians and Chinese who died at the hands of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Both aggressors deliberately executed and starved to death millions of innocents.
World War II was also one of the few wars in history in which the losers, Japan and Germany, lost far fewer lives than did the winners. There were roughly five times as many deaths on the Allied side, both military and civilian, as on the Axis side.
It is fine for Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama to honor the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. But in a historical and moral sense, any such commemoration must be offered in the context of Japanese and German aggression.
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan started the respective European and Pacific theaters of World War II with surprise attacks on neutral nations. Their uniquely barbaric war-making led to the deaths of some 50 million Allied soldiers, civilians and neutrals -- a toll more than 500 times as high as that of Hiroshima.
This spring we should also remember those 50 million -- and who was responsible for their deaths.
EDITOR’S NOTE: America most certainly does not owe Japan any sort of apology for dropping the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! I, among countless other GIs, would very probably not have survived the war were it not for those two A-bombs.
Hail to and God bless Harry Truman for making the decision to drop the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! Shame, shame on Obama if he does offer the Japanese that apology!
By Victor Davis Hanson
Townhall
April 21, 2016
The dropping of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 remains the only wartime use of nuclear weapons in history.
No one knows exactly how many Japanese citizens were killed by the two American bombs. A macabre guess is around 140,000. The atomic attacks finally shocked Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese militarists into surrendering.
John Kerry recently visited Hiroshima. He became the first Secretary of State to do so -- purportedly as a precursor to a planned visit next month by President Obama, who is rumored to be considering an apology to Japan for America's dropping of the bombs 71 years ago.
The horrific bombings are inexplicable without examining the context in which they occurred.
In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill insisted on the unconditional surrender of Axis aggressors. The bomb was originally envisioned as a way to force the Axis leader, Nazi Germany, to cease fighting. But the Third Reich had already collapsed by July 1945 when the bomb was ready for use, leaving Imperial Japan as the sole surviving Axis target.
Japan had just demonstrated with its nihilistic defense of Okinawa -- where more than 12,000 Americans died and more than 50,000 were wounded, along with perhaps 200,000 Japanese military and civilian casualties -- that it could make the Americans pay so high a price for victory that they might negotiate an armistice rather than demand surrender.
Tens of thousands of Americans had already died in taking the Pacific islands as a way to get close enough to bomb Japan. On March 9-10, 1945, B-29 bombers dropped an estimated 1,665 tons of napalm on Tokyo, causing at least as many deaths as later at Hiroshima.
Over the next three months, American attacks leveled huge swaths of urban Japan. U.S. planes dropped about 60 million leaflets on Japanese cities, telling citizens to evacuate and to call upon their leaders to cease the war.
Japan still refused to surrender and upped its resistance with thousands of Kamikaze airstrikes. By the time of the atomic bombings, the U.S. Air Force was planning to transfer from Europe much of the idle British and American bombing fleet to join the B-29s in the Pacific.
Perhaps 5,000 Allied bombers would have saturated Japan with napalm. The atomic bombings prevented such a nightmarish incendiary storm.
The bombs also cut short plans for an invasion of Japan -- an operation that might well have cost 1 million Allied lives, and at least three to four times that number of well-prepared, well-supplied Japanese defenders.
There were also some 2 million Japanese soldiers fighting throughout the Pacific, China and Burma -- and hundreds of thousands of Allied prisoners and Asian civilians being held in Japanese prisoner of war and slave labor camps. Thousands of civilians were dying every day at the hands of Japanese barbarism. The bombs stopped that carnage as well.
The Soviet Union, which signed a non-aggression pact with Japan in 1941, had opportunistically attacked Japan on the very day of the Nagasaki bombing.
By cutting short the Soviet invasion, the bombings saved not only millions more lives, but kept the Soviets out of postwar Japan, which otherwise might have experienced a catastrophe similar to the subsequent Korean War.
World War II was the most deadly event in human history. Some 60 million people perished in the six years between Germany's surprise invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, and the official Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. No natural disaster -- neither the flu pandemic of 1918 nor even the 14th-century bubonic plague that killed nearly two-thirds of Europe's population -- came close to the death toll of World War II.
Perhaps 80 percent of the dead were civilians, mostly Russians and Chinese who died at the hands of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Both aggressors deliberately executed and starved to death millions of innocents.
World War II was also one of the few wars in history in which the losers, Japan and Germany, lost far fewer lives than did the winners. There were roughly five times as many deaths on the Allied side, both military and civilian, as on the Axis side.
It is fine for Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama to honor the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. But in a historical and moral sense, any such commemoration must be offered in the context of Japanese and German aggression.
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan started the respective European and Pacific theaters of World War II with surprise attacks on neutral nations. Their uniquely barbaric war-making led to the deaths of some 50 million Allied soldiers, civilians and neutrals -- a toll more than 500 times as high as that of Hiroshima.
This spring we should also remember those 50 million -- and who was responsible for their deaths.
EDITOR’S NOTE: America most certainly does not owe Japan any sort of apology for dropping the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! I, among countless other GIs, would very probably not have survived the war were it not for those two A-bombs.
Hail to and God bless Harry Truman for making the decision to drop the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki! Shame, shame on Obama if he does offer the Japanese that apology!
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GO OUT SHOOTING WITH
By Bob Walsh
All that is known for sure at this point is that a 14-year old boy is dead and a 17-year old boy is in custody due to a shooting in West Point, CA on Wednesday. (Some reports state that the shooter was 16 years old.)
Colby Fouch, 14, took a shotgun blast in the upper body and face. The two may, or may not, have been hunting at a quarry in the area. The two were friends and former school mates. The dead kid was allegedly dating the shooter’s sister.
The shooter, who has not been officially identified due to his age, is in custody for “discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner.”
The dead kid had withdrawn from school, the Calaveras River Academy, allegedly because he was planning on moving.
The dead kid’s older brother stated that the shooter had taken to carrying a shotgun with him because he had been threatened by “other people.”
I suppose in a rural area a minor can get by with carrying a shotgun around with him, at least during hunting season. Also I know people often do recreational shooting in old quarries, but I was not aware that there tended to be a lot of small game there. I could however, be wrong.
I do know that there seems to be something off about this, and the cops have said they are NOT investigating this as a “hunting accident.”
All that is known for sure at this point is that a 14-year old boy is dead and a 17-year old boy is in custody due to a shooting in West Point, CA on Wednesday. (Some reports state that the shooter was 16 years old.)
Colby Fouch, 14, took a shotgun blast in the upper body and face. The two may, or may not, have been hunting at a quarry in the area. The two were friends and former school mates. The dead kid was allegedly dating the shooter’s sister.
The shooter, who has not been officially identified due to his age, is in custody for “discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner.”
The dead kid had withdrawn from school, the Calaveras River Academy, allegedly because he was planning on moving.
The dead kid’s older brother stated that the shooter had taken to carrying a shotgun with him because he had been threatened by “other people.”
