Ray Bethell, the guy flying the three kites, is in his 80s from Canada. He comes to the Washington State International Kite Festival every year. He is deaf, so when he flies, we hold our hands up and wave them for applause. He flies two kites with his hands, and the third one is attached to his waist.
Be sure to watch this 5-minute video to the end to see the amazing landing of that last kite.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
MEET THE TERRORIST BEHIND THE NEXT WOMEN’S MARCH
Convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Yousef Odeh, Black Panther associate Angela Davis and Maoist Tithi Bhattacharya are the organizers of the International Women’s Strike against Trump
By Kyle Smith
New York Post
February 25, 2017
Here’s the left’s next great idea for bringing down President Trump: another women’s march. Which means another public instance of Trump haters shouting slogans to one another and mistaking it for constructive politics. What progressives need to defeat Trump is outreach, but all they have is outrage.
On March 8, organizers seem to be aiming for a different vibe than the librarians-in-pussy-hats element that made the first women’s march after Trump’s inauguration so adorable.
Instead of milling around Washington, organizers have in mind a “general strike” called the Day without a Woman. In a manifesto published in The Guardian on Feb. 6, the brains behind the movement are calling for a “new wave of militant feminist struggle.” That’s right: militant, not peaceful.
The document was co-authored by, among others, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a convicted terrorist. Odeh, a Palestinian, was convicted in Israel in 1970 for her part in two terrorist bombings, one of which killed two students while they were shopping for groceries. She spent 10 years in prison for her crimes. She then managed to become a US citizen in 2004 by lying about her past (great detective work, INS: Next time, use Google) but was subsequently convicted, in 2014, of immigration fraud for the falsehoods. However, she won the right to a new trial (set for this spring) by claiming she had been suffering from PTSD at the time she lied on her application. Oh, and in her time as a citizen, she worked for a while as an ObamaCare navigator.
You can see why she’s a hero to the left. Another co-author, Angela Davis, is a Stalinist professor and longtime supporter of the Black Panthers. Davis is best known for being acquitted in a 1972 trial after three guns she bought were used in a courtroom shootout that resulted in the death of a judge. She celebrated by going to Cuba.
A third co-author, Tithi Bhattacharya, praised Maoism in an essay for the International Socialist Review, noting that Maoists are “on the terrorist list of the US State Department, Canada, and the European Union,” which she called an indication that “Maoists are back in the news and by all accounts they are fighting against all the right people.” You know you’re dealing with extremism when someone admits to hating Canada.
The International Women’s Strike is meant to be a grass-roots affair, with womensmarch.com promising more information about how to participate in local protests across the US. Women around the country are being urged to walk off their jobs and join a demonstration near them.
According to The Guardian piece, women should spend their day “blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work” and “boycotting” pro-Trump businesses. Also every woman is supposed to wear red in solidarity.
The bristling tone of the manifesto and its call for a “militant” uprising are yet another indicator that liberals are increasingly willing to justify violence in the name of opposing Trump. After the Berkeley campus erupted in flames and violence to protest the planned appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos, many progressive activists took to Twitter to cheer them on. Hollywood stars Debra Messing and Sarah Silverman both tweeted their support, with Messing saying, “RESISTANCE WORKS” and Silverman ranting: “WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE. ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE.”
Progs are equally enthusiastic about the idea that it’s OK to punch people as long as you hate them: “Stranger Things” star David Harbour said at the Screen Actors Guild awards, “We will, as per Chief Jim Hopper [the character he played on the show], punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized.” Nice liberal Democrats should be aware that this newer, angrier cohort is just as hostile to their own party. “I have problems with the Democratic Party that is just as linked to the corporate capitalist structure as the Republican party,” Davis said at a rally last year.
Anti-Trump activism seems to have little to do with the political arts required to win elections — finding common ground, forging alliances, making friends. Instead all of these demonstrations are about denouncing enemies, and making yourself feel better about the November defeat by gathering publicly with those who share your rage. This sort of thinking leads to such self-defeating acts as interrupting traffic in places like New York City (where Trump got 18 percent of the vote) or San Francisco (9 percent).
If you want to persuade working-class Trump voters in Wisconsin to join your cause, annoying rich liberal Democrats trying to get to work a thousand miles away is a strange way to go about it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here from the June 5, 1972 issue of The New York Times is an account of the case in which Angela Davis was acquitted:
The charges against her were lodged late in August, 1970, shortly after Jonathan Jackson, 17, smuggled guns into a Marin County courtroom in San Rafael, Calif, and armed three black convicts. They then attempted to escape by using a judge, an assistant district attorney and three women jurors as hostages.
The judge was taken hostage with a shot gun taped to his neck. He died in the getaway vans outside the civic center along with Jackson and two of the three convicts who participated in the escape. There was always a question as to how the shooting began and in evidence presented during the trial this remained a question.
Although the judge was shot in the head with a blast from the shotgun, he also suffered a chest wound from a bullet that may have been fired from outside the van. Evidence during the trial showed, however, that either could have been fatal.
Miss Davis was connected with the case when it was learned that the guns smuggled into the court were registered in her name.
I still can’t believe that a jury, an all-white jury at that, could acquit the bitch when the guns used were registered to her.
By Kyle Smith
New York Post
February 25, 2017
Here’s the left’s next great idea for bringing down President Trump: another women’s march. Which means another public instance of Trump haters shouting slogans to one another and mistaking it for constructive politics. What progressives need to defeat Trump is outreach, but all they have is outrage.
On March 8, organizers seem to be aiming for a different vibe than the librarians-in-pussy-hats element that made the first women’s march after Trump’s inauguration so adorable.
Instead of milling around Washington, organizers have in mind a “general strike” called the Day without a Woman. In a manifesto published in The Guardian on Feb. 6, the brains behind the movement are calling for a “new wave of militant feminist struggle.” That’s right: militant, not peaceful.
The document was co-authored by, among others, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a convicted terrorist. Odeh, a Palestinian, was convicted in Israel in 1970 for her part in two terrorist bombings, one of which killed two students while they were shopping for groceries. She spent 10 years in prison for her crimes. She then managed to become a US citizen in 2004 by lying about her past (great detective work, INS: Next time, use Google) but was subsequently convicted, in 2014, of immigration fraud for the falsehoods. However, she won the right to a new trial (set for this spring) by claiming she had been suffering from PTSD at the time she lied on her application. Oh, and in her time as a citizen, she worked for a while as an ObamaCare navigator.
You can see why she’s a hero to the left. Another co-author, Angela Davis, is a Stalinist professor and longtime supporter of the Black Panthers. Davis is best known for being acquitted in a 1972 trial after three guns she bought were used in a courtroom shootout that resulted in the death of a judge. She celebrated by going to Cuba.
A third co-author, Tithi Bhattacharya, praised Maoism in an essay for the International Socialist Review, noting that Maoists are “on the terrorist list of the US State Department, Canada, and the European Union,” which she called an indication that “Maoists are back in the news and by all accounts they are fighting against all the right people.” You know you’re dealing with extremism when someone admits to hating Canada.
The International Women’s Strike is meant to be a grass-roots affair, with womensmarch.com promising more information about how to participate in local protests across the US. Women around the country are being urged to walk off their jobs and join a demonstration near them.
According to The Guardian piece, women should spend their day “blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work” and “boycotting” pro-Trump businesses. Also every woman is supposed to wear red in solidarity.
The bristling tone of the manifesto and its call for a “militant” uprising are yet another indicator that liberals are increasingly willing to justify violence in the name of opposing Trump. After the Berkeley campus erupted in flames and violence to protest the planned appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos, many progressive activists took to Twitter to cheer them on. Hollywood stars Debra Messing and Sarah Silverman both tweeted their support, with Messing saying, “RESISTANCE WORKS” and Silverman ranting: “WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE. ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE.”
Progs are equally enthusiastic about the idea that it’s OK to punch people as long as you hate them: “Stranger Things” star David Harbour said at the Screen Actors Guild awards, “We will, as per Chief Jim Hopper [the character he played on the show], punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized.” Nice liberal Democrats should be aware that this newer, angrier cohort is just as hostile to their own party. “I have problems with the Democratic Party that is just as linked to the corporate capitalist structure as the Republican party,” Davis said at a rally last year.
Anti-Trump activism seems to have little to do with the political arts required to win elections — finding common ground, forging alliances, making friends. Instead all of these demonstrations are about denouncing enemies, and making yourself feel better about the November defeat by gathering publicly with those who share your rage. This sort of thinking leads to such self-defeating acts as interrupting traffic in places like New York City (where Trump got 18 percent of the vote) or San Francisco (9 percent).
If you want to persuade working-class Trump voters in Wisconsin to join your cause, annoying rich liberal Democrats trying to get to work a thousand miles away is a strange way to go about it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here from the June 5, 1972 issue of The New York Times is an account of the case in which Angela Davis was acquitted:
The charges against her were lodged late in August, 1970, shortly after Jonathan Jackson, 17, smuggled guns into a Marin County courtroom in San Rafael, Calif, and armed three black convicts. They then attempted to escape by using a judge, an assistant district attorney and three women jurors as hostages.
The judge was taken hostage with a shot gun taped to his neck. He died in the getaway vans outside the civic center along with Jackson and two of the three convicts who participated in the escape. There was always a question as to how the shooting began and in evidence presented during the trial this remained a question.
Although the judge was shot in the head with a blast from the shotgun, he also suffered a chest wound from a bullet that may have been fired from outside the van. Evidence during the trial showed, however, that either could have been fatal.
Miss Davis was connected with the case when it was learned that the guns smuggled into the court were registered in her name.
I still can’t believe that a jury, an all-white jury at that, could acquit the bitch when the guns used were registered to her.
CALFIORNIA DEMOCRATS DEMAND INFO FROM ICE
by Bob Walsh
Kevin de Leon is the President Pro Temp of the California Senate. Anthony Rendon is the Assembly Speaker. Both are virulent liberal Democrats who see illegal aliens are one of their principle constituent groups. Jointly they have just sent a F.O.I.A. request to ICE demanding information on policies regarding "sensitive areas" like schools, churches and hospitals and access to detainees by legal counsel.
They are sniveling that recent enforcement actions in L.A. County (which both of these slugs represent) has led to "increased confusion and fear in many communities."
I strongly suspect that is exactly what Trump and ICE intend.
Were I President Trump I would tell these two partisan assholes to kick-rocks. Then I would slow-drag their F.O.I.A. "demand." Then I would bury them in bullshit and hold a few raids in the immediate areas of their in-district legislative offices and park a couple of ICE transport vehicles directly in front of their offices. But maybe that's just me. I confess I don't like liberal assholes.
Kevin de Leon is the President Pro Temp of the California Senate. Anthony Rendon is the Assembly Speaker. Both are virulent liberal Democrats who see illegal aliens are one of their principle constituent groups. Jointly they have just sent a F.O.I.A. request to ICE demanding information on policies regarding "sensitive areas" like schools, churches and hospitals and access to detainees by legal counsel.
They are sniveling that recent enforcement actions in L.A. County (which both of these slugs represent) has led to "increased confusion and fear in many communities."
I strongly suspect that is exactly what Trump and ICE intend.
Were I President Trump I would tell these two partisan assholes to kick-rocks. Then I would slow-drag their F.O.I.A. "demand." Then I would bury them in bullshit and hold a few raids in the immediate areas of their in-district legislative offices and park a couple of ICE transport vehicles directly in front of their offices. But maybe that's just me. I confess I don't like liberal assholes.
PAYBACK IS A BITCH
by Bob Walsh
Louis Torino, 41, was a detective with the NYPD. He just retired on a physical disability pension at age 41. He retired after an injury to his right hand, arm and shoulder suffered in 2015 while fighting with a bad guy. He has an exemplary record after 18 years of active duty including over 600 arrests. He has testified in court against many bad guys, some of whom have directly threatened to kill him.
He now gets 75% of his $102,000 salary, tax-free. He was not cleared to return to duty but he has done well after surgery. He wants to carry a gun, not only to protect himself but so that he can pursue private security work. The NYPD has refused to endorse him for a retired weapon privilege. So he has gone to a judge to seek a judicially issued permit.
Two doctors have said that he should not have a gun due to physical limitations. Four other doctors have said that he can in fact handle a weapon effectively and safely.
The city is reviewing the matter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If the ruling goes in his favor, will his disability payments be reduced?
Louis Torino, 41, was a detective with the NYPD. He just retired on a physical disability pension at age 41. He retired after an injury to his right hand, arm and shoulder suffered in 2015 while fighting with a bad guy. He has an exemplary record after 18 years of active duty including over 600 arrests. He has testified in court against many bad guys, some of whom have directly threatened to kill him.
He now gets 75% of his $102,000 salary, tax-free. He was not cleared to return to duty but he has done well after surgery. He wants to carry a gun, not only to protect himself but so that he can pursue private security work. The NYPD has refused to endorse him for a retired weapon privilege. So he has gone to a judge to seek a judicially issued permit.
Two doctors have said that he should not have a gun due to physical limitations. Four other doctors have said that he can in fact handle a weapon effectively and safely.
The city is reviewing the matter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If the ruling goes in his favor, will his disability payments be reduced?
SCREWING THE POOCH IN FRONT OF 500 MILLION PEOPLE
by Bob Walsh
I often watch the Oscar show. I like movies and it can be amusing, and it has its moments. I remember Sasheen Littlefeather turning down the Oscar on behalf of George C. Scott for Patton to protest how Native Americans were treated. I remember David Niven coping very skillfully with a streaker. That being said, last night definitely gets the gold medal. I really don't know whether or not 500 million people watch the Oscar ceremonies or not. I do know it ran over 40 minutes, which is about normal allowing for all the winners thanking everybody and their pet hamster for the win. Plus of course some anti-Trump political shots.
So, did they screw up the award for Best Animated Short. No. How about Achievements in Sound Editing. No, that wasn't it either. It was the biggie, Best Picture. Apparently/allegedly the person from Price-Waterhouse gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It said EMMA STONE, LaLa Land. That's what got read. I forget if Faye Dunaway or Beatty actually read it, but it got read and the mob from LaLa Land came up on stage, took their Oscars and started doing their thank-you speeches. Then.....Slam. That's Entertainment.
I often watch the Oscar show. I like movies and it can be amusing, and it has its moments. I remember Sasheen Littlefeather turning down the Oscar on behalf of George C. Scott for Patton to protest how Native Americans were treated. I remember David Niven coping very skillfully with a streaker. That being said, last night definitely gets the gold medal. I really don't know whether or not 500 million people watch the Oscar ceremonies or not. I do know it ran over 40 minutes, which is about normal allowing for all the winners thanking everybody and their pet hamster for the win. Plus of course some anti-Trump political shots.
So, did they screw up the award for Best Animated Short. No. How about Achievements in Sound Editing. No, that wasn't it either. It was the biggie, Best Picture. Apparently/allegedly the person from Price-Waterhouse gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It said EMMA STONE, LaLa Land. That's what got read. I forget if Faye Dunaway or Beatty actually read it, but it got read and the mob from LaLa Land came up on stage, took their Oscars and started doing their thank-you speeches. Then.....Slam. That's Entertainment.
SUSPECTED OF CHEATING ON HIS GIRLFRIEND, MAN GOT SHOT IN THE DICK AND BALLS
Arizona woman accused of shooting boyfriend in genitals
By William Everett
The Ariaona Republic
February 27, 2017
A Scottsdale woman accused of shooting her boyfriend in the genitals told police she thought he was having an affair, officials say.
Delia Mary Flores, 53, is suspected of shooting her boyfriend seven times with a .32-caliber revolver, firing one shot into his penis and two shots into his scrotum, police said in court documents.
The man, whose name was not released, was expected to survive his injuries.
He told officers that he had been sleeping upright in a chair around 8:30 p.m. Saturday when he woke up to what he thought were fireworks until he felt "excruciating pain in his lower extremities."
Flores made the 911 call and told the dispatcher she didn't know how her boyfriend had been shot, only that he asked her to get help, police said.
Police said Flores met officers outside as they arrived to the home she shares with her boyfriend in the 7400 block of East Parkview Lane. At first, Flores said she didn't know what happened, but she then "quickly changed her answer without prompting and told officers that she had shot her boyfriend after learning that he had been having an affair," police said in court records.
The couple had been dating for two years, and she moved in with him last year.
In an interview with the patient at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, the man told police he wasn't having an affair and didn't know why she would have shot him. He didn't think Flores even knew how to use a gun, police said.
A revolver was found beneath the chair he had been sleeping in when he was shot. Among Flores' clothes was a .32-caliber handgun box in a Victoria's Secret bag, along with a receipt that showed the gun had been purchased 10 days before the shooting, according to police.
"The fact that there were gunshots directed at the victim's neck near his head, and that the victim was sleeping at the time of the shooting and no argument was taking place, it is believed that the defendant intentionally planned to shoot the victim with premeditation," police concluded in court documents.
Flores was being held Monday in a Maricopa County jail and is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge set her bond at $750,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: He sings alto now.
By William Everett
The Ariaona Republic
February 27, 2017
A Scottsdale woman accused of shooting her boyfriend in the genitals told police she thought he was having an affair, officials say.
Delia Mary Flores, 53, is suspected of shooting her boyfriend seven times with a .32-caliber revolver, firing one shot into his penis and two shots into his scrotum, police said in court documents.
The man, whose name was not released, was expected to survive his injuries.
He told officers that he had been sleeping upright in a chair around 8:30 p.m. Saturday when he woke up to what he thought were fireworks until he felt "excruciating pain in his lower extremities."
Flores made the 911 call and told the dispatcher she didn't know how her boyfriend had been shot, only that he asked her to get help, police said.
Police said Flores met officers outside as they arrived to the home she shares with her boyfriend in the 7400 block of East Parkview Lane. At first, Flores said she didn't know what happened, but she then "quickly changed her answer without prompting and told officers that she had shot her boyfriend after learning that he had been having an affair," police said in court records.
