'You know I got a pistol?' the man yelled. So the Uber driver shot him in classic Stand-Your-Ground case
By Darran Simon, Jamiel Lynch and Eric Levenson
CNN
August 30, 2018
After a heated text message exchange with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Jason Boek followed an Uber he thought was giving her a ride home.
Driving along a dark stretch of two-lane road in central Florida, Boek swerved his pickup truck early Tuesday morning in front of the rideshare car.
Uber driver Robert Westlake slammed on his brakes.
They narrowly avoided a crash and stopped in the middle of the roadway.
Then, Boek jumped out of his truck and quickly walked toward Westlake's Hyundai Elantra.
"You know I got a pistol?" Boek said, holding an object in the air. "You want me to fucking shoot you?"
Bang. With one shot, the Uber driver killed him.
The fatal confrontation, captured on Westlake's dash camera, was what the Polk County sheriff called a "classic 'stand your ground' case," referring to the controversial Florida law that grants immunity to people acting in self-defense.
"This is a justifiable homicide all day long. You have the right protect yourself," Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. "This was the intent of the law."
Boek, 34, didn't actually have a firearm when he left his truck -- he was holding a cell phone, authorities said.
And Westlake, 38, was no ordinary Uber driver. He's a licensed armed security guard who holds a concealed weapons permit and who had just completed training to be a police officer.
Neither Westlake nor Boek's family members could be reached Wednesday for comment.
The sheriff's office said Westlake is cooperating with the investigation. And the sheriff wanted this much to be clear: "Here's a message for the hotheads of the community: Don't do that stuff," Judd said. "Good people carry guns and they will shoot you. A lot. Graveyard dead."
'He's stalking his girlfriend'
The shooting is the latest high-profile "stand your ground" case to spark controversy. The list includes the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, and Michael Drejka's fatal shooting of Markeis McGlockton in July in a convenience store parking lot.
Zimmerman was acquitted in Martin's death after claiming self-defense, rather than leaning on the "stand your ground" law. Drejka was initially let go but has since been charged with manslaughter.
Tuesday's incident started with a case of mistaken identity.
At a bar in Dundee, Florida, early Tuesday morning, Boek's girlfriend called an Uber for another woman who'd had too much to drink, and she helped her get into the vehicle, police said.
Boek saw her and assumed his girlfriend had gotten into the Uber, though she'd actually gone back into the bar, the sheriff said.
Some time later, Boek and his girlfriend got into a heated text message exchange.
"The boyfriend is explosive," Judd, the sheriff, said. "He's stalking his girlfriend. He's angry with her, and he tells her, 'I'm going to eff up the Uber driver.'"
Then, Boek drove after the Uber in his truck, Judd said.
Boek "tailgates him a minute, then he pulls out beside him, rides besides him a couple of seconds ... and then starts to pass him and forces him to a stop in the roadway," Judd said.
About six seconds after Boek jumped out of his pick-up truck, Westlake shot him, according to the dash-cam video released by police.
"Oh my God," Westlake can be heard saying.
'He came towards me'
Westlake then dialed 911 and tried to save Boek, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
"He ran me off road, jumped out of his vehicle," Westlake said calmly in the 911 call, which the sheriff's office posted to YouTube. "I couldn't get away. "
"He came towards me, shouted he's got a pistol, reached for his waistband."
Westlake said he fired one shot from a .40-caliber pistol.
"He dropped a cell phone. I kicked it away," said Westlake, who said he didn't realize it was a cell phone at first.
Westlake told the 911 operator he was applying pressure to the wound as Boek took faint, shallow breaths.
Boek died at the scene, the sheriff's office said. Authorities did not find a gun other than Westlake's at the scene, Judd said.
Uber, in a statement, said: "We are saddened by this unfortunate incident and will continue to work with police on their investigation."
The company's policy prohibits drivers and passengers from carrying firearms while using the Uber app to the extent permitted by local law.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Had Boek been black, the streets would have been full of protesters. But since Boek is white, only his family is protesting.
Friday, August 31, 2018
U.S. MAY BE DEPORTING AMERICAN CITIZENS'
Or Maybe Not
by Bob Walsh
Something very interesting is going on along the South Texas border that has interesting implications.
It seems that (allegedly) from about 1950 up almost to 2000 it was common for midwives and even medical doctors to fraudulently register births that actually occurred in Mexico as having occurred in the U. S. The U. S. government is now moving to have the citizenship revoked from these people. There appears to be some concern that some of the wheat may be thrown out along with the chaff.
It was thought that this was resolved during the Bush 43 and Obama administrations when the U. S. denied passports to people who presented questionable U. S. birth certificates, processed by certain specified midwives. A settlement between the government and the ACLU was believed to have settled this problem. Not so. The Trump state department is bringing it up again.
I am not a fan of citizenship fraud. I am also not a big believer in the idea of jacking somebody who is 40 years old and who reasonably believed he was a native-born U. S. citizen. I am glad I am not the decision maker on this one..
by Bob Walsh
Something very interesting is going on along the South Texas border that has interesting implications.
It seems that (allegedly) from about 1950 up almost to 2000 it was common for midwives and even medical doctors to fraudulently register births that actually occurred in Mexico as having occurred in the U. S. The U. S. government is now moving to have the citizenship revoked from these people. There appears to be some concern that some of the wheat may be thrown out along with the chaff.
It was thought that this was resolved during the Bush 43 and Obama administrations when the U. S. denied passports to people who presented questionable U. S. birth certificates, processed by certain specified midwives. A settlement between the government and the ACLU was believed to have settled this problem. Not so. The Trump state department is bringing it up again.
I am not a fan of citizenship fraud. I am also not a big believer in the idea of jacking somebody who is 40 years old and who reasonably believed he was a native-born U. S. citizen. I am glad I am not the decision maker on this one..
NPR DOES SOME GOOD WORK ..... ONCE IN A WHILE
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
by Bob Walsh
Mark Twain opined, at one time, that there were three sorts of prevarication, those being lies, damned lies and statistics. NPR may have dug up an interesting case in point.
A commonly quoted statistic among the anti-gun media is the "fact" that in year 2015-2016 there were 235 school shootings in the U. S. They decided to do some actual honest-to-god research to see if this assertion was accurate.
They contacted each school district named. About 75% responded. Of those 235 districts only 11 replied that there had in fact been a school shooting. Cleveland reported in the initial survey from which the dubious statistic was taken that they had 35 shootings in that year. When specifically queried about it, they said they had zero school shootings in that period of time. They said they believed the inaccurate response was a coding error, or maybe somebody just put the wrong number on the wrong line of the survey.
Another district, when contacted about their four shootings that year responded that the collective staff memory in the district office went back over 20 years and that, they were certain, there were NO shooting incidents at any of their schools in 20 years. They did assert that one student had been jacked for brandishing a pair of scissors once.
The point is you should be VERY DUBIOUS about statistics being pimped by people who have a large stake in the statistics going in their direction. (I have often thought that the oft-quoted statistic of 10% of the general population being homosexual was overly generous by a large degree, being pushed mostly by people who had a stake in the normalization and mainstream acceptance of homosexuality.)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Actually British PM Benjamin Disraeli is credited with originating the 'lies, damned lies and statistics' saying.
by Bob Walsh
Mark Twain opined, at one time, that there were three sorts of prevarication, those being lies, damned lies and statistics. NPR may have dug up an interesting case in point.
A commonly quoted statistic among the anti-gun media is the "fact" that in year 2015-2016 there were 235 school shootings in the U. S. They decided to do some actual honest-to-god research to see if this assertion was accurate.
They contacted each school district named. About 75% responded. Of those 235 districts only 11 replied that there had in fact been a school shooting. Cleveland reported in the initial survey from which the dubious statistic was taken that they had 35 shootings in that year. When specifically queried about it, they said they had zero school shootings in that period of time. They said they believed the inaccurate response was a coding error, or maybe somebody just put the wrong number on the wrong line of the survey.
Another district, when contacted about their four shootings that year responded that the collective staff memory in the district office went back over 20 years and that, they were certain, there were NO shooting incidents at any of their schools in 20 years. They did assert that one student had been jacked for brandishing a pair of scissors once.
The point is you should be VERY DUBIOUS about statistics being pimped by people who have a large stake in the statistics going in their direction. (I have often thought that the oft-quoted statistic of 10% of the general population being homosexual was overly generous by a large degree, being pushed mostly by people who had a stake in the normalization and mainstream acceptance of homosexuality.)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Actually British PM Benjamin Disraeli is credited with originating the 'lies, damned lies and statistics' saying.
SUICIDE OR MURDER?
'It's a cover-up': Wife of detective, 43, fatally shot with his own gun REJECTS review board's 'outlandish' conclusion that the father-of-five committed suicide and maintains he was murdered in latest scandal for Baltimore police
By Megan Sheets
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
The wife of a Baltimore detective who was fatally shot with his own gun last November has rejected an independent review board's conclusion that he committed suicide.
Officials had initially said Sean Suiter was fatally shot by a suspect during a struggle in a vacant lot in West Baltimore on November 15, but an independent review panel released a report this week saying the 43-year-old had actually killed himself.
The detective's wife Nicole Suiter spoke publicly for the first time since her husband's death nine months ago on Wednesday, calling the review panel's suicide conclusion 'outlandish'.
Nicole described how less than an hour before the shooting, she had been joking around with the father-of-five.
'Sean was in a great mood and happy spirit. We briefly joked about a video of him dancing that I took,' she told WMAR.
Nicole said nothing about his behavior resembled that of a man preparing to take his own life.
'I knew my husband very well. He wasn't a coward. He wouldn't have went out like that,' she said. 'He wouldn't leave his family like this. He had no reason to.'
The investigation into Sean's death is still open as police and the medical examiner's office look over the report from the independent review board.
Nicole and her attorneys decried the report, claiming that it is full of lies and inconsistencies.
'I’m just shocked at what is contained in this report,' attorney Paul Siegrist said.
'Multiple facts are left out of this report. They give undue weight to certain facts and totally ignore everything else. They don’t interview witnesses. They somehow arrive to Sean’s state of mind without speaking to his wife. This is garbage.'
Sean was scheduled to testify in court in a police corruption trial the day after his death, which the report seems to suggest could have been motivation for his suicide.
The report refers to Sean as a 'subject' - a loose term that could refer to both a witness or a person of interest.
'Not only did the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Attorney’s Office say that Sean was never a suspect but was only a witness, but the second round of indictments that came out involving Wayne Jenkins and several other officers, showed that Sean was an unwitting part of their larger drug conspiracy and their planting of drugs,' attorney Jeremy Eldridge said.
Nicole said she will continue to stand with protesters in Baltimore until she gets 'the truth'.
'Based on the fact that no one knew my husband better than I, I will not accept the untimely death of Sean as nothing other than a murder, which is being covered up for reasons unknown to me or my family,' she said.
Suiter was fatally shot in the head while investigating a 2016 triple homicide with his partner in a high-crime neighborhood in West Baltimore.
Former Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who was fired by the mayor in January, told reporters last year that Suiter approached a 'suspicious' man in a vacant lot between row houses, leading to a violent confrontation.
His partner could be seen on private surveillance video taking cover across the street, according to police.
Baltimore police originally said Suiter had been attacked and launched a manhunt, but after no arrests were made they convened the independent review board earlier this year to look into the homicide investigation.
The report released after months of review says the bullet entered from the right side of Sean's head, and that the detective was right-handed.
It also points out the lack of defensive wounds on Suiter's knuckles, hands or arms, along with the presence of shell casings from Suiter's weapon at the scene and the officer's DNA inside the barrel of the gun.
A spokesman for the city's medical examiner said Monday evening that officials would not discuss any cases still under investigation.
By Megan Sheets
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
The wife of a Baltimore detective who was fatally shot with his own gun last November has rejected an independent review board's conclusion that he committed suicide.
Officials had initially said Sean Suiter was fatally shot by a suspect during a struggle in a vacant lot in West Baltimore on November 15, but an independent review panel released a report this week saying the 43-year-old had actually killed himself.
The detective's wife Nicole Suiter spoke publicly for the first time since her husband's death nine months ago on Wednesday, calling the review panel's suicide conclusion 'outlandish'.
Nicole described how less than an hour before the shooting, she had been joking around with the father-of-five.
'Sean was in a great mood and happy spirit. We briefly joked about a video of him dancing that I took,' she told WMAR.
Nicole said nothing about his behavior resembled that of a man preparing to take his own life.
'I knew my husband very well. He wasn't a coward. He wouldn't have went out like that,' she said. 'He wouldn't leave his family like this. He had no reason to.'
The investigation into Sean's death is still open as police and the medical examiner's office look over the report from the independent review board.
Nicole and her attorneys decried the report, claiming that it is full of lies and inconsistencies.
'I’m just shocked at what is contained in this report,' attorney Paul Siegrist said.
'Multiple facts are left out of this report. They give undue weight to certain facts and totally ignore everything else. They don’t interview witnesses. They somehow arrive to Sean’s state of mind without speaking to his wife. This is garbage.'
Sean was scheduled to testify in court in a police corruption trial the day after his death, which the report seems to suggest could have been motivation for his suicide.
The report refers to Sean as a 'subject' - a loose term that could refer to both a witness or a person of interest.
'Not only did the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Attorney’s Office say that Sean was never a suspect but was only a witness, but the second round of indictments that came out involving Wayne Jenkins and several other officers, showed that Sean was an unwitting part of their larger drug conspiracy and their planting of drugs,' attorney Jeremy Eldridge said.
Nicole said she will continue to stand with protesters in Baltimore until she gets 'the truth'.
'Based on the fact that no one knew my husband better than I, I will not accept the untimely death of Sean as nothing other than a murder, which is being covered up for reasons unknown to me or my family,' she said.
Suiter was fatally shot in the head while investigating a 2016 triple homicide with his partner in a high-crime neighborhood in West Baltimore.
Former Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who was fired by the mayor in January, told reporters last year that Suiter approached a 'suspicious' man in a vacant lot between row houses, leading to a violent confrontation.
His partner could be seen on private surveillance video taking cover across the street, according to police.
Baltimore police originally said Suiter had been attacked and launched a manhunt, but after no arrests were made they convened the independent review board earlier this year to look into the homicide investigation.
The report released after months of review says the bullet entered from the right side of Sean's head, and that the detective was right-handed.
It also points out the lack of defensive wounds on Suiter's knuckles, hands or arms, along with the presence of shell casings from Suiter's weapon at the scene and the officer's DNA inside the barrel of the gun.
A spokesman for the city's medical examiner said Monday evening that officials would not discuss any cases still under investigation.
FAKE NEWS OR NOT?
Trump administration creates secret anti-marijuana committee to combat the public's 'dangerous and positive' attitude towards pot
By Connor Boyd
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
The Trump administration has created a secret anti-marijuana committee to combat the public's positive attitude towards weed.
On July 27 the White House's Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee sat down with representatives from the Justice Department, State Department and Health and Human Services to come up with ways to prove that weed is a national threat.
Fourteen federal agencies were told to collect data showing the negative aspect of weed because there were too many stories highlighting the positives of its use, according to Buzzfeed.
The agencies were instructed to find evidence of 'consequences of use, production, and trafficking on national health, safety and security' and describe how the drug threatens their department.
They were also told to identify 'issues created by state marijuana initiatives.'
Trump had previously hinted in 2016 that he'd let states decide on marijuana laws without much federal government interference.