I suppose in a rural area a minor can get by with carrying a shotgun around with him, at least during hunting season. Also I know people often do recreational shooting in old quarries, but I was not aware that there tended to be a lot of small game there. I could however, be wrong.
I do know that there seems to be something off about this, and the cops have said they are NOT investigating this as a “hunting accident.”
INSTANT DEMOCRATS
By Bob Walsh
The Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, who is a Democrat, signed an executive order today which will allow more than 200,000 former felons to vote.
While obviously it is not possible to KNOW how any one of them will vote, polling over the years has indicated that former felons have an 80% tendency to register and vote for Democrats.
This executive action bypasses the state assembly, which is majority Republican.
The order by McAuliffe is worded as promoting racial justice. Nationwide blacks are convicted felons at more than twice their rate in the general population.
The action would allow ex-cons who have completed their sentences vote, run for and hold public office, and obtain certain licenses, such as a Notary license, that has up to now been prohibited to them.
The Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, who is a Democrat, signed an executive order today which will allow more than 200,000 former felons to vote.
While obviously it is not possible to KNOW how any one of them will vote, polling over the years has indicated that former felons have an 80% tendency to register and vote for Democrats.
This executive action bypasses the state assembly, which is majority Republican.
The order by McAuliffe is worded as promoting racial justice. Nationwide blacks are convicted felons at more than twice their rate in the general population.
The action would allow ex-cons who have completed their sentences vote, run for and hold public office, and obtain certain licenses, such as a Notary license, that has up to now been prohibited to them.
WOMAN CALLS 911 FROM CAR TRUNK, SUSPECT KILLED
By Carli Teproff
The Miami Herald
April 21, 2016
MAIMI -- What began as a frantic call from a woman who said she had been kidnapped and thrown in the trunk of a car ended with a police-involved shooting that left one man dead in Southwest Miami-Dade.
According to Miami Dade police, a call came in to 911 at about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday from a woman who said she was inside the trunk of a car.
Miami-Dade Lt. John Jenkins said "through investigative means" detectives were able to find the car in a wooded area around Southwest 355th Street and 180th Avenue in deep Southwest Miami-Dade.
Officers quickly set up a perimeter and K-9 officers and helicopters were used to find the woman, Jenkins said.
During the search a man exited the woods with a shotgun. An officer was forced to open fire, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said detectives believed that the man, in his 40s, was either the ex-husband or boyfriend of the woman. The woman was found unharmed in the woods.
"She was visibly shaken up, but OK," he said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
The Miami Herald
April 21, 2016
MAIMI -- What began as a frantic call from a woman who said she had been kidnapped and thrown in the trunk of a car ended with a police-involved shooting that left one man dead in Southwest Miami-Dade.
According to Miami Dade police, a call came in to 911 at about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday from a woman who said she was inside the trunk of a car.
Miami-Dade Lt. John Jenkins said "through investigative means" detectives were able to find the car in a wooded area around Southwest 355th Street and 180th Avenue in deep Southwest Miami-Dade.
Officers quickly set up a perimeter and K-9 officers and helicopters were used to find the woman, Jenkins said.
During the search a man exited the woods with a shotgun. An officer was forced to open fire, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said detectives believed that the man, in his 40s, was either the ex-husband or boyfriend of the woman. The woman was found unharmed in the woods.
"She was visibly shaken up, but OK," he said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
NUMBER OF 100-YEAR-OLDS WILL GROW EIGHTFOLD IN NEXT 35 YEARS
The centenarian population will hit about 3.7 million in 2050
By Catey Hill
MarketWatch
April 21, 2016
If you see your 100th birthday, you'll soon be in good company.
The number of centenarians will grow from about 451,000 in 2015 to about 3,676,000 in 2050, according to a report released Thursday by the Washington D.C.-based think tank Pew Research Center (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/21/worlds-centenarian-population-projected-to-grow-eightfold-by-2050/). This means that while last year there were just 7.4 centenarians per every 10,000 adults ages 65 and up, in 2050 there will be 23.6.
This continues a trend that's been going on for at least a decade. From 1990 to 2015, the population of people age 100 and up grew fourfold.
There are a number of reasons older people are living longer, including improvements in public health, nutrition and medicine. But despite that, it's unlikely that most of us will live until we're 100. The average life expectancy around the world is roughly 71 years old, according to the World Health Organization; in the U.S., it's nearly 80.
10 countries with the highest life expectancy
1. Monaco, 89.52
2. Japan, 84.74
3. Singapore, 84.68
4. Macau, 84.51
5. San Marino, 83.24
6. Iceland, 82.97
7. Hong Kong, 82.86
8. Andorra, 82.72
9. Switzerland, 82.50
10. Guernsey, 82.47
By Catey Hill
MarketWatch
April 21, 2016
If you see your 100th birthday, you'll soon be in good company.
The number of centenarians will grow from about 451,000 in 2015 to about 3,676,000 in 2050, according to a report released Thursday by the Washington D.C.-based think tank Pew Research Center (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/21/worlds-centenarian-population-projected-to-grow-eightfold-by-2050/). This means that while last year there were just 7.4 centenarians per every 10,000 adults ages 65 and up, in 2050 there will be 23.6.
This continues a trend that's been going on for at least a decade. From 1990 to 2015, the population of people age 100 and up grew fourfold.
There are a number of reasons older people are living longer, including improvements in public health, nutrition and medicine. But despite that, it's unlikely that most of us will live until we're 100. The average life expectancy around the world is roughly 71 years old, according to the World Health Organization; in the U.S., it's nearly 80.
10 countries with the highest life expectancy
1. Monaco, 89.52
2. Japan, 84.74
3. Singapore, 84.68
4. Macau, 84.51
5. San Marino, 83.24
6. Iceland, 82.97
7. Hong Kong, 82.86
8. Andorra, 82.72
9. Switzerland, 82.50
10. Guernsey, 82.47
TURNS OUT A METEOR JUST FINISHED OFF THE DINOSAURS. THEY WERE ALREADY FUCKED
By Mike Pearl
VICE News
April 18, 2016
When Tim, the nine-year-old kid in Jurassic Park, listed a bunch of ways the dinosaurs might have died, a meteor was the most appealing—it's quick, and clean, and doesn't involve the coolest animals that ever lived suffering slowly from a horrible plague or something. And while we're now more-or-less positive a meteor collided with Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula and created the Chicxulub crater, triggering a mass die off of many of Earth's species, it turns out their deaths weren't exactly swift.
According to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the dinosaurs had been in an an evolutionary tailspin for millions of years by the time of that mass extinction. Species had been dying off, and new species weren't showing up to replace them. Less dinosaur biodiversity would have made dinosaurs on the whole more susceptible to a disaster like, say, a giant meteor.
It's not an entirely new idea. A study in 2012 found that changes in "morphological disparity"—the amount of physical difference between dinosaurs—may have indicated a pre-meteor decline. However, the authors of this study, based at the University of Reading in England, say they took a "statistical approach," looking at a family tree–like diagram of dinosaur species over time, and creating a mathematical model for species changes, resulting in greater certainty that dinosaurs were dying en masse before that meteor came.