The couple had been dating for two years, and she moved in with him last year.
In an interview with the patient at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, the man told police he wasn't having an affair and didn't know why she would have shot him. He didn't think Flores even knew how to use a gun, police said.
A revolver was found beneath the chair he had been sleeping in when he was shot. Among Flores' clothes was a .32-caliber handgun box in a Victoria's Secret bag, along with a receipt that showed the gun had been purchased 10 days before the shooting, according to police.
"The fact that there were gunshots directed at the victim's neck near his head, and that the victim was sleeping at the time of the shooting and no argument was taking place, it is believed that the defendant intentionally planned to shoot the victim with premeditation," police concluded in court documents.
Flores was being held Monday in a Maricopa County jail and is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge set her bond at $750,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: He sings alto now.
HIT-AND-RUN THEFT OF EXPENSIVE MERCHANDIZE
Neiman Marcus smash-and-grab robbery involved at least 11 suspects
By Dana Bartholomew and Gregory J. Wilcox
Los Angeles Daily News
February 25, 2017
CANOGA PARK - Customers and employees fled the Westfield Topanga mall’s Neiman Marcus Friday morning as an organized crew of nearly a dozen shoplifters stormed into the store in a brazen attempt to steal expensive items, police said.
Video obtained by the Los Angeles Police Department shows the suspects entering the store wearing all black or gray-hooded sweat shirts, said Officer Carlos Valdivia of the LAPD’s Topanga Community Police station.
“I counted at least 11 but there might have been more,” he said. “They came in a single file as they entered the front door and scattered all over the store. They were cutting the wires off expensive items like purses and they were approached by security guards.”
At that point the crew ran out of the store, but they managed to take several purses, he said.
Some display counters on the first floor of the upscale department store’s handbag and perfume section were damaged as security detail scuffled with several of the shoplifters.
The store carries bags, ranging from $100 to more than $2,000, from high-end designers like Saint Laurent, Prada and Christian Louboutin.
Karyn Houde, marketing director of the mall and The Village at Westfield Topanga, referred questions to the LAPD.
“Neiman Marcus called our security and the LAPD arrived quickly,” she said.
Store officials refused to comment on the incident or make employees available for interviews.
Crime scene tape was stretched around a portion of the perfume section, where two suspects had been detained, said LAPD Sgt. Amy Schnieder of the Topanga station.
Police hope they may be able to get fingerprints off the damaged merchandise.
“We’re still investigating but it appears we had an organized shoplifting group that came in,” she said.
Two possible suspects were detained.
“If the suspects are linked (to the attempted theft) they will be taken to the station for questioning,” said Schnieder.
Police would not discuss the status of the two because the investigation was still going on late Friday afternoon.
The initial report said that shots had been fired but that was likely the sound of glass breaking and no weapons were involved, Schnieder said.
Police were searching for other suspects Friday.
By 11 a.m., police said there were no safety issues at the West Valley mall, known for its high-end stores.
Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Kenny Miller said paramedics were sent to the mall to check on a man who was complaining of “cardiac issues” but he did not know if that was related to the incident.
Tracy Credle of Calabasas had just gone into the mall when police arrived.
“I had just gotten in a store when police came in with their guns drawn looking for somebody,” said Credle. “They told me to stay in the store. Then they came back and went into Neiman Marcus.”
The incident was unsettling, she said.
“But I’m not surprised. It’s just the world we are living in. It happens every day,” she said of crimes.
West Hills resident Judy Davine and a friend were heading into Neiman Marcus for a shopping excursion shortly before 11 a.m. when they learned of the attempted robbery.
“It’s not good. It’s very upsetting, and that concerns me. I’ve lived in the Valley all my life and I definitely think crime is increasing.”
This was the second brazen attempt to steal expensive merchandise at the mall in less than a year.
Last May, a four-man crew wearing hoodies and armed with three hammers and a pistol pulled a smash-and-grab robbery at Ben Bridge, a jewelry store in the middle of the second level of the mall’s west wing. They stole 40 Rolex watches.
The incidents come at a time when crime is rising in the Valley.
Last year robberies across the Valley rose 33 percent from 2015 to 2,085 — compared with 14 percent jump citywide, according to the LAPD. The number of Valley homicides climbed 14 percent to 65 murders, compared with an increase of nearly 4 percent with 294 murders across Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Council has asked the LAPD to prepare a report on gang activity west of the 405 Freeway.
EDITOR’S NOTE: These smash-and-grab robberies started back in the ’60s when black gangs invaded clothing stores and each robber grabbed an armful of men’s suits.
By Dana Bartholomew and Gregory J. Wilcox
Los Angeles Daily News
February 25, 2017
CANOGA PARK - Customers and employees fled the Westfield Topanga mall’s Neiman Marcus Friday morning as an organized crew of nearly a dozen shoplifters stormed into the store in a brazen attempt to steal expensive items, police said.
Video obtained by the Los Angeles Police Department shows the suspects entering the store wearing all black or gray-hooded sweat shirts, said Officer Carlos Valdivia of the LAPD’s Topanga Community Police station.
“I counted at least 11 but there might have been more,” he said. “They came in a single file as they entered the front door and scattered all over the store. They were cutting the wires off expensive items like purses and they were approached by security guards.”
At that point the crew ran out of the store, but they managed to take several purses, he said.
Some display counters on the first floor of the upscale department store’s handbag and perfume section were damaged as security detail scuffled with several of the shoplifters.
The store carries bags, ranging from $100 to more than $2,000, from high-end designers like Saint Laurent, Prada and Christian Louboutin.
Karyn Houde, marketing director of the mall and The Village at Westfield Topanga, referred questions to the LAPD.
“Neiman Marcus called our security and the LAPD arrived quickly,” she said.
Store officials refused to comment on the incident or make employees available for interviews.
Crime scene tape was stretched around a portion of the perfume section, where two suspects had been detained, said LAPD Sgt. Amy Schnieder of the Topanga station.
Police hope they may be able to get fingerprints off the damaged merchandise.
“We’re still investigating but it appears we had an organized shoplifting group that came in,” she said.
Two possible suspects were detained.
“If the suspects are linked (to the attempted theft) they will be taken to the station for questioning,” said Schnieder.
Police would not discuss the status of the two because the investigation was still going on late Friday afternoon.
The initial report said that shots had been fired but that was likely the sound of glass breaking and no weapons were involved, Schnieder said.
Police were searching for other suspects Friday.
By 11 a.m., police said there were no safety issues at the West Valley mall, known for its high-end stores.
Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Kenny Miller said paramedics were sent to the mall to check on a man who was complaining of “cardiac issues” but he did not know if that was related to the incident.
Tracy Credle of Calabasas had just gone into the mall when police arrived.
“I had just gotten in a store when police came in with their guns drawn looking for somebody,” said Credle. “They told me to stay in the store. Then they came back and went into Neiman Marcus.”
The incident was unsettling, she said.
“But I’m not surprised. It’s just the world we are living in. It happens every day,” she said of crimes.
West Hills resident Judy Davine and a friend were heading into Neiman Marcus for a shopping excursion shortly before 11 a.m. when they learned of the attempted robbery.
“It’s not good. It’s very upsetting, and that concerns me. I’ve lived in the Valley all my life and I definitely think crime is increasing.”
This was the second brazen attempt to steal expensive merchandise at the mall in less than a year.
Last May, a four-man crew wearing hoodies and armed with three hammers and a pistol pulled a smash-and-grab robbery at Ben Bridge, a jewelry store in the middle of the second level of the mall’s west wing. They stole 40 Rolex watches.
The incidents come at a time when crime is rising in the Valley.
Last year robberies across the Valley rose 33 percent from 2015 to 2,085 — compared with 14 percent jump citywide, according to the LAPD. The number of Valley homicides climbed 14 percent to 65 murders, compared with an increase of nearly 4 percent with 294 murders across Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Council has asked the LAPD to prepare a report on gang activity west of the 405 Freeway.
EDITOR’S NOTE: These smash-and-grab robberies started back in the ’60s when black gangs invaded clothing stores and each robber grabbed an armful of men’s suits.
HOSPITALIZED BY BOOBS
Please hold my e-mails until further notice. I am in the hospital. I was attacked by a woman in an elevator.
I was on the elevator when this beautiful blonde got in. She had on a tight fitting dress with a low cut top. The cleavage gave me a glimpse of two of the most gorgeous boobs I ever saw. I was casually staring at her boobs when she said, "Could you press one for me, please”.
So I did... and I don't remember much afterwards, but I'm guessing it was the wrong one!
I was on the elevator when this beautiful blonde got in. She had on a tight fitting dress with a low cut top. The cleavage gave me a glimpse of two of the most gorgeous boobs I ever saw. I was casually staring at her boobs when she said, "Could you press one for me, please”.
So I did... and I don't remember much afterwards, but I'm guessing it was the wrong one!
Monday, February 27, 2017
THE ESSENTIAL COWARDICE OF LIBERALISM
by Bob Walsh
Liberalism is essentially gutless. You never have to actually DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything if you are a liberal, all you have to do is feel "good" or "bad" about the appropriate things. A case in point.
The Orange Coast College is a community college in Costa Mesa (Orange County) California. (Orange County is actually fairly conservative by California standards.) Caleb O'Neil is a student at that college. He is 19 years old and a Trump supporter.
Recently during his human sexuality class he recorded his psych professor, Olga Perez Stable Cox, going 5150 on Donald Trump. Among other things she asserted that Trump was a white supremacist and that his election victory was in fact an act of terrorism. She also said that, "we are back to being in a civil war." O'Neill asserts that he made the recording in academic self defense.
He took that recording to a campus Republican group. (Yes, there is one there.) They took it to the administration. When the administration took no action they put the rant on line. O'Neil did not himself post the rant.
After the recording got out the professor allegedly became frightened herself due to the backlash against her. She turned her class over to a sub and moved out of her pad.
On February 9 O'Neil got a letter from the dean. He was suspended for a semester because he recorded the rant, which is apparently against the rules. The dean also demanded that he apologize to the professor and submit an essay about "Why you decided to share the video" and the damage to the school, students, faculty and staff that resulted from that action.
O'Neil told them to go fuck themselves, filed an appeal of the action and got a lawyer. He threatened to sue and co-wrote an essay in the local fishwrapper, The Orange County Register, in which he addressed the assault on free speech by the administration. The Register editorial board backed his play. The paper promised a daily barrage of editorials until the suspension was rescinded or the trustees sacked the school president.
The school peed. A complete pack of gutless assholes who are happy to try to stomp one student into the dirt but do not have the courage of their convictions. The suspension was rescinded.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What about Olga Perez Stable Cox? She went way beyond the bounds of academic freedom. She should have been fired forthwith!
Liberalism is essentially gutless. You never have to actually DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything if you are a liberal, all you have to do is feel "good" or "bad" about the appropriate things. A case in point.
The Orange Coast College is a community college in Costa Mesa (Orange County) California. (Orange County is actually fairly conservative by California standards.) Caleb O'Neil is a student at that college. He is 19 years old and a Trump supporter.
Recently during his human sexuality class he recorded his psych professor, Olga Perez Stable Cox, going 5150 on Donald Trump. Among other things she asserted that Trump was a white supremacist and that his election victory was in fact an act of terrorism. She also said that, "we are back to being in a civil war." O'Neill asserts that he made the recording in academic self defense.
He took that recording to a campus Republican group. (Yes, there is one there.) They took it to the administration. When the administration took no action they put the rant on line. O'Neil did not himself post the rant.
After the recording got out the professor allegedly became frightened herself due to the backlash against her. She turned her class over to a sub and moved out of her pad.
On February 9 O'Neil got a letter from the dean. He was suspended for a semester because he recorded the rant, which is apparently against the rules. The dean also demanded that he apologize to the professor and submit an essay about "Why you decided to share the video" and the damage to the school, students, faculty and staff that resulted from that action.
O'Neil told them to go fuck themselves, filed an appeal of the action and got a lawyer. He threatened to sue and co-wrote an essay in the local fishwrapper, The Orange County Register, in which he addressed the assault on free speech by the administration. The Register editorial board backed his play. The paper promised a daily barrage of editorials until the suspension was rescinded or the trustees sacked the school president.
The school peed. A complete pack of gutless assholes who are happy to try to stomp one student into the dirt but do not have the courage of their convictions. The suspension was rescinded.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What about Olga Perez Stable Cox? She went way beyond the bounds of academic freedom. She should have been fired forthwith!
SOONER QUARTERBACK UNABLE TO ESCAPE THE CLUTCHES OF ARKANSAS COPS
Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is tackled to the ground and arrested after 'trying to run away from police officers he shouted profanities' at in drunken square-off
By Jennifer Smith
Daily Mail
February 26, 2017
Oklahoma University quarterback Baker Mayfield, 21, was arrested on Saturday after a drunken run-in with police.
The athlete was booked into county jail in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at 8am on Saturday morning after allegedly shouting profanities at officers while he was drunk.
They were called to Dickson Street amid reports of a fight that Mayfield was trying to break-up.
When officers arrived, he is accused of becoming aggressive then fleeing when they tried to arrest him.
He spent three hours in jail on Saturday after being booked before being released on bond for charges including public intoxication, disorderly conduct, fleeing and resisting arrest.
Mayfield will appear at Fayetteville District Court on Monday morning for his first appearance and will return to court on April 7 to face the charges.
A police report obtained by ESPN claimed Mayfield first told police he was trying to break up a fight between others at 2.29am.
He had slurred speech and food was spilled down the front of his clothing, according to the report.
When the officer asked him to stay for him to be take a statement, he began 'yelling profanities and causing a scene,' it claims.
He began walking away and started running when the officer pursued him. Mayfield was eventually tackled to the ground and taken to the county jail to be booked.
Oklahoma University said in a statement: 'We are aware of the matter and are learning the details.
'We don't have any other information at this time.'
Mayfield has made no public comment since his arrest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Looks like the Razorbacks scored a rare win over the Sooners.
By Jennifer Smith
Daily Mail
February 26, 2017
Oklahoma University quarterback Baker Mayfield, 21, was arrested on Saturday after a drunken run-in with police.
The athlete was booked into county jail in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at 8am on Saturday morning after allegedly shouting profanities at officers while he was drunk.
They were called to Dickson Street amid reports of a fight that Mayfield was trying to break-up.
When officers arrived, he is accused of becoming aggressive then fleeing when they tried to arrest him.
He spent three hours in jail on Saturday after being booked before being released on bond for charges including public intoxication, disorderly conduct, fleeing and resisting arrest.
Mayfield will appear at Fayetteville District Court on Monday morning for his first appearance and will return to court on April 7 to face the charges.
A police report obtained by ESPN claimed Mayfield first told police he was trying to break up a fight between others at 2.29am.
He had slurred speech and food was spilled down the front of his clothing, according to the report.
When the officer asked him to stay for him to be take a statement, he began 'yelling profanities and causing a scene,' it claims.
He began walking away and started running when the officer pursued him. Mayfield was eventually tackled to the ground and taken to the county jail to be booked.
Oklahoma University said in a statement: 'We are aware of the matter and are learning the details.
'We don't have any other information at this time.'
Mayfield has made no public comment since his arrest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Looks like the Razorbacks scored a rare win over the Sooners.
CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION AGENTS IN HOUSTON STOP DANGEROUS ILLEGAL ALIEN FROM ENTERING U.S.
French scholar set to speak at Texas A&M was detained for 10 hours and almost deported by customs officials at Houston airport
By Steve Kuhlmann
The Eagle
February 25, 2017
A visiting scholar to Texas A&M was detained [10 hours] by customs officials in Houston this week while on his way to speak at a symposium in Aggieland, officials said Friday at the conference.
Henry Rousso was flying in from Paris to participate in the Hagler Institute Symposium when he was "mistakenly detained" Wednesday evening upon his arrival because of a misunderstanding regarding the parameters of his visa, according to Richard Golsan, director of the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M.
"When he called me with this news two nights ago, he was waiting for customs officials to send him back to Paris as an illegal alien on the first flight out," said Golsan during his introduction to the session that Rousso was set to participate in.
After learning about the situation, Golsan said he immediately called university officials, leading A&M President Michael K. Young to enlist the help of Texas A&M Law School professor and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic Fatma Marouf.
Using a network of connections, Marouf said they were able to get in contact with customs and border protection agents onsite in Houston to get the situation resolved.
"Due to her prompt and timely intervention, Rousso was released," Golsan said.
Marouf said the decision by custom and border protections agents at the airport to detain and deport Rousso on the next available flight was an "extreme response" considering her understanding of the situation.
"In the past, I had not seen anything like that happening," Marouf said. "It seems like there's much more rigidity and rigor in enforcing these immigration requirements and the technicalities of every visa."
Earlier this month, Marouf drafted an amicus brief on behalf of more than 200 law professors and clinicians that was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as it weighed its decision on President Donald Trump's travel ban executive orders.
Rousso, 62, is a senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS, which the Egyptian-born scholar and author joined in 1981.
His work centers on the history and memory of traumatic pasts, France in World War II and the post-war period, his profile on the CNRS website says. Rousso's current study involves the relationship between history, memory and justice.
Rousso has been a research associate and visiting professor at many U.S. institutions, including Harvard University, Dartmouth College and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
He's spoken at Texas A&M University many times about France's Vichy regime and the country's role in the Holocaust. In 2007, he was a visiting professor at A&M, his profile says.
Rousso was in attendance at the symposium Friday, where he gave a lecture titled Writing on the Dark Side of the Recent Past, which looked at the way in which historians must re-evaluate their approach to writing history in a time when opinions are so heavily weighted.
Attempts to reach immigration officials in Houston were not successful Friday.
By Steve Kuhlmann
The Eagle
February 25, 2017
A visiting scholar to Texas A&M was detained [10 hours] by customs officials in Houston this week while on his way to speak at a symposium in Aggieland, officials said Friday at the conference.