But that seemed to have been forgotten when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a crackdown on legal weed in January.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the White House didn't confirm or deny the committee's existence.
Rather, it said that it does not discuss the process of crafting policies to promote the 'President's agenda.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: If the Trump administration is really concerned about pot, it could have the DEA start raiding pot plantations and pot shops in California, Washington, Colorado and other states that have legalized marijuana. I’m sure the DEA is waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Jeff Sessions to give it the go-ahead. In my day as a cop, those operations were well hidden, but today the DEA can easily find them.
By the way, BuzzFeed News has not always been reliable.
By Connor Boyd
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
The Trump administration has created a secret anti-marijuana committee to combat the public's positive attitude towards weed.
On July 27 the White House's Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee sat down with representatives from the Justice Department, State Department and Health and Human Services to come up with ways to prove that weed is a national threat.
Fourteen federal agencies were told to collect data showing the negative aspect of weed because there were too many stories highlighting the positives of its use, according to Buzzfeed.
The agencies were instructed to find evidence of 'consequences of use, production, and trafficking on national health, safety and security' and describe how the drug threatens their department.
They were also told to identify 'issues created by state marijuana initiatives.'
Trump had previously hinted in 2016 that he'd let states decide on marijuana laws without much federal government interference.
But that seemed to have been forgotten when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a crackdown on legal weed in January.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the White House didn't confirm or deny the committee's existence.
Rather, it said that it does not discuss the process of crafting policies to promote the 'President's agenda.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: If the Trump administration is really concerned about pot, it could have the DEA start raiding pot plantations and pot shops in California, Washington, Colorado and other states that have legalized marijuana. I’m sure the DEA is waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Jeff Sessions to give it the go-ahead. In my day as a cop, those operations were well hidden, but today the DEA can easily find them.
By the way, BuzzFeed News has not always been reliable.
SMOKING WAS REALLY BAD FOR MURDERER
Discarded cigarette helps police nab 'killer' NINE YEARS after he 'stabbed his neighbor 60 TIMES and sexually assaulted her'
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
A cigarette that had been tossed away has helped authorities in Illinois track down a man who is suspected of brutally murdering a woman nine years ago.
Michael Henslick, 30, has been charged with murdering 22-year-old Holly Cassano in 2009.
Cassano was found dead in her mobile home in Mahomet, Illinois on November 2, 2009. She had been stabbed 60 times and sexually assaulted, according to police reports.
'I still have problems sleeping because of it,' said Toni Cassano, who found her daughter's bloody body that day, the News-Gazette of Champaign reported. 'I don't know why. That's my biggest unanswered question.'
For nearly a decade the police have relentlessly pursued the case, conducting more than 100 interviews and testing 'dozens' of DNA samples.
DNA evidence that was found at the scene of Cassano's murder was matched with various databases including online genealogy catalogs and public records before Henslick was finally identified as a suspect.
Deputies tracked Henslick this past weekend to try and obtain DNA evidence until eventually he gave them a golden opportunity after throwing away a cigarette he had been smoking.
The butt was recovered and sent to a lab for testing.
Henslick's DNA matched with the DNA evidence from the crime scene, the sheriff's office said.
The DNA match was made thanks to a commercial genetic genealogy company sharing information that it had collected in its public records.
A new technique from Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs — for which Champaign County taxpayers paid $8,000 — led to the narrowing of the pool of suspects who could have contributed the DNA found at the murder scene.
Henslick was arrested on Tuesday around 6:15pm outside Market Place Mall in Champaign.
After Henslick’s arrest outside Market Place Mall on Tuesday evening Sgts. Chris Darr and Dave Sherrick, who have also been intensely involved in the investigation over the years, interviewed Henslick for about five hours.
While they were tight-lipped about what they heard, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said she felt her office has a strong case against Henslick and that “his statements were consistent with that evidence.”
He has since been booked into the Champaign County Jail on $10 million bond and charged with four counts of first degree murder.
He showed little reaction as Judge John Kennedy read him the charges Wednesday afternoon over videolink.
Henslick had lived in the same mobile-home park as Cassano, attended the same high school for a couple of years, and had a number of mutual acquaintances Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh said.
Henslick has been in and out of jail several times since Cassano's murder.
Daily Mail
August 30, 2018
A cigarette that had been tossed away has helped authorities in Illinois track down a man who is suspected of brutally murdering a woman nine years ago.
Michael Henslick, 30, has been charged with murdering 22-year-old Holly Cassano in 2009.
Cassano was found dead in her mobile home in Mahomet, Illinois on November 2, 2009. She had been stabbed 60 times and sexually assaulted, according to police reports.
'I still have problems sleeping because of it,' said Toni Cassano, who found her daughter's bloody body that day, the News-Gazette of Champaign reported. 'I don't know why. That's my biggest unanswered question.'
For nearly a decade the police have relentlessly pursued the case, conducting more than 100 interviews and testing 'dozens' of DNA samples.
DNA evidence that was found at the scene of Cassano's murder was matched with various databases including online genealogy catalogs and public records before Henslick was finally identified as a suspect.
Deputies tracked Henslick this past weekend to try and obtain DNA evidence until eventually he gave them a golden opportunity after throwing away a cigarette he had been smoking.
The butt was recovered and sent to a lab for testing.
Henslick's DNA matched with the DNA evidence from the crime scene, the sheriff's office said.
The DNA match was made thanks to a commercial genetic genealogy company sharing information that it had collected in its public records.
A new technique from Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs — for which Champaign County taxpayers paid $8,000 — led to the narrowing of the pool of suspects who could have contributed the DNA found at the murder scene.
Henslick was arrested on Tuesday around 6:15pm outside Market Place Mall in Champaign.
After Henslick’s arrest outside Market Place Mall on Tuesday evening Sgts. Chris Darr and Dave Sherrick, who have also been intensely involved in the investigation over the years, interviewed Henslick for about five hours.
While they were tight-lipped about what they heard, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said she felt her office has a strong case against Henslick and that “his statements were consistent with that evidence.”
He has since been booked into the Champaign County Jail on $10 million bond and charged with four counts of first degree murder.
He showed little reaction as Judge John Kennedy read him the charges Wednesday afternoon over videolink.
Henslick had lived in the same mobile-home park as Cassano, attended the same high school for a couple of years, and had a number of mutual acquaintances Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh said.
Henslick has been in and out of jail several times since Cassano's murder.
BOW-AND-ARROW NOT BEST WEAPON FOR SHOOTING 300 POUND BEAR
Experienced bow-and-arrow hunter severely mauled by black bear in San Bernardino Mountains
By Leticia Juarez
KABC
August 27, 2018
BANNING, Calif. -- It's bear hunting season in the San Bernardino Mountains, but on Friday, a bear mauled a hunter after it was shot with an arrow.
"There were three people hunting - archery hunting for bear - it was legal archery hunting season in that zone of California," said Patrick Foy, with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A hunter, who spoke to Eyewitness News off camera, said the man mauled by the bear is an experienced hunter who made a costly mistake. He said his friend didn't wait long enough after striking the bear.
The man thought he'd killed the animal and left his perch to get a closer look at the estimated 300-pound black bear.
"When he ran up to the bear, the bear attacked him and it mauled him severely," Foy said.
The man survived, but his current condition is unknown.
Archery bear hunting season runs from late August until early September. Hunters who obtain a license and bear tag are only allowed to use a bow and arrow. Firearms are prohibited, but a petition allowing hunters to carry a sidearm for self-defense is under consideration by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"Approaching an animal that's injured can be dangerous or can at least put that animal in a position where it's going to forcibly defend itself thinking it's under threat," Foy said.
The department is investigating the incident.
"Bear attacks are really, really rare. We've had incidents - even recent incidents - where a bear did come into physical contact with a young guy who was camping. We've had a few cases over the last few years of bears, but nothing to this degree," Foy said.
Two other hunters who were with the mauled man were not injured, and the bear died from its wounds.
By Leticia Juarez
KABC
August 27, 2018
BANNING, Calif. -- It's bear hunting season in the San Bernardino Mountains, but on Friday, a bear mauled a hunter after it was shot with an arrow.
"There were three people hunting - archery hunting for bear - it was legal archery hunting season in that zone of California," said Patrick Foy, with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A hunter, who spoke to Eyewitness News off camera, said the man mauled by the bear is an experienced hunter who made a costly mistake. He said his friend didn't wait long enough after striking the bear.
The man thought he'd killed the animal and left his perch to get a closer look at the estimated 300-pound black bear.
"When he ran up to the bear, the bear attacked him and it mauled him severely," Foy said.
The man survived, but his current condition is unknown.
Archery bear hunting season runs from late August until early September. Hunters who obtain a license and bear tag are only allowed to use a bow and arrow. Firearms are prohibited, but a petition allowing hunters to carry a sidearm for self-defense is under consideration by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"Approaching an animal that's injured can be dangerous or can at least put that animal in a position where it's going to forcibly defend itself thinking it's under threat," Foy said.
The department is investigating the incident.
"Bear attacks are really, really rare. We've had incidents - even recent incidents - where a bear did come into physical contact with a young guy who was camping. We've had a few cases over the last few years of bears, but nothing to this degree," Foy said.
Two other hunters who were with the mauled man were not injured, and the bear died from its wounds.
DISMEMBERMENT IN IN SONORA
"El Chapo" Isidro and "Los Chapitos": the fight for territory in Sonora
By Monica Miranda
La Silla Rota
August 25, 2018
Headlines such as "Three shot in Cajeme", "Dismembered left in ice cooler", "Pistoleros abduct a couple in the south", cease to leave an impression on Sonorans, especially those who live in cities such as Cajeme and Guaymas.
The plaza battles between "Los Chapitos " (Sinaloa Cartel) and "Chapo" Isidro (Beltrán Leyva) have the population of southern Sonora in suspense, municipalities near Sinaloa (Navojoa, Cajeme and Guaymas).
In recent days there have been dismembered bodies found, there are executions in broad daylight, 'levantones', and strong security operations from both the State Secretariat of Public Security and the Army and Gendarmerie.
"The Salazars" are a cell of Sonorans who have been operating for years for the Sinaloa Cartel, recently for the group of "Los Chapitos ", Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who took more control of the organization after the capture of their father, "El Chapo" Guzmán and later, the arrest of Dámaso López "El Licenciado", with whom they fought for leadership.
On the other side of the camp is "El Chapo" Isidro, (Isidro Meza Flores),also from Sinaloa and who worked for Guzmán Loera before forming his group "Los Mazatlecos", which joined the Beltrán Leyva Cartel for fight for the plaza against the Sinaloa cartel. [BB Note, a factual error, Isidro did not work for Sinaloa Cartel prior to joining BLO]
The capture of Guzmán Loera divided the "Los Salazar" cell in Sonora and made it an easy target for its smaller adversaries operating in the south of the country.
It was thus that the assassins of "El Chapo" Isidro managed to penetrate the security filters in order to try and seize the plaza.
Now, Los Salazar, led by "Los Chapitos ", now known as Gente Nueva Salazar (GNS), seek to recover the places they had held for decades for the planting, transfer and sale of drugs.
"They wanted to make their own group (Chapo Isidro), they left the fight because before they were good with the people here (Los Salazar), they are fighting for the Plaza de Obregón (head of Cajeme)," said a source close to the GNS organization to La Silla Rota.
This fight gained strength in 2018 and is reflected in the deaths recorded in Cajeme, with 126 officially registered homicides.
As of May 2018, there were 64 homicides counted. Since then, in June, 18 murders were counted, 28 in July, and 16 in August so far, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Security.
Homicides happen every day in Ciudad Obregón and Guaymas. As indicated by the laws of physics, before any action a reaction occurs and the behavior of these groups responds to the provoked attacks among themselves.
But in this war, innocent victims have had to pay the cost, without fear of it, just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is, the time when the criminals decide to launch their next move against their opponents.
During July of this year the wave of violence in Sonora skyrocketed, to the extent that citizens in Cajeme heard gunshots in broad daylight and close to their homes in different parts of the city.
The lives stolen by the struggle
Alexis Rafael Rivera, at dawn on Sunday, July 22, specifically at 2:00 a.m., told his mother in an agitated voice to open the door of his house as soon as possible, as he had been shot at.
Hours later she was informed that her son had died in the General Hospital of Ciudad Obregón.
The cause was indicated as an assault by the state police of public security, allegedly repelling the shots with a weapon carried by the young man, who was being pursued by the police.
"At 1:42 in the morning I received a call, where he told me, love, open the door for me, they're shooting at me, but it was his strong, firm voice, without hesitation, without any alcohol, you could tell that my son was doing well," said the mother.
The family claims that the police confused Alexis with a hitman, a member of one of the organized crime gangs operating in Obregón, Sonora.
The version sent in a press release indicates that the pursuit began when red alert was activated due to a firearm injury that occurred in the Miravalle neighborhood.
The vehicle reported as the aggressor was a gray Chevrolet Spark, which was driven by Alexis accompanied by three men, who are currently being detained.
During the chase, the Spark vehicle lost control hitting a parked car, from which a person got out and ran, at that time the driver (Alexis) apparently assaulted the officers, who repelled the attack.
In the statement it is indicated that, as the officers approached the car taking preventive measures, they realized that the person they identified as Alexis Rafael was injured, for which they requested the presence of the Red Cross, providing first aid and transfer to the General hospital, where moments later he lost his life.
"We do not believe that version, because of the call he made to my mother, if he was talking on the phone with one hand, how could he go shooting with the other? There are things that do not fit," said the sister of the deceased Uber driver, Johana Rivera.
Later, on July 28 in San Carlos, Guaymas, three young men were "picked up" by state police, and allegedly handed over to a criminal group that operates in the area.
On social networks, the population makes public announcements about missing relatives, mainly these young people who attended a weekend trip to San Carlos.
During the past month, a series of violent events occurred in this region of southern Sonora, such as the disappearance of seven people, four murders, one of them was shot, and a shooting of houses and vehicles in the San Vicente neighborhood, recorded last Sunday at dawn.
State public security points out that through social networks relatives are looking for missing persons between 20 and 40 years of age, and demand that they be found alive.
Faced with this climate of violence, the state, federal and Sedena police maintain security operations in the port of Guaymas and Empalme in order to suspend the travel warning made by the United States Department to its personnel, and also contain the violent acts recorded since last weekend when an armed group fired on vehicles parked during the early morning in the San Vicente neighborhood, confirmed Adolfo García Morales.
The Secretary of Security in Sonora said that work is being done to restore peace among the population of said municipalities, after the information that transpired in social networks about the disappearance of young people in San Carlos, on Saturday 28.
In addition, he said that the presence of municipal police patrolling the area was maintained, a fact that could be corroborated through the GPS system that the police units report, as the supposed absence of the elements in the streets due to threats of organized crime was reported.
"In the C5, the police are monitored by GPS patrols, where they are, there are calls to 911 incidents that were attended to by the municipal police. The GPS allowed us to see that there were municipal police patrolling the city, right now I do not have the exact data how many."
Following these events, an alert was issued by the United States Department calling for a travel ban of personnel from the American consulates to the municipalities of southern Sonora.
Escalating violence with dismemberment
A ice cooler containing human remains appeared on Friday, August 10, on Calle 600, a few meters from Calle Norman E. Borlaug, in the Valle del Yaqui, in Cajeme.
The municipal police received the report, detecting in the area a narcomanta adjudicated to Gente Nueva Salazar.