"There is no doubt that the Chicxulub impact was the final nail in the dinosaurs' coffin—with the exception of birds," one of the authors, Manabu Sakamoto, told the Los Angeles Times. However, Sakamoto explained, even if the Earth had whiffed past that meteor like a drunk batter missing a curveball, the dinosaurs may well have gone extinct on their own.
The paper speculates about the possible culprits causing long-term dino decline. The Cretaceous period was a generally shitty time to be a dinosaur: Continental drift was separating the continents, and other massive geological changes were contributing to a rise in volcanic eruptions. Plus, Earth was cooling off.
But Sakamoto would hate for you to get the wrong idea about the hazards of a cooling Earth as opposed to a warmer one. "We are putting a lot of pressure on modern species, and extinctions are happening at an unprecedented rate," he told Ed Yong at the Atlantic. "If some kind of catastrophe occurs, it might be even more damaging than what we're observing right now."
VICE News
April 18, 2016
When Tim, the nine-year-old kid in Jurassic Park, listed a bunch of ways the dinosaurs might have died, a meteor was the most appealing—it's quick, and clean, and doesn't involve the coolest animals that ever lived suffering slowly from a horrible plague or something. And while we're now more-or-less positive a meteor collided with Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula and created the Chicxulub crater, triggering a mass die off of many of Earth's species, it turns out their deaths weren't exactly swift.
According to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the dinosaurs had been in an an evolutionary tailspin for millions of years by the time of that mass extinction. Species had been dying off, and new species weren't showing up to replace them. Less dinosaur biodiversity would have made dinosaurs on the whole more susceptible to a disaster like, say, a giant meteor.
It's not an entirely new idea. A study in 2012 found that changes in "morphological disparity"—the amount of physical difference between dinosaurs—may have indicated a pre-meteor decline. However, the authors of this study, based at the University of Reading in England, say they took a "statistical approach," looking at a family tree–like diagram of dinosaur species over time, and creating a mathematical model for species changes, resulting in greater certainty that dinosaurs were dying en masse before that meteor came.
"There is no doubt that the Chicxulub impact was the final nail in the dinosaurs' coffin—with the exception of birds," one of the authors, Manabu Sakamoto, told the Los Angeles Times. However, Sakamoto explained, even if the Earth had whiffed past that meteor like a drunk batter missing a curveball, the dinosaurs may well have gone extinct on their own.
The paper speculates about the possible culprits causing long-term dino decline. The Cretaceous period was a generally shitty time to be a dinosaur: Continental drift was separating the continents, and other massive geological changes were contributing to a rise in volcanic eruptions. Plus, Earth was cooling off.
But Sakamoto would hate for you to get the wrong idea about the hazards of a cooling Earth as opposed to a warmer one. "We are putting a lot of pressure on modern species, and extinctions are happening at an unprecedented rate," he told Ed Yong at the Atlantic. "If some kind of catastrophe occurs, it might be even more damaging than what we're observing right now."
Friday, April 22, 2016
THE NEW MERCEDES AA CLASS
(Sorry, but the right part of the screen is cut off. To view the full screen and remove any commercial strip at the bottom, click on The Unconventional Gazette link below the photo of BarkGrpwlBite.)
NOT EVERYONE LIKES SAN FRANSICKO’S ‘PISSOIR’
The City Attorney defends the Pissoir, an open-view urinal, because it’s in the 16-acre Dolores Park which is well-known for its “counter culture, immodest sunbathers, pot brownie vendors, spectacular city views, and famously irreverent 'Hunky Jesus' contest.”
I have long refereed to San Francisco as San Fransicko because just about everything that is considered immoral in the rest of the country seems to have the stamp of approval there. The latest sicko example is the placement in the city’s Dolores Park of an open-view pisser shielded only by some plants.
The Chinese Christian Union of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the open-view urinal, known as a “pissoir.” The City Attorney defends the pissoir because it’s in the 16-acre Dolores Park which is well-known for its “counter culture, immodest sunbathers, pot brownie vendors, spectacular city views, and famously irreverent 'Hunky Jesus' contest.”
Dolores Park is known for more than just that. When the City Attorney talks about the “spectacular city views,” he must be referring to the frequent sightings on the park’s lawn of Gay men sticking their dicks up each other’s assholes and Lesbians sucking each other’s cunts. The haze of marijuana smoke usually permeates the park. And to make it crystal clear, when the City Attorney refers to “immodest sunbathers” in Dolores Park, he is talking about naked people.
An open-view pisser? Actually I sort of like that. You know, when you gotta go, you gotta go.
RELIGIOUS GROUP SUES SAN FRANCISCO OVER OPEN-AIR URINAL
CBS/AP
April 19, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO -- A religious organization has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco to remove an open-air urinal it calls unsanitary and indecent from a popular park.
The Chinese Christian Union of San Francisco filed a civil complaint last week demanding the city remove the concrete circular urinal from the iconic Dolores Park.
The group says the urinal, which is out in the open and screened only with plants for privacy, "emanates offensive odors," ''has no hand-washing facilities" and "it's offensive to manners and morals."
The lawsuit further alleges that the facility installed in February discriminates against women and the disabled and exposes those who use it to "shame and embarrassment."
"The open-air urination hole violates the privacy of those who need to use the restroom but would be required to expose their bodies and suffer shame and degradation of urinating in public view," it says.
The City Attorney's office said in a statement that it will defend against the litigation and pointed out the 16-acre park is well-known for its "counter culture, immodest sunbathers, pot brownie vendors, spectacular city views, and famously irreverent 'Hunky Jesus' contest."
The office said residents advocated for the facility, called a "pissoir," to stop people from urinating on walls, bushes and sidewalks.
"If I had to predict the top 100 things in Dolores Park likely to offend these plaintiffs, I wouldn't have guessed that this would make the cut," City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey said in the statement.There have been several formal complaints against the urinal, reports CBS San Francisco. Last month, the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal defense nonprofit, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the city about the urinal project, saying it violates the privacy rights of both users and those forced to watch them.
The urinal is part of a $20 million renovation plan that now has put more than two dozen toilets in Dolores Park along with other upgrades.
San Francisco has a long, sometimes creative, history of dealing with public urination. Last summer, the city painted nearly 30 walls with a repellant paint that makes urine spray back on the offender. In 2002, the city increased the possible fine for the crime up to $500, but that did little to deter the practice.
I have long refereed to San Francisco as San Fransicko because just about everything that is considered immoral in the rest of the country seems to have the stamp of approval there. The latest sicko example is the placement in the city’s Dolores Park of an open-view pisser shielded only by some plants.
The Chinese Christian Union of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the open-view urinal, known as a “pissoir.” The City Attorney defends the pissoir because it’s in the 16-acre Dolores Park which is well-known for its “counter culture, immodest sunbathers, pot brownie vendors, spectacular city views, and famously irreverent 'Hunky Jesus' contest.”