Henry Rousso was flying in from Paris to participate in the Hagler Institute Symposium when he was "mistakenly detained" Wednesday evening upon his arrival because of a misunderstanding regarding the parameters of his visa, according to Richard Golsan, director of the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M.
"When he called me with this news two nights ago, he was waiting for customs officials to send him back to Paris as an illegal alien on the first flight out," said Golsan during his introduction to the session that Rousso was set to participate in.
After learning about the situation, Golsan said he immediately called university officials, leading A&M President Michael K. Young to enlist the help of Texas A&M Law School professor and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic Fatma Marouf.
Using a network of connections, Marouf said they were able to get in contact with customs and border protection agents onsite in Houston to get the situation resolved.
"Due to her prompt and timely intervention, Rousso was released," Golsan said.
Marouf said the decision by custom and border protections agents at the airport to detain and deport Rousso on the next available flight was an "extreme response" considering her understanding of the situation.
"In the past, I had not seen anything like that happening," Marouf said. "It seems like there's much more rigidity and rigor in enforcing these immigration requirements and the technicalities of every visa."
Earlier this month, Marouf drafted an amicus brief on behalf of more than 200 law professors and clinicians that was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as it weighed its decision on President Donald Trump's travel ban executive orders.
Rousso, 62, is a senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS, which the Egyptian-born scholar and author joined in 1981.
His work centers on the history and memory of traumatic pasts, France in World War II and the post-war period, his profile on the CNRS website says. Rousso's current study involves the relationship between history, memory and justice.
Rousso has been a research associate and visiting professor at many U.S. institutions, including Harvard University, Dartmouth College and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
He's spoken at Texas A&M University many times about France's Vichy regime and the country's role in the Holocaust. In 2007, he was a visiting professor at A&M, his profile says.
Rousso was in attendance at the symposium Friday, where he gave a lecture titled Writing on the Dark Side of the Recent Past, which looked at the way in which historians must re-evaluate their approach to writing history in a time when opinions are so heavily weighted.
Attempts to reach immigration officials in Houston were not successful Friday.
IS THIS WEL- INTENTIONED TEXAS BILL TOO INCLUSIVE?
A bill has been introduced in the Texas legislature that, if passed, would classify attacks against police officers, firefighters and ambulance attendants as hate crimes
A law enforcement official sent me a Fox 4 News report about the support for a Texas bill - classifying attacks against first responders a hate crime - by the father of one of the Dallas police officers who was slain in last July’s ambush.
HB 429 is well-intentioned and at first light I fully supported it. But after further reflection, I would ask, is this bill too inclusive?
There is no question that an attack against a cop is a hate crime and such attacks should carry a heavier penalty than the penalties for aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer. But should firefighters and ambulance attendants be included in a hate crime bill?
I certainly do not mean to denigrate our heroic firefighters or the critically important ambulance attendants, but unlike the ambushes against cops, the attacks against firefighters and medics are not committed out of hate. They are committed because the assailant wants to prevent them from carrying out their duties.
Instead of classifying attacks against firefighters and medics as a hate crime, a better alternative would have been a separate bill that increases the penalties for any such attacks.
TEXAS HB 429 AIMS AT CRIMES AGAINST POLICE AND FIRST RESPONDERS
BY Spring Sault
Texas Hill Country
November 28, 2016
With attacks on police on the rise across the country, the most recent of which in San Antonio itself, a bill has been introduced at the Texas House of Representatives which, if passed, would render such attacks a hate crime, thus increasing penalties for their perpetration.
The first of its kind, HB 429 will also recognize emergency responders and firefighters as targets of such crimes and will be introduced as emergency legislation for review and voting in the January assembly. Coming on the heels of the recent murder of San Antonio detective, Benjamin Marconi, who was ambushed in his patrol car outside of the city’s police department, the bill aims to increase the penalty for attacking police and first responders.
With 58 officers listed nationwide for 2016 on the Officer Down Memorial Page, 7 of which from Texas, the bill which was co-written by Republican State Rep. Jason Villalba, the Dallas Police Association, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas and the Texas Municipal Police Association, seeks to strengthen the Police Protection Act (PPA), which Gov. Greg Abbott had prior plans to proceed with.
In a Houston Chronicle interview referencing the PPA, Gov. Abbott stated, “At a time when law enforcement officers increasingly come under assault simply because of the job they hold, Texas must send a resolute message that the State will stand by the men and women who serve and protect our communities.” His resolve reverberates with the development and introduction of Villalba’s bill, which will not only increase the punishment for crimes against police and first responders but will also make assaults on an officer a 2nd-degree felony as opposed to a 3rd.
A law enforcement official sent me a Fox 4 News report about the support for a Texas bill - classifying attacks against first responders a hate crime - by the father of one of the Dallas police officers who was slain in last July’s ambush.
HB 429 is well-intentioned and at first light I fully supported it. But after further reflection, I would ask, is this bill too inclusive?
There is no question that an attack against a cop is a hate crime and such attacks should carry a heavier penalty than the penalties for aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer. But should firefighters and ambulance attendants be included in a hate crime bill?
I certainly do not mean to denigrate our heroic firefighters or the critically important ambulance attendants, but unlike the ambushes against cops, the attacks against firefighters and medics are not committed out of hate. They are committed because the assailant wants to prevent them from carrying out their duties.
Instead of classifying attacks against firefighters and medics as a hate crime, a better alternative would have been a separate bill that increases the penalties for any such attacks.
TEXAS HB 429 AIMS AT CRIMES AGAINST POLICE AND FIRST RESPONDERS
BY Spring Sault
Texas Hill Country
November 28, 2016
With attacks on police on the rise across the country, the most recent of which in San Antonio itself, a bill has been introduced at the Texas House of Representatives which, if passed, would render such attacks a hate crime, thus increasing penalties for their perpetration.
The first of its kind, HB 429 will also recognize emergency responders and firefighters as targets of such crimes and will be introduced as emergency legislation for review and voting in the January assembly. Coming on the heels of the recent murder of San Antonio detective, Benjamin Marconi, who was ambushed in his patrol car outside of the city’s police department, the bill aims to increase the penalty for attacking police and first responders.
With 58 officers listed nationwide for 2016 on the Officer Down Memorial Page, 7 of which from Texas, the bill which was co-written by Republican State Rep. Jason Villalba, the Dallas Police Association, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas and the Texas Municipal Police Association, seeks to strengthen the Police Protection Act (PPA), which Gov. Greg Abbott had prior plans to proceed with.
In a Houston Chronicle interview referencing the PPA, Gov. Abbott stated, “At a time when law enforcement officers increasingly come under assault simply because of the job they hold, Texas must send a resolute message that the State will stand by the men and women who serve and protect our communities.” His resolve reverberates with the development and introduction of Villalba’s bill, which will not only increase the punishment for crimes against police and first responders but will also make assaults on an officer a 2nd-degree felony as opposed to a 3rd.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS CREATE SANCTUARY STATES BY PROHIBITING STATE POLICE FROM COOPERATING WITH ICE
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have issued executive orders that ban state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE
At the beginning of this month, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Issued an executive order banning state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a similar order to Washington’s state police.
In a letter to Oregon’s Attorney General, Brown wrote:
“I will uphold the civil and human rights of all who call Oregon home. These new policies from the White House show no regard for the values Oregonians believe in or the economic realities Oregon faces.
I have great faith that justice for our valued Oregonian immigrants and refugees and their families can be preserved through court action initiated by the state.”
Inslee released a statement which said:
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies that break up families and compromise our national security and, importantly, our community safety.”
This is simply outrageous! By the stroke of a pen, these Democratic governors have made Oregon and Washington sanctuary states.
The Trump administration should withhold whatever federal funds they can from Oregon and Washington until these executive orders are rescinded and the state police in those states are ordered to detain any illegal aliens when requested by ICE.
At the beginning of this month, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Issued an executive order banning state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a similar order to Washington’s state police.
In a letter to Oregon’s Attorney General, Brown wrote:
“I will uphold the civil and human rights of all who call Oregon home. These new policies from the White House show no regard for the values Oregonians believe in or the economic realities Oregon faces.
I have great faith that justice for our valued Oregonian immigrants and refugees and their families can be preserved through court action initiated by the state.”
Inslee released a statement which said:
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies that break up families and compromise our national security and, importantly, our community safety.”
This is simply outrageous! By the stroke of a pen, these Democratic governors have made Oregon and Washington sanctuary states.
The Trump administration should withhold whatever federal funds they can from Oregon and Washington until these executive orders are rescinded and the state police in those states are ordered to detain any illegal aliens when requested by ICE.
NEITHER FISH NOR FOWL...
by Bob Walsh
Mack Beggs, 17, of Cypress, Texas, is in a quandary. Mack is a transgender, having been born female but is in the process of transitioning to male. He also wrestles in high school. Trouble is Texas school policy about wrestling says you have to wrestle within the gender category on your birth certificate so Mack wrestles against girls.
Mack wrestles in the 110 pound class and is thus far 56-0. Many of his opponents believe he has an unfair advantage due to the load of testosterone he takes. Two of his opponents on the way to the state tournament forfeited rather than wrestle against him. He has said that he would wrestle against boys if the rules would allow it.
His team at Euliss Trinity high school is said to be very supportive of his situation.
The birth certificate policy was enacted on August 1 of last year.
Mack Beggs, 17, of Cypress, Texas, is in a quandary. Mack is a transgender, having been born female but is in the process of transitioning to male. He also wrestles in high school. Trouble is Texas school policy about wrestling says you have to wrestle within the gender category on your birth certificate so Mack wrestles against girls.
Mack wrestles in the 110 pound class and is thus far 56-0. Many of his opponents believe he has an unfair advantage due to the load of testosterone he takes. Two of his opponents on the way to the state tournament forfeited rather than wrestle against him. He has said that he would wrestle against boys if the rules would allow it.
His team at Euliss Trinity high school is said to be very supportive of his situation.
The birth certificate policy was enacted on August 1 of last year.
JUDGE THROWS INSENSITIVE ASS IN JAIL FOR BEING AN INSENSITIVE ASS
by Bob Walsh
Amanda Kosai, 25, is a drunk driver. She killed the father of five in a DUI accident in Detroit. For some reason that passes understanding Kosai's mother, Donna, and Donna's boyfriend though the victim statement given in court by the dead guy's sister was absolutely hilarious and they laughed out loud thru it and sat thee grinning like morons.
Judge Qiana Lillard was not pleased and ordered the boyfriend out of the court room. Shortly thereafter Donna got into a verbal hoorah with the Judge in the courtroom. Really, really stupid. He ordered her into custody for 93 days for contempt of court.
The next day she came back to court, groveled severely, and the judge suspended the remaining 92 days of her sentence.
The daughter got 3-15 for the felony DUI. It isn't too hard to figure out how she became to be so irresponsible. Assholes tend to not fall too far from the asshole tree.
Amanda Kosai, 25, is a drunk driver. She killed the father of five in a DUI accident in Detroit. For some reason that passes understanding Kosai's mother, Donna, and Donna's boyfriend though the victim statement given in court by the dead guy's sister was absolutely hilarious and they laughed out loud thru it and sat thee grinning like morons.
Judge Qiana Lillard was not pleased and ordered the boyfriend out of the court room. Shortly thereafter Donna got into a verbal hoorah with the Judge in the courtroom. Really, really stupid. He ordered her into custody for 93 days for contempt of court.
The next day she came back to court, groveled severely, and the judge suspended the remaining 92 days of her sentence.
The daughter got 3-15 for the felony DUI. It isn't too hard to figure out how she became to be so irresponsible. Assholes tend to not fall too far from the asshole tree.
BUT WILL TRUMP’S PLEDGE TO MOVE OUR EMBASSY FROM TEL AVIV TO JERUSALEM BE KEPT?
'This White House is in the promise-keeping business': Vice President Mike Pence vows 'unwavering' ties with Israel in speech to Jewish Republicans
Associated Press and Daily Mail
February 25, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence assured the Republican Jewish Coalition that he and President Donald Trump will work 'tirelessly' on enacting business-friendly policies at home and supporting Israel abroad.
'If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel,' Pence told the group on Friday night.
The Republican administration is 'assessing' whether to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, he said, and has put Iran 'on notice'.
Pence's words served as evidence of the fruits of years of the politically active group's labors.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is funded by billionaire donor Sheldon Adelson and was staged at his casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, which has become a de facto campaign stop for Republican presidential candidates over the past few years.
Speaking before a Shabbat dinner, Pence pledged to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to combat the 'endless bias' of the United Nations.
'We're going to keep our end of the bargain', said Pence. 'If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel.'
Although Pence reaffirmed that the US would support Israel’s national security he declined to say whether any agreement would necessitate the creation of a Palestinian state.
'President Trump is personally invested in forging a lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict', said Pence.
'Under President Trump, let me assure you: America will support the negotiation process, but as the president said, any agreement must be reached by both sides.
'While there will undoubtedly have to be compromises, know this: The Trump administration will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish state of Israel,' he added.
The RJC also drew the entire GOP presidential field to its December 2015 forum in Washington.
Now, with the first Republican White House in eight years, the group of Republican donors and Jewish leaders was among the first to hear from the new vice president.
Pence told the roughly 500 attendees that America's bonds with Israel had already grown stronger under the young administration.
President Barack Obama did not have a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many Republican Jews saw the Obama administration as insufficiently supportive of Israel.
Pence also ticked through Trump's domestic agenda, saying the president had already brought back American jobs.
'This White House is in the promise-keeping business,' Pence said.
The vice president shared stories from his trip to Germany last weekend — his first abroad as vice president.
He'd paid a visit to the former Dachau concentration camp, where thousands of Austrian and German Jews were among those imprisoned and killed.
He was joined on the tour by a survivor of the Holocaust who was at Dachau when it was liberated by American soldiers at the end of World War II.
Pence also talked about how this week he had made a surprise visit to a Jewish cemetery in Missouri where more than 150 gravestones had been toppled and vandalized.
Speaking through a bullhorn at the site, he said there was 'no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism' and then picked up a rake and helped clean up the cemetery.
In Las Vegas, the vice president effusively praised the Adelsons from the stage, saying that they 'in so many ways have given America a second chance' through their political work in the US and Israel.
Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave more than $20 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, making them among Trump's most generous benefactors, campaign records show.
'Rest assured we're going to keep our end of the bargain, too,' Pence said, thanking the Adelsons and RJC for 'steadfast support' throughout the campaign.
Yet, like so many staples of party politics — including the conservative activist conference taking place this week near Washington — the RJC has fit uneasily with Trump.
Adelson, who helps finance the RJC, didn't openly support Trump until the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The wariness was mutual.
Trump had called his GOP rivals 'puppets' of Adelson and prompted major heartburn among Republican Jews with his freewheeling comments at the 2015 RJC forum.
Trump has been appreciative.
At one of his final campaign stops, in Las Vegas, he called the couple 'really incredible people' who have been 'so supportive'.
The Adelsons also were front and center for Trump's swearing-in last month, and Sheldon Adelson was one of Trump's first dinner guests at the White House.
And Trump picked the leader of the super PAC that landed Adelson's money, Chicago businessman Todd Ricketts, as deputy commerce secretary.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pence spoke before about 500 Jewish Republicans. Adelson must have rounded up every Republican Jew there is.
Associated Press and Daily Mail
February 25, 2017
Vice President Mike Pence assured the Republican Jewish Coalition that he and President Donald Trump will work 'tirelessly' on enacting business-friendly policies at home and supporting Israel abroad.
'If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel,' Pence told the group on Friday night.
The Republican administration is 'assessing' whether to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, he said, and has put Iran 'on notice'.
Pence's words served as evidence of the fruits of years of the politically active group's labors.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is funded by billionaire donor Sheldon Adelson and was staged at his casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, which has become a de facto campaign stop for Republican presidential candidates over the past few years.
Speaking before a Shabbat dinner, Pence pledged to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to combat the 'endless bias' of the United Nations.
'We're going to keep our end of the bargain', said Pence. 'If the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel.'
Although Pence reaffirmed that the US would support Israel’s national security he declined to say whether any agreement would necessitate the creation of a Palestinian state.
'President Trump is personally invested in forging a lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict', said Pence.
'Under President Trump, let me assure you: America will support the negotiation process, but as the president said, any agreement must be reached by both sides.
'While there will undoubtedly have to be compromises, know this: The Trump administration will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish state of Israel,' he added.
The RJC also drew the entire GOP presidential field to its December 2015 forum in Washington.
Now, with the first Republican White House in eight years, the group of Republican donors and Jewish leaders was among the first to hear from the new vice president.
Pence told the roughly 500 attendees that America's bonds with Israel had already grown stronger under the young administration.
President Barack Obama did not have a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many Republican Jews saw the Obama administration as insufficiently supportive of Israel.
Pence also ticked through Trump's domestic agenda, saying the president had already brought back American jobs.
'This White House is in the promise-keeping business,' Pence said.
The vice president shared stories from his trip to Germany last weekend — his first abroad as vice president.
He'd paid a visit to the former Dachau concentration camp, where thousands of Austrian and German Jews were among those imprisoned and killed.
He was joined on the tour by a survivor of the Holocaust who was at Dachau when it was liberated by American soldiers at the end of World War II.
Pence also talked about how this week he had made a surprise visit to a Jewish cemetery in Missouri where more than 150 gravestones had been toppled and vandalized.
Speaking through a bullhorn at the site, he said there was 'no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism' and then picked up a rake and helped clean up the cemetery.
In Las Vegas, the vice president effusively praised the Adelsons from the stage, saying that they 'in so many ways have given America a second chance' through their political work in the US and Israel.
Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave more than $20 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, making them among Trump's most generous benefactors, campaign records show.
'Rest assured we're going to keep our end of the bargain, too,' Pence said, thanking the Adelsons and RJC for 'steadfast support' throughout the campaign.