Elements of the Municipal and State police arrived in addition to expert services to collect the cooler and the official transfer towards the district attorney's office in Cajeme.
The constant violence in Cajeme with multiple murders, the last 4 registered in less than 24 hours on Friday the 10th, caused the population's boiling point to be reached. That is why the responsible authorities are required to rethink the coordination strategies between the different levels of police corporations, said Faustino Félix Chávez.
The mayor of Cajeme said that one of his last duties as a public servant of Ciudad Obregó is analyzing with the state government new measures to stop the murders registered almost daily in Cajeme, and alternatives to inhibit crimes related to organized crime.
"We have to listen to society, it is not something that is only happening in the south of Sonora, we know that it is not foreign to the rest of the country, but we worry about our house, we care where we live, where we have our families and although we said it is something between criminals, we have already seen people who are not criminals having to suffer the ravages of what is happening."
For its part, the government of Sonora has continued with operations in Cajeme, Guaymas and Empalme, where elements of the State Public Security Police, the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie and the Mexican Army arrived.
"For various sectors of Ciudad Obregón, monitoring and prevention points were installed in which elements of SEDENA, PESP, PF and Municipal Police participate," the state agency reported on its Twitter account.
Cajemenses seek to restore peace
Marches for Peace, organized by relatives of "levantadas" or disappeared persons, began with inhabitants of Cajeme and Guaymas going out into the streets to demand that the authorities contain the clashes between members of organized crime groups.
With placards and slogans of "No more violence " and "We want security and peace" they marched to the municipal palace.
Armida Salas Lapizco, denounced to the authority the disappearance of her nephew Miguel Ángel ITSON, student in the Systems Engineering degree, who disappeared on March 27, 2012.
"He was going to graduate in December 2012, he was doing his social service and we do not know anything, the authorities have not given us any response, we have never passed from the PGR window, my nephew's car appeared abandoned."
There are about 70 murders officially registered in Cajeme so far this year, but it should be noted that there is a percentage that is not reported to the judicial authorities, so it is not recorded in the lists reported by the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security.
(Translated August 28 by El Profe for Borderland Beat)
By Monica Miranda
La Silla Rota
August 25, 2018
Headlines such as "Three shot in Cajeme", "Dismembered left in ice cooler", "Pistoleros abduct a couple in the south", cease to leave an impression on Sonorans, especially those who live in cities such as Cajeme and Guaymas.
The plaza battles between "Los Chapitos " (Sinaloa Cartel) and "Chapo" Isidro (Beltrán Leyva) have the population of southern Sonora in suspense, municipalities near Sinaloa (Navojoa, Cajeme and Guaymas).
In recent days there have been dismembered bodies found, there are executions in broad daylight, 'levantones', and strong security operations from both the State Secretariat of Public Security and the Army and Gendarmerie.
"The Salazars" are a cell of Sonorans who have been operating for years for the Sinaloa Cartel, recently for the group of "Los Chapitos ", Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, who took more control of the organization after the capture of their father, "El Chapo" Guzmán and later, the arrest of Dámaso López "El Licenciado", with whom they fought for leadership.
On the other side of the camp is "El Chapo" Isidro, (Isidro Meza Flores),also from Sinaloa and who worked for Guzmán Loera before forming his group "Los Mazatlecos", which joined the Beltrán Leyva Cartel for fight for the plaza against the Sinaloa cartel. [BB Note, a factual error, Isidro did not work for Sinaloa Cartel prior to joining BLO]
The capture of Guzmán Loera divided the "Los Salazar" cell in Sonora and made it an easy target for its smaller adversaries operating in the south of the country.
It was thus that the assassins of "El Chapo" Isidro managed to penetrate the security filters in order to try and seize the plaza.
Now, Los Salazar, led by "Los Chapitos ", now known as Gente Nueva Salazar (GNS), seek to recover the places they had held for decades for the planting, transfer and sale of drugs.
"They wanted to make their own group (Chapo Isidro), they left the fight because before they were good with the people here (Los Salazar), they are fighting for the Plaza de Obregón (head of Cajeme)," said a source close to the GNS organization to La Silla Rota.
This fight gained strength in 2018 and is reflected in the deaths recorded in Cajeme, with 126 officially registered homicides.
As of May 2018, there were 64 homicides counted. Since then, in June, 18 murders were counted, 28 in July, and 16 in August so far, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Security.
Homicides happen every day in Ciudad Obregón and Guaymas. As indicated by the laws of physics, before any action a reaction occurs and the behavior of these groups responds to the provoked attacks among themselves.
But in this war, innocent victims have had to pay the cost, without fear of it, just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is, the time when the criminals decide to launch their next move against their opponents.
During July of this year the wave of violence in Sonora skyrocketed, to the extent that citizens in Cajeme heard gunshots in broad daylight and close to their homes in different parts of the city.
The lives stolen by the struggle
Alexis Rafael Rivera, at dawn on Sunday, July 22, specifically at 2:00 a.m., told his mother in an agitated voice to open the door of his house as soon as possible, as he had been shot at.
Hours later she was informed that her son had died in the General Hospital of Ciudad Obregón.
The cause was indicated as an assault by the state police of public security, allegedly repelling the shots with a weapon carried by the young man, who was being pursued by the police.
"At 1:42 in the morning I received a call, where he told me, love, open the door for me, they're shooting at me, but it was his strong, firm voice, without hesitation, without any alcohol, you could tell that my son was doing well," said the mother.
The family claims that the police confused Alexis with a hitman, a member of one of the organized crime gangs operating in Obregón, Sonora.
The version sent in a press release indicates that the pursuit began when red alert was activated due to a firearm injury that occurred in the Miravalle neighborhood.
The vehicle reported as the aggressor was a gray Chevrolet Spark, which was driven by Alexis accompanied by three men, who are currently being detained.
During the chase, the Spark vehicle lost control hitting a parked car, from which a person got out and ran, at that time the driver (Alexis) apparently assaulted the officers, who repelled the attack.
In the statement it is indicated that, as the officers approached the car taking preventive measures, they realized that the person they identified as Alexis Rafael was injured, for which they requested the presence of the Red Cross, providing first aid and transfer to the General hospital, where moments later he lost his life.
"We do not believe that version, because of the call he made to my mother, if he was talking on the phone with one hand, how could he go shooting with the other? There are things that do not fit," said the sister of the deceased Uber driver, Johana Rivera.
Later, on July 28 in San Carlos, Guaymas, three young men were "picked up" by state police, and allegedly handed over to a criminal group that operates in the area.
On social networks, the population makes public announcements about missing relatives, mainly these young people who attended a weekend trip to San Carlos.
During the past month, a series of violent events occurred in this region of southern Sonora, such as the disappearance of seven people, four murders, one of them was shot, and a shooting of houses and vehicles in the San Vicente neighborhood, recorded last Sunday at dawn.
State public security points out that through social networks relatives are looking for missing persons between 20 and 40 years of age, and demand that they be found alive.
Faced with this climate of violence, the state, federal and Sedena police maintain security operations in the port of Guaymas and Empalme in order to suspend the travel warning made by the United States Department to its personnel, and also contain the violent acts recorded since last weekend when an armed group fired on vehicles parked during the early morning in the San Vicente neighborhood, confirmed Adolfo García Morales.
The Secretary of Security in Sonora said that work is being done to restore peace among the population of said municipalities, after the information that transpired in social networks about the disappearance of young people in San Carlos, on Saturday 28.
In addition, he said that the presence of municipal police patrolling the area was maintained, a fact that could be corroborated through the GPS system that the police units report, as the supposed absence of the elements in the streets due to threats of organized crime was reported.
"In the C5, the police are monitored by GPS patrols, where they are, there are calls to 911 incidents that were attended to by the municipal police. The GPS allowed us to see that there were municipal police patrolling the city, right now I do not have the exact data how many."
Following these events, an alert was issued by the United States Department calling for a travel ban of personnel from the American consulates to the municipalities of southern Sonora.
Escalating violence with dismemberment
A ice cooler containing human remains appeared on Friday, August 10, on Calle 600, a few meters from Calle Norman E. Borlaug, in the Valle del Yaqui, in Cajeme.
The municipal police received the report, detecting in the area a narcomanta adjudicated to Gente Nueva Salazar.
Elements of the Municipal and State police arrived in addition to expert services to collect the cooler and the official transfer towards the district attorney's office in Cajeme.
The constant violence in Cajeme with multiple murders, the last 4 registered in less than 24 hours on Friday the 10th, caused the population's boiling point to be reached. That is why the responsible authorities are required to rethink the coordination strategies between the different levels of police corporations, said Faustino Félix Chávez.
The mayor of Cajeme said that one of his last duties as a public servant of Ciudad Obregó is analyzing with the state government new measures to stop the murders registered almost daily in Cajeme, and alternatives to inhibit crimes related to organized crime.
"We have to listen to society, it is not something that is only happening in the south of Sonora, we know that it is not foreign to the rest of the country, but we worry about our house, we care where we live, where we have our families and although we said it is something between criminals, we have already seen people who are not criminals having to suffer the ravages of what is happening."
For its part, the government of Sonora has continued with operations in Cajeme, Guaymas and Empalme, where elements of the State Public Security Police, the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie and the Mexican Army arrived.
"For various sectors of Ciudad Obregón, monitoring and prevention points were installed in which elements of SEDENA, PESP, PF and Municipal Police participate," the state agency reported on its Twitter account.
Cajemenses seek to restore peace
Marches for Peace, organized by relatives of "levantadas" or disappeared persons, began with inhabitants of Cajeme and Guaymas going out into the streets to demand that the authorities contain the clashes between members of organized crime groups.
With placards and slogans of "No more violence " and "We want security and peace" they marched to the municipal palace.
Armida Salas Lapizco, denounced to the authority the disappearance of her nephew Miguel Ángel ITSON, student in the Systems Engineering degree, who disappeared on March 27, 2012.
"He was going to graduate in December 2012, he was doing his social service and we do not know anything, the authorities have not given us any response, we have never passed from the PGR window, my nephew's car appeared abandoned."
There are about 70 murders officially registered in Cajeme so far this year, but it should be noted that there is a percentage that is not reported to the judicial authorities, so it is not recorded in the lists reported by the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security.
(Translated August 28 by El Profe for Borderland Beat)
Thursday, August 30, 2018
JAILER SUING CA COUNTY
by Bob Walsh
Dante Michelucci, 41, is a correctional officer (jail guard according to the newspaper) at the Napa County hospitality center. He is asserting that he was "driven off" of his job by virulent anti-gay harassment (incorrectly perceived) and ended up in a mental hospital due to this. He is, of course, suing.
Michelucci was with the county for over ten years, starting in 2007 and bailing out in April of this year. He is straight and lives with his wife in Sonoma County. He is asserting that, for some reason, his colleagues have decided that he is in fact gay and made him the target of rather nasty anti-gay harassment.
Michelucci says that he reported the abuse to his superiors, and was then labeled a rat and subject to further harassment.
He has a record of good to very good performance reports and was promoted to Field Training Officer duties. He asserts that he was "directed" to give an African-American officer a crappy job review, because the guy "just didn't fit in." This was the triggering incident in his harassment. Michelucci is apparently still on the payroll, on medical leave.
The suit, filed last week in S.F., is asking for unspecified actual and punitive damages.
Dante Michelucci, 41, is a correctional officer (jail guard according to the newspaper) at the Napa County hospitality center. He is asserting that he was "driven off" of his job by virulent anti-gay harassment (incorrectly perceived) and ended up in a mental hospital due to this. He is, of course, suing.
Michelucci was with the county for over ten years, starting in 2007 and bailing out in April of this year. He is straight and lives with his wife in Sonoma County. He is asserting that, for some reason, his colleagues have decided that he is in fact gay and made him the target of rather nasty anti-gay harassment.
Michelucci says that he reported the abuse to his superiors, and was then labeled a rat and subject to further harassment.
He has a record of good to very good performance reports and was promoted to Field Training Officer duties. He asserts that he was "directed" to give an African-American officer a crappy job review, because the guy "just didn't fit in." This was the triggering incident in his harassment. Michelucci is apparently still on the payroll, on medical leave.
The suit, filed last week in S.F., is asking for unspecified actual and punitive damages.
VERY YOUNG LEGAL STONERS IN CA.
by Bob Walsh
The formerly great state of California is about to approve the on-campus consumption of marijuana products (other than by smoking) of elementary school students who have a valid medical marijuana card. You can get one of those by asserting that you suffer from stress because the law does not allow you to consume marijuana. Just thought you might find this interesting.
Anybody got some Twinkies?
The formerly great state of California is about to approve the on-campus consumption of marijuana products (other than by smoking) of elementary school students who have a valid medical marijuana card. You can get one of those by asserting that you suffer from stress because the law does not allow you to consume marijuana. Just thought you might find this interesting.
Anybody got some Twinkies?
CAREER CROOK FACES MULTIPLE COUNTS OF FELONY ASSAULT
Wrong-way driver who hit NY cops faces 40 criminal charges
By Thomas Tracy and John Annese
New York Daily News
August 29, 2018
NEW YORK CITY — The career crook who rammed two police cars during on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge faces a whopping 40 criminal charges after Monday’s wild, wrong-way pursuit, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Peter Guarneri, 47, had three baggies of crack in his pocket and a suspended license when he tried to escape police in a stolen van on the nearly mile-long span during the afternoon rush hour, prosecutors said.
Police suspected Guarneri in a string of burglaries, cops said, when he hopped into a stolen 1999 Ford Econoline van in Brooklyn and headed towards the bridge.
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authorities officers in three separate vehicles started pursuing him, and an off-duty NYPD detective, James McCullough, cut him off and stopped his Toyota Camry in front of the van, authorities said.
Guarneri rammed the Camry from behind, and refused to get out of the van, spurring one of the TBTA officer, Eddie Fung, to smash his hand through the driver’s side window, according to a criminal complaint.
He then maneuvered past McCullough’s Camry, drove all the way down to the Staten Island side of the span, pulled a U-turn, and headed back to Brooklyn.
That’s when he slammed into an unmarked Fusion carrying NYPD Officer Stephanie Mazza and Sgt. Albert Cabello, according to the complaint. He rammed their car several times, trying to power through it, then jumped out and made a final, futile run for it, prosecutors said.
Mazza, who was driving the Ford, suffered neck and back pain, while Cabello suffered a cut to his head and pain to his right knee.
Guarneri has 32 past arrests for robbery, assault, drug possession and other charges dating back to 1988, police sources said. He’s on probation for a 2016 unlicensed driving arrest in Brooklyn, and was out on $10,000 bail after a June 2017 bust in Queens for possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
He was arraigned Tuesday on multiple counts of felony assault and myriad other charges, and ordered held on $200,000 bond or $100,000 bail.
By Thomas Tracy and John Annese
New York Daily News
August 29, 2018
NEW YORK CITY — The career crook who rammed two police cars during on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge faces a whopping 40 criminal charges after Monday’s wild, wrong-way pursuit, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Peter Guarneri, 47, had three baggies of crack in his pocket and a suspended license when he tried to escape police in a stolen van on the nearly mile-long span during the afternoon rush hour, prosecutors said.
Police suspected Guarneri in a string of burglaries, cops said, when he hopped into a stolen 1999 Ford Econoline van in Brooklyn and headed towards the bridge.