Dolores Park is known for more than just that. When the City Attorney talks about the “spectacular city views,” he must be referring to the frequent sightings on the park’s lawn of Gay men sticking their dicks up each other’s assholes and Lesbians sucking each other’s cunts. The haze of marijuana smoke usually permeates the park. And to make it crystal clear, when the City Attorney refers to “immodest sunbathers” in Dolores Park, he is talking about naked people.
An open-view pisser? Actually I sort of like that. You know, when you gotta go, you gotta go.
RELIGIOUS GROUP SUES SAN FRANCISCO OVER OPEN-AIR URINAL
CBS/AP
April 19, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO -- A religious organization has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco to remove an open-air urinal it calls unsanitary and indecent from a popular park.
The Chinese Christian Union of San Francisco filed a civil complaint last week demanding the city remove the concrete circular urinal from the iconic Dolores Park.
The group says the urinal, which is out in the open and screened only with plants for privacy, "emanates offensive odors," ''has no hand-washing facilities" and "it's offensive to manners and morals."
The lawsuit further alleges that the facility installed in February discriminates against women and the disabled and exposes those who use it to "shame and embarrassment."
"The open-air urination hole violates the privacy of those who need to use the restroom but would be required to expose their bodies and suffer shame and degradation of urinating in public view," it says.
The City Attorney's office said in a statement that it will defend against the litigation and pointed out the 16-acre park is well-known for its "counter culture, immodest sunbathers, pot brownie vendors, spectacular city views, and famously irreverent 'Hunky Jesus' contest."
The office said residents advocated for the facility, called a "pissoir," to stop people from urinating on walls, bushes and sidewalks.
"If I had to predict the top 100 things in Dolores Park likely to offend these plaintiffs, I wouldn't have guessed that this would make the cut," City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey said in the statement.There have been several formal complaints against the urinal, reports CBS San Francisco. Last month, the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal defense nonprofit, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the city about the urinal project, saying it violates the privacy rights of both users and those forced to watch them.
The urinal is part of a $20 million renovation plan that now has put more than two dozen toilets in Dolores Park along with other upgrades.
San Francisco has a long, sometimes creative, history of dealing with public urination. Last summer, the city painted nearly 30 walls with a repellant paint that makes urine spray back on the offender. In 2002, the city increased the possible fine for the crime up to $500, but that did little to deter the practice.
JUSTICE VIA CALENDAR LONG TIME COMING
By Bob Walsh
In December of 1978, CHP Officers Roy Blecher, 50, and William Freeman, 35, were shot to death along I-80 in West Sacramento. They were shot with their own guns.
Luis Rodriguez, 23, and his girlfriend Margaret Klaess, 19, were convicted of the murders. Klaess rolled over on Rodriguez and got three years. Rodriguez, a career criminal, was sentenced to death. Rodriguez continued to deny his guilt.
After many appeals the original trial judge, Joseph Karesh, reduced Rodriguez’s sentence to life, asserting he had lingering doubts about the man’s guilt. (Isn’t that for the jury to decide?) That state appealed that ruling without success.
Rodriguez, now 60, croaked last week of natural causes at a hospital in Chula Vista. He had been doing his time at the state prison in San Diego.
In December of 1978, CHP Officers Roy Blecher, 50, and William Freeman, 35, were shot to death along I-80 in West Sacramento. They were shot with their own guns.
Luis Rodriguez, 23, and his girlfriend Margaret Klaess, 19, were convicted of the murders. Klaess rolled over on Rodriguez and got three years. Rodriguez, a career criminal, was sentenced to death. Rodriguez continued to deny his guilt.
After many appeals the original trial judge, Joseph Karesh, reduced Rodriguez’s sentence to life, asserting he had lingering doubts about the man’s guilt. (Isn’t that for the jury to decide?) That state appealed that ruling without success.
Rodriguez, now 60, croaked last week of natural causes at a hospital in Chula Vista. He had been doing his time at the state prison in San Diego.
SUPER GONORRHEA IS COMING TO DESTROY YOUR JUNK
Antibiotic-resistant diseases could be the biggest killer in the world in 30 years
By Carlton Férment
VICE News
April 18, 2016
Bad news, rubber-less shaggers: There's a new strain of super gonorrhea afoot in Britain, and it's heading your way.
As it's evolved, this strain of the sexually transmitted disease informally known as "the clap" has become resistant to the drugs previously used to combat it. Following an outbreak of this super gonorrhea in the north of England at the end of last year, there are now fears it's spreading across the country, with cases popping up in the West Midlands and the South East, according to Public Health England (PHE).
While the term "super gonorrhea" might, at surface level, sound quite funny, there's a much darker side to this story. The drug-resistant STD is indicative of other bacterias becoming resistant to treatment—a problem that Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies says is as bad as the threat of terrorism. George Osborne also warns that antibiotic-resistant diseases could be the biggest killer in the world in 30 years. Gonorrhea can also damage the womb to the point of infertility, which is obviously very worrying when it comes to these increasingly untreatable strains.
The drugs used to treat the disease, a jab of ceftriaxone and a pill of azithromycin, are losing ground to the STD, with the former now the only one that still works.
Away from the whole super-strain news, the number of people in the UK diagnosed with gonorrhea has more than doubled in the past few years, making it second only to chlamydia as the top sex disease of choice. And it's not only the clap that's on the rise; reported cases of syphilis rose by 63 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to PHE.
This spike is supposedly down to the number of unprotected sexual encounters between heathens. So, moral of the story: If you don't want diseased genitalia—and you presumably don't—then wrap it up before you use it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Holy shit! First it’s global warming, now this. Mankind is doomed!
By Carlton Férment
VICE News
April 18, 2016
Bad news, rubber-less shaggers: There's a new strain of super gonorrhea afoot in Britain, and it's heading your way.
As it's evolved, this strain of the sexually transmitted disease informally known as "the clap" has become resistant to the drugs previously used to combat it. Following an outbreak of this super gonorrhea in the north of England at the end of last year, there are now fears it's spreading across the country, with cases popping up in the West Midlands and the South East, according to Public Health England (PHE).
While the term "super gonorrhea" might, at surface level, sound quite funny, there's a much darker side to this story. The drug-resistant STD is indicative of other bacterias becoming resistant to treatment—a problem that Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies says is as bad as the threat of terrorism. George Osborne also warns that antibiotic-resistant diseases could be the biggest killer in the world in 30 years. Gonorrhea can also damage the womb to the point of infertility, which is obviously very worrying when it comes to these increasingly untreatable strains.
The drugs used to treat the disease, a jab of ceftriaxone and a pill of azithromycin, are losing ground to the STD, with the former now the only one that still works.
Away from the whole super-strain news, the number of people in the UK diagnosed with gonorrhea has more than doubled in the past few years, making it second only to chlamydia as the top sex disease of choice. And it's not only the clap that's on the rise; reported cases of syphilis rose by 63 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to PHE.
This spike is supposedly down to the number of unprotected sexual encounters between heathens. So, moral of the story: If you don't want diseased genitalia—and you presumably don't—then wrap it up before you use it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Holy shit! First it’s global warming, now this. Mankind is doomed!