Yet, like so many staples of party politics — including the conservative activist conference taking place this week near Washington — the RJC has fit uneasily with Trump.
Adelson, who helps finance the RJC, didn't openly support Trump until the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The wariness was mutual.
Trump had called his GOP rivals 'puppets' of Adelson and prompted major heartburn among Republican Jews with his freewheeling comments at the 2015 RJC forum.
Trump has been appreciative.
At one of his final campaign stops, in Las Vegas, he called the couple 'really incredible people' who have been 'so supportive'.
The Adelsons also were front and center for Trump's swearing-in last month, and Sheldon Adelson was one of Trump's first dinner guests at the White House.
And Trump picked the leader of the super PAC that landed Adelson's money, Chicago businessman Todd Ricketts, as deputy commerce secretary.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pence spoke before about 500 Jewish Republicans. Adelson must have rounded up every Republican Jew there is.
JUDGE REFUSES TO DISMISS BOWE BERGDAHL CASE BECAUSE TRUMP CALLED HIM A TRAITOR
Col. Jeffery Nance: “We have a man who eventually became President of the United States and Commander in Chief of all the armed forces making conclusive and disparaging comments, while campaigning for election, about a soldier facing potential court-martial. ... The Court recognizes the problematic potential created by these facts.”
Daily Mail and Associated Press
February 25, 2017
President Donald Trump's campaign-trail criticism of Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, while 'problematic,' hasn't prevented the soldier from getting a fair trial on charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, a military judge ruled Friday.
Bergdahl's lawyers had argued that Trump violated their client's due-process rights by repeatedly calling him a 'traitor' and that the judge should dismiss charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
One occasion took place in August 2015, when Trump called Bergdahl 'a dirty rotten traitor' while speaking to a New Hampshire crowd.
On Friday, Judge, Army Col Jeffery Nance, wrote in his ruling that Trump's comments were 'disturbing and disappointing' but didn't constitute unlawful command influence.
Nance agreed with prosecutors' arguments that Trump's comments amounted to campaign-trail rhetoric, and the judge wrote the comments shouldn't harm potential jurors' impartiality.
'The accused was merely the foil for delivering that political message,' Nance wrote. 'All reasonable members of the public and potential panel members will know that was what he was doing and will not allow the rhetoric to affect their impartiality.'
Nance did say, however, that he would allow defense attorneys wide leeway to question potential jurors about Trump. He said they can renew their request to dismiss the charges once they've sought to find out how Trump's comments affected potential jurors.
Nance wrote: 'We have a man who eventually became President of the United States and Commander in Chief of all the armed forces making conclusive and disparaging comments, while campaigning for election, about a soldier facing potential court-martial. ... The Court recognizes the problematic potential created by these facts.'
Bergdahl's lead defense attorney, Eugene Fidell, said that he planned to appeal Nance's ruling and would 'pursue the matter vigorously'.
The defense's motion, filed shortly after Trump was sworn in as president, cites more than 40 instances of Trump's criticism at public appearances and media interviews through August 2016.
Defense attorneys argued that it would be hard for potential military jurors to ignore what their commander in chief said.
Prosecutors argued that Trump's comments were campaign rhetoric aimed at actions taken by President Barack Obama's administration to bring Bergdahl home after he was held captive for five years by the Taliban and its allies.
Obama's decision in May 2014 to exchange Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners prompted some Republicans to accuse the president of jeopardizing the nation's safety.
Bergdahl, who is from Idaho, has said he walked off his post to cause alarm and draw attention to what he saw as problems with his unit.
Daily Mail and Associated Press
February 25, 2017
President Donald Trump's campaign-trail criticism of Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, while 'problematic,' hasn't prevented the soldier from getting a fair trial on charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, a military judge ruled Friday.
Bergdahl's lawyers had argued that Trump violated their client's due-process rights by repeatedly calling him a 'traitor' and that the judge should dismiss charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
One occasion took place in August 2015, when Trump called Bergdahl 'a dirty rotten traitor' while speaking to a New Hampshire crowd.
On Friday, Judge, Army Col Jeffery Nance, wrote in his ruling that Trump's comments were 'disturbing and disappointing' but didn't constitute unlawful command influence.
Nance agreed with prosecutors' arguments that Trump's comments amounted to campaign-trail rhetoric, and the judge wrote the comments shouldn't harm potential jurors' impartiality.
'The accused was merely the foil for delivering that political message,' Nance wrote. 'All reasonable members of the public and potential panel members will know that was what he was doing and will not allow the rhetoric to affect their impartiality.'
Nance did say, however, that he would allow defense attorneys wide leeway to question potential jurors about Trump. He said they can renew their request to dismiss the charges once they've sought to find out how Trump's comments affected potential jurors.
Nance wrote: 'We have a man who eventually became President of the United States and Commander in Chief of all the armed forces making conclusive and disparaging comments, while campaigning for election, about a soldier facing potential court-martial. ... The Court recognizes the problematic potential created by these facts.'
Bergdahl's lead defense attorney, Eugene Fidell, said that he planned to appeal Nance's ruling and would 'pursue the matter vigorously'.
The defense's motion, filed shortly after Trump was sworn in as president, cites more than 40 instances of Trump's criticism at public appearances and media interviews through August 2016.
Defense attorneys argued that it would be hard for potential military jurors to ignore what their commander in chief said.
Prosecutors argued that Trump's comments were campaign rhetoric aimed at actions taken by President Barack Obama's administration to bring Bergdahl home after he was held captive for five years by the Taliban and its allies.
Obama's decision in May 2014 to exchange Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners prompted some Republicans to accuse the president of jeopardizing the nation's safety.
Bergdahl, who is from Idaho, has said he walked off his post to cause alarm and draw attention to what he saw as problems with his unit.
TWO PROSTITUTES PROBABLY DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE ASSASSINATING KIM JONG-NAM WITH DEADLY CHEMICAL VX
Two 'assassins' reveal all: Women arrested over nerve agent killing of Kim Jong-nam tell police they were 'good time girls hired in Malaysian massage parlors for $90 and told to carry out baby oil prank'
By Richard Shears
Daily Mail
February 25, 2017
In the seedy, sex-driven, underworld beneath Malaysia's world-wide image of respectability, two 'good time girls' made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for 'patsies' to commit a murder.
Today the women, Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Siti Aishah, from Indonesia - both in their mid to late 20s - continued to be interrogated by Malaysian police about their roles in the murder of Kim Jong-nam who died after nerve agent was thrown in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 13 February.
They are understood to have admitted they had worked in massage parlours and had also escorted wealthy Asian men around town, ending up in their bedrooms - and they made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for women who could assume harmless identities for the deadly roles they were needed for.
Police are understood to be looking at preparing murder charges against the women despite their agreeing to tell everything about the men they met, the names they knew, and the promises that were made to them if they carried off their deadly mission of murdering Kim, the estranged elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Aishah has already admitted that she worked in a massage parlour, while Huong has told police that she earned money for her family back in Vietnam by escorting men in night clubs and being paid well for her services.
But, aside from the serious charges they now face - despite their claims that they thought they had been recruited to play a part in a jokey TV show in which members of the public would have a liquid sprayed in their faces - Huong has an added reason to regret.
She has fallen sick, police revealed, because she ingested some of the 'harmless' liquid she and Aishah were involved in spraying in Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur airport.
She has been vomiting and refusing food, sources said, because the liquid has been identified as a deadly nerve agent known as VX. Although she is not in any danger to her life, it is possible that she did not wash her hands properly after the airport incident.
Just where the deadly chemical came from - whether it was brought into the country by a North Korean agent or was produced locally - was still being investigated today but suspicion that it might have been produced in Kuala Lumpur has been suggested by The Star newspaper.
It reported that a hazardous material team had gone to an apartment in the city, understood to be where North Korean chemist, Ri Jong-chol, had been living, and had seized various chemicals, several pairs of gloves and shoes.
Malaysian experts are now trying to ascertain whether the deadly chemical used to kill Kim was made up of more than the nerve agent VX. But as far as the two arrested women were concerned, they continue to claim they did not know its dangers.
Aishah has told police that she believed the liquid was just baby oil.
Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Andreano Erwin, who visited Aishah today, told reporters today that she had been paid the equivalent of £72 to take part in the 'prank'.
'She didn't know it was poison. That is the answer from her,' he said.
'She only said in general that somebody had asked her to do it and she didn't know what would happened next.
'She mentioned some names but I did not recognise them. The names were very general…James, Jang, that's it.'
He said Aishah had told him that the men who had approached her were 'maybe Japanese or Korean.'
Eight North Koreans are wanted in connection with the murder, four of whom are suspected of having already escaped back to Pyongyang, but police are hoping for a 'big catch' with the arrest of a diplomat at the North Korean Embassy.
They have ordered 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Son, a second secretary at the embassy, to co-operate voluntarily with police - and he has been given 'reasonable time' to come forward.
Police chief Abdul Samah Mat said that if he failed to co-operate a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Malaysian police Saturday told the public they would do everything possible to ensure there was no risk from the lethal VX nerve agent used to assassinate Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
People were worried about the use of the highly toxic agent developed for chemical warfare, state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said, after the audacious February 13 attack by two assassins at Kuala Lumpur airport.
By Richard Shears
Daily Mail
February 25, 2017
In the seedy, sex-driven, underworld beneath Malaysia's world-wide image of respectability, two 'good time girls' made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for 'patsies' to commit a murder.
Today the women, Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Siti Aishah, from Indonesia - both in their mid to late 20s - continued to be interrogated by Malaysian police about their roles in the murder of Kim Jong-nam who died after nerve agent was thrown in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 13 February.
They are understood to have admitted they had worked in massage parlours and had also escorted wealthy Asian men around town, ending up in their bedrooms - and they made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for women who could assume harmless identities for the deadly roles they were needed for.
Police are understood to be looking at preparing murder charges against the women despite their agreeing to tell everything about the men they met, the names they knew, and the promises that were made to them if they carried off their deadly mission of murdering Kim, the estranged elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Aishah has already admitted that she worked in a massage parlour, while Huong has told police that she earned money for her family back in Vietnam by escorting men in night clubs and being paid well for her services.
But, aside from the serious charges they now face - despite their claims that they thought they had been recruited to play a part in a jokey TV show in which members of the public would have a liquid sprayed in their faces - Huong has an added reason to regret.
She has fallen sick, police revealed, because she ingested some of the 'harmless' liquid she and Aishah were involved in spraying in Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur airport.
She has been vomiting and refusing food, sources said, because the liquid has been identified as a deadly nerve agent known as VX. Although she is not in any danger to her life, it is possible that she did not wash her hands properly after the airport incident.
Just where the deadly chemical came from - whether it was brought into the country by a North Korean agent or was produced locally - was still being investigated today but suspicion that it might have been produced in Kuala Lumpur has been suggested by The Star newspaper.
It reported that a hazardous material team had gone to an apartment in the city, understood to be where North Korean chemist, Ri Jong-chol, had been living, and had seized various chemicals, several pairs of gloves and shoes.
Malaysian experts are now trying to ascertain whether the deadly chemical used to kill Kim was made up of more than the nerve agent VX. But as far as the two arrested women were concerned, they continue to claim they did not know its dangers.
Aishah has told police that she believed the liquid was just baby oil.
Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Andreano Erwin, who visited Aishah today, told reporters today that she had been paid the equivalent of £72 to take part in the 'prank'.
'She didn't know it was poison. That is the answer from her,' he said.
'She only said in general that somebody had asked her to do it and she didn't know what would happened next.
'She mentioned some names but I did not recognise them. The names were very general…James, Jang, that's it.'
He said Aishah had told him that the men who had approached her were 'maybe Japanese or Korean.'
Eight North Koreans are wanted in connection with the murder, four of whom are suspected of having already escaped back to Pyongyang, but police are hoping for a 'big catch' with the arrest of a diplomat at the North Korean Embassy.
They have ordered 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Son, a second secretary at the embassy, to co-operate voluntarily with police - and he has been given 'reasonable time' to come forward.
Police chief Abdul Samah Mat said that if he failed to co-operate a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Malaysian police Saturday told the public they would do everything possible to ensure there was no risk from the lethal VX nerve agent used to assassinate Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
People were worried about the use of the highly toxic agent developed for chemical warfare, state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said, after the audacious February 13 attack by two assassins at Kuala Lumpur airport.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
IS GREECE STILL CIRCLING THE BOWL? (YES)
by Bob Walsh
Greece has another loan which falls due on July. This is tied to their third bailout by the E.U. It is $6.7 billion and is looking like they will default.
Some of the other members of the E.U. (notably Germany) are not interesting in throwing more money into the porcelain fixture unless the IMF is going to assist. They did so in the first two Greek bailouts. They have, thus far, refused to do so with #3.
The Greek GDP has shrunk by 25% In slightly less than ten years. Its unemployment rate is around 25%.
So, will Greece be kicked out of the E.U. Probably not immediately but the outlook beyond immediately is not so hot.
They could always sell the Acropolis to Trump for a hotel.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What got Greece into this mess in the first place is that no one pays their taxes and the government does little to make the Greeks pay up.
Greece has another loan which falls due on July. This is tied to their third bailout by the E.U. It is $6.7 billion and is looking like they will default.
Some of the other members of the E.U. (notably Germany) are not interesting in throwing more money into the porcelain fixture unless the IMF is going to assist. They did so in the first two Greek bailouts. They have, thus far, refused to do so with #3.
The Greek GDP has shrunk by 25% In slightly less than ten years. Its unemployment rate is around 25%.
So, will Greece be kicked out of the E.U. Probably not immediately but the outlook beyond immediately is not so hot.
They could always sell the Acropolis to Trump for a hotel.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What got Greece into this mess in the first place is that no one pays their taxes and the government does little to make the Greeks pay up.
ANOTHER SET OF NOMINEES FOR PARENT OF THE YEAR
by Bob Walsh
This one is a little complicated as it involves two generations and anonymous charges, but I will have a shot at it.
The only parent that we know of by name is Antonio Parra-Rodriguez, 25, a denizen of Concord, CA. Also involved is a girl who he knocked up four years ago, when she was 12 and the girls parents, who approved of and encouraged the relationship. None of them are named as it would put the name of the girl in the public domain.
This situation came to the attention of the authorities when someone made a domestic violence complaint against Parra-Rodriguez. It wasn't explained whether that was this girl or a second under-14-year old that this guy also knocked up.
All three of the adults involved in this sorry mess are in the Contra Costa County slammer right now.
This one is a little complicated as it involves two generations and anonymous charges, but I will have a shot at it.
The only parent that we know of by name is Antonio Parra-Rodriguez, 25, a denizen of Concord, CA. Also involved is a girl who he knocked up four years ago, when she was 12 and the girls parents, who approved of and encouraged the relationship. None of them are named as it would put the name of the girl in the public domain.
This situation came to the attention of the authorities when someone made a domestic violence complaint against Parra-Rodriguez. It wasn't explained whether that was this girl or a second under-14-year old that this guy also knocked up.
All three of the adults involved in this sorry mess are in the Contra Costa County slammer right now.
J. C. PENNY DOING A BIT MORE PULLING BACK
by Bob Walsh
J. C. Penny company announced Friday that it was closing about 13-14% of it's stores in the near future. These stores (about 130 to 140) represent less than 4% of the net for J. C. Penny. It is also closing down 2 distribution centers and offering early retirement to a significant number of workers.
They are also shifting some of their focus, among other things Penny's is now selling major appliances again, an area they got out of some time back. They are also expanding their in-store beauty parlor operations.
The brick-and-mortar retail operation is rough, and getting rougher all the time.
J. C. Penny company announced Friday that it was closing about 13-14% of it's stores in the near future. These stores (about 130 to 140) represent less than 4% of the net for J. C. Penny. It is also closing down 2 distribution centers and offering early retirement to a significant number of workers.
They are also shifting some of their focus, among other things Penny's is now selling major appliances again, an area they got out of some time back. They are also expanding their in-store beauty parlor operations.
The brick-and-mortar retail operation is rough, and getting rougher all the time.
MORE TRUMP BUMP
by Bob Walsh
As of Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Averages has climbed for eleven days straight. Apparently this is some sort of record. I would venture a guess that, at least so far, the business community likes what Trump has been saying and doing.
As of Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Averages has climbed for eleven days straight. Apparently this is some sort of record. I would venture a guess that, at least so far, the business community likes what Trump has been saying and doing.
NOTABLE DEATH
by Bob Walsh
Brunhilde Pomsel died last month in her native Germany at the age of 106. You probably never heard of her. Neither had I until I read about her in the Economist this week. During WW II she was one of six private secretaries to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister for Nazi Germany.
If you believe the recent biopic about her she had no idea whatsoever what the Nazi's were up to with regard to rounding up and slaughtering Jews. In fact her best girlfriend was a Jew as was the love of her life. The gf died in Auschwitz. The boyfriend fled to Amsterdam. She continued to visit him for a while but eventually that became untenable.
After the war she spent five years doing menial labor in a Soviet prison camp. When she returned to her flat in Berlin afterwards her place was still intact including her clothes in the closet.
She asserts that she had no idea what was going on until the last ten days of the war, which she spent in Hitler's bunker, stinking drunk. Goebbels and his wife killed themselves after murdering their own children. She barely knew her boss, but said that Mrs. Goebbels was a very nice lady and was kind to her.
Brunhilde Pomsel died last month in her native Germany at the age of 106. You probably never heard of her. Neither had I until I read about her in the Economist this week. During WW II she was one of six private secretaries to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister for Nazi Germany.
If you believe the recent biopic about her she had no idea whatsoever what the Nazi's were up to with regard to rounding up and slaughtering Jews. In fact her best girlfriend was a Jew as was the love of her life. The gf died in Auschwitz. The boyfriend fled to Amsterdam. She continued to visit him for a while but eventually that became untenable.
After the war she spent five years doing menial labor in a Soviet prison camp. When she returned to her flat in Berlin afterwards her place was still intact including her clothes in the closet.