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authorities officers in three separate vehicles started pursuing him, and an off-duty NYPD detective, James McCullough, cut him off and stopped his Toyota Camry in front of the van, authorities said.
Guarneri rammed the Camry from behind, and refused to get out of the van, spurring one of the TBTA officer, Eddie Fung, to smash his hand through the driver’s side window, according to a criminal complaint.
He then maneuvered past McCullough’s Camry, drove all the way down to the Staten Island side of the span, pulled a U-turn, and headed back to Brooklyn.
That’s when he slammed into an unmarked Fusion carrying NYPD Officer Stephanie Mazza and Sgt. Albert Cabello, according to the complaint. He rammed their car several times, trying to power through it, then jumped out and made a final, futile run for it, prosecutors said.
Mazza, who was driving the Ford, suffered neck and back pain, while Cabello suffered a cut to his head and pain to his right knee.
Guarneri has 32 past arrests for robbery, assault, drug possession and other charges dating back to 1988, police sources said. He’s on probation for a 2016 unlicensed driving arrest in Brooklyn, and was out on $10,000 bail after a June 2017 bust in Queens for possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
He was arraigned Tuesday on multiple counts of felony assault and myriad other charges, and ordered held on $200,000 bond or $100,000 bail.
PENNSYLVANIA POT GROWER HIGH ON DRUGS SQUASHED BY BULLDOZER
DA: Death of man crushed by bulldozer while hiding from police in pot grove was accidental
By Barbara Barr
WGAK News 8
August 28, 2018
PENN TWP., Pa. -- Berks County District Attorney John Adams has determined that the death of a man who was crushed by a bulldozer while hiding from state police last month was accidental.
Investigators said Gregory Longenecker intentionally crawled under the bulldozer when it came to a stop, and he was caught under the treads when it made a turn as it started moving again.
An employee with the Pennsylvania Game Commission was using the bulldozer to clear heavy brush in a field next to Snyder School Road in Penn Township on July 9 and noticed a suspicious vehicle.
Police were called and found several marijuana plants, investigators said. Police also spotted two men. One of them was taken into custody, but police said Longenecker ran.
A state trooper and the game commission employee used the bulldozer during the search for Longenecker because the brush was too dense to walk through, according to investigators. Longenecker's body was later found under the bulldozer.
According to the autopsy report, Longenecker was under the influence of methadone, amphetamine and cannabinoid, and the levels of methadone and methamphetamine were in the toxic level.
"The decedent's judgement, perception and coordination would have been considerably impaired at the time of his death due to this intoxication," Dr. Neil Hoffman wrote.
By Barbara Barr
WGAK News 8
August 28, 2018
PENN TWP., Pa. -- Berks County District Attorney John Adams has determined that the death of a man who was crushed by a bulldozer while hiding from state police last month was accidental.
Investigators said Gregory Longenecker intentionally crawled under the bulldozer when it came to a stop, and he was caught under the treads when it made a turn as it started moving again.
An employee with the Pennsylvania Game Commission was using the bulldozer to clear heavy brush in a field next to Snyder School Road in Penn Township on July 9 and noticed a suspicious vehicle.
Police were called and found several marijuana plants, investigators said. Police also spotted two men. One of them was taken into custody, but police said Longenecker ran.
A state trooper and the game commission employee used the bulldozer during the search for Longenecker because the brush was too dense to walk through, according to investigators. Longenecker's body was later found under the bulldozer.
According to the autopsy report, Longenecker was under the influence of methadone, amphetamine and cannabinoid, and the levels of methadone and methamphetamine were in the toxic level.
"The decedent's judgement, perception and coordination would have been considerably impaired at the time of his death due to this intoxication," Dr. Neil Hoffman wrote.
VACATION TO MEXICO ABRUPTLY INTERRUPTED
Married Georgia cops are ARRESTED for bringing illegal guns on their Mexican vacation 'for protection'
Associated Press
August 28, 2018
A Georgia sheriff says two deputies have been arrested for bringing guns to Mexico, where it's illegal to carry such weapons.
Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock tells news outlets Martelle and Shawana Davis were traveling to Cancun for vacation and were taken into custody when they got off their flight there.
The 36-year-old man and 31-year-old woman are married and both work for the sheriff's office.
Hancock says they brought the guns as a safety precaution after several killings were recently reported in Cancun.
The sheriff says the couple were fined and returned to the U.S. Monday morning after being arrested Thursday night.
'After working closely with officials in the U.S. and Mexico to resolve the issue, the two were released late Saturday on bond,' Hancock says.
He says they didn't violate his office's policy allowing officers to carry their weapons while off duty.
Hancock says there will be an internal investigation.
'I can't thank all those on a State and Federal level who took my phone calls to assist enough.
'Each one played an important role in the release of these two deputies. Our prayers have been answered.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: They were lucky to have their case resolved this quickly. Under Mexico’s ‘justice’ system, persons charged with a crime often linger in jail for months before there is ever a hearing before a judge.
Why would anyone want to take a vacation in a place where they felt the need to carry protection? If they felt the need to protect themselves in Cancun – not really a bad idea – why did they ever choose Mexico for a vacation? They could have had an exciting vacation in Chicago or Baltimore where as cops they could have roamed around with their guns.
Associated Press
August 28, 2018
A Georgia sheriff says two deputies have been arrested for bringing guns to Mexico, where it's illegal to carry such weapons.
Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock tells news outlets Martelle and Shawana Davis were traveling to Cancun for vacation and were taken into custody when they got off their flight there.
The 36-year-old man and 31-year-old woman are married and both work for the sheriff's office.
Hancock says they brought the guns as a safety precaution after several killings were recently reported in Cancun.
The sheriff says the couple were fined and returned to the U.S. Monday morning after being arrested Thursday night.
'After working closely with officials in the U.S. and Mexico to resolve the issue, the two were released late Saturday on bond,' Hancock says.
He says they didn't violate his office's policy allowing officers to carry their weapons while off duty.
Hancock says there will be an internal investigation.
'I can't thank all those on a State and Federal level who took my phone calls to assist enough.
'Each one played an important role in the release of these two deputies. Our prayers have been answered.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: They were lucky to have their case resolved this quickly. Under Mexico’s ‘justice’ system, persons charged with a crime often linger in jail for months before there is ever a hearing before a judge.
Why would anyone want to take a vacation in a place where they felt the need to carry protection? If they felt the need to protect themselves in Cancun – not really a bad idea – why did they ever choose Mexico for a vacation? They could have had an exciting vacation in Chicago or Baltimore where as cops they could have roamed around with their guns.
AN EMBARRASSMENT FOR RUTH BADER GINSBURG WHO MARRIED DAVID DANIELS AND SCOTT WALTERS
Opera singer David Daniels could face attempted solicitation charge for Grindr messages, Mich. police say
By Nicole Hensley
Houston Chronicle
August 28, 2018
Nearly a week after a Rice University graduate accused opera singer David Daniels of rape stemming from a 2010 incident in Houston, a police department in Michigan has recommended that the performer be charged with attempted solicitation in a separate case.
The new allegation represents the second known police complaint brought against the famed countertenor with stage credits at the Metropolitan Opera and the Houston Grand Opera.
The University of Michigan Police Department received the initial report and referred the matter to detectives at the nearby Pittsfield Police Department on Aug. 3, said Matt Harshberger, the township’s police chief.
Harshberger told the Houston Chronicle that the alleged victim lives in the Pittsfield Charter Township, about five miles south of Ann Arbor. He was 19 years old at the time of the alleged encounter
Daniels is a tenured professor of music at the University of Michigan and is on a leave of absence for the fall semester, said Kim Broekhuizen, a spokeswoman at the Ann Arbor school. She said the school is aware of the allegations in Houston and in the Pittsfields township.
Pittsfield detectives spoke to the alleged victim on Aug. 21, Harshberger said, adding that Daniels failed to return repeated calls by investigators about the matter.
A representative for Daniels declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.
The singer and the alleged victim exchanged messages on the gay dating app known as Grindr in February 2017, Harshberger said. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the messages other than to say Daniels is accused of asking for a sex act. Attempted solicitation is a misdemeanor, he said.
The police chief expects the Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to make its decision on whether to charge Daniels within a week. A spokesman for the attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.
Police at the University of Michigan forwarded the new allegations of a sexual assault in Houston in 2010 to the Houston Police Department in July. The victim last week identified himself to the Chronicle as opera singer and Rice University graduate Samuel Schultz.
In an interview last week, Schultz accused Daniels and his husband, Scott Walters, of drugging and raping him at a Midtown apartment after a Houston Grand Opera performance of “Xerxes” in 2010. Houston police confirmed last week they were investigating the allegations, though no charges or arrests have been made.
Daniels and Walters both denied the allegations when reached by the New York Daily News.
Perryn Leech, managing director of the Houston Grand Opera, has said that his organization would cooperate with the ongoing police investigation.
By Nicole Hensley
Houston Chronicle
August 28, 2018
Nearly a week after a Rice University graduate accused opera singer David Daniels of rape stemming from a 2010 incident in Houston, a police department in Michigan has recommended that the performer be charged with attempted solicitation in a separate case.
The new allegation represents the second known police complaint brought against the famed countertenor with stage credits at the Metropolitan Opera and the Houston Grand Opera.
The University of Michigan Police Department received the initial report and referred the matter to detectives at the nearby Pittsfield Police Department on Aug. 3, said Matt Harshberger, the township’s police chief.
Harshberger told the Houston Chronicle that the alleged victim lives in the Pittsfield Charter Township, about five miles south of Ann Arbor. He was 19 years old at the time of the alleged encounter
Daniels is a tenured professor of music at the University of Michigan and is on a leave of absence for the fall semester, said Kim Broekhuizen, a spokeswoman at the Ann Arbor school. She said the school is aware of the allegations in Houston and in the Pittsfields township.
Pittsfield detectives spoke to the alleged victim on Aug. 21, Harshberger said, adding that Daniels failed to return repeated calls by investigators about the matter.
A representative for Daniels declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.
The singer and the alleged victim exchanged messages on the gay dating app known as Grindr in February 2017, Harshberger said. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the messages other than to say Daniels is accused of asking for a sex act. Attempted solicitation is a misdemeanor, he said.
The police chief expects the Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to make its decision on whether to charge Daniels within a week. A spokesman for the attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.
Police at the University of Michigan forwarded the new allegations of a sexual assault in Houston in 2010 to the Houston Police Department in July. The victim last week identified himself to the Chronicle as opera singer and Rice University graduate Samuel Schultz.
In an interview last week, Schultz accused Daniels and his husband, Scott Walters, of drugging and raping him at a Midtown apartment after a Houston Grand Opera performance of “Xerxes” in 2010. Houston police confirmed last week they were investigating the allegations, though no charges or arrests have been made.
Daniels and Walters both denied the allegations when reached by the New York Daily News.
Perryn Leech, managing director of the Houston Grand Opera, has said that his organization would cooperate with the ongoing police investigation.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
BAIL DEAD IN CALIFORNIA
by Bob Walsh
On Tuesday Governor Moonbeam signed a bill into law which will, effective 01-01-2020, eliminate cash bail in the formerly great state of California.
Virtually all misdemeanor offenders will be released ORO in not more than twelve hours, no matter how many charges they have pending against them. Other people will be evaluated by a new bureaucracy which will determine that persons risk factors and whether or not they should remain in custody. Since shrinks are so good at predicting future dangerous behavior we should let another set of crackpots have a go at it.
This will, no doubt, result in a better level of fairness for certain low-level offenders. It will, however, without a doubt result in an upsurge of property crimes for things like auto burglary, auto theft and commercial burglary. Probably paper hanging too, though passing a bum check is harder than it used to be.
On Tuesday Governor Moonbeam signed a bill into law which will, effective 01-01-2020, eliminate cash bail in the formerly great state of California.
Virtually all misdemeanor offenders will be released ORO in not more than twelve hours, no matter how many charges they have pending against them. Other people will be evaluated by a new bureaucracy which will determine that persons risk factors and whether or not they should remain in custody. Since shrinks are so good at predicting future dangerous behavior we should let another set of crackpots have a go at it.
This will, no doubt, result in a better level of fairness for certain low-level offenders. It will, however, without a doubt result in an upsurge of property crimes for things like auto burglary, auto theft and commercial burglary. Probably paper hanging too, though passing a bum check is harder than it used to be.
AT WHAT POINT DO YOU SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
And What Do You Do Then?
by Bob Walsh
I am not a Catholic. I am not a Christian. I am not even a mono-theist. I do, however, understand that there is a difference between GOD, RELIGION and CHURCH. The church is a bureaucracy. In theory it exists to assist and allow the church to minister to it's flock. In practice it seems that it is often used to cover up systemic criminal activity, the abuse of children by the clergy and, to some extent, even to aid in that criminality.
The Pope is the big man. God's vicar on earth. He is, allegedly, INFALLIBLE when it comes to matters of the faith. Theoretically God moves the Pope in the correct direction, his wonders to perform. The problem is it seems not virtually CERTAIN that the current Pope KNEW for YEARS of the deep-seated abusive practices within the church and the fact that the church moved and hid child molesters within the clergy, IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE CHURCH AT THE EXPENSE OF MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was the Papal Nuncio (ambassador) to the United States. He was recalled in 2016. Vigano has recently pusblished a 7,000 word letter which asserts that he had notified the Pope years ago (2013) of the widespread sexual abuse occurring within the church and that the Pope failed to act. He has called for the Pope's resignation.
He specifically accused the Pope of complicity in covering up accusations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Allegedly Benedict XVI, Pope Francis' immediate predecessor, acted against McCarrick for his known sexual abuse of seminarians and priests. . McCarrick has been "sentenced" to a lifetime of penance and prayer by Benedict XVI. Pope Francis "rehabilitated" McCarrick and started sending him out on missions for the church again. McCarrick became the first cardinal in U. S. history to resign, following charges that he abused boys.
It should be noted that Vigano is not a big fan of Pope Francis. He can't PROVE he notified the Pope of the problem back in 2013.
It is clear that the Catholic Church has known, at very high levels, of the facts. The facts are that there are a LOT of priests and higher-ups in the church doing a lot of nasty shit to their subordinates and members of their flock. In can not be questioned any more that the church has actively moved to conceal and protect this predatory scum and, at a minimum, is complicit by this action.
What will the Pope do? What will the bureaucracy do? What will the secular authorities do? And then the big question, what will the flock do?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Life Site News reports that Monsignor Jean-François Lantheaume, former first counsellor at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., corroborates Viganò’s testimony that Pope Francis and a number of high-ranking prelates helped cover up ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sex abuse.
And Bishop Joseph Strickland has instructed his priests in the Tyler, Texas diocese to read a letter from him this Sunday saying he believes Vigano’s allegations are “credible” and calls for a “thorough investigation” into them.
by Bob Walsh
I am not a Catholic. I am not a Christian. I am not even a mono-theist. I do, however, understand that there is a difference between GOD, RELIGION and CHURCH. The church is a bureaucracy. In theory it exists to assist and allow the church to minister to it's flock. In practice it seems that it is often used to cover up systemic criminal activity, the abuse of children by the clergy and, to some extent, even to aid in that criminality.