TOO MANY L.A. COPS ARE ‘CUBICLE POLICE’
By Richard Winto
Los Angeles Times
April 20, 2016
Los Angeles police could better combat crime in the city by freeing more than 400 able-bodied officers from desk jobs and hiring more civilians to perform clerical duties, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The report by City Controller Ron Galperin highlighted a issue that has been persistent and problematic for LAPD brass: As the department's sworn officer ranks grew slightly to just under 10,000 in the last decade, 621 of those officers are filling civilian clerical positions because of a shortfall in administrative staff.
Some of those officers are injured, but the bulk -- 458 -- are fully capable of patrolling city streets, Galperin's audit found.
"Our highly trained and wonderful police officers should do more officer work and less office work," Galperin said at a news conference at City Hall.
He recommended that city officials prioritize a long-term budget plan to fill civilian jobs and get cops back on streets.
"These jobs we have to identify don't require specialized training or expertise of a sworn officer," he said
They include positions such as manning desks, managing equipment rooms, time-keeping, clerical work, auditing work, performing digital media tasks and acting as couriers. Some 83 officers also work as jailers.
The LAPD employs about 2,888 civilians. Increasing their ranks to free up officers would cost the city $53.6 million, less than 4% of the LAPD $1.4-billion budget, Galperin said.
That is far cheaper than hiring 400 additional officers, who would cost $44,000 more per position than hiring a civilian.
Galperin called on city officials to enact a multi-year hiring plan.
He acknowledged that similar calls had been ignored in the past from his predecessors. But he said there was now a broader consensus, with police union officials, top department brass, the police commission president and Mayor Eric Garcetti seeing the need to use civilian hiring as a means of bolstering patrol operations.
Hiring more cops has been reliable political rhetoric of mayors and police chiefs for 15 years. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, like his predecessor, William J. Bratton, has said that Los Angeles is the most under-policed big city in America and needs 12,500 cops to patrol the city adequately.
Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a rallying cry of the 10,000-officer number. But Garcetti, in his state-of-the-city address last week pushed a plan to commit an additional $10 million for police overtime and hiring of civilians for administrative duties.
The move, he said, would put 260 more officers on the street. Garcetti is scheduled to release his proposed 2016-17 budget Wednesday.
"Cops belong in our communities, not in cubicles," Garcetti said.
In a statement, Police Commission President Matthew M. Johnson endorsed Galperin's recommendations.
"The audit recommendations appropriately identify positions that are better performed by civilian professional staff, which will result in the redeployment of our police officers to our patrol force..." Johnson said.
Councilman Mitch Englander said he supported the recommendations, citing an uptick in crime.
"Put the pencils down and get away from the cubicle and back to the black and white," he said.
The audit comes as the LAPD continues to grapple with a citywide rise in overall crime that reverses years of declining crime statistics. Violent crime jumped 20.2% in 2015 compared with the year before; property crime increased 10.7%.
Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said the crime surge was sufficient cause to endorse Galperin's proposals.
"Our city continues to be less safe for the residents and our police officers," Lally said.
The issues raised in the audit are hardly new, Galperin said. Former Controller Laura Chick in 2008 also found hundreds of officers ensconced in desk jobs that could be handled by civilians.
If anything, the problem has only worsened, with the number of administrative posts filled by officers increasing by 14%, Galperin said. Since Chick's report, only one position has been transferred from a sworn officer to a civilian, he added.
Galperin said transitioning officers from desk duty could save millions in overtime, which between 2009-10 and last year more than doubled to $93 million.
Beck said Galperin's audit shined a light on a critical issue.
"Freeing up police officers from positions that can be performed more capably and efficiently by civilian personnel," the chief said, "enables us to effectively deploy more officers on the streets."
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the early ’50s, when there were nearly as many New York cops holding down desk jobs as out on the streets, LAPD became a pioneer in hiring civilians to do the clerical jobs sworn officers had been doing. Apparently that flew out the window back to the pre-’50s.
Los Angeles Times
April 20, 2016
Los Angeles police could better combat crime in the city by freeing more than 400 able-bodied officers from desk jobs and hiring more civilians to perform clerical duties, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The report by City Controller Ron Galperin highlighted a issue that has been persistent and problematic for LAPD brass: As the department's sworn officer ranks grew slightly to just under 10,000 in the last decade, 621 of those officers are filling civilian clerical positions because of a shortfall in administrative staff.
Some of those officers are injured, but the bulk -- 458 -- are fully capable of patrolling city streets, Galperin's audit found.
"Our highly trained and wonderful police officers should do more officer work and less office work," Galperin said at a news conference at City Hall.
He recommended that city officials prioritize a long-term budget plan to fill civilian jobs and get cops back on streets.
"These jobs we have to identify don't require specialized training or expertise of a sworn officer," he said
They include positions such as manning desks, managing equipment rooms, time-keeping, clerical work, auditing work, performing digital media tasks and acting as couriers. Some 83 officers also work as jailers.
The LAPD employs about 2,888 civilians. Increasing their ranks to free up officers would cost the city $53.6 million, less than 4% of the LAPD $1.4-billion budget, Galperin said.
That is far cheaper than hiring 400 additional officers, who would cost $44,000 more per position than hiring a civilian.
Galperin called on city officials to enact a multi-year hiring plan.
He acknowledged that similar calls had been ignored in the past from his predecessors. But he said there was now a broader consensus, with police union officials, top department brass, the police commission president and Mayor Eric Garcetti seeing the need to use civilian hiring as a means of bolstering patrol operations.
Hiring more cops has been reliable political rhetoric of mayors and police chiefs for 15 years. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, like his predecessor, William J. Bratton, has said that Los Angeles is the most under-policed big city in America and needs 12,500 cops to patrol the city adequately.
Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a rallying cry of the 10,000-officer number. But Garcetti, in his state-of-the-city address last week pushed a plan to commit an additional $10 million for police overtime and hiring of civilians for administrative duties.
The move, he said, would put 260 more officers on the street. Garcetti is scheduled to release his proposed 2016-17 budget Wednesday.
"Cops belong in our communities, not in cubicles," Garcetti said.
In a statement, Police Commission President Matthew M. Johnson endorsed Galperin's recommendations.
"The audit recommendations appropriately identify positions that are better performed by civilian professional staff, which will result in the redeployment of our police officers to our patrol force..." Johnson said.
Councilman Mitch Englander said he supported the recommendations, citing an uptick in crime.
"Put the pencils down and get away from the cubicle and back to the black and white," he said.
The audit comes as the LAPD continues to grapple with a citywide rise in overall crime that reverses years of declining crime statistics. Violent crime jumped 20.2% in 2015 compared with the year before; property crime increased 10.7%.
Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said the crime surge was sufficient cause to endorse Galperin's proposals.
"Our city continues to be less safe for the residents and our police officers," Lally said.
The issues raised in the audit are hardly new, Galperin said. Former Controller Laura Chick in 2008 also found hundreds of officers ensconced in desk jobs that could be handled by civilians.