She asserts that she had no idea what was going on until the last ten days of the war, which she spent in Hitler's bunker, stinking drunk. Goebbels and his wife killed themselves after murdering their own children. She barely knew her boss, but said that Mrs. Goebbels was a very nice lady and was kind to her.
TRUMP HAS NO TROUBLE WITH PRIVATEERS
by Bob Walsh
One of the good-bye presents from the God-King, Barack I, Emperor of the Known Universe, was an order thru the DOJ to shut down the federal relationship with private prison operators.
The new A.G. has just reversed that decision, asserting that the previous order impaired the BOP's ability to manage their population.
One of the good-bye presents from the God-King, Barack I, Emperor of the Known Universe, was an order thru the DOJ to shut down the federal relationship with private prison operators.
The new A.G. has just reversed that decision, asserting that the previous order impaired the BOP's ability to manage their population.
WOMEN IN ISRAELI COMBAT UNITS
Number of female IDF combat soldiers to increase significantly this year
By Anna Ahronheim
The Jerusalem Post
February 20, 2017
There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions. There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions.
A new mixed-gender army battalion will increase the number of female combat soldiers in the next year, specifically those stationed on the country’s borders.
According to a senior military officer, 2017 will see the enlistment of more than 1,130 female combat soldiers, with close to 900 serving in combat-intelligence units, 200 in the artillery corps and another 50 in the army’s infantry units.
There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions – Caracal, Bardalas and Lions of Jordan – and are assigned to guard the borders with Egypt and Jordan.
Enlistment for the IDF’s fourth mixed-gender battalion, which is yet to be named and will be stationed in the Jordan Valley, will be launched in March and be operationally active by November. This new unit accounts for the spike in female combat soldiers, the senior officer said, adding that all mixed-gender battalions will be united into one professional division.
According to IDF figures, 38% of female recruits have asked to serve in combat roles, which is one of the reasons the army is opening new combat positions to women.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, a second senior officer called the move to increase the number of female combat soldiers “a smart and good revolution,” because it increases the number of potential top commanders exponentially.
While his battalion is currently composed of 35% female combat soldiers and 65% male, he told the Post he hopes it will be 50%-50% in the near future.
“What a woman brings to the battlefield is her maturity and calm nature and we need this,” he said. “A woman doesn’t need to act a man, carrying 45 kilos, for example, she needs to be a woman bringing her unique strength to the unit in the field.”
An estimated 90% of positions in the IDF are currently open to women, including combat roles in the navy, Home Front Command, Artillery Corps and Military Police in the West Bank. Other combat posts that have been cleared for female soldiers include operating the Spike (Tammuz) missile and the hand-launched Skylark UAV.
Despite the push for more female combat soldiers, however, combat units remain overwhelmingly male, with female combat soldiers still accounting for only 7% of frontline troops.
Nevertheless, that is an increase from 3% four years ago, and the army expects that number to continue to rise.
The army is considering opening additional options to women to make up for the loss of manpower since reducing the mandatory service period for men from three years to 32 months. These include positions aboard the navy’s Sa’ar missile ships and in the Armored Corps, a controversial move harshly criticized by former top IDF officers.
According to the first senior officer, the army is continuing to examine the option of opening the armored corps to women, saying the army will be launching a pilot project to see how suitable women would be to serve in tanks from a physiological, technical and professional perspective.
While the move will be “studied seriously,” he said, there would be no mixed-gender tank crews, and female tank crews would not be part of battalions that operate in enemy territory.
They, instead, would be deployed only to the borders.
The army has admitted that the training of female combat soldiers has not been ideal, so the training of all combat companies will be moved to one base and soldiers will receive specific training based on the borders on which they will be stationed.
“Those who guard the borders might not know how to fight in Beirut, but they are experts in guarding our borders and that is one of the most important jobs in the army,” the first senior officer said.
The IDF will also make several modifications to enable more women to complete their training in accordance with operational necessity. The IDF will allot more time to achieve the minimum level of physical fitness needed for combat positions to female recruits, and changes will be made to the equipment of female soldiers, such as replacing heavy Tavor assault rifles with lighter M-16 rifles and smaller kneepads, helmets and armored vests that better fit women’s bodies.
By Anna Ahronheim
The Jerusalem Post
February 20, 2017
There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions. There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions.
A new mixed-gender army battalion will increase the number of female combat soldiers in the next year, specifically those stationed on the country’s borders.
According to a senior military officer, 2017 will see the enlistment of more than 1,130 female combat soldiers, with close to 900 serving in combat-intelligence units, 200 in the artillery corps and another 50 in the army’s infantry units.
There has been a significant increase of interest by religious female draftees to serve in combat- intelligence (reconnaissance) units where fighters are placed in one of the IDF’s co-ed battalions – Caracal, Bardalas and Lions of Jordan – and are assigned to guard the borders with Egypt and Jordan.
Enlistment for the IDF’s fourth mixed-gender battalion, which is yet to be named and will be stationed in the Jordan Valley, will be launched in March and be operationally active by November. This new unit accounts for the spike in female combat soldiers, the senior officer said, adding that all mixed-gender battalions will be united into one professional division.
According to IDF figures, 38% of female recruits have asked to serve in combat roles, which is one of the reasons the army is opening new combat positions to women.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, a second senior officer called the move to increase the number of female combat soldiers “a smart and good revolution,” because it increases the number of potential top commanders exponentially.
While his battalion is currently composed of 35% female combat soldiers and 65% male, he told the Post he hopes it will be 50%-50% in the near future.
“What a woman brings to the battlefield is her maturity and calm nature and we need this,” he said. “A woman doesn’t need to act a man, carrying 45 kilos, for example, she needs to be a woman bringing her unique strength to the unit in the field.”
An estimated 90% of positions in the IDF are currently open to women, including combat roles in the navy, Home Front Command, Artillery Corps and Military Police in the West Bank. Other combat posts that have been cleared for female soldiers include operating the Spike (Tammuz) missile and the hand-launched Skylark UAV.
Despite the push for more female combat soldiers, however, combat units remain overwhelmingly male, with female combat soldiers still accounting for only 7% of frontline troops.
Nevertheless, that is an increase from 3% four years ago, and the army expects that number to continue to rise.
The army is considering opening additional options to women to make up for the loss of manpower since reducing the mandatory service period for men from three years to 32 months. These include positions aboard the navy’s Sa’ar missile ships and in the Armored Corps, a controversial move harshly criticized by former top IDF officers.
According to the first senior officer, the army is continuing to examine the option of opening the armored corps to women, saying the army will be launching a pilot project to see how suitable women would be to serve in tanks from a physiological, technical and professional perspective.
While the move will be “studied seriously,” he said, there would be no mixed-gender tank crews, and female tank crews would not be part of battalions that operate in enemy territory.
They, instead, would be deployed only to the borders.
The army has admitted that the training of female combat soldiers has not been ideal, so the training of all combat companies will be moved to one base and soldiers will receive specific training based on the borders on which they will be stationed.
“Those who guard the borders might not know how to fight in Beirut, but they are experts in guarding our borders and that is one of the most important jobs in the army,” the first senior officer said.
The IDF will also make several modifications to enable more women to complete their training in accordance with operational necessity. The IDF will allot more time to achieve the minimum level of physical fitness needed for combat positions to female recruits, and changes will be made to the equipment of female soldiers, such as replacing heavy Tavor assault rifles with lighter M-16 rifles and smaller kneepads, helmets and armored vests that better fit women’s bodies.
COPS REALLY ENJOY THEIR WORK IN ARGENTINA
Two Argentinian police officers caught on video having sex in their patrol car as they receive robbery call on the radio
By Gerard Couzens
Daily Mail
February 24, 2017
Two Argentinian police officers are facing disciplinary action after they were filmed having sex inside a atrol car as they received an alert about a robbery on their radio.
In vidpeo of the incident, the unnamed female officer can be seen pausing as she hears the call to head to a crime scene, but then continues to lift up her unnamed male colleague's T-shirt, which features the slogan, 'Core Durability and Strength'.
An investigation into the video started after the mobile footage, which featured a clip of the woman's police badge on her arm that detailed her force, led to her and her colleague's identification. It is unknown how the footage was made public.
The two officers work for the police force in Rosario, Argentina, where football star Lionel Messi was born.
In the clip, the female officer can be seen putting her hand up to the mobile phone to stop her colleague from filming them before appearing to allow him to carry on recording the sex scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Security of Santa Fe, the province Rosario forms part of, released a statement following the incident.
The statement said: 'The Ministry of Security of Santa Fe informs, with regards to the video in which two police officers appear having sex in a patrol car, that the Violence and Institutional Office of the local State Prosecutor's Officer led by Karina Bartocci, has been informed.
'Also a disciplinary probe which will involve the suspension of both officers has been initiated.
'We condemn this extremely offensive incident for the people of this province, given that we're dealing with public servants on duty who should be protecting the lives and security of our people.'
This isn't the first scandal to come out of Rosario's police force this month.
Earlier in February, footage emerged of two female community police officers in Rosario celebrating the seizure of a cannabis plant.
One of the women was filmed laughing and joking as she held the massive plant up and shouted: 'Who wants to smoke this? This is what we took off someone we stopped and searched.
'We asked him, "Do you want to run off home and leave us with this or do you want us to take you into custody and he wisely decided to leave it with us?" And this is what we got.'
Both were ordered to hand in their weapons and uniforms as part of an ongoing probe.
In December a police officer in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires was filmed snorting what appeared to be cocaine inside his patrol car while on duty.
The cop was still wearing his bulletproof vest when he bent his head down to take the drugs as messages came across his police radio.
By Gerard Couzens
Daily Mail
February 24, 2017
Two Argentinian police officers are facing disciplinary action after they were filmed having sex inside a atrol car as they received an alert about a robbery on their radio.
In vidpeo of the incident, the unnamed female officer can be seen pausing as she hears the call to head to a crime scene, but then continues to lift up her unnamed male colleague's T-shirt, which features the slogan, 'Core Durability and Strength'.
An investigation into the video started after the mobile footage, which featured a clip of the woman's police badge on her arm that detailed her force, led to her and her colleague's identification. It is unknown how the footage was made public.
The two officers work for the police force in Rosario, Argentina, where football star Lionel Messi was born.
In the clip, the female officer can be seen putting her hand up to the mobile phone to stop her colleague from filming them before appearing to allow him to carry on recording the sex scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Security of Santa Fe, the province Rosario forms part of, released a statement following the incident.
The statement said: 'The Ministry of Security of Santa Fe informs, with regards to the video in which two police officers appear having sex in a patrol car, that the Violence and Institutional Office of the local State Prosecutor's Officer led by Karina Bartocci, has been informed.
'Also a disciplinary probe which will involve the suspension of both officers has been initiated.
'We condemn this extremely offensive incident for the people of this province, given that we're dealing with public servants on duty who should be protecting the lives and security of our people.'
This isn't the first scandal to come out of Rosario's police force this month.
Earlier in February, footage emerged of two female community police officers in Rosario celebrating the seizure of a cannabis plant.
One of the women was filmed laughing and joking as she held the massive plant up and shouted: 'Who wants to smoke this? This is what we took off someone we stopped and searched.
'We asked him, "Do you want to run off home and leave us with this or do you want us to take you into custody and he wisely decided to leave it with us?" And this is what we got.'
Both were ordered to hand in their weapons and uniforms as part of an ongoing probe.
In December a police officer in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires was filmed snorting what appeared to be cocaine inside his patrol car while on duty.
The cop was still wearing his bulletproof vest when he bent his head down to take the drugs as messages came across his police radio.
Friday, February 24, 2017
TRUMP DOES NOT LIKE POT HEADS
by Bob Walsh
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that they will likely take enforcement action against recreational pot users in the nine states (including D.C.) where recreational marijuana is legal. This could put a major crimp in what is said to be a potentially $5 billion a year industry.
Personally I hope he does. Disregard for one law breeds disregard for all laws. Of course, in the People's Republic of California, you can get a medical marijuana card essentially for asking for one. I understand that one of the leading causes for issuing them is stress over the possibility that you will no longer be allowed to smoke marijuana.
The feds assert that they will NOT be going after medical marijuana users even though that is just as illegal under federal law as recreational pot use.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, by all means, unleash the DEA!
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that they will likely take enforcement action against recreational pot users in the nine states (including D.C.) where recreational marijuana is legal. This could put a major crimp in what is said to be a potentially $5 billion a year industry.
Personally I hope he does. Disregard for one law breeds disregard for all laws. Of course, in the People's Republic of California, you can get a medical marijuana card essentially for asking for one. I understand that one of the leading causes for issuing them is stress over the possibility that you will no longer be allowed to smoke marijuana.
The feds assert that they will NOT be going after medical marijuana users even though that is just as illegal under federal law as recreational pot use.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, by all means, unleash the DEA!
BOOBS IN FT. COLLINS, COLORADO
by Bob Walsh
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson has just ruled that the Fort Collins ordinance against women appearing topless in public is unconstitutional and unenforceable due to gender discrimination.
I understand that area is very pretty. Depending on the general appearance of those likely to avail themselves of this new-found freedom that situation may improve, or then again maybe not.
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson has just ruled that the Fort Collins ordinance against women appearing topless in public is unconstitutional and unenforceable due to gender discrimination.
I understand that area is very pretty. Depending on the general appearance of those likely to avail themselves of this new-found freedom that situation may improve, or then again maybe not.
TO HELL WITH THIS SHIT
by Bob Walsh
Regular news followers will remember that there was a pretty serious riot and partial takeover at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware on February 1. One would tend to expect a few staff members to transfer, resign or retire after such an incident, especially involving a prolonged hostage situation and the murder of a staff member.
What has actually happened in the three weeks since the incident 29 staff members, primarily health care workers, have resigned. An additional eight people, custody employees, have put in their papers.
Maybe its just me, but I can't help but think that when that many staff bail out they believe that there is something monumentally wrong with the facility and that it is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future.
Regular news followers will remember that there was a pretty serious riot and partial takeover at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware on February 1. One would tend to expect a few staff members to transfer, resign or retire after such an incident, especially involving a prolonged hostage situation and the murder of a staff member.
What has actually happened in the three weeks since the incident 29 staff members, primarily health care workers, have resigned. An additional eight people, custody employees, have put in their papers.
Maybe its just me, but I can't help but think that when that many staff bail out they believe that there is something monumentally wrong with the facility and that it is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future.
UNLEASH THE DEA
If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal marijuana laws, it would nullify the recreational use of pot in those states that have legalized it
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Politics
February 23, 2017
In 2013, President Obama’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to stop enforcing federal drug laws that contradict state marijuana policies. That order also put a leash on the DEA.
Now a number of states, most notably Washington, Colorado and California, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. That blue haze you see in Denver is not car pollution, it’s pot pollution.
The DEA has classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the same as heroin and cocaine. Under federal law it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied.
Now that Trump is President and Jeff Sessions is Attorney General, it’s time to unleash the DEA and put a stop to the marijuana legalization nonsense. If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal laws against marijuana in those states that have legalized its recreational use, it would in effect nullify the state legalization laws.
More and more recent studies by reputable researchers have shown that marijuana is indeed a dangerous drug, contrary to the claim by pot proponents that it is innocuous. Marijuana should not be legalized.
The pro-pot crowd claims that by legalizing marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels would be driven out of business. That is patently untrue! In Colorado for instance, the cartels are doing a thriving business. Many stoners prefer to buy their pot on the black market because it’s cheaper on the street corner than in the ‘legal’ pot shops where they would have to pay the added on state and local taxes.
Will Trump and Sessions unleash the DEA to go after the federal law violators in Washington, Colorado, California and the other states that have legalized pot? I’m not holding my breath.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Politics
February 23, 2017
In 2013, President Obama’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to stop enforcing federal drug laws that contradict state marijuana policies. That order also put a leash on the DEA.
Now a number of states, most notably Washington, Colorado and California, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. That blue haze you see in Denver is not car pollution, it’s pot pollution.
The DEA has classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the same as heroin and cocaine. Under federal law it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied.
Now that Trump is President and Jeff Sessions is Attorney General, it’s time to unleash the DEA and put a stop to the marijuana legalization nonsense. If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal laws against marijuana in those states that have legalized its recreational use, it would in effect nullify the state legalization laws.
More and more recent studies by reputable researchers have shown that marijuana is indeed a dangerous drug, contrary to the claim by pot proponents that it is innocuous. Marijuana should not be legalized.
The pro-pot crowd claims that by legalizing marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels would be driven out of business. That is patently untrue! In Colorado for instance, the cartels are doing a thriving business. Many stoners prefer to buy their pot on the black market because it’s cheaper on the street corner than in the ‘legal’ pot shops where they would have to pay the added on state and local taxes.
Will Trump and Sessions unleash the DEA to go after the federal law violators in Washington, Colorado, California and the other states that have legalized pot? I’m not holding my breath.
STOP-AND-FRISK NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT NON-AGGRSSIVE POLICING
Milwaukee Police Sued Over 'Stop-and-Frisks' of African-Americans and Latinos
By Gina Barton and Ashley Luthern
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 23, 2017
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Police Department performs thousands of illegal stop-and-frisks targeting African Americans and Latinos every year, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Wisconsin.
The suit, filed against the city, the Fire and Police Commission and Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, claims police routinely pull people over and stop them on the street without cause, demanding identification and searching them or their vehicles. Such stops are a violation of the fourth amendment, which requires police to have "reasonable suspicion" that the person is dangerous or has committed a crime, the suit says.
The suit also accuses officers of conducting stop-and-frisks "motivated by race and ethnicity" in violation of the 14th amendment.
Named plaintiffs in the class-action suit include a mother who says police stopped her son just blocks from his school when he was 11 and a 60-year-old school secretary who says police followed her and her 4-year-old granddaughter into her house without her permission, claiming they had evidence of heroin use.