The Pope is the big man. God's vicar on earth. He is, allegedly, INFALLIBLE when it comes to matters of the faith. Theoretically God moves the Pope in the correct direction, his wonders to perform. The problem is it seems not virtually CERTAIN that the current Pope KNEW for YEARS of the deep-seated abusive practices within the church and the fact that the church moved and hid child molesters within the clergy, IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE CHURCH AT THE EXPENSE OF MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was the Papal Nuncio (ambassador) to the United States. He was recalled in 2016. Vigano has recently pusblished a 7,000 word letter which asserts that he had notified the Pope years ago (2013) of the widespread sexual abuse occurring within the church and that the Pope failed to act. He has called for the Pope's resignation.
He specifically accused the Pope of complicity in covering up accusations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Allegedly Benedict XVI, Pope Francis' immediate predecessor, acted against McCarrick for his known sexual abuse of seminarians and priests. . McCarrick has been "sentenced" to a lifetime of penance and prayer by Benedict XVI. Pope Francis "rehabilitated" McCarrick and started sending him out on missions for the church again. McCarrick became the first cardinal in U. S. history to resign, following charges that he abused boys.
It should be noted that Vigano is not a big fan of Pope Francis. He can't PROVE he notified the Pope of the problem back in 2013.
It is clear that the Catholic Church has known, at very high levels, of the facts. The facts are that there are a LOT of priests and higher-ups in the church doing a lot of nasty shit to their subordinates and members of their flock. In can not be questioned any more that the church has actively moved to conceal and protect this predatory scum and, at a minimum, is complicit by this action.
What will the Pope do? What will the bureaucracy do? What will the secular authorities do? And then the big question, what will the flock do?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Life Site News reports that Monsignor Jean-François Lantheaume, former first counsellor at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., corroborates Viganò’s testimony that Pope Francis and a number of high-ranking prelates helped cover up ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sex abuse.
And Bishop Joseph Strickland has instructed his priests in the Tyler, Texas diocese to read a letter from him this Sunday saying he believes Vigano’s allegations are “credible” and calls for a “thorough investigation” into them.
TULSA BLACKS PROTEST NEW ROLE FOR WHITE FEMALE COP
White female cop acquitted of killing an unarmed black man is now teaching a class on how officers can survive in the aftermath of a police shooting
By Emily Crane
Daily Mail
August 28, 2018
A white female police officer who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in Oklahoma is now teaching a training class on how to survive a critical incident.
Betty Shelby, 44, resigned from the Tulsa Police Department following her acquittal last year in the 2016 fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher.
She now works as a patrol officer for the nearby Roger County Sheriff's Office.
Shelby is scheduled to teach a 'critical incident' class on Tuesday for the Tulsa County Sheriff that focuses on how to cope with the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting.
The decision to let Shelby teach the class has led to protests from those who claim it is 'insensitive' to let her lead the training.
Dozens of activists and pastors held a rally on Monday with signs saying 'Ban Betty' in a bid to pressure authorities into removing Shelby from the CLEET-approved class.
State Rep. Regina Goodwin, who spoke at the rally, said she urged the sheriff to reconsider the training class.
'The class is entitled Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident. How about allowing one to survive the 'beforemath'?' Goodwin wrote on Facebook.
'If officers and deputies are to learn best practices, how would Betty Shelby be most fit to provide insight?'
Reverend Rodney Goss told Newson6 that the decision was insensitive.
'It lacked integrity and it also lacked empathy. No one seems to really care about the family itself,' he said.
'It endorses her side of the story. It rewards her for what she has done, and it continues the narrative of her team that somehow, she's a hero in this whole picture.'
Shelby issued a statement Monday following the protests saying the class would include her experiences following Crutcher's death.
'I faced many challenges that I was unprepared for such as threats to my life by activists groups to loss of pay,' she said in a statement.
'My class is to help others by sharing some of the skills I used to cope with the stress of my critical incident. As law enforcement we experience many critical incidents throughout our career.
'These tools that I share are just a few to help them cope with the stress of the critical incidents they have had or will experience. My class is not about the shooting and I do not discuss the shooting.'
Shelby was found not guilty in May last year of manslaughter in the shooting death of Crutcher.
The officer was en route to a domestic violence call when she encountered Crutcher's broken-down SUV blocking a road on September 16, 2016.
Shelby claims he did not respond to her questions and did not respond to commands to stop as he walked to his vehicle with his hands in the air in the moments before she shot him.
Police helicopter video and a dashboard camera showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby on the street with his arms in the air.
It doesn't offer a clear view of when Shelby fired the single shot.
Crutcher was unarmed and had followed directions to put his arms in the air, authorities said at the time.
Prosecutors had tried to argue that Shelby 'reacted unreasonably' and was 'emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted' when she shot Crutcher.
Shelby's attorneys said she shot Crutcher because she feared for her life, believing Crutcher was reaching into his vehicle for a gun.
When she was acquitted in May last year, Shelby resigned from the department and has since become a deputy at the sheriff's office.
Crutcher's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Tulsa in April this year.
By Emily Crane
Daily Mail
August 28, 2018
A white female police officer who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in Oklahoma is now teaching a training class on how to survive a critical incident.
Betty Shelby, 44, resigned from the Tulsa Police Department following her acquittal last year in the 2016 fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher.
She now works as a patrol officer for the nearby Roger County Sheriff's Office.
Shelby is scheduled to teach a 'critical incident' class on Tuesday for the Tulsa County Sheriff that focuses on how to cope with the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting.
The decision to let Shelby teach the class has led to protests from those who claim it is 'insensitive' to let her lead the training.
Dozens of activists and pastors held a rally on Monday with signs saying 'Ban Betty' in a bid to pressure authorities into removing Shelby from the CLEET-approved class.
State Rep. Regina Goodwin, who spoke at the rally, said she urged the sheriff to reconsider the training class.
'The class is entitled Surviving the Aftermath of a Critical Incident. How about allowing one to survive the 'beforemath'?' Goodwin wrote on Facebook.
'If officers and deputies are to learn best practices, how would Betty Shelby be most fit to provide insight?'
Reverend Rodney Goss told Newson6 that the decision was insensitive.
'It lacked integrity and it also lacked empathy. No one seems to really care about the family itself,' he said.
'It endorses her side of the story. It rewards her for what she has done, and it continues the narrative of her team that somehow, she's a hero in this whole picture.'
Shelby issued a statement Monday following the protests saying the class would include her experiences following Crutcher's death.
'I faced many challenges that I was unprepared for such as threats to my life by activists groups to loss of pay,' she said in a statement.
'My class is to help others by sharing some of the skills I used to cope with the stress of my critical incident. As law enforcement we experience many critical incidents throughout our career.
'These tools that I share are just a few to help them cope with the stress of the critical incidents they have had or will experience. My class is not about the shooting and I do not discuss the shooting.'
Shelby was found not guilty in May last year of manslaughter in the shooting death of Crutcher.
The officer was en route to a domestic violence call when she encountered Crutcher's broken-down SUV blocking a road on September 16, 2016.
Shelby claims he did not respond to her questions and did not respond to commands to stop as he walked to his vehicle with his hands in the air in the moments before she shot him.
Police helicopter video and a dashboard camera showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby on the street with his arms in the air.
It doesn't offer a clear view of when Shelby fired the single shot.
Crutcher was unarmed and had followed directions to put his arms in the air, authorities said at the time.
Prosecutors had tried to argue that Shelby 'reacted unreasonably' and was 'emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted' when she shot Crutcher.
Shelby's attorneys said she shot Crutcher because she feared for her life, believing Crutcher was reaching into his vehicle for a gun.
When she was acquitted in May last year, Shelby resigned from the department and has since become a deputy at the sheriff's office.
Crutcher's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Tulsa in April this year.
TRUMP CLAIMS STORMY BENEFITED FROM HIM CALLING HER A LIAR
EXCLUSIVE: Trump demands court DISMISS Stormy Daniels's defamation lawsuit against him saying First Amendment lets him call her a liar - and he's made her RICHER
By Karen Ruiz
Daily Mail
August 28, 2018
President Trump is demanding a judge toss out Stormy Daniels's defamation suit against him claiming he is protected by free speech, DailyMail.com can reveal.
In a motion to dismiss filed on Monday, the president argues that his April 2018 tweet, in which he branded Daniels a liar after she alleged she was threatened by man on his behalf, is his 'protected opinion.'
He has also claimed that the porn star, 39, has not suffered any damages from his comments and that she has actually 'capitalized' on the dispute.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti called the motion 'as baseless as Trump's comments about Senator McCain.'
The suit states: 'Politicians, in the course of public debate, are entitled to enter the debate and express their beliefs, including their disbeliefs, of the claims of their adversaries.'
The documents go on to say that Trump's comments about Daniels are no different to when he has 'expressed his opinions regarding multiple adversaries, sometimes referring to his opponents by colorful names such as "Lyin' Ted" and "Crooked Hillary."'
'A defamation standard that turns typical political rhetoric into actionable defamation would chill expression that is central to the First Amendment and political speech,' the suit states.
Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, filed the suit in April claiming Trump's comment was defamatory because it accused her of a serious crime: 'that she falsely accused an individual of threatening her.'
In the new filing, Trump attorney Charles J Harder fired back saying that merely stating that someone has made a false statement does not count as defamation.
He also slammed Daniels stating 'there is nothing about Plaintiff's career as an adult entertainer that requires a reputation for honesty.'
The lawsuit is only a part of the ongoing saga between Trump and Daniels, who claimed she was paid $135,000 in hush money by attorney Michael Cohen before the election to stop her airing her claims of sex with the then presidential candidate in 2006.
Daniels appeared on an April episode of The View to show the sketch of a man she says threatened her in 2011 to stay silent after she tried to sell her story then.
She claimed she was with her young daughter when the mystery man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot saying: 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.'
Daniels said: 'Then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." And then he was gone.'
Trump later weighed in on the claims on Twitter, mocking the courtroom artist's sketch and saying: 'A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!'
The president also retweeted a side-by-side comparison of the pencil sketch with a photo of Daniels' husband Glendon Crain, a fellow adult film star who had the porn name Brendon Miller, and a former heavy metal drummer.
In the new motion, Harder also argued that Daniels and her lawyer Michael Avenatti have 'publicly attacked' the president in more than 140 television news appearances in the past five months.
He also claims Daniels is unable to prove that she suffered any damages as a result of the tweet and argues that the porn star has actually 'capitalized on her dispute with the President, embarking on a nationwide tour of adult live entertainment venues (a.k.a., strip clubs) for which she admittedly is being paid at least four times her normal appearance fee because of her public controversy with the President.'
'This suit [...] is nothing more than a public relations move by Plaintiff and her outspoken lawyer to obtain still more publicity and attention.
'This suit improperly injects the United States courts into what is effectively a public debate involving a major politician and one (or two) of his public antagonists.
'This suit is designed to chill the President's free speech rights on matters of public concern.'
By Karen Ruiz
Daily Mail
August 28, 2018
President Trump is demanding a judge toss out Stormy Daniels's defamation suit against him claiming he is protected by free speech, DailyMail.com can reveal.
In a motion to dismiss filed on Monday, the president argues that his April 2018 tweet, in which he branded Daniels a liar after she alleged she was threatened by man on his behalf, is his 'protected opinion.'
He has also claimed that the porn star, 39, has not suffered any damages from his comments and that she has actually 'capitalized' on the dispute.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti called the motion 'as baseless as Trump's comments about Senator McCain.'
The suit states: 'Politicians, in the course of public debate, are entitled to enter the debate and express their beliefs, including their disbeliefs, of the claims of their adversaries.'
The documents go on to say that Trump's comments about Daniels are no different to when he has 'expressed his opinions regarding multiple adversaries, sometimes referring to his opponents by colorful names such as "Lyin' Ted" and "Crooked Hillary."'
'A defamation standard that turns typical political rhetoric into actionable defamation would chill expression that is central to the First Amendment and political speech,' the suit states.
Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, filed the suit in April claiming Trump's comment was defamatory because it accused her of a serious crime: 'that she falsely accused an individual of threatening her.'
In the new filing, Trump attorney Charles J Harder fired back saying that merely stating that someone has made a false statement does not count as defamation.
He also slammed Daniels stating 'there is nothing about Plaintiff's career as an adult entertainer that requires a reputation for honesty.'
The lawsuit is only a part of the ongoing saga between Trump and Daniels, who claimed she was paid $135,000 in hush money by attorney Michael Cohen before the election to stop her airing her claims of sex with the then presidential candidate in 2006.
Daniels appeared on an April episode of The View to show the sketch of a man she says threatened her in 2011 to stay silent after she tried to sell her story then.
She claimed she was with her young daughter when the mystery man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot saying: 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.'
Daniels said: 'Then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." And then he was gone.'
Trump later weighed in on the claims on Twitter, mocking the courtroom artist's sketch and saying: 'A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!'
The president also retweeted a side-by-side comparison of the pencil sketch with a photo of Daniels' husband Glendon Crain, a fellow adult film star who had the porn name Brendon Miller, and a former heavy metal drummer.
In the new motion, Harder also argued that Daniels and her lawyer Michael Avenatti have 'publicly attacked' the president in more than 140 television news appearances in the past five months.
He also claims Daniels is unable to prove that she suffered any damages as a result of the tweet and argues that the porn star has actually 'capitalized on her dispute with the President, embarking on a nationwide tour of adult live entertainment venues (a.k.a., strip clubs) for which she admittedly is being paid at least four times her normal appearance fee because of her public controversy with the President.'
'This suit [...] is nothing more than a public relations move by Plaintiff and her outspoken lawyer to obtain still more publicity and attention.
'This suit improperly injects the United States courts into what is effectively a public debate involving a major politician and one (or two) of his public antagonists.
'This suit is designed to chill the President's free speech rights on matters of public concern.'
WHITE TEXAS COP CONVICTED OF MURDERING BLACK TEENAGER
Ex-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murdering teenager Jordan Edwards
By Nichole Manna
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
August 28, 2018
DALLAS -- A Dallas County jury has found ex-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murder in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, an African-American youth who was unarmed when Oliver shot him in April 2017.
The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over a period of two days before reaching its verdict. The courtroom erupted in cries and cheers from Edwards’ family afterward as they clapped and hugged each other.
Odell Edwards, Jordan Edwards’ father, said his family is relieved and happy. “It’s been a long time, hard year and we’re just really happy,” he said, holding back tears. “We did it.”
“God is good, God is good,” one woman said in the hallway outside the courtroom, as she hugged others.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
A photo of Edwards rested underneath Judge Brandon Birmingham’s bench for most of the weeklong trial.
The trial immediately moved into the punishment phase. The jury is listening to testimony from friends, family and teachers of Jordan before determining Oliver’s sentence.
Oliver shot into the back of a 2004 black Impala where Edwards was a passenger on April 29 last year. The then-officer claimed the car was about to run over his partner, Officer Tyler Gross, but several witnesses and video taken from the officer’s body camera show the car was moving away from Gross.
Gross himself testified on the first day of the trial against Oliver. He said he never feared for his life. An expert in the use of force also testified that Oliver was not justified in shooting Edwards.
Last year, thousands of Facebook and Twitter users posted about it in the days immediately after the shooting, using the hashtag “#jordanedwards.” His death was compared to other police shootings of young blacks, such as 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Rice, holding a pellet gun, was fatally shot in November 2014.
Officers aren’t usually charged or convicted of shooting civilians — even when they’re unarmed.
In Texas, of the 880 officers involved in shootings between 2010 and 2015, an investigation by The Texas Tribune showed that only 25 were disciplined by their departments. Ten were fired for their actions and 14 were suspended. One was given a written reprimand.