If anything, the problem has only worsened, with the number of administrative posts filled by officers increasing by 14%, Galperin said. Since Chick's report, only one position has been transferred from a sworn officer to a civilian, he added.
Galperin said transitioning officers from desk duty could save millions in overtime, which between 2009-10 and last year more than doubled to $93 million.
Beck said Galperin's audit shined a light on a critical issue.
"Freeing up police officers from positions that can be performed more capably and efficiently by civilian personnel," the chief said, "enables us to effectively deploy more officers on the streets."
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the early ’50s, when there were nearly as many New York cops holding down desk jobs as out on the streets, LAPD became a pioneer in hiring civilians to do the clerical jobs sworn officers had been doing. Apparently that flew out the window back to the pre-’50s.
CHICAGO MAYOR ENACTS SERIES OF POLICE REFORMS
By Bill Ruthhart and Annie Sweeney
Chicago Tribune
April 21, 2016
CHICAGO -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to adopt a series of recommendations from his police reform task force, but so far is stopping short of a complete overhaul of the oversight and investigation of the Chicago Police Department until federal officials finish their probe.
On Thursday, the mayor will direct the Police Department to act on more than two dozen changes that range from holding more meetings with minority communities and conducting faster investigations into alleged police wrongdoing, to writing new guidelines for disciplining officers and training more 911 dispatchers and cops on how to handle mental health cases.
He'll also officially accept other changes the Police Department already has started to move on, including the use of more body cameras and Tasers along with a policy that dictates how CPD should release video of police-involved shootings.
The initial response is a way for Emanuel to start moving on last week's 190-page report issued by the Police Accountability Task Force and continue to address problems within CPD that U.S. Justice Department investigators are likely to kick up in their probe, which could conclude in costly, court-ordered reforms and oversight.
Emanuel scrambled to appoint the reform panel in December during the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald police shooting controversy. That shooting spurred widespread outrage after the mayor complied with a court order to release a video of white officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the black teenager 16 times in a Southwest Side street.
The mayor said he spent the weekend reading through the various proposals before deciding which ones he could take action on immediately.
"Within 41/2 work days of getting the report, the city is implementing about a third of their recommendations," Emanuel told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday. "Some are about training, some are about new technology, some are about accountability, some are about discipline, but they are all built toward what I think are the building blocks of better trust and cooperation between the police department and the community.
"This is a down payment on putting us down the road to reform."
That down payment, however, does not include some of the task force's most substantial recommendations.
Emanuel did not commit to scrapping the Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian body that is charged with investigating accusations against officers but rarely has found any wrongdoing by them.
The mayor also chose not to create a reconciliation process — a formal acknowledgment of, and meetings on, the police department's history of racism — or create the position of deputy chief of diversity as the task force recommended.
And Emanuel did not start the process of creating an inspector general or community oversight board over the Police Department as his panel called for. He did leave the door open to those changes once Justice Department officials conclude their civil rights investigation into CPD's use of force.
Lori Lightfoot, who Emanuel appointed to lead the task force, said Wednesday she hadn't been briefed but, given a rundown of which recommendations the mayor had chosen to move on so far, characterized the steps as a start.
"It sounds like there are some steps that are being taken to address some of the recommendations and findings, which is a good thing," Lightfoot said. "But there is obviously much more that can be done."
Changes old and new
A draft news release of Emanuel's Thursday announcement shows the mayor agreeing to about 25 recommendations dealing with the key issues the city faces: persuading a doubtful public to trust officers, injecting transparency into the Police Department and creating more accountability into how police misconduct is investigated.
New police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the mayor's embrace of the changes signaled a new day at CPD.
"This whole reform, I've got to be quite honest, I am totally committed to getting this right," said Johnson, a longtime officer who rose through the ranks to top cop. "This is our moment in time to address a lot of things that have been wrong."
Emanuel already had directed CPD to start acting on some of the task force report changes, such as body camera expansions and "de-escalation training" to help officers defuse situations before turning to lethal force.
The mayor also already had announced he'd comply with another recommendation the task force made to expand Crisis Intervention Training — a 40-hour course that trains officers on helping people who are mentally ill or in extreme crisis. On Thursday, Emanuel is set to reiterate a pledge to have 30 percent of the department certified in that voluntary program by the end of 2017. Every shift in every district will have at least one officer on each shift with that training moving forward, Emanuel said.
Other task force recommendations approved by Emanuel jump off of existing programs or call for an overhaul of current policies. For example, body-worn cameras will be tried out in seven districts beginning June 1, but the program has been in existence since January 2015.
The mayor said he'd OK a recommendation to address bias and cultural differences through training. But in doing so, the mayor's office highlighted the city's existing "Bridging the Divide" program that for several months has brought Chicago youth and police officers together for conversations on race, bias and policing.
Emanuel also said City Hall would follow time-limit recommendations on investigations handled by the Police Department's Bureau of Internal Affairs, another idea that is not new.
Under the policy, investigations into severe matters would be limited to 45 days and less severe probes to 30 days, but Johnson noted in an interview with the Tribune that internal affairs had such investigation deadlines previously but they often weren't followed.
"There was a time limit but it was difficult," Johnson said. "We are already looking at increasing the number of members assigned. If we want to get this right, we have to get them the resources."
As for new concepts, Emanuel has agreed to create a hotline for officers to call to report misconduct, which Lightfoot called "great." The mayor also will back training sergeants to conduct internal investigations at the district level to help speed things up and a requirement that internal affairs investigators take detective training. Emanuel also has called for internal affairs interviews in felony cases to be recorded for the first time.
"That goes to our transparency," Johnson said. "We want people to know we are aboveboard."
'More to be done'
Some of the task force's more notable and specific recommendations were about race and the need to dissolve IPRA, two issues that will go mostly unaddressed by Emanuel for now.
The first section of the panel's report called for the city to face difficult, harsh truths about systemic racism in CPD. To do that, it suggested the creation of a deputy police chief for diversity and a reconciliation process between police and the community that already has been used in several other cities and is intended to address head-on deep and difficult issues. That would include the department acknowledging the decades of damage racism has caused, fact-finding, sharing of experiences and identifying changes.
Emanuel has not approved either of the race recommendations.
The mayor pointed to Johnson's community meetings as an effort to improve race relations. Asked if there was a need for a deputy chief of diversity, Emanuel would reiterate only that Johnson is African-American and grew up in the Cabrini Green public housing project and is surrounded by a diverse leadership team.
The task force called for the elimination of IPRA in favor of a Civilian Police Investigative Agency. The panel also suggested the creation of an Inspector General for Public Safety, whose office would independently audit and monitor CPD and the new police oversight system.
Emanuel will not back those recommendations initially but left the door open to the possibility. Instead, the mayor said he was moving forward with some interim steps the task force recommended for IPRA until the new investigative agency and inspector general offices were created.
That includes more community outreach from IPRA, a more aggressive pursuit of sworn affidavits from complainants so issues can be probed, and finishing a discipline matrix with a "fixed set of penalties for misconduct."