"Black and Latino people throughout Milwaukee -- including children -- fear that they may be stopped, frisked, or otherwise treated like criminal suspects when doing nothing more than walking to a friend's house or home from school, driving to and from the homes of loved ones, running errands, or simply taking a leisurely walk or drive through the city," the suit says.
On Wednesday, Flynn denied the allegations.
"The Milwaukee Police Department has never used the practice of 'stop and frisk,' nor has there ever been a quota for traffic stops," he said in a written statement. "However, traffic stops in high-crime areas have been proven to reduce the number of non-fatal shootings, robberies and motor vehicle thefts."
One the plaintiffs, Charles Collins, has been repeatedly stopped by police during the 55 years he has lived in Milwaukee.
"As a black man in Wisconsin, I'm edgy when I'm going outside," said Collins, a veteran and retired nursing assistant. "You should have the freedom to move around freely with no apprehension, no dread."
The Milwaukee Police Department's crime-prevention strategy includes "blanketing certain geographic areas in which residents are predominantly people of color with 'saturation patrols' by MPD officers, who conduct high-volume, suspicionless stops and frisks throughout the area," the suit says.
"As a result, the combined number of traffic and pedestrian stops skyrocketed" from 66,657 in 2007 to a high point of 268,809 in 2012, according to the suit and police department data. It has mostly trended down since, coming in at 196,434 in 2015, the most recent year available.
Milwaukee's population is about 600,000.
Mike Crivello, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, denied officers make stops based on race or ethnicity. The problem is Flynn's emphasis on "quantity of work over quality," he said.
"It is unfortunate that the mandated quota-like demands of the chief of police, sanctioned by the mayor, has sown the seeds of distrust," Crivello said in a statement.
The police department and Fire and Police Commission have been on notice since at least 2011, when a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed that black Milwaukee drivers were seven times as likely to be pulled over as whites, the suit says.
At the time, Flynn conceded that not all those people were involved in criminal activity.
"Yes, of course, we are going to stop lots of innocent people," he told the Journal Sentinel in 2011. "The point is, do folks understand what their role is as a cooperative citizen in having a safe environment."
A new analysis by the ACLU "strongly suggests" Milwaukee police officers often don't have legal reasons for stops, the suit says.
"The bottom line is that the data we have so far on this unlawful and massive stop-and-frisk program show that black and Latino people are far more likely to be targeted for police stops, which raises serious concerns," said Nusrat Choudhury, the lead attorney on the suit.
Alicia Silvestre, who is Latina, says she was targeted in 2015. Police pulled her over, followed her home, aggressively entered her house and dumped out her purse looking for her driver's license -- all while her 4-year-old granddaughter cried, according to the suit. When she called to complain, an officer told her she was pulled over for running a red light. But there was no light at the Bay View intersection where the stop occurred, the suit says.
Flynn maintains the disparities in stops reflect demographics of victims and perpetrators. In 2016, 79% of homicide victims and 75% of aggravated assault victims were African-American, as were more than 80% of the suspects in those crime categories, he said Wednesday.
"What we've been doing is using lawful traffic enforcement in public spaces to affect the environment," he said during a news conference.
The stops often don't result in citations or arrests and despite more police contact with citizens, the number of complaints against officers has declined annually since 2007, he said Wednesday.
Cumbersome complaint process
Tracy Adams, another plaintiff in the suit, said she tried to file a complaint but got only vague answers about how to do so.
Her son has been stopped at least three times over the past several years, beginning in 2010 when he was 11, the suit says. When no one answered the door at a friend's house, he took out his phone. Police grabbed it and took him to a squad car, where they patted him down.
When Adams called to complain about how officers treated her son, a sergeant at District 7 explained "that MPD officers have 'a policy to stop young men walking through alleys,' " the suit says.
It seemed to her the officers thought the issue was a "waste of time."
Earlier this month, the commission made it possible to file complaints online and began offering forms in Spanish and Hmong. It also relaxed the initial filing requirement so people do not need to have the forms notarized before submitting them.
DOJ report awaited
The ACLU's lawsuit comes as the public awaits the outcome of a collaborative reform report from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is expected to evaluate the Police Department's use of force, training and policies, including those that address stops and searches of citizens.
Department of Justice report on Milwaukee police is being 'finalized'
Flynn requested the voluntary review more than a year ago -- on the same day federal prosecutors announced they would not charge a now-fired Milwaukee police officer with the on-duty fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton in Red Arrow Park.
The ACLU filed the suit while the report is pending because the Justice Department's recommendations through the collaborative reform process are not legally binding, said Choudhury, the attorney. If a department is violating constitutional rights, the process cannot ensure those violations stop, she said.
"This lawsuit at its core seeks to advance evidence-based and bias-free policing as do other civil rights lawsuits challenging massive stop-and-frisk programs," Choudhury said.
In 2013, a judge forced the New York Police Department to curb the practice of stop-and-frisk after a similar lawsuit.
By Gina Barton and Ashley Luthern
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 23, 2017
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Police Department performs thousands of illegal stop-and-frisks targeting African Americans and Latinos every year, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the ACLU of Wisconsin.
The suit, filed against the city, the Fire and Police Commission and Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, claims police routinely pull people over and stop them on the street without cause, demanding identification and searching them or their vehicles. Such stops are a violation of the fourth amendment, which requires police to have "reasonable suspicion" that the person is dangerous or has committed a crime, the suit says.
The suit also accuses officers of conducting stop-and-frisks "motivated by race and ethnicity" in violation of the 14th amendment.
Named plaintiffs in the class-action suit include a mother who says police stopped her son just blocks from his school when he was 11 and a 60-year-old school secretary who says police followed her and her 4-year-old granddaughter into her house without her permission, claiming they had evidence of heroin use.
"Black and Latino people throughout Milwaukee -- including children -- fear that they may be stopped, frisked, or otherwise treated like criminal suspects when doing nothing more than walking to a friend's house or home from school, driving to and from the homes of loved ones, running errands, or simply taking a leisurely walk or drive through the city," the suit says.
On Wednesday, Flynn denied the allegations.
"The Milwaukee Police Department has never used the practice of 'stop and frisk,' nor has there ever been a quota for traffic stops," he said in a written statement. "However, traffic stops in high-crime areas have been proven to reduce the number of non-fatal shootings, robberies and motor vehicle thefts."
One the plaintiffs, Charles Collins, has been repeatedly stopped by police during the 55 years he has lived in Milwaukee.
"As a black man in Wisconsin, I'm edgy when I'm going outside," said Collins, a veteran and retired nursing assistant. "You should have the freedom to move around freely with no apprehension, no dread."
The Milwaukee Police Department's crime-prevention strategy includes "blanketing certain geographic areas in which residents are predominantly people of color with 'saturation patrols' by MPD officers, who conduct high-volume, suspicionless stops and frisks throughout the area," the suit says.
"As a result, the combined number of traffic and pedestrian stops skyrocketed" from 66,657 in 2007 to a high point of 268,809 in 2012, according to the suit and police department data. It has mostly trended down since, coming in at 196,434 in 2015, the most recent year available.
Milwaukee's population is about 600,000.
Mike Crivello, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, denied officers make stops based on race or ethnicity. The problem is Flynn's emphasis on "quantity of work over quality," he said.
"It is unfortunate that the mandated quota-like demands of the chief of police, sanctioned by the mayor, has sown the seeds of distrust," Crivello said in a statement.
The police department and Fire and Police Commission have been on notice since at least 2011, when a Journal Sentinel investigation revealed that black Milwaukee drivers were seven times as likely to be pulled over as whites, the suit says.
At the time, Flynn conceded that not all those people were involved in criminal activity.
"Yes, of course, we are going to stop lots of innocent people," he told the Journal Sentinel in 2011. "The point is, do folks understand what their role is as a cooperative citizen in having a safe environment."
A new analysis by the ACLU "strongly suggests" Milwaukee police officers often don't have legal reasons for stops, the suit says.
"The bottom line is that the data we have so far on this unlawful and massive stop-and-frisk program show that black and Latino people are far more likely to be targeted for police stops, which raises serious concerns," said Nusrat Choudhury, the lead attorney on the suit.
Alicia Silvestre, who is Latina, says she was targeted in 2015. Police pulled her over, followed her home, aggressively entered her house and dumped out her purse looking for her driver's license -- all while her 4-year-old granddaughter cried, according to the suit. When she called to complain, an officer told her she was pulled over for running a red light. But there was no light at the Bay View intersection where the stop occurred, the suit says.
Flynn maintains the disparities in stops reflect demographics of victims and perpetrators. In 2016, 79% of homicide victims and 75% of aggravated assault victims were African-American, as were more than 80% of the suspects in those crime categories, he said Wednesday.
"What we've been doing is using lawful traffic enforcement in public spaces to affect the environment," he said during a news conference.
The stops often don't result in citations or arrests and despite more police contact with citizens, the number of complaints against officers has declined annually since 2007, he said Wednesday.
Cumbersome complaint process
Tracy Adams, another plaintiff in the suit, said she tried to file a complaint but got only vague answers about how to do so.
Her son has been stopped at least three times over the past several years, beginning in 2010 when he was 11, the suit says. When no one answered the door at a friend's house, he took out his phone. Police grabbed it and took him to a squad car, where they patted him down.
When Adams called to complain about how officers treated her son, a sergeant at District 7 explained "that MPD officers have 'a policy to stop young men walking through alleys,' " the suit says.
It seemed to her the officers thought the issue was a "waste of time."
Earlier this month, the commission made it possible to file complaints online and began offering forms in Spanish and Hmong. It also relaxed the initial filing requirement so people do not need to have the forms notarized before submitting them.
DOJ report awaited
The ACLU's lawsuit comes as the public awaits the outcome of a collaborative reform report from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is expected to evaluate the Police Department's use of force, training and policies, including those that address stops and searches of citizens.
Department of Justice report on Milwaukee police is being 'finalized'
Flynn requested the voluntary review more than a year ago -- on the same day federal prosecutors announced they would not charge a now-fired Milwaukee police officer with the on-duty fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton in Red Arrow Park.
The ACLU filed the suit while the report is pending because the Justice Department's recommendations through the collaborative reform process are not legally binding, said Choudhury, the attorney. If a department is violating constitutional rights, the process cannot ensure those violations stop, she said.
"This lawsuit at its core seeks to advance evidence-based and bias-free policing as do other civil rights lawsuits challenging massive stop-and-frisk programs," Choudhury said.
In 2013, a judge forced the New York Police Department to curb the practice of stop-and-frisk after a similar lawsuit.
STUPID COP IS AS STUPID COP DOES WITH A GUN
Officer who fired gun with live rounds charged in Citizen's Academy death
By Carlos R. Munoz
Saratoga Herald-Tribune
February 23, 2017
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Florida -- The Punta Gorda police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a retired librarian during an August community police academy has been arrested and will face manslaughter charges, state prosecutors said.
Lee Coel, 28, was arrested earlier today, accused of felony manslaughter.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis was charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, but not arrested. Lewis received a summons to appear in court.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents completed their criminal investigation into the Aug. 9 shooting and submitted their report to prosecutors in the 20th Judicial Circuit, who found probable cause to charge both Coel and Lewis.
"There is a very voluminous amount of information we reviewed," State Attorney Stephen B. Russell said during a press conference on Wednesday. "We looked at the crime scene, photographs and videos of the incident. We went through a large volume of investigative material from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Many people were interviewed for what happened at the scene.
"Looking at the totality of the facts and evidence brought our office to this decision."
Russell said the FDLE report would not be available until discovery is requested by the defense. The report would then be made public to those who request it. That may not happen for several weeks, he said.
"To the citizens of Charlotte County, I want to say that while my office is endeavoring to responsibly address this difficult, somewhat unique, tragic event, Charlotte County continues to be well served by its law enforcement community," Russell said.
In what was billed as a training demonstration as part of a special "Chamber Police Night" for local business leaders and others at the police department, Coel pointed a revolver -- which he believed was loaded with blanks -- at 73-year-old Mary Knowlton and pulled the trigger several times, according to accounts.
Knowlton fell dead. Her husband watched just feet away.
Lewis placed Coel, hired by the agency in 2014, on paid administrative leave, a common response to officer-involved shootings.
Punta Gorda City Manager Howard Kunik said in November that a "fair" and "mutual" deal was reached between the family of the retired librarian and the city of Punta Gorda. The Knowlton family was paid $2,060,234.23 from the city's insurance and damage recovery funds.
The settlement agreement signed by Gary Knowlton and his attorney was approved unanimously by the Punta Gorda City Council as a consent agenda item.
"Obviously, this is a sad tragedy for everyone involved," said Julie McGillivray during citizen's comments.
Kunik said the agreement did not affect the FDLE investigation, and that the settlement was not an admission of guilt. He said it was meant to avoid the cost of a lawsuit.
Coel, a K-9 officer, also was involved in a $70,000 settlement between Punta Gorda and Richard Schumacher. The settlement stemmed from an October 2015 incident where Coel attempted to stop Schumacher from riding his bike, which had a broken taillight, using his trained police dog.
In Coel's dashcam video he is heard saying, "Stop now or I'll send the dog."
Schumacher did not obey and the 28-year-old officer parked his car and released his dog, "Spirit," which chased Schumacher who was on foot.
Schumacher' had bite injuries that were so severe he required surgery and an 11-day hospital stay. He pled guilty to DUI on a bicycle and obstructing a police officer without violence.
Kunik said an outside consultant who specializes in cases involving police dogs said in October that Coel should not be fired.
That was two months after the death of Knowlton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s why Houston Police Department uses plugged up guns with vents drilled into the bottom of the barrels in training programs where blank firing is used.
By Carlos R. Munoz
Saratoga Herald-Tribune
February 23, 2017
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Florida -- The Punta Gorda police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a retired librarian during an August community police academy has been arrested and will face manslaughter charges, state prosecutors said.
Lee Coel, 28, was arrested earlier today, accused of felony manslaughter.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis was charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, but not arrested. Lewis received a summons to appear in court.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents completed their criminal investigation into the Aug. 9 shooting and submitted their report to prosecutors in the 20th Judicial Circuit, who found probable cause to charge both Coel and Lewis.
"There is a very voluminous amount of information we reviewed," State Attorney Stephen B. Russell said during a press conference on Wednesday. "We looked at the crime scene, photographs and videos of the incident. We went through a large volume of investigative material from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Many people were interviewed for what happened at the scene.
"Looking at the totality of the facts and evidence brought our office to this decision."
Russell said the FDLE report would not be available until discovery is requested by the defense. The report would then be made public to those who request it. That may not happen for several weeks, he said.
"To the citizens of Charlotte County, I want to say that while my office is endeavoring to responsibly address this difficult, somewhat unique, tragic event, Charlotte County continues to be well served by its law enforcement community," Russell said.
In what was billed as a training demonstration as part of a special "Chamber Police Night" for local business leaders and others at the police department, Coel pointed a revolver -- which he believed was loaded with blanks -- at 73-year-old Mary Knowlton and pulled the trigger several times, according to accounts.
Knowlton fell dead. Her husband watched just feet away.
Lewis placed Coel, hired by the agency in 2014, on paid administrative leave, a common response to officer-involved shootings.
Punta Gorda City Manager Howard Kunik said in November that a "fair" and "mutual" deal was reached between the family of the retired librarian and the city of Punta Gorda. The Knowlton family was paid $2,060,234.23 from the city's insurance and damage recovery funds.
The settlement agreement signed by Gary Knowlton and his attorney was approved unanimously by the Punta Gorda City Council as a consent agenda item.
"Obviously, this is a sad tragedy for everyone involved," said Julie McGillivray during citizen's comments.
Kunik said the agreement did not affect the FDLE investigation, and that the settlement was not an admission of guilt. He said it was meant to avoid the cost of a lawsuit.
Coel, a K-9 officer, also was involved in a $70,000 settlement between Punta Gorda and Richard Schumacher. The settlement stemmed from an October 2015 incident where Coel attempted to stop Schumacher from riding his bike, which had a broken taillight, using his trained police dog.
In Coel's dashcam video he is heard saying, "Stop now or I'll send the dog."
Schumacher did not obey and the 28-year-old officer parked his car and released his dog, "Spirit," which chased Schumacher who was on foot.
Schumacher' had bite injuries that were so severe he required surgery and an 11-day hospital stay. He pled guilty to DUI on a bicycle and obstructing a police officer without violence.
Kunik said an outside consultant who specializes in cases involving police dogs said in October that Coel should not be fired.
That was two months after the death of Knowlton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s why Houston Police Department uses plugged up guns with vents drilled into the bottom of the barrels in training programs where blank firing is used.
OFF-DUTY LAPD OFFICER NOW PROBABLY WISHES HE HAD NOT DRAWN HIS GUN
Protesters gather in Anaheim over LAPD officer firing gun during confrontation with teens
By Joshua Sudock and Chris Haire
Los Angeles Daily News
February 23, 2017
ANAHEIM -- Chaos erupted Wednesday night after what started as a peaceful assembly on the street where a shooting happened the day before — involving an off-duty LAPD officer — devolved into a protest involving as many as 300 people.
The confrontation began Tuesday over ongoing issues with juveniles walking across the officer’s property near Euclid Street and Palais Road, Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.
A 13-year-old boy is accused of threatening to shoot the off-duty officer, at which time the officer attempted to detain the boy until Anaheim police arrived, he said. That led to a physical confrontation between the officer and several other juveniles. At that time, the officer, who hasn’t been identified, discharged his gun once.
The 13-year-old was booked at Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of criminal threats and battery. A 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery and released to his parents.
The off-duty officer had not been arrested, and a criminal investigation into the incident was underway. The LAPD’s Force Investigation Division is also looking into the altercation and the officer has been placed on administrative leave, the LAPD said.
Earlier in the day, YouTube videos surfaced that show the Tuesday altercation.
Protesters gathered Wednesday night in the neighborhood of the shooting, eventually making their way to the officer’s home. Community leaders were initially speaking through a PA system in front of the homes where the fight occurred. They encouraged calm, togetherness and expressed dismay at Tuesday’s events.