In 2016, a former Farmers Branch police officer involved in a deadly shooting was convicted of killing Jose Cruz and seriously injuring Edgar Rodriguez, both 16 at the time. Ken Johnson was off-duty when he fired at the teenagers 16 times.
Until Oliver’s conviction, it had been more than 40 years since an on-duty officer had been convicted of killing someone in a shooting in Texas.
Darrell Cain was convicted of murder in 1973 for killing Santos Rodriguez, 12. Cain, an officer in Dallas, held a gun to the boy’s head and on the second pull of the trigger, killed him. Rodriguez was handcuffed in a squad car.
When Oliver was indicted on murder charges last year, Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said the indictment was hopefully a message to bad police officers that “if you do wrong, we will prosecute you.”
By Nichole Manna
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
August 28, 2018
DALLAS -- A Dallas County jury has found ex-Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver guilty of murder in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, an African-American youth who was unarmed when Oliver shot him in April 2017.
The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over a period of two days before reaching its verdict. The courtroom erupted in cries and cheers from Edwards’ family afterward as they clapped and hugged each other.
Odell Edwards, Jordan Edwards’ father, said his family is relieved and happy. “It’s been a long time, hard year and we’re just really happy,” he said, holding back tears. “We did it.”
“God is good, God is good,” one woman said in the hallway outside the courtroom, as she hugged others.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
A photo of Edwards rested underneath Judge Brandon Birmingham’s bench for most of the weeklong trial.
The trial immediately moved into the punishment phase. The jury is listening to testimony from friends, family and teachers of Jordan before determining Oliver’s sentence.
Oliver shot into the back of a 2004 black Impala where Edwards was a passenger on April 29 last year. The then-officer claimed the car was about to run over his partner, Officer Tyler Gross, but several witnesses and video taken from the officer’s body camera show the car was moving away from Gross.
Gross himself testified on the first day of the trial against Oliver. He said he never feared for his life. An expert in the use of force also testified that Oliver was not justified in shooting Edwards.
Last year, thousands of Facebook and Twitter users posted about it in the days immediately after the shooting, using the hashtag “#jordanedwards.” His death was compared to other police shootings of young blacks, such as 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Rice, holding a pellet gun, was fatally shot in November 2014.
Officers aren’t usually charged or convicted of shooting civilians — even when they’re unarmed.
In Texas, of the 880 officers involved in shootings between 2010 and 2015, an investigation by The Texas Tribune showed that only 25 were disciplined by their departments. Ten were fired for their actions and 14 were suspended. One was given a written reprimand.
In 2016, a former Farmers Branch police officer involved in a deadly shooting was convicted of killing Jose Cruz and seriously injuring Edgar Rodriguez, both 16 at the time. Ken Johnson was off-duty when he fired at the teenagers 16 times.
Until Oliver’s conviction, it had been more than 40 years since an on-duty officer had been convicted of killing someone in a shooting in Texas.
Darrell Cain was convicted of murder in 1973 for killing Santos Rodriguez, 12. Cain, an officer in Dallas, held a gun to the boy’s head and on the second pull of the trigger, killed him. Rodriguez was handcuffed in a squad car.
When Oliver was indicted on murder charges last year, Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said the indictment was hopefully a message to bad police officers that “if you do wrong, we will prosecute you.”
DINE-AND-DASHED HIS WAY TO THE GRAYBAR HOTEL
Man Accused of Serial Dining-and-Dashing, Leaving Women He Met Online to Foot Bill, Faces 10 Felony Counts
By Erika Martin
KTLA 5
August 27, 2018
A man lambasted as the "dine-and-dash dater" after being accused of meeting women at restaurants across the Los Angeles area only to leave them with the bill pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and extortion on Monday, prosecutors said.
Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, 45, allegedly connected with a string of women through dating apps and websites and invited them out to dinner between May 2016 and this April with the intent of using them as a meal ticket, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
He arranged dates at restaurants in Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles, where he ordered and consumed food and drinks, then disappeared before the bill had been paid, the DA's office said.
Eight women told prosecutors they'd footed the bill, one of them under the belief that Gonzales would pay her back. And at least twice, the restaurant paid its own check — making those businesses victims in the criminal complaint, officials said.
In total, Gonzales is accused of defrauding the women of more than $950.
He's also charged with receiving hair salon services, then leaving before paying.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Gonzales on July 3, an inmate records show he was taken into custody Saturday, Aug. 25, in Pasadena.
He was subsequently charged with seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft — all felonies. He also faces two misdemeanor counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft.
If convicted as charged, the defendant could spend up to 13 years in state prison, prosecutors said.
Gonzales is scheduled to return to court in Pasadena for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 7.
By Erika Martin
KTLA 5
August 27, 2018
A man lambasted as the "dine-and-dash dater" after being accused of meeting women at restaurants across the Los Angeles area only to leave them with the bill pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and extortion on Monday, prosecutors said.
Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, 45, allegedly connected with a string of women through dating apps and websites and invited them out to dinner between May 2016 and this April with the intent of using them as a meal ticket, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
He arranged dates at restaurants in Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles, where he ordered and consumed food and drinks, then disappeared before the bill had been paid, the DA's office said.
Eight women told prosecutors they'd footed the bill, one of them under the belief that Gonzales would pay her back. And at least twice, the restaurant paid its own check — making those businesses victims in the criminal complaint, officials said.
In total, Gonzales is accused of defrauding the women of more than $950.
He's also charged with receiving hair salon services, then leaving before paying.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Gonzales on July 3, an inmate records show he was taken into custody Saturday, Aug. 25, in Pasadena.
He was subsequently charged with seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft — all felonies. He also faces two misdemeanor counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft.
If convicted as charged, the defendant could spend up to 13 years in state prison, prosecutors said.
Gonzales is scheduled to return to court in Pasadena for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 7.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
TOBACCO IS SAFER THAN E-CIGARETTES
This guy suffered burns to his thigh when his E-cigarette exploded inside his pants pocket. E-cigarettes have been exploding all over the country. One man was killed when his E-cigarette exploded in his face as he was smoking it. The explosions are blamed on cheap Asian lithium batteries.
Maybe it's time to bring back the Marlboro Man.
SUNDAY’S SERMON
Peewee football game got Baptist preacher so exercised that President Trump will have to get rid of football and cheerleaders if he wants to make America great again
Sunday’s fire and brimstone sermon at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Trimble County, Kentucky:
“I see what’s wrong with America today. Right here it is, time to get ready and go to church and the grandstands back here are full up of people. You got all these young’uns out here chasing balls, and it don’t amount to a hill of beans.
So whenever your children have got more emphasis on what’s going on in the football field than they do the house of God, and people jumpin’ and cheerin’ up and carryin’ on like a bunch of banshee Indians over a kid just running and catching a ball. That’s pure ignorance! Pure ignorance!
When these children are burning in Hell, how do you think you gonna feel? But, oh boy, junior can catch a ball, and junior could run. Junior runs straight to hell and you don’t care.
You think it’s something your little girl can dress up like a prostitute? That’s perversion out there whenever they shake their pompoms and shout and cheer and stuff. You need to get them in the house of God, friend. Raise your family up in the house of God.”
So shrieked Baptist preacher Ernie Spence after passing a peewee football game on his way to church. Uhhh, and those seven-year- old cheerleaders dressed up as prostitutes in T-shirts and shorts. They’re going to Hell for sure!
According to the good Baptist Reverend Spence, that’s what’s wrong with America today. Now President Trump will have to get rid of football and cheerleaders if he wants to make America great again.
Hallelujah!
Sunday’s fire and brimstone sermon at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Trimble County, Kentucky:
“I see what’s wrong with America today. Right here it is, time to get ready and go to church and the grandstands back here are full up of people. You got all these young’uns out here chasing balls, and it don’t amount to a hill of beans.
So whenever your children have got more emphasis on what’s going on in the football field than they do the house of God, and people jumpin’ and cheerin’ up and carryin’ on like a bunch of banshee Indians over a kid just running and catching a ball. That’s pure ignorance! Pure ignorance!
When these children are burning in Hell, how do you think you gonna feel? But, oh boy, junior can catch a ball, and junior could run. Junior runs straight to hell and you don’t care.
You think it’s something your little girl can dress up like a prostitute? That’s perversion out there whenever they shake their pompoms and shout and cheer and stuff. You need to get them in the house of God, friend. Raise your family up in the house of God.”
So shrieked Baptist preacher Ernie Spence after passing a peewee football game on his way to church. Uhhh, and those seven-year- old cheerleaders dressed up as prostitutes in T-shirts and shorts. They’re going to Hell for sure!
According to the good Baptist Reverend Spence, that’s what’s wrong with America today. Now President Trump will have to get rid of football and cheerleaders if he wants to make America great again.
Hallelujah!
DEFERRED, NOT EXCUSED
by Bob Walsh
So I drug my dead butt to the jury assembly room on Monday, and thence to court. Turns out it was a civil trial against a large corporation by a local purchaser. They figured 3-4 weeks. I pointed out that I had a firm schedule on some dental surgery right in the middle of things. I also pointed out that I owned stock in the company and would probably be disqualified for that reason alone.
The new courthouse has as VERY NICE jury assembly room.
I was deferred until December, but not excused.
I learned a couple of things. A LOT of people do not get paid for jury duty. Also the homeless population of Stockton likes to use recessed doorways at the courthouse for latrines. Brand new building too and they seems to be real casual about cleaning the shit up.
I also learned that a lot of people pronounce their own name so badly that the clerk has to ask them three or four times to repeat themselves, and finally to spell it.
So I drug my dead butt to the jury assembly room on Monday, and thence to court. Turns out it was a civil trial against a large corporation by a local purchaser. They figured 3-4 weeks. I pointed out that I had a firm schedule on some dental surgery right in the middle of things. I also pointed out that I owned stock in the company and would probably be disqualified for that reason alone.
The new courthouse has as VERY NICE jury assembly room.
I was deferred until December, but not excused.
I learned a couple of things. A LOT of people do not get paid for jury duty. Also the homeless population of Stockton likes to use recessed doorways at the courthouse for latrines. Brand new building too and they seems to be real casual about cleaning the shit up.
I also learned that a lot of people pronounce their own name so badly that the clerk has to ask them three or four times to repeat themselves, and finally to spell it.
FIFTH GRADER JACKED FOR CALLING TEACHER MA'AM
by Bob Walsh
Tamarion Wilson, 10, got jacked up by his teacher for calling her "Ma'am" to her face. In fact the teacher said at the time that, had she had something handy, she would have thrown it at him. She admitted to that, but says it was not meant seriously and she believed that young Mr. Wilson knew that..
Tamarion's parents were puzzled by this situation and went to the school to talk with the teacher and principle to ensure that they understood what happened. They understood correctly. The teacher, at North East Carolina Preparatory School in Tarboro, N.C. was so offended that she directed that Tamarion write the word ma'am several times on a piece of paper, and look up the definition and write it down. (The definition says that it is a term of respect directed to a female person in authority, especially in the uniform services, and also to a female member of royalty.)
Maybe it's just me, but it sounds to me like this woman has a screw loose. I could see she would be pissed if he had called her "bitch", but "ma'am" is completely appropriate I should think.
The parents requested that Tamarion be moved to another class. The principle concurred. The school has declined further comment.
Tamarion Wilson, 10, got jacked up by his teacher for calling her "Ma'am" to her face. In fact the teacher said at the time that, had she had something handy, she would have thrown it at him. She admitted to that, but says it was not meant seriously and she believed that young Mr. Wilson knew that..
Tamarion's parents were puzzled by this situation and went to the school to talk with the teacher and principle to ensure that they understood what happened. They understood correctly. The teacher, at North East Carolina Preparatory School in Tarboro, N.C. was so offended that she directed that Tamarion write the word ma'am several times on a piece of paper, and look up the definition and write it down. (The definition says that it is a term of respect directed to a female person in authority, especially in the uniform services, and also to a female member of royalty.)
Maybe it's just me, but it sounds to me like this woman has a screw loose. I could see she would be pissed if he had called her "bitch", but "ma'am" is completely appropriate I should think.
The parents requested that Tamarion be moved to another class. The principle concurred. The school has declined further comment.
BIG BROTHER IS SAYING HI
by Bob Walsh
A bill is advancing thru the legislature of the formerly great state of California that would require by law that any corporate entity based in California have at least one female on it's Board of Directors.
At this stage the legislation does not specify if this must be an actual biological female or if a trans-female or a self-identified female who actually has a dick would be permissible. .
Sadly, this is NOT a joke.
A bill is advancing thru the legislature of the formerly great state of California that would require by law that any corporate entity based in California have at least one female on it's Board of Directors.
At this stage the legislation does not specify if this must be an actual biological female or if a trans-female or a self-identified female who actually has a dick would be permissible. .
Sadly, this is NOT a joke.
REALITY WINNER
by Bob Walsh
Reality Winner is the actual name of a young (26 years) lady who may, or may not, be an actual winner depending on how one figures such things.
Ms. Winner was a contract employee at the NSA when she leaked a classified document to the media. She has just been sentenced to 63 months as a guest of the people, the longest such sentence ever handed out for this offense. She could have gotten 120 months.
The document concerned an investigation into alleged Russian hacking attempts into election software in 2016. She made a copy of the document and smuggled it out in her underwear and mailed it.
Reality Winner is the actual name of a young (26 years) lady who may, or may not, be an actual winner depending on how one figures such things.
Ms. Winner was a contract employee at the NSA when she leaked a classified document to the media. She has just been sentenced to 63 months as a guest of the people, the longest such sentence ever handed out for this offense. She could have gotten 120 months.
The document concerned an investigation into alleged Russian hacking attempts into election software in 2016. She made a copy of the document and smuggled it out in her underwear and mailed it.
SUPERSNAKE MAY THREATEN FLORIDA
by Bob Walsh
There are a LOT of non-native snakes running around Florida and they may present an even bigger problem than previously suspected.
Scientists have recently found that more than 3% of the pythons captured in Florida represent a certain level of DNA mixing between the more typical Burmese Python and the Indian Rock Python.
The Indian Rock Python is smaller and faster than the Burmese Python, and can live in a higher, dryer environment very nicely. This could lead to a very dangerous crossbreed snake developing in the estimated 150,000 population of Pythons slithering around the wilds of Florida. Or maybe not.
I think I am pretty safe in Stockton and I am sure as hell not going to Florida any time soon, so it is of only academic interest to me personally.
There are a LOT of non-native snakes running around Florida and they may present an even bigger problem than previously suspected.
Scientists have recently found that more than 3% of the pythons captured in Florida represent a certain level of DNA mixing between the more typical Burmese Python and the Indian Rock Python.
The Indian Rock Python is smaller and faster than the Burmese Python, and can live in a higher, dryer environment very nicely. This could lead to a very dangerous crossbreed snake developing in the estimated 150,000 population of Pythons slithering around the wilds of Florida. Or maybe not.
I think I am pretty safe in Stockton and I am sure as hell not going to Florida any time soon, so it is of only academic interest to me personally.
CIVILIAN POLICE COMMISSIONERS DISREGARD FACT THAT MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF COPS NEVER FIRE THEIR GUNS ON DUTY
The LA Police Commission killed Elizabeth Tollison
By Robert Parry
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
August 26, 2018
Cops rarely kill anyone. Over 90 percent of them won’t fire their guns on the street during their careers.