Emanuel also said he was committed to the concept of a "public safety auditor" but would not say how that position would be similar to, or different from, the inspector general recommendation. Without offering specifics, the mayor said he also backed the concept of the task force's idea of a community board to oversee the Police Department.
But the mayor said he agreed with the task force's broad brush strokes that the civilian oversight system of CPD must be reformed and have more transparency. How exactly it gets done, he said, will require input from Justice Department officials.
The mayor said the last thing he'd want to do is reconstruct police oversight only to have the Justice Department come along months later and order another revamp.
"We're going to make changes. They're going to be significant. They're going to be systematic. They're going to be structural," Emanuel said. "And when we do them, I want to get it right, do it once and set the rules of the road for the future in one fell swoop."
Lightfoot emphasized that the task force recommendations are "like a mosaic," an interconnected set of reforms designed to "address a wide range of issues" that ail the Police Department.
"I think it's an important step, and I don't want to be critical," Lightfoot said of Emanuel's initial set of directives. "But there is more to be done."
The mayor acknowledged as much.
"I told you I was not going to let the task force recommendations gather dust. We're off to the races in making the changes," Emanuel said. "But we're not done by any stretch of the imagination. ... It's the beginning of a process, not the end."
Chicago Tribune
April 21, 2016
CHICAGO -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to adopt a series of recommendations from his police reform task force, but so far is stopping short of a complete overhaul of the oversight and investigation of the Chicago Police Department until federal officials finish their probe.
On Thursday, the mayor will direct the Police Department to act on more than two dozen changes that range from holding more meetings with minority communities and conducting faster investigations into alleged police wrongdoing, to writing new guidelines for disciplining officers and training more 911 dispatchers and cops on how to handle mental health cases.
He'll also officially accept other changes the Police Department already has started to move on, including the use of more body cameras and Tasers along with a policy that dictates how CPD should release video of police-involved shootings.
The initial response is a way for Emanuel to start moving on last week's 190-page report issued by the Police Accountability Task Force and continue to address problems within CPD that U.S. Justice Department investigators are likely to kick up in their probe, which could conclude in costly, court-ordered reforms and oversight.
Emanuel scrambled to appoint the reform panel in December during the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald police shooting controversy. That shooting spurred widespread outrage after the mayor complied with a court order to release a video of white officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the black teenager 16 times in a Southwest Side street.
The mayor said he spent the weekend reading through the various proposals before deciding which ones he could take action on immediately.
"Within 41/2 work days of getting the report, the city is implementing about a third of their recommendations," Emanuel told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday. "Some are about training, some are about new technology, some are about accountability, some are about discipline, but they are all built toward what I think are the building blocks of better trust and cooperation between the police department and the community.
"This is a down payment on putting us down the road to reform."
That down payment, however, does not include some of the task force's most substantial recommendations.
Emanuel did not commit to scrapping the Independent Police Review Authority, the civilian body that is charged with investigating accusations against officers but rarely has found any wrongdoing by them.
The mayor also chose not to create a reconciliation process — a formal acknowledgment of, and meetings on, the police department's history of racism — or create the position of deputy chief of diversity as the task force recommended.
And Emanuel did not start the process of creating an inspector general or community oversight board over the Police Department as his panel called for. He did leave the door open to those changes once Justice Department officials conclude their civil rights investigation into CPD's use of force.
Lori Lightfoot, who Emanuel appointed to lead the task force, said Wednesday she hadn't been briefed but, given a rundown of which recommendations the mayor had chosen to move on so far, characterized the steps as a start.
"It sounds like there are some steps that are being taken to address some of the recommendations and findings, which is a good thing," Lightfoot said. "But there is obviously much more that can be done."
Changes old and new
A draft news release of Emanuel's Thursday announcement shows the mayor agreeing to about 25 recommendations dealing with the key issues the city faces: persuading a doubtful public to trust officers, injecting transparency into the Police Department and creating more accountability into how police misconduct is investigated.
New police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the mayor's embrace of the changes signaled a new day at CPD.
"This whole reform, I've got to be quite honest, I am totally committed to getting this right," said Johnson, a longtime officer who rose through the ranks to top cop. "This is our moment in time to address a lot of things that have been wrong."
Emanuel already had directed CPD to start acting on some of the task force report changes, such as body camera expansions and "de-escalation training" to help officers defuse situations before turning to lethal force.
The mayor also already had announced he'd comply with another recommendation the task force made to expand Crisis Intervention Training — a 40-hour course that trains officers on helping people who are mentally ill or in extreme crisis. On Thursday, Emanuel is set to reiterate a pledge to have 30 percent of the department certified in that voluntary program by the end of 2017. Every shift in every district will have at least one officer on each shift with that training moving forward, Emanuel said.
Other task force recommendations approved by Emanuel jump off of existing programs or call for an overhaul of current policies. For example, body-worn cameras will be tried out in seven districts beginning June 1, but the program has been in existence since January 2015.
The mayor said he'd OK a recommendation to address bias and cultural differences through training. But in doing so, the mayor's office highlighted the city's existing "Bridging the Divide" program that for several months has brought Chicago youth and police officers together for conversations on race, bias and policing.
Emanuel also said City Hall would follow time-limit recommendations on investigations handled by the Police Department's Bureau of Internal Affairs, another idea that is not new.
Under the policy, investigations into severe matters would be limited to 45 days and less severe probes to 30 days, but Johnson noted in an interview with the Tribune that internal affairs had such investigation deadlines previously but they often weren't followed.
"There was a time limit but it was difficult," Johnson said. "We are already looking at increasing the number of members assigned. If we want to get this right, we have to get them the resources."
As for new concepts, Emanuel has agreed to create a hotline for officers to call to report misconduct, which Lightfoot called "great." The mayor also will back training sergeants to conduct internal investigations at the district level to help speed things up and a requirement that internal affairs investigators take detective training. Emanuel also has called for internal affairs interviews in felony cases to be recorded for the first time.
"That goes to our transparency," Johnson said. "We want people to know we are aboveboard."
'More to be done'
Some of the task force's more notable and specific recommendations were about race and the need to dissolve IPRA, two issues that will go mostly unaddressed by Emanuel for now.
The first section of the panel's report called for the city to face difficult, harsh truths about systemic racism in CPD. To do that, it suggested the creation of a deputy police chief for diversity and a reconciliation process between police and the community that already has been used in several other cities and is intended to address head-on deep and difficult issues. That would include the department acknowledging the decades of damage racism has caused, fact-finding, sharing of experiences and identifying changes.
Emanuel has not approved either of the race recommendations.
The mayor pointed to Johnson's community meetings as an effort to improve race relations. Asked if there was a need for a deputy chief of diversity, Emanuel would reiterate only that Johnson is African-American and grew up in the Cabrini Green public housing project and is surrounded by a diverse leadership team.