The calm ended when someone with a can of red spray paint began writing profanities about police on a garage door of the officer’s neighbor. Chants of “No justice — no peace,” “Killer cops, off our streets!” “Don’t shoot our kids!” and profanities directed at police dominated the group’s evolving message.
Dozens of protesters spilled onto the officer’s driveway — kicking his garage, banging on his front door shouting and climbing atop an unoccupied pickup truck before others coaxed them back into the street.
Some began throwing trash and hard objects at Anaheim police officers observing the demonstration across the street. Protesters then took to Euclid Street, blocking traffic and marching north toward Ball Road, where they congregated in the intersection for several minutes.
The sound of sirens sent the mob running south on Euclid, but their scramble was halted by Anaheim police officers in riot gear who had established a skirmish line at Euclid Street and Palm Lane.
Police created a second skirmish line around the LAPD officer’s home.
The crowd began to thin around 10:15, after officers declared an unlawful assembly through a helicopter’s PA system. A large firework exploded shortly thereafter.
The police skirmish line began pushing the remaining people away from homes and out of the streets shortly before 11 p.m.
At least five people appeared to be arrested around 11:30 p.m. as the police skirmish lines met along Euclid between Ball Road and Palm Lane.
Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said Wednesday the city is committed to a thorough, impartial investigation of Tuesday’s incident.
“Like many in the community, I’ve seen the video and I’m very concerned about what it shows,” Tait said. “Anaheim is committed to a full and impartial investigation. Our city will move forward without delay.”
The gun that was fired was not the officer’s service weapon, Wyatt said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Another case of ‘Smile, You’re on Cellphone Camera’ show time.
By Joshua Sudock and Chris Haire
Los Angeles Daily News
February 23, 2017
ANAHEIM -- Chaos erupted Wednesday night after what started as a peaceful assembly on the street where a shooting happened the day before — involving an off-duty LAPD officer — devolved into a protest involving as many as 300 people.
The confrontation began Tuesday over ongoing issues with juveniles walking across the officer’s property near Euclid Street and Palais Road, Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.
A 13-year-old boy is accused of threatening to shoot the off-duty officer, at which time the officer attempted to detain the boy until Anaheim police arrived, he said. That led to a physical confrontation between the officer and several other juveniles. At that time, the officer, who hasn’t been identified, discharged his gun once.
The 13-year-old was booked at Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of criminal threats and battery. A 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery and released to his parents.
The off-duty officer had not been arrested, and a criminal investigation into the incident was underway. The LAPD’s Force Investigation Division is also looking into the altercation and the officer has been placed on administrative leave, the LAPD said.
Earlier in the day, YouTube videos surfaced that show the Tuesday altercation.
Protesters gathered Wednesday night in the neighborhood of the shooting, eventually making their way to the officer’s home. Community leaders were initially speaking through a PA system in front of the homes where the fight occurred. They encouraged calm, togetherness and expressed dismay at Tuesday’s events.
The calm ended when someone with a can of red spray paint began writing profanities about police on a garage door of the officer’s neighbor. Chants of “No justice — no peace,” “Killer cops, off our streets!” “Don’t shoot our kids!” and profanities directed at police dominated the group’s evolving message.
Dozens of protesters spilled onto the officer’s driveway — kicking his garage, banging on his front door shouting and climbing atop an unoccupied pickup truck before others coaxed them back into the street.
Some began throwing trash and hard objects at Anaheim police officers observing the demonstration across the street. Protesters then took to Euclid Street, blocking traffic and marching north toward Ball Road, where they congregated in the intersection for several minutes.
The sound of sirens sent the mob running south on Euclid, but their scramble was halted by Anaheim police officers in riot gear who had established a skirmish line at Euclid Street and Palm Lane.
Police created a second skirmish line around the LAPD officer’s home.
The crowd began to thin around 10:15, after officers declared an unlawful assembly through a helicopter’s PA system. A large firework exploded shortly thereafter.
The police skirmish line began pushing the remaining people away from homes and out of the streets shortly before 11 p.m.
At least five people appeared to be arrested around 11:30 p.m. as the police skirmish lines met along Euclid between Ball Road and Palm Lane.
Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said Wednesday the city is committed to a thorough, impartial investigation of Tuesday’s incident.
“Like many in the community, I’ve seen the video and I’m very concerned about what it shows,” Tait said. “Anaheim is committed to a full and impartial investigation. Our city will move forward without delay.”
The gun that was fired was not the officer’s service weapon, Wyatt said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Another case of ‘Smile, You’re on Cellphone Camera’ show time.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SHITTERS
by Bob Walsh
Yup, it is true. Our former President, the God-King Barack I, was enthralled, obsessed and fascinated by shitters. So much so that it became the official position of his government that public schools and even private schools that accepted federal bribe money MUST allow self-declared transgender students to use whatever bathroom and locker room facilities the mood struck them as being appropriate to them on the day in question.
Our current El Presidente, Donald Trump, has decided that he doesn't give a shit. He has disentangled the federal government from their extortion position in that matter and has announced that each state is free to set their own policy in the matter.
Damn, this is noteworthy. The federal government is getting their nose out from underneath the tent. It might not be an earth-shattering occurrence, but it is certainly noteworthy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: OK, but here in Texas we've got the fucking NFL and NBA sticking their shitty noses in our tent with threats to keep future Super Bowls and NBA All Star Games out of the state if we prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice.
Yup, it is true. Our former President, the God-King Barack I, was enthralled, obsessed and fascinated by shitters. So much so that it became the official position of his government that public schools and even private schools that accepted federal bribe money MUST allow self-declared transgender students to use whatever bathroom and locker room facilities the mood struck them as being appropriate to them on the day in question.
Our current El Presidente, Donald Trump, has decided that he doesn't give a shit. He has disentangled the federal government from their extortion position in that matter and has announced that each state is free to set their own policy in the matter.
Damn, this is noteworthy. The federal government is getting their nose out from underneath the tent. It might not be an earth-shattering occurrence, but it is certainly noteworthy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: OK, but here in Texas we've got the fucking NFL and NBA sticking their shitty noses in our tent with threats to keep future Super Bowls and NBA All Star Games out of the state if we prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice.
ASSAULT WEAPONS ARE NOT PROTECTED BY THE SECOND AMENDMENT, APPEALS COURT RULES
The Fourth Circuit decision is the first to expressly reject a right to bear an AR-15 or other "weapons of war"
By Alex Yablon
The Trace
February 21, 2017
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ruling that Second Amendment protections do not extend to what it called “weapons of war.”
Writing for the 10-4 majority, Judge Robert King of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said that the landmark Heller v. District of Columbia decision rendered in 2008 explicitly allows governments to regulate firearms similar in design and function to those issued to members of the military.
“We are convinced that the banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are among those arms that are ‘like’ M-16 rifles — ‘weapons that are most useful in military service’ — which the Heller Court singled out as being beyond the Second Amendment’s reach,” the decision reads. “Put simply, we have no power to extend Second Amendment protection to the weapons of war that the Heller decision explicitly excluded from such coverage.”
The decision marks the fifth time that a federal appeals court has upheld a state assault weapons law, but it goes further than those previous decisions. It is the first to exclude AR-15s and other similar guns from Second Amendment protection on the grounds that they are virtually indistinguishable from weapons of war. The court found that such designation overrides considerations of the common usage or suitability for home self-defense of a gun like the AR-15.
The ruling is a resounding defeat for the National Sports Shooting Foundation, the gun manufacturers’ trade group which, along with two Maryland gun owners, had sued to overturn the state’s sweeping assault weapons ban, which prohibits the possession, sale, transfer, or transportation into the state of certain weapons, including all variants of the AR-15 and AK-47 rifle platforms, along with certain kinds of pistols, including semiautomatic versions of the Uzi.
More broadly, Maryland’s law applies to all center-fired semiautomatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines and have two or more features like a flash suppressor or a pistol grip. After the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, millions of such guns have been manufactured for civilians and remain unregulated in much of the country. Maryland’s assault weapons law is similar to California’s, requiring registration of those weapons lawfully possessed before the passage of the ban.
The Maryland law also prohibits the sale and transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Maryland residents who owned magazines affected by the law before its passage may keep them. In comparison, California gun owners must surrender their large-capacity magazines to authorities by July 1.
“It’s a huge victory,” said appellate attorney Deepak Gupta, who submitted a brief on behalf of the defendants. “It shows that a Second Amendment right to bear arms can coexist with common-sense gun legislation.”
John Parker Sweeney, who represented the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Judge William Traxler, a President Bill Clinton appointee, was joined by three colleagues in a dissenting opinion. Traxler argued that “the majority has gone to greater lengths than any other court to eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.”
The majority opinion extensively describes the history of assault-style weapons, and the extent to which they are created to mimic the functionality of military-grade guns.
“The banned assault weapons ‘are firearms designed for the battlefield, for the soldier to be able to shoot a large number of rounds across a battlefield at a high rate of speed,’” the opinion reads, citing filings in the case. “Their design results in ‘a capability for lethality — more wounds, more serious, in more victims — far beyond that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.’”
The opinion cites a 1994 Treasury Department study that found the technical features singled out by assault weapons bans — flash suppressors, barrel shrouds, folding and telescoping stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, night sights, and the ability to accept bayonets and large-capacity magazines — “serve specific, combat-functional ends.”
Significantly, Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III, a conservative appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a separate concurring opinion that assault weapon laws are a “wholly separate subject” from constitutionally protected handgun ownership for self defense. He wrote that judicial decisions to reject assault weapons bans would be “disenfranchising.”
“To say in the wake of so many mass shootings in so many localities across this country that the people themselves are now to be rendered newly powerless, that all they can do is stand by and watch as federal courts design their destiny — this would deliver a body blow to democracy as we have known it since the very founding of this nation,” Wilkinson wrote.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m sure glad to live in Texas!
By Alex Yablon
The Trace
February 21, 2017
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ruling that Second Amendment protections do not extend to what it called “weapons of war.”
Writing for the 10-4 majority, Judge Robert King of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said that the landmark Heller v. District of Columbia decision rendered in 2008 explicitly allows governments to regulate firearms similar in design and function to those issued to members of the military.
“We are convinced that the banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are among those arms that are ‘like’ M-16 rifles — ‘weapons that are most useful in military service’ — which the Heller Court singled out as being beyond the Second Amendment’s reach,” the decision reads. “Put simply, we have no power to extend Second Amendment protection to the weapons of war that the Heller decision explicitly excluded from such coverage.”
The decision marks the fifth time that a federal appeals court has upheld a state assault weapons law, but it goes further than those previous decisions. It is the first to exclude AR-15s and other similar guns from Second Amendment protection on the grounds that they are virtually indistinguishable from weapons of war. The court found that such designation overrides considerations of the common usage or suitability for home self-defense of a gun like the AR-15.
The ruling is a resounding defeat for the National Sports Shooting Foundation, the gun manufacturers’ trade group which, along with two Maryland gun owners, had sued to overturn the state’s sweeping assault weapons ban, which prohibits the possession, sale, transfer, or transportation into the state of certain weapons, including all variants of the AR-15 and AK-47 rifle platforms, along with certain kinds of pistols, including semiautomatic versions of the Uzi.
More broadly, Maryland’s law applies to all center-fired semiautomatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines and have two or more features like a flash suppressor or a pistol grip. After the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, millions of such guns have been manufactured for civilians and remain unregulated in much of the country. Maryland’s assault weapons law is similar to California’s, requiring registration of those weapons lawfully possessed before the passage of the ban.
The Maryland law also prohibits the sale and transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Maryland residents who owned magazines affected by the law before its passage may keep them. In comparison, California gun owners must surrender their large-capacity magazines to authorities by July 1.
“It’s a huge victory,” said appellate attorney Deepak Gupta, who submitted a brief on behalf of the defendants. “It shows that a Second Amendment right to bear arms can coexist with common-sense gun legislation.”
John Parker Sweeney, who represented the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Judge William Traxler, a President Bill Clinton appointee, was joined by three colleagues in a dissenting opinion. Traxler argued that “the majority has gone to greater lengths than any other court to eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.”
The majority opinion extensively describes the history of assault-style weapons, and the extent to which they are created to mimic the functionality of military-grade guns.
“The banned assault weapons ‘are firearms designed for the battlefield, for the soldier to be able to shoot a large number of rounds across a battlefield at a high rate of speed,’” the opinion reads, citing filings in the case. “Their design results in ‘a capability for lethality — more wounds, more serious, in more victims — far beyond that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.’”
The opinion cites a 1994 Treasury Department study that found the technical features singled out by assault weapons bans — flash suppressors, barrel shrouds, folding and telescoping stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, night sights, and the ability to accept bayonets and large-capacity magazines — “serve specific, combat-functional ends.”
Significantly, Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III, a conservative appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a separate concurring opinion that assault weapon laws are a “wholly separate subject” from constitutionally protected handgun ownership for self defense. He wrote that judicial decisions to reject assault weapons bans would be “disenfranchising.”
“To say in the wake of so many mass shootings in so many localities across this country that the people themselves are now to be rendered newly powerless, that all they can do is stand by and watch as federal courts design their destiny — this would deliver a body blow to democracy as we have known it since the very founding of this nation,” Wilkinson wrote.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m sure glad to live in Texas!
WHY SELF-DRIVING CARS COULD BE A DREAM COME TRUE FOR CAR THIEVES
Vehicles that stop for pedestrians could be a gift to thieves
By Corin Faife
VICE News
February 22, 2017
One moment you're cruising to a halt at a red light; the next, being pulled roughly out of your vehicle by an armed man in a mask. It's every driver's nightmare and the crime that helped Grand Theft Auto become a multi-billion dollar franchise: carjacking.
There are endless depictions of carjacking in popular culture, perhaps tied to the role that the automobile occupies in the American psyche. Certain places like Los Angeles, New Jersey or Detroit are notorious for it, with some incidents linked to organized crime rings who will steal to order and arrange international shipments for their discerning (if unscrupulous) foreign customers.
But the vehicles we drive are changing, as is the way we drive them. As a world of widespread autonomous vehicles moves from the realm of science fiction into near-future possibility, it's important to consider how vehicle crime will change, and how the benefits from the elimination of certain categories of crime linked to vehicles—drunk driving, for example—could be tempered by the growth of other types.
When parked, advances in security have made modern cars far more difficult to steal than used to be the case. But if a thief can stop a car with the driver in it, say by bumping it deliberately with another car, creating a distraction or blocking the road with some kind of physical barrier, immobilizing technology is made irrelevant by having access to the ignition keys and an unlocked vehicle.
This creates a problem for self-driving cars, which are explicitly designed to be risk averse when it comes to interactions with pedestrians. In a paper in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Adam Millard-Ball, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, argued that pedestrians would learn to become more aggressive when crossing roads in front of autonomous vehicles in the knowledge that the vehicle would be forced to stop. Although Millard-Ball wasn't addressing malicious intent, it's not hard to imagine criminal gangs using the same principles to "herd" an autonomous vehicle into a position where it could be commandeered, or the driver harmed. (Of course, the possibility of stealing a car in this situation also depends on the steering system: a vehicle with a manual override would be simple enough to take, but a fully autonomous vehicle with pre-programmed destination, say an airport-to-city shuttle taxi, would be difficult to make off with.)
Mary "Missy" Cummings, Director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University, says that the optimism surrounding driverless cars has discouraged people from talking about the darker aspects of the behavior they could enable.
"I've been saying for a long time [that] I think that there's a lot more criminal behavior that will happen in these cars than people understand," Cummings said in a phone call. "Interiors of cars will be gutted, hubcaps will be destroyed, headlights will be taken out of these cars. Without a human driver in the car, we're going to see some really bad behavior."
Cummings says that she's more cynical about this kind of behavior happening in America than in, say, Europe, citing the sad tale of Hitchbot as an example of what can happen when people choose to enact violence on anthropomorphic robots. But in the case of carjacking it's not just the robotic cars, but their occupants, that could be at greatest risk.
"There's a section of society, like it or not, that's going to be predatory towards these vehicles," she said. "Hacking of cars is real. It's not hard at all to GPS spoof any vehicle that relies on GPS—that's true of drones and driverless cars—and so at a minimum we have a real vulnerability that if you're in a driverless car you could be kidnapped, electronic locks could be engaged externally, and if there's no steering wheel, good luck!"
Nonetheless, Cummings is clear that the possibility of police being able to remotely control driverless cars is not an appropriate response. Instead, closer liaisons will need to be made between the police and a new kind of dispatch center run by Tesla, Uber or other driverless car manufacturers, which will allow for quick reaction when a problem occurs—whether mechanical or criminal—that necessitates the intervention of an engineer, either physically or remotely.
Although autonomous vehicle systems look set to revolutionize urban transport, designing for these kind of edge cases will be a crucial part of the transition from human-controlled to self-driving transport networks.
By Corin Faife
VICE News
February 22, 2017
One moment you're cruising to a halt at a red light; the next, being pulled roughly out of your vehicle by an armed man in a mask. It's every driver's nightmare and the crime that helped Grand Theft Auto become a multi-billion dollar franchise: carjacking.
There are endless depictions of carjacking in popular culture, perhaps tied to the role that the automobile occupies in the American psyche. Certain places like Los Angeles, New Jersey or Detroit are notorious for it, with some incidents linked to organized crime rings who will steal to order and arrange international shipments for their discerning (if unscrupulous) foreign customers.
But the vehicles we drive are changing, as is the way we drive them. As a world of widespread autonomous vehicles moves from the realm of science fiction into near-future possibility, it's important to consider how vehicle crime will change, and how the benefits from the elimination of certain categories of crime linked to vehicles—drunk driving, for example—could be tempered by the growth of other types.