Members of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners never use deadly force. These politically connected civilians set LAPD policy, but they aren’t cops and they don’t carry guns.
But, make no mistake about it: The Police Commission killed Elizabeth Tollison.
No, the commissioners didn’t hold the knife that sliced Tollison’s throat nor did they fire the fatal bullets, but they might as well have.
Tollison is the woman in a stunning set of videos recently released by the LAPD. On June 19, LAPD Van Nuys Division officers responded to a 911 call of a stabbing with the suspect present. The suspect, Guillermo Perez, took more than 24 steps toward them with a bloodied knife in his hands. He ignored 18 commands to drop the weapon and disregarded at least two blasts from a “less-lethal” bean bag shotgun.
But the officers didn’t use lethal force to stop him.
Perez then took a dozen steps backward, grabbed Tollison, a bystander, put the blade to her throat and pushed. The officers had no choice but to risk shooting Tollison in order to save her. They did not.
But while Perez cut her and cops shot her it was the Police Commission that set her up to be a human shield.
In 2017, the commission passed a major change to the LAPD’s Use of Force policy. It prioritized retreat and words to de-escalate situations over force to decisively resolve them.
That the policy was not written with the safety of the community or cops in mind was obvious from the start. When then-Commission President Matt Johnson, an entertainment industry attorney, began pushing to reform the old use of force policy, he penned a lengthy article for a South Los Angeles newspaper. It had many pontifications and promises about changing the LAPD. But, among its 1,571 words (double the length of this column) “safety,” “threat,” “risk” and “self-defense” never appeared.
Imagine that: The head of a major organization promised to reform that organization’s safety policy and made no promises about safety.
The results were predictable.
Following the release of the Tollison video, I spoke to several current and retired officers. Among them were patrol and SWAT cops, supervisors and union leaders. All agreed on one thing: The officers who faced down Perez had plenty of chances to stop him but most likely didn’t in order to comply with the commission’s intent.
But don’t believe me. Believe the commissioners: They made their intent very clear two years ago in a similar case that helped drive changes to the force policy. In October 2015, two LAPD officers confronted 37-year-old Norma Guzman, a mentally ill woman on who brandished a knife and advanced on them on a busy sidewalk near downtown. They warned her until she was within a few feet, then shot and killed her.
Then-Chief Charlie Beck found the shooting was justified, but, the commission overruled him and found the officers were out of policy because they had not retreated from Guzman.
The commission prioritized Guzman over bystanders under the old policy. Six months later, they made the policy even more restrictive. At the time, Johnson told the media he expected the new policy to result in fewer shootings and/or more officers being found out of policy because they didn’t try to de-escalate.
The officers in Van Nuys got the message.
Sadly, it is not the end of the matter. Currently, Assembly Bill 931 is making its way through Sacramento. It seeks to put into criminal law the same sorts of restrictions the police commission put in policy.
Officers across California will face prison if they use lethal force instead of retreating or de-escalating.
Elizabeth Tollison paid for the lesson of the Police Commission’s flawed idea with her life.
The question is: Will the Legislature learn that lesson before someone else pays the same price?
By Robert Parry
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
August 26, 2018
Cops rarely kill anyone. Over 90 percent of them won’t fire their guns on the street during their careers.
Members of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners never use deadly force. These politically connected civilians set LAPD policy, but they aren’t cops and they don’t carry guns.
But, make no mistake about it: The Police Commission killed Elizabeth Tollison.
No, the commissioners didn’t hold the knife that sliced Tollison’s throat nor did they fire the fatal bullets, but they might as well have.
Tollison is the woman in a stunning set of videos recently released by the LAPD. On June 19, LAPD Van Nuys Division officers responded to a 911 call of a stabbing with the suspect present. The suspect, Guillermo Perez, took more than 24 steps toward them with a bloodied knife in his hands. He ignored 18 commands to drop the weapon and disregarded at least two blasts from a “less-lethal” bean bag shotgun.
But the officers didn’t use lethal force to stop him.
Perez then took a dozen steps backward, grabbed Tollison, a bystander, put the blade to her throat and pushed. The officers had no choice but to risk shooting Tollison in order to save her. They did not.
But while Perez cut her and cops shot her it was the Police Commission that set her up to be a human shield.
In 2017, the commission passed a major change to the LAPD’s Use of Force policy. It prioritized retreat and words to de-escalate situations over force to decisively resolve them.
That the policy was not written with the safety of the community or cops in mind was obvious from the start. When then-Commission President Matt Johnson, an entertainment industry attorney, began pushing to reform the old use of force policy, he penned a lengthy article for a South Los Angeles newspaper. It had many pontifications and promises about changing the LAPD. But, among its 1,571 words (double the length of this column) “safety,” “threat,” “risk” and “self-defense” never appeared.
Imagine that: The head of a major organization promised to reform that organization’s safety policy and made no promises about safety.
The results were predictable.
Following the release of the Tollison video, I spoke to several current and retired officers. Among them were patrol and SWAT cops, supervisors and union leaders. All agreed on one thing: The officers who faced down Perez had plenty of chances to stop him but most likely didn’t in order to comply with the commission’s intent.
But don’t believe me. Believe the commissioners: They made their intent very clear two years ago in a similar case that helped drive changes to the force policy. In October 2015, two LAPD officers confronted 37-year-old Norma Guzman, a mentally ill woman on who brandished a knife and advanced on them on a busy sidewalk near downtown. They warned her until she was within a few feet, then shot and killed her.
Then-Chief Charlie Beck found the shooting was justified, but, the commission overruled him and found the officers were out of policy because they had not retreated from Guzman.
The commission prioritized Guzman over bystanders under the old policy. Six months later, they made the policy even more restrictive. At the time, Johnson told the media he expected the new policy to result in fewer shootings and/or more officers being found out of policy because they didn’t try to de-escalate.
The officers in Van Nuys got the message.
Sadly, it is not the end of the matter. Currently, Assembly Bill 931 is making its way through Sacramento. It seeks to put into criminal law the same sorts of restrictions the police commission put in policy.
Officers across California will face prison if they use lethal force instead of retreating or de-escalating.
Elizabeth Tollison paid for the lesson of the Police Commission’s flawed idea with her life.
The question is: Will the Legislature learn that lesson before someone else pays the same price?
IN A FEW YEARS ISRAEL WILL BE ABLE TO STRIKE EVERY TARGET IN THE REGION, BE IT NAR OR FAR, WITH PRECISION ROCKETS
Israel buys new precision rocket arsenal to 'cover entire region'
By Lilach Shoval
Israel Hayom
August 27, 2018
The Defense Ministry announced Monday it had signed a deal worth hundreds of millions of shekels with Israel Military Industries for the development and acquisition of advanced precision rockets.
"This precision fire capability significantly improves the IDF's capabilities and allows for accurate strikes in remote launches, at immediate availability and at lower costs compared to other combat systems," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The new rockets will include advanced technological systems suitable for modern battlefields.
The procurement follows a directive by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to equip the IDF with an array of advanced rockets and missiles covering a range of 30-150 kilometers (18-93 miles).
"We are forging ahead with our plan to set up an array of precision rockets and missiles. Some of them are already in production and some have entered their last research and development stages," Lieberman said Monday.
"We are acquiring and developing high-precision fire systems that will enable us to bolster the IDF's offensive capabilities. In a few years, the IDF will be able to cover every point in the region, be it near or far."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich said, "The innovative rocket systems the IDF will acquire in this deal demonstrate the technological capabilities of the company, which specializes in precision firepower for pinpoint strikes on a variety of ground targets."
Defense officials said the deal, led by the Defense Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure at the Defense Ministry, aims to provide the Israeli Air Force with sufficient ground-based support in case Israel's airports come under attack.
The use of precision rockets on a large scale is designed to counter the threat posed by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group as well as reduce the ground forces' overall dependence on the IAF, one defense official said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: 1 million US dollars = 3,629,500 shekels.
By Lilach Shoval
Israel Hayom
August 27, 2018
The Defense Ministry announced Monday it had signed a deal worth hundreds of millions of shekels with Israel Military Industries for the development and acquisition of advanced precision rockets.
"This precision fire capability significantly improves the IDF's capabilities and allows for accurate strikes in remote launches, at immediate availability and at lower costs compared to other combat systems," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The new rockets will include advanced technological systems suitable for modern battlefields.
The procurement follows a directive by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to equip the IDF with an array of advanced rockets and missiles covering a range of 30-150 kilometers (18-93 miles).
"We are forging ahead with our plan to set up an array of precision rockets and missiles. Some of them are already in production and some have entered their last research and development stages," Lieberman said Monday.
"We are acquiring and developing high-precision fire systems that will enable us to bolster the IDF's offensive capabilities. In a few years, the IDF will be able to cover every point in the region, be it near or far."
IMI Chairman Yitzhak Aharonovich said, "The innovative rocket systems the IDF will acquire in this deal demonstrate the technological capabilities of the company, which specializes in precision firepower for pinpoint strikes on a variety of ground targets."
Defense officials said the deal, led by the Defense Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure at the Defense Ministry, aims to provide the Israeli Air Force with sufficient ground-based support in case Israel's airports come under attack.
The use of precision rockets on a large scale is designed to counter the threat posed by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group as well as reduce the ground forces' overall dependence on the IAF, one defense official said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: 1 million US dollars = 3,629,500 shekels.
NOT IN TEXAS, DAMN IT!
The right to bare breasts: Women in New York, LA and other cities parade the streets to stand up for women's right to go topless in public
Daily Mail
August 27, 2018
Women bared their breasts in parades around the world to demand the right to go fully topless in public. They marched in Go Topless Day parades held in US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Minneapolis. Events were also held abroad in Freiburg in Germany, Seoul in South Korea and Valparaiso in Chile.
But while some women who took part were fully exposed, many abided by the law and covered their nipples – with tape or body paint.
Some protesters marching in Venice, California, carried placards declaring 'it's boobs, not bombs!' and 'war is indecent, not my breasts.'
Held every year on the Sunday closest to Women's Equality Day, the aim is to question laws that make it illegal for women to not wear shirts while it is legal for men to do the same. This year, it fell on Women's Equality Day – which is marked every year on August 26 after the date in 1920 when women got the right to vote.
Daily Mail
August 27, 2018
Women bared their breasts in parades around the world to demand the right to go fully topless in public. They marched in Go Topless Day parades held in US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Minneapolis. Events were also held abroad in Freiburg in Germany, Seoul in South Korea and Valparaiso in Chile.
But while some women who took part were fully exposed, many abided by the law and covered their nipples – with tape or body paint.
Some protesters marching in Venice, California, carried placards declaring 'it's boobs, not bombs!' and 'war is indecent, not my breasts.'
Held every year on the Sunday closest to Women's Equality Day, the aim is to question laws that make it illegal for women to not wear shirts while it is legal for men to do the same. This year, it fell on Women's Equality Day – which is marked every year on August 26 after the date in 1920 when women got the right to vote.
HOLY SHIT! OUR CARS AND BARBEQUES ARE DEPRIVING MANKIND OF ZINK, PROTEIN AND IRON NUTRIENTS IN CROPS
Rising CO2 levels could leave as many as 200 million people worldwide malnourished as major crops lose vitamins and minerals
By Mary Kekatos
Daily Mail
August 27, 2018
Rising levels of carbon dioxide could be putting millions of people at risk for nutritional deficiencies, a new study has found.
Researchers say that high amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere decrease the concentrations of vital vitamins and minerals such as protein, iron, and zinc in crops.
In 2016, global emissions of CO2 reached record highs, measuring at 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in modern history.
The team, from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, warns that if emissions continue at this level, it could result in 175 million people becoming zinc deficient and 122 million people becoming protein deficient by 2050.
'We already know there aren't enough people getting iron, zinc and protein, which is creating a global impact on health,' lead author Dr Sam Myers, a principal research scientist at Harvard Chan School, told Daily Mail Online.
'But our carbon dioxide levels are making our food less nutritious. That's pretty shocking fundamentally.'
The mineral nutrient and trace element makeup of a plant is referred to as its ionome.
Many of these elements come from the soil the plant grows in, but they also come from the process of photosynthesis converting CO2 into carbohydrates and energy.
Past research has shown that when there are higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the plant's ionome suffers an imbalance.
Scientists are unsure why changing CO2 lebels alter plants' nutritional content.
Some theories include that theratio of carbohydrates to minerals is too high or that the way the minerals are used in the plant changes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that this could present a problem because: 'Micronutrients are not produced in the body and must be derived from the diet.'
Currently, two billion people - or 34 percent of the global population - are estimated to be deficient in at least one nutrient, putting them at risk of diseases and starvation.
According to the researchers, we get 63 percent of our protein, 81 percent of our iron and 68 of our zinc from crops.
However, concentrations of these three nutrients have been shown to be between three to 17 percent lower when they are grown in atmospheres where the CO2 levels are 550 ppm.
For the study, the team wanted to look at nutrient shifts due to CO2 emissions in 151 countries.
They created food supply data sets that were age-specific and sex-specific to estimate what the individual demographic impact would be for each nutrient across 225 different foods.
Previous studies have looked at the impact of CO2 on nutritional deficiencies, but with fewer countries and foods.
In the new study, the researchers found that when carbon dioxide readings hit 550ppm, as they're expected to by 2050, about two percent of the global population - or 175 million people - could be zinc deficient.
In addition, about 1.3 percent of the population - approximately 122 million people - could be protein deficient.
Researchers also say around 1.4 billion women who are of childbearing age and children under five years old are at risk of iron deficiency and they could see their iron intake reduced by at least four percent.
According to the University of California San Francisco, close to 70 percent the body's iron is found in a substance of red blood cells called hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. If iron intake is low, then the body cannot produce enough red blood cells.
'If we were having a beer talking about this 10 to 15 years ago, we would talk about ocean levels rising; that fundamentally makes sense. But no one would think of food being less nutritious,' said Dr Myers.
The study found that countries in the regions of Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East would suffer significant impacts.
India, however, was found to be the country that would be the most impacted from this nutrient deficiency.
The researchers estimate that 50 million people could become zinc deficient, 38 million could become protein deficient, and 502 million women and children would suffer iron deficiency.
'In terms of equity - who is going to be affected, who is going to be hurt as a result of these emissions, the wealthiest people in the world have the heaviest carbon footprint in the world compared to the poorest,' Dr Myers said.
'But they are more insulated from this compared to poorer countries.'
Dr Myers says that while the most direct thing that can be done is to reduce our carbon emissions, there are other courses of action.
'There is dietary supplementation with nutrients, which only works so well; there is biofortification, so develop crops with nutrients, which also only works so well,' he said.
'There is also breeding crops that are less sensitive to these CO2 levels. For example, some rice cultivars (varieties) have less reductions that are less dramatically affected.
'So there are a myriad of different ways of research. We're not making a catastrophic announcement but a call to action.'
By Mary Kekatos
Daily Mail
August 27, 2018
Rising levels of carbon dioxide could be putting millions of people at risk for nutritional deficiencies, a new study has found.
Researchers say that high amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere decrease the concentrations of vital vitamins and minerals such as protein, iron, and zinc in crops.
In 2016, global emissions of CO2 reached record highs, measuring at 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in modern history.
The team, from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, warns that if emissions continue at this level, it could result in 175 million people becoming zinc deficient and 122 million people becoming protein deficient by 2050.
'We already know there aren't enough people getting iron, zinc and protein, which is creating a global impact on health,' lead author Dr Sam Myers, a principal research scientist at Harvard Chan School, told Daily Mail Online.
'But our carbon dioxide levels are making our food less nutritious. That's pretty shocking fundamentally.'
The mineral nutrient and trace element makeup of a plant is referred to as its ionome.
Many of these elements come from the soil the plant grows in, but they also come from the process of photosynthesis converting CO2 into carbohydrates and energy.
Past research has shown that when there are higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the plant's ionome suffers an imbalance.
Scientists are unsure why changing CO2 lebels alter plants' nutritional content.
Some theories include that theratio of carbohydrates to minerals is too high or that the way the minerals are used in the plant changes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that this could present a problem because: 'Micronutrients are not produced in the body and must be derived from the diet.'
Currently, two billion people - or 34 percent of the global population - are estimated to be deficient in at least one nutrient, putting them at risk of diseases and starvation.
According to the researchers, we get 63 percent of our protein, 81 percent of our iron and 68 of our zinc from crops.
However, concentrations of these three nutrients have been shown to be between three to 17 percent lower when they are grown in atmospheres where the CO2 levels are 550 ppm.
For the study, the team wanted to look at nutrient shifts due to CO2 emissions in 151 countries.
They created food supply data sets that were age-specific and sex-specific to estimate what the individual demographic impact would be for each nutrient across 225 different foods.
Previous studies have looked at the impact of CO2 on nutritional deficiencies, but with fewer countries and foods.
In the new study, the researchers found that when carbon dioxide readings hit 550ppm, as they're expected to by 2050, about two percent of the global population - or 175 million people - could be zinc deficient.
In addition, about 1.3 percent of the population - approximately 122 million people - could be protein deficient.
Researchers also say around 1.4 billion women who are of childbearing age and children under five years old are at risk of iron deficiency and they could see their iron intake reduced by at least four percent.
According to the University of California San Francisco, close to 70 percent the body's iron is found in a substance of red blood cells called hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. If iron intake is low, then the body cannot produce enough red blood cells.
'If we were having a beer talking about this 10 to 15 years ago, we would talk about ocean levels rising; that fundamentally makes sense. But no one would think of food being less nutritious,' said Dr Myers.
The study found that countries in the regions of Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East would suffer significant impacts.
India, however, was found to be the country that would be the most impacted from this nutrient deficiency.
The researchers estimate that 50 million people could become zinc deficient, 38 million could become protein deficient, and 502 million women and children would suffer iron deficiency.
'In terms of equity - who is going to be affected, who is going to be hurt as a result of these emissions, the wealthiest people in the world have the heaviest carbon footprint in the world compared to the poorest,' Dr Myers said.
'But they are more insulated from this compared to poorer countries.'
Dr Myers says that while the most direct thing that can be done is to reduce our carbon emissions, there are other courses of action.
'There is dietary supplementation with nutrients, which only works so well; there is biofortification, so develop crops with nutrients, which also only works so well,' he said.
'There is also breeding crops that are less sensitive to these CO2 levels. For example, some rice cultivars (varieties) have less reductions that are less dramatically affected.
'So there are a myriad of different ways of research. We're not making a catastrophic announcement but a call to action.'
Monday, August 27, 2018
HIS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL NEVER WAVERED
Israeli Leaders Remember John McCain as True Friend of the Jewish State
Israel Today
August 26, 2018
Long-time American senator, war hero, and repeat presidential candidate John McCain lost his battle with brain cancer on Saturday.
Among his many other accolades, Israeli leaders sought to remind everyone of how staunch an ally McCain was of the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter: "I am deeply saddened by the passing of John McCain, a great American patriot and a great supporter of Israel. I will always treasure the constant friendship he showed to the people of Israel and to me personally. His support for Israel never wavered. It sprang from his belief in democracy and freedom. The State of Israel salutes John McCain."
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni said of McCain: "He loved Israel and believed in its righteousness and always supported its security. Israel owes him a big thanks. I had the privilege of working with him and will always remember the rare person he was."
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked tweeted: "He loved his land with all his might and he recognized Israel’s challenges. Over 36 years of public service in the House of Representatives and Senate, Israeli governments knew they always had a friend in him."
John McCain first visited Israel in the late 1970s, and he returned to the Holy Land many more times over the following decades.
During his years in the Senate, McCain unwaveringly defended Israel and opposed any measures that might endanger the security of the Jewish state. Most recently, despite supporting a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis, McCain harshly criticized former President Barack Obama's approach to the situation because, among other things, it left Israel vulnerable.
Israel Today
August 26, 2018
Long-time American senator, war hero, and repeat presidential candidate John McCain lost his battle with brain cancer on Saturday.
Among his many other accolades, Israeli leaders sought to remind everyone of how staunch an ally McCain was of the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter: "I am deeply saddened by the passing of John McCain, a great American patriot and a great supporter of Israel. I will always treasure the constant friendship he showed to the people of Israel and to me personally. His support for Israel never wavered. It sprang from his belief in democracy and freedom. The State of Israel salutes John McCain."
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni said of McCain: "He loved Israel and believed in its righteousness and always supported its security. Israel owes him a big thanks. I had the privilege of working with him and will always remember the rare person he was."
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked tweeted: "He loved his land with all his might and he recognized Israel’s challenges. Over 36 years of public service in the House of Representatives and Senate, Israeli governments knew they always had a friend in him."
John McCain first visited Israel in the late 1970s, and he returned to the Holy Land many more times over the following decades.
During his years in the Senate, McCain unwaveringly defended Israel and opposed any measures that might endanger the security of the Jewish state. Most recently, despite supporting a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis, McCain harshly criticized former President Barack Obama's approach to the situation because, among other things, it left Israel vulnerable.
NOW THAT WAS REAL MATURE, AND SMART TOO
by Bob Walsh
A fourteen year old boy was kicked out of a Friday night football game at McNair High in Stockton, for being a dick and causing a disturbance. While being walked out by the local constabulary he decided to smack a 9-year old in the face as he was walking by.
The asshole was cited for resisting arrest and misdemeanor battery on a child, and released to his parents, who I hope whopped his ass but probably didn't, which is probably why he is a dick in the first place.
A fourteen year old boy was kicked out of a Friday night football game at McNair High in Stockton, for being a dick and causing a disturbance. While being walked out by the local constabulary he decided to smack a 9-year old in the face as he was walking by.
The asshole was cited for resisting arrest and misdemeanor battery on a child, and released to his parents, who I hope whopped his ass but probably didn't, which is probably why he is a dick in the first place.
CIVIC DUTY
by Bob Walsh
I may, or may not, be on a jury this week. I got my notice for this week (after two postponements due to medical scheduling) and the phone call check-in said; "Report at noon on Monday." As a former peace officer I will PROBABLY not be picked, at least not for a criminal trial.
I have, in the past, landed in the box twice and been booted twice. Once I worked for DMV and that bothered the defendant, who was representing himself and was a drunk and a wife beater. Probably had a beef with DMV and booted me.
And once was when I worked for the CDC and the case was from the prison where I worked. In fact I was likely a witness to it. In any event as soon as I gave my name and place of employment everybody laughed and the judge waved BYEBYE to me. And the damn jury commish made me stay the whole damn day. Since it was my RDO all I got was the $6 for my trouble.
In any event I will keep you posted. They moved the trial of an on-duty Stanislaus County deputy to San Joaquin County, but I can't imagine they would let me land on that one.
I may, or may not, be on a jury this week. I got my notice for this week (after two postponements due to medical scheduling) and the phone call check-in said; "Report at noon on Monday." As a former peace officer I will PROBABLY not be picked, at least not for a criminal trial.
I have, in the past, landed in the box twice and been booted twice. Once I worked for DMV and that bothered the defendant, who was representing himself and was a drunk and a wife beater. Probably had a beef with DMV and booted me.
And once was when I worked for the CDC and the case was from the prison where I worked. In fact I was likely a witness to it. In any event as soon as I gave my name and place of employment everybody laughed and the judge waved BYEBYE to me. And the damn jury commish made me stay the whole damn day. Since it was my RDO all I got was the $6 for my trouble.
In any event I will keep you posted. They moved the trial of an on-duty Stanislaus County deputy to San Joaquin County, but I can't imagine they would let me land on that one.
ANOTHER REBOOT
by Bob Walsh
ABC is going to run with a reboot of BEWITCHED. The feature couple will be bi-racial this time around in accordance with the current zeitgeist. Even commercials are that way how You will probably note that, for the last many months there have been very few mainstream TV commercials that feature a homogenized straight white couple or family. Just a sign of the times.
I do hope that, along with being politically correct, it is funny. I enjoyed the original tremendously.
ABC is going to run with a reboot of BEWITCHED. The feature couple will be bi-racial this time around in accordance with the current zeitgeist. Even commercials are that way how You will probably note that, for the last many months there have been very few mainstream TV commercials that feature a homogenized straight white couple or family. Just a sign of the times.
I do hope that, along with being politically correct, it is funny. I enjoyed the original tremendously.
GAMER WAS A SORE LOSER
David Katz: Jacksonville shooting suspect named as gamer, 24, after two killed at 'Madden' tournament
By Adam Withnall and Jon Sharman
Independent
August 27, 2018
A 24-year-old video gamer is thought to have shot dead two fellow competitors after being knocked out of a tournament in Florida.
Police said they believed David Katz, of Baltimore, was in Jacksonville for the “Madden NFL 19” event on Sunday and carried out the shooting before he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Unconfirmed reports said he had been eliminated from the competition at The Landing shopping centre before the shooting, in which nine other people were injured.
A man called David Katz won a similar event last February. Madden NFL’s publisher, EA Sports, lists him as a 2017 tournament winner and the official Twitter account of the Buffalo Bills, the football team, posted a picture of Katz congratulating him on his victory.
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said authorities believe Katz carried out the attack using at least one handgun at the Jacksonville Landing, a collection of restaurants and shops along the St Johns River. Williams said final confirmation of the suspect’s identity was still pending.
The shooting took place during a regional qualifier for the Madden 19 online game tournament at the GLHF Game Bar inside a pizza restaurant, according to the venue's website.
The winners of the contest go forward to the video game finals in Las Vegas and compete for $165,000 (£129,000).
Questions are being asked about the level of security provision at the tournament. One participant said he had not seen any security screening at the entrance, and suggested such considerations had failed to keep with the seriousness and scale of such events.
Late on Sunday local time, heavily armed officers entered a Baltimore home where Katz was believed to have lived.
The agents could be seen inside the home Sunday evening near Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. They wore bulletproof vests and carried long guns. Reporters who gathered outside did not see any authorities carrying any bags of evidence outside.
An FBI spokesman, Dave Fitz, confirmed agents had gone to the upscale townhouse home. But he did not immediately release any other specifics, citing an ongoing investigation.
Witnesses described people trampling on each other as they raced to flee the scene of Sunday’s shooting, the sounds of which were captured as the gaming tournament was being livestreamed.
In one video, a red laser sight can be seen tracing across the chest of a man who is playing the game. The video cuts out, and the sounds of gunshots can be heard before the livestream ends altogether.
Twenty-year-old Marquis Williams said he and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, both of Chicago, were ordering pizza close by when shots erupted. He said he didn’t think it was gunfire at first.
“Initially we thought it was a balloon popping, but there weren’t any balloons in the room. Then we heard repeat shots and we took off running,” he said.
Mr Williams had participated in the gaming tournament earlier, and said he got a view of the back of the shooter in a green shirt.
He described people running in the panic to escape, and said he scuffed his leg and that Ms Poindexter was treated at hospital for a sprained ankle. They later returned, hoping to retrieve her cell phone, but the scene was cordoned off by authorities.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said President Donald Trump has called him to offer federal support. His spokesman, John Tupps, said the governor had also spoken on Sunday with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the sheriff, Mike Williams.
The governor was preparing to fly from his home in Naples to Jacksonville and meet with investigators, Mr Tupps said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol have also been directed to help with the investigation.
__________
TALK ABOUT A SORE FUCKING LOOSER
by Bob Walsh
Some asshoile who just got eliminated in the runup for the semi-final of a FUCKING VIDEO GAME TOURNAMENT in Jacksonville, FL, pulled out his gat and started blasting. As far as I have heard right now (3 p.m. Sunday) there are 15 shot including four dead, which includes the shooter. The situation is still fluid so that number could go either way very easily.
Some people seriously need to get a real life.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following every mass shooting, I always hear, “If someone only had a gun.” Well, Florida is a very gun-friendly state. But where were any of those gun-toters when panic-stricken people rushed in all directions as Katz was firing away?
By Adam Withnall and Jon Sharman
Independent
August 27, 2018
A 24-year-old video gamer is thought to have shot dead two fellow competitors after being knocked out of a tournament in Florida.
Police said they believed David Katz, of Baltimore, was in Jacksonville for the “Madden NFL 19” event on Sunday and carried out the shooting before he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Unconfirmed reports said he had been eliminated from the competition at The Landing shopping centre before the shooting, in which nine other people were injured.
A man called David Katz won a similar event last February. Madden NFL’s publisher, EA Sports, lists him as a 2017 tournament winner and the official Twitter account of the Buffalo Bills, the football team, posted a picture of Katz congratulating him on his victory.
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said authorities believe Katz carried out the attack using at least one handgun at the Jacksonville Landing, a collection of restaurants and shops along the St Johns River. Williams said final confirmation of the suspect’s identity was still pending.
The shooting took place during a regional qualifier for the Madden 19 online game tournament at the GLHF Game Bar inside a pizza restaurant, according to the venue's website.
The winners of the contest go forward to the video game finals in Las Vegas and compete for $165,000 (£129,000).
Questions are being asked about the level of security provision at the tournament. One participant said he had not seen any security screening at the entrance, and suggested such considerations had failed to keep with the seriousness and scale of such events.
Late on Sunday local time, heavily armed officers entered a Baltimore home where Katz was believed to have lived.
The agents could be seen inside the home Sunday evening near Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. They wore bulletproof vests and carried long guns. Reporters who gathered outside did not see any authorities carrying any bags of evidence outside.
An FBI spokesman, Dave Fitz, confirmed agents had gone to the upscale townhouse home. But he did not immediately release any other specifics, citing an ongoing investigation.
Witnesses described people trampling on each other as they raced to flee the scene of Sunday’s shooting, the sounds of which were captured as the gaming tournament was being livestreamed.
In one video, a red laser sight can be seen tracing across the chest of a man who is playing the game. The video cuts out, and the sounds of gunshots can be heard before the livestream ends altogether.
Twenty-year-old Marquis Williams said he and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, both of Chicago, were ordering pizza close by when shots erupted. He said he didn’t think it was gunfire at first.
“Initially we thought it was a balloon popping, but there weren’t any balloons in the room. Then we heard repeat shots and we took off running,” he said.
Mr Williams had participated in the gaming tournament earlier, and said he got a view of the back of the shooter in a green shirt.
He described people running in the panic to escape, and said he scuffed his leg and that Ms Poindexter was treated at hospital for a sprained ankle. They later returned, hoping to retrieve her cell phone, but the scene was cordoned off by authorities.
Florida Governor Rick Scott said President Donald Trump has called him to offer federal support. His spokesman, John Tupps, said the governor had also spoken on Sunday with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the sheriff, Mike Williams.
The governor was preparing to fly from his home in Naples to Jacksonville and meet with investigators, Mr Tupps said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol have also been directed to help with the investigation.
__________
TALK