The task force called for the elimination of IPRA in favor of a Civilian Police Investigative Agency. The panel also suggested the creation of an Inspector General for Public Safety, whose office would independently audit and monitor CPD and the new police oversight system.
Emanuel will not back those recommendations initially but left the door open to the possibility. Instead, the mayor said he was moving forward with some interim steps the task force recommended for IPRA until the new investigative agency and inspector general offices were created.
That includes more community outreach from IPRA, a more aggressive pursuit of sworn affidavits from complainants so issues can be probed, and finishing a discipline matrix with a "fixed set of penalties for misconduct."
Emanuel also said he was committed to the concept of a "public safety auditor" but would not say how that position would be similar to, or different from, the inspector general recommendation. Without offering specifics, the mayor said he also backed the concept of the task force's idea of a community board to oversee the Police Department.
But the mayor said he agreed with the task force's broad brush strokes that the civilian oversight system of CPD must be reformed and have more transparency. How exactly it gets done, he said, will require input from Justice Department officials.
The mayor said the last thing he'd want to do is reconstruct police oversight only to have the Justice Department come along months later and order another revamp.
"We're going to make changes. They're going to be significant. They're going to be systematic. They're going to be structural," Emanuel said. "And when we do them, I want to get it right, do it once and set the rules of the road for the future in one fell swoop."
Lightfoot emphasized that the task force recommendations are "like a mosaic," an interconnected set of reforms designed to "address a wide range of issues" that ail the Police Department.
"I think it's an important step, and I don't want to be critical," Lightfoot said of Emanuel's initial set of directives. "But there is more to be done."
The mayor acknowledged as much.
"I told you I was not going to let the task force recommendations gather dust. We're off to the races in making the changes," Emanuel said. "But we're not done by any stretch of the imagination. ... It's the beginning of a process, not the end."
FORMER MEXICAN POLICE OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO CRIME OF ‘STALKING’ IN SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS DRUG CARTEL MURDER
Borderland Beat
April 21, 2016
Borderland Beat has covered the case of Guerrero Chapa's murder extensively. Chapa, a Gulf Cartel attorney, had been sitting in the passenger seat of a Range Rover with his wife parked in the parking lot of the city's popular Southlake Town Square, near Banana Republic, when a white SUV pulled up next to them. Witnesses say a masked shooter got out and fired at least five rounds with a gun that possibly had a silencer on it. The male victim was hit multiple times by the gunfire and later died at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.
As reported in the Dallas Morning News, JesúsGerardo Ledezma Campano Jr., 32, pleaded guilty to the Federal crime of stalking in a secret hearing last month. The former Mexican police officer and his father, 59-year-old Jesús Gerardo Ledezma Cepeda, and his father’s cousin, 59-year-old José Luis Cepeda Cortes are accused of using high-tech remote cameras and GPS devices to track Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa before he was shot dead at Southlake Town Square on May 22, 2013.
Ladezma Campano and his father, both Mexican citizens, were arrested in McAllen Texas while crossing the border more than a year after the shooting in Southlake. The cousin, Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes, a legal US resident, was arrested at his home in Edinburg Texas.
The three defendants are alleged to have stalked Guerrero Chapo for 2 years using more than a half dozen vehicles, hidden surveillance cameras at the entrance gate to the subdivision where Guerrero Chapa lived. The alleged stalkers also are accused of putting a GPS tracking device on the victims Range Rover
As part of the secret plea deal Ladezma Campano agreed to tesitify against the other defendants. The trial of Ladezma Camano and Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes is to begin this coming Monday, April 25, in Federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. Southlake is a suburb of Fort Worth. A defense attorney said that the defense could call as many as 60 witnesses.
Three other people have been charged in sealed indictments because they remain fugitives. It’s unclear what role they played in the slaying.
The killer has not been publicly identified or charged.
With all the witnesses to be called in the upcoming trial, mostly law enforcement, people involved or knowledgeable in organized crime activities, the testimonies may reveal more of the inner workings of the cartels than any previous trial. It should prove interesting. Most of your cartel heads never go to trial, they almost always plead guilty, So public trials where all the nitty gritty details are laid out is actually pretty rare.
It should be safe to assume that all of the defendants and the others named in the sealed indictments were acting on orders from a Mexican cartel. It would not be inexpensive to support and provide funds for the alleged stalkers for 2 years. They even bought 2 vehicles in the US, some might say junkers, that wouldn't be noticed in their surveillance work.
Why did they stalk Guerrero Chapa for two years before he was killed. Surely that had earlier opportunities. What was going on behind the scenes?
April 21, 2016
Borderland Beat has covered the case of Guerrero Chapa's murder extensively. Chapa, a Gulf Cartel attorney, had been sitting in the passenger seat of a Range Rover with his wife parked in the parking lot of the city's popular Southlake Town Square, near Banana Republic, when a white SUV pulled up next to them. Witnesses say a masked shooter got out and fired at least five rounds with a gun that possibly had a silencer on it. The male victim was hit multiple times by the gunfire and later died at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.
As reported in the Dallas Morning News, JesúsGerardo Ledezma Campano Jr., 32, pleaded guilty to the Federal crime of stalking in a secret hearing last month. The former Mexican police officer and his father, 59-year-old Jesús Gerardo Ledezma Cepeda, and his father’s cousin, 59-year-old José Luis Cepeda Cortes are accused of using high-tech remote cameras and GPS devices to track Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa before he was shot dead at Southlake Town Square on May 22, 2013.
Ladezma Campano and his father, both Mexican citizens, were arrested in McAllen Texas while crossing the border more than a year after the shooting in Southlake. The cousin, Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes, a legal US resident, was arrested at his home in Edinburg Texas.
The three defendants are alleged to have stalked Guerrero Chapo for 2 years using more than a half dozen vehicles, hidden surveillance cameras at the entrance gate to the subdivision where Guerrero Chapa lived. The alleged stalkers also are accused of putting a GPS tracking device on the victims Range Rover
As part of the secret plea deal Ladezma Campano agreed to tesitify against the other defendants. The trial of Ladezma Camano and Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes is to begin this coming Monday, April 25, in Federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. Southlake is a suburb of Fort Worth. A defense attorney said that the defense could call as many as 60 witnesses.
Three other people have been charged in sealed indictments because they remain fugitives. It’s unclear what role they played in the slaying.
The killer has not been publicly identified or charged.
With all the witnesses to be called in the upcoming trial, mostly law enforcement, people involved or knowledgeable in organized crime activities, the testimonies may reveal more of the inner workings of the cartels than any previous trial. It should prove interesting. Most of your cartel heads never go to trial, they almost always plead guilty, So public trials where all the nitty gritty details are laid out is actually pretty rare.
It should be safe to assume that all of the defendants and the others named in the sealed indictments were acting on orders from a Mexican cartel. It would not be inexpensive to support and provide funds for the alleged stalkers for 2 years. They even bought 2 vehicles in the US, some might say junkers, that wouldn't be noticed in their surveillance work.
Why did they stalk Guerrero Chapa for two years before he was killed. Surely that had earlier opportunities. What was going on behind the scenes?
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