When parked, advances in security have made modern cars far more difficult to steal than used to be the case. But if a thief can stop a car with the driver in it, say by bumping it deliberately with another car, creating a distraction or blocking the road with some kind of physical barrier, immobilizing technology is made irrelevant by having access to the ignition keys and an unlocked vehicle.
This creates a problem for self-driving cars, which are explicitly designed to be risk averse when it comes to interactions with pedestrians. In a paper in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Adam Millard-Ball, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, argued that pedestrians would learn to become more aggressive when crossing roads in front of autonomous vehicles in the knowledge that the vehicle would be forced to stop. Although Millard-Ball wasn't addressing malicious intent, it's not hard to imagine criminal gangs using the same principles to "herd" an autonomous vehicle into a position where it could be commandeered, or the driver harmed. (Of course, the possibility of stealing a car in this situation also depends on the steering system: a vehicle with a manual override would be simple enough to take, but a fully autonomous vehicle with pre-programmed destination, say an airport-to-city shuttle taxi, would be difficult to make off with.)
Mary "Missy" Cummings, Director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University, says that the optimism surrounding driverless cars has discouraged people from talking about the darker aspects of the behavior they could enable.
"I've been saying for a long time [that] I think that there's a lot more criminal behavior that will happen in these cars than people understand," Cummings said in a phone call. "Interiors of cars will be gutted, hubcaps will be destroyed, headlights will be taken out of these cars. Without a human driver in the car, we're going to see some really bad behavior."
Cummings says that she's more cynical about this kind of behavior happening in America than in, say, Europe, citing the sad tale of Hitchbot as an example of what can happen when people choose to enact violence on anthropomorphic robots. But in the case of carjacking it's not just the robotic cars, but their occupants, that could be at greatest risk.
"There's a section of society, like it or not, that's going to be predatory towards these vehicles," she said. "Hacking of cars is real. It's not hard at all to GPS spoof any vehicle that relies on GPS—that's true of drones and driverless cars—and so at a minimum we have a real vulnerability that if you're in a driverless car you could be kidnapped, electronic locks could be engaged externally, and if there's no steering wheel, good luck!"
Nonetheless, Cummings is clear that the possibility of police being able to remotely control driverless cars is not an appropriate response. Instead, closer liaisons will need to be made between the police and a new kind of dispatch center run by Tesla, Uber or other driverless car manufacturers, which will allow for quick reaction when a problem occurs—whether mechanical or criminal—that necessitates the intervention of an engineer, either physically or remotely.
Although autonomous vehicle systems look set to revolutionize urban transport, designing for these kind of edge cases will be a crucial part of the transition from human-controlled to self-driving transport networks.
MANDATORY LGBT VIDO CLASHES WITH JUDGE’S FAITH, SO HE SAYS
Refusing to Watch LGBT Video, Houston Judge Sues Employer for Religious Discrimination
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
February 22, 2017
While some florists and bakers have refused to serve gay couples in the name of "religious freedom," an administrative social security judge in Houston is taking that argument to a whole new level.
Judge Gary Suttles has refused to watch a 17-minute LGBT diversity training video, which gives all federal employees tips on how to treat LGBT people with respect and how to "increase cultural awareness in a diverse and inclusive environment," as Suttles's boss described it in an email to employees. After facing disciplinary action for his repeated objection, Suttles has now filed a federal lawsuit, claiming that he has faced religious discrimination in the workplace.
"The Agency's repeated direct orders to Judge Suttles to watch or read a transcript of the religiously obejectionable [video] and threatening to discipline him for his faith-based refusal is unwelcome and is sufficiently severe to create an intimidating and hostile work environment," his attorney, Robert Painter, wrote in the lawsuit.
The LGBT sensitivity video stems from a 2011 executive order from President Barack Obama directing federal agencies to develop new plans to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Last May, Suttles received an email from his superior asking all employees to carve out 17 minutes of their day sometime in the next few months to watch the video. But according to the lawsuit, Suttles responded:
"I will not be participating in this training. I am already fully aware to treat all persons with respect and dignity and have done so my entire life. Furthermore, this type of government indocrination [sic] training does not comport with my religious views and I object on that basis as well."
(Evidently, Suttles's squeaky-clean record of treating people with respect excludes the time in 2015 he reportedly told a Gulf War Navy vet suffering from PTSD and in need of disability benefits: “I mean, hey, you were in the Navy. You weren’t even fighting on the ground. To me it would have been exciting. What do you mean stressful?” The comments sparked calls for his removal from the bench, according to the Austin-American Statesman. But, anyways.)
Suttles nor his lawyer explained in the lawsuit what exactly about training video defies his religion. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Suttles requested a religious accommodation from the Houston office's Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge Monica J. Anderson, which would exempt him from the training. But Anderson denied his request, apparently also failing to see what about the "treat people how you want to be treated"-esque video could be so objectionable. According to the lawsuit, she wrote:
"Allowing employees to remain untrained on the topics covered by the mandatory video creates a risk of liability to the agency, poses a potential harm to other employees, and threatens the agency's core public service mission. Indeed, the agency is committed to providing the highest standard of considerate, thoughtful, and culturally sensitive customer service to the public. The agency must also ensure that all employees treat each other with courtesy and consideration. In mandating all employees to view the LGBT mandatory training video, the agency is ensuring all its employees are trained about, and will comply with, agency workplace rules and EEO principles."
Since Suttles's rejection, according to the lawsuit, his employer has revoked his privileges to work from home or to transfer to a more convenient location, and has caused superiors to not trust him to do his job despite his history of good standing at the agency (besides that time the feds had to apologize for his offensive comments to the sailor, of course). Superiors have also threatened more serious discipline should Suttles continue to refuse the mandatory training.
Fearing that he will soon be fired, Suttles is asking a U.S. District Judge to block the Social Security Agency from mandating that he watch that 17-minute LGBT video, and blocking the agency from imposing any further disciplinary action.
For now, is unclear whether Judge Suttles has the wherewithal to ascend to Kentucky clerk Kim Davis-level infamy. No judge has upheld Davis's or other stubborn florist or cake bakers' claims that religious freedom exempts them from serving or tolerating gay people in their businesses.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I do not believe Judge Suttles will prevail. After all, he is not being required to view a video in which couples give each other blow jobs or punk each other in the ass.
As for those diversity training programs, are they really necessary? They rarely erase the participant’s bigotry. Most cops, for instance, know they better treat minorities with respect if they want to keep their jobs. In some cases those diversity training programs actually reinforce bigotry and leave the attitudes of some of the participants worse off than before.
The best diversity training programs are the ones that get the participants to recognize their prejudices and how to deal with them so that they will treat minorities the same as anyone else..
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
February 22, 2017
While some florists and bakers have refused to serve gay couples in the name of "religious freedom," an administrative social security judge in Houston is taking that argument to a whole new level.
Judge Gary Suttles has refused to watch a 17-minute LGBT diversity training video, which gives all federal employees tips on how to treat LGBT people with respect and how to "increase cultural awareness in a diverse and inclusive environment," as Suttles's boss described it in an email to employees. After facing disciplinary action for his repeated objection, Suttles has now filed a federal lawsuit, claiming that he has faced religious discrimination in the workplace.
"The Agency's repeated direct orders to Judge Suttles to watch or read a transcript of the religiously obejectionable [video] and threatening to discipline him for his faith-based refusal is unwelcome and is sufficiently severe to create an intimidating and hostile work environment," his attorney, Robert Painter, wrote in the lawsuit.
The LGBT sensitivity video stems from a 2011 executive order from President Barack Obama directing federal agencies to develop new plans to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Last May, Suttles received an email from his superior asking all employees to carve out 17 minutes of their day sometime in the next few months to watch the video. But according to the lawsuit, Suttles responded:
"I will not be participating in this training. I am already fully aware to treat all persons with respect and dignity and have done so my entire life. Furthermore, this type of government indocrination [sic] training does not comport with my religious views and I object on that basis as well."
(Evidently, Suttles's squeaky-clean record of treating people with respect excludes the time in 2015 he reportedly told a Gulf War Navy vet suffering from PTSD and in need of disability benefits: “I mean, hey, you were in the Navy. You weren’t even fighting on the ground. To me it would have been exciting. What do you mean stressful?” The comments sparked calls for his removal from the bench, according to the Austin-American Statesman. But, anyways.)
Suttles nor his lawyer explained in the lawsuit what exactly about training video defies his religion. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Suttles requested a religious accommodation from the Houston office's Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge Monica J. Anderson, which would exempt him from the training. But Anderson denied his request, apparently also failing to see what about the "treat people how you want to be treated"-esque video could be so objectionable. According to the lawsuit, she wrote:
"Allowing employees to remain untrained on the topics covered by the mandatory video creates a risk of liability to the agency, poses a potential harm to other employees, and threatens the agency's core public service mission. Indeed, the agency is committed to providing the highest standard of considerate, thoughtful, and culturally sensitive customer service to the public. The agency must also ensure that all employees treat each other with courtesy and consideration. In mandating all employees to view the LGBT mandatory training video, the agency is ensuring all its employees are trained about, and will comply with, agency workplace rules and EEO principles."
Since Suttles's rejection, according to the lawsuit, his employer has revoked his privileges to work from home or to transfer to a more convenient location, and has caused superiors to not trust him to do his job despite his history of good standing at the agency (besides that time the feds had to apologize for his offensive comments to the sailor, of course). Superiors have also threatened more serious discipline should Suttles continue to refuse the mandatory training.
Fearing that he will soon be fired, Suttles is asking a U.S. District Judge to block the Social Security Agency from mandating that he watch that 17-minute LGBT video, and blocking the agency from imposing any further disciplinary action.
For now, is unclear whether Judge Suttles has the wherewithal to ascend to Kentucky clerk Kim Davis-level infamy. No judge has upheld Davis's or other stubborn florist or cake bakers' claims that religious freedom exempts them from serving or tolerating gay people in their businesses.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I do not believe Judge Suttles will prevail. After all, he is not being required to view a video in which couples give each other blow jobs or punk each other in the ass.
As for those diversity training programs, are they really necessary? They rarely erase the participant’s bigotry. Most cops, for instance, know they better treat minorities with respect if they want to keep their jobs. In some cases those diversity training programs actually reinforce bigotry and leave the attitudes of some of the participants worse off than before.
The best diversity training programs are the ones that get the participants to recognize their prejudices and how to deal with them so that they will treat minorities the same as anyone else..
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
56-YEAR-OLD HEROIC BLACK WOMAN JUMPS ON BACK OF ASSAILANT TO HELP WHITE COP BEING WHACKED WITH HIS OWN BATON
'She is a true hero': Good Samaritan bravely comes to the rescue of a Louisiana police officer being beaten with his own baton and JUMPS on the suspect's back until back-up arrives
Associated Press and Ariel Zilber for Daily Mail
February 21, 2017
A Louisiana woman is being hailed as a hero after police say she saw an officer struggling with a suspect and jumped on the man's back to help the officer subdue him.
Vickie Williams-Tillman, 56, was driving to a store Sunday morning, with gospel music on her radio, when she spotted the Baton Rouge officer, Billy Aime, and the suspect, according to The Advocate.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely says the suspect grabbed the officer's baton and repeatedly bashed him on the head with it, and also tried to grab the officer's gun.
Police say that after Williams-Tillman jumped on the man's back, police backup arrived and the suspect was apprehended after being shot with a stun gun.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome called the woman a courageous hero.
The incident occurred just before 8:00am on Sunday, when a 44-year-old police officer found the suspect, 28-year-old Thomas Bennett, asleep in his car.
The officer allegedly noticed drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
When the officer approached Bennett's car to make an arrest, Bennett is alleged to have become violent.
Bennett allegedly grabbed the officer's baton and began hitting him over the head.
He also took the officer's flashlight and radio, according to the arrest report.
Bennett also allegedly reached for the officer's gun.
‘[Maybe an] angel, whatever it was…God was watching down on both of us and told her to stop,’ Aime told WAFB.
Seeing the scuffle unfold, Williams-Tillman initially pulled up alongside the police officer, rolled down the window, and asked if he needed help.
When the officer didn't respond, Williams-Tillman 'locked eyes' with him and realized that he could not speak.
That is when she sprung into action. She called 911 and notified the police that an officer needed help.
Immediately afterward, police say that she stepped out of her car and jumped on Bennett's back, helping to subdue him.
The officer said that Williams-Tillman may have saved his life.
‘Next thing I knew she was pulling the suspect’s hand off of my gun,’ Aime said.
‘Without her stopping, I can’t tell you what the outcome would have been.’
'I could see in [the officer's] eyes he needed help,' said Williams-Tillman.
'You don't have time to think about it … I did what God needed me to do.'
'It was something that went through my soul,' she said. 'You don't think about the risk.'
More police arrived as backup and took the suspect into custody.
Bennett faces charges including aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and drug possession.
A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge Police Department said the officer suffered injuries to his head.
'Vickie Williams-Tillman epitomizes the true Good Samaritan,' Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome said in a statement.
'She reached out and offered a courageous and unconditional response to the officer. Ms. Williams-Tillman is a hero and demonstrates the true meaning of loving God and loving your neighbor.'
The BRPD hailed Williams-Tillman on its Facebook page, posting a message of thanks that generated over 7,000 likes and 2,100 shares.
For a special #BRPDSalutes today we want to thank a very special lady.
'Early this morning one of our officers performed a traffic stop just before 8am in the 8400 block of Harry Drive, finding drugs in the man's vehicle,' the BRPD wrote.
'Our officer tried to secure the man in handcuffs when the driver became aggressive. The 28-year-old man, grabbed the officer's baton and used it to repeatedly hit the officer in the head.'
'As the officer struggled with his assailant, 56-year-old Vickie Williams-Tillman saw that our officer needed help.'
'Ms. Williams-Tillman immediately called for more police but then went so much further.'
'Risking her own safety she jumped out of her vehicle and onto the back of the 28-year old assailant. Ms. Williams-Tillman was able to help hold off the assailant until other officers arrived.'
'For going above and beyond in that moment to help our officer and possibly save his life we are forever grateful to you Ms. Vickie! For showing so much love and concern for one of our officers BRPDSalutes you!'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wow, this 56-year-old black lady risked her life to save a white cop’s ass. I’ll bet she is not a member of Black Lives Matter.
Vickie Williams-Tillman is a true hero and deserves a salute not only from BRPD, but from every law abiding American.
Associated Press and Ariel Zilber for Daily Mail
February 21, 2017
A Louisiana woman is being hailed as a hero after police say she saw an officer struggling with a suspect and jumped on the man's back to help the officer subdue him.
Vickie Williams-Tillman, 56, was driving to a store Sunday morning, with gospel music on her radio, when she spotted the Baton Rouge officer, Billy Aime, and the suspect, according to The Advocate.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely says the suspect grabbed the officer's baton and repeatedly bashed him on the head with it, and also tried to grab the officer's gun.
Police say that after Williams-Tillman jumped on the man's back, police backup arrived and the suspect was apprehended after being shot with a stun gun.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome called the woman a courageous hero.
The incident occurred just before 8:00am on Sunday, when a 44-year-old police officer found the suspect, 28-year-old Thomas Bennett, asleep in his car.
The officer allegedly noticed drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
When the officer approached Bennett's car to make an arrest, Bennett is alleged to have become violent.
Bennett allegedly grabbed the officer's baton and began hitting him over the head.
He also took the officer's flashlight and radio, according to the arrest report.
Bennett also allegedly reached for the officer's gun.
‘[Maybe an] angel, whatever it was…God was watching down on both of us and told her to stop,’ Aime told WAFB.
Seeing the scuffle unfold, Williams-Tillman initially pulled up alongside the police officer, rolled down the window, and asked if he needed help.
When the officer didn't respond, Williams-Tillman 'locked eyes' with him and realized that he could not speak.
That is when she sprung into action. She called 911 and notified the police that an officer needed help.
Immediately afterward, police say that she stepped out of her car and jumped on Bennett's back, helping to subdue him.
The officer said that Williams-Tillman may have saved his life.
‘Next thing I knew she was pulling the suspect’s hand off of my gun,’ Aime said.
‘Without her stopping, I can’t tell you what the outcome would have been.’
'I could see in [the officer's] eyes he needed help,' said Williams-Tillman.
'You don't have time to think about it … I did what God needed me to do.'
'It was something that went through my soul,' she said. 'You don't think about the risk.'
More police arrived as backup and took the suspect into custody.
Bennett faces charges including aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and drug possession.
A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge Police Department said the officer suffered injuries to his head.
'Vickie Williams-Tillman epitomizes the true Good Samaritan,' Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome said in a statement.
'She reached out and offered a courageous and unconditional response to the officer. Ms. Williams-Tillman is a hero and demonstrates the true meaning of loving God and loving your neighbor.'
The BRPD hailed Williams-Tillman on its Facebook page, posting a message of thanks that generated over 7,000 likes and 2,100 shares.
For a special #BRPDSalutes today we want to thank a very special lady.
'Early this morning one of our officers performed a traffic stop just before 8am in the 8400 block of Harry Drive, finding drugs in the man's vehicle,' the BRPD wrote.
'Our officer tried to secure the man in handcuffs when the driver became aggressive. The 28-year-old man, grabbed the officer's baton and used it to repeatedly hit the officer in the head.'
'As the officer struggled with his assailant, 56-year-old Vickie Williams-Tillman saw that our officer needed help.'
'Ms. Williams-Tillman immediately called for more police but then went so much further.'
'Risking her own safety she jumped out of her vehicle and onto the back of the 28-year old assailant. Ms. Williams-Tillman was able to help hold off the assailant until other officers arrived.'
'For going above and beyond in that moment to help our officer and possibly save his life we are forever grateful to you Ms. Vickie! For showing so much love and concern for one of our officers BRPDSalutes you!'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wow, this 56-year-old black lady risked her life to save a white cop’s ass. I’ll bet she is not a member of Black Lives Matter.
Vickie Williams-Tillman is a true hero and deserves a salute not only from BRPD, but from every law abiding American.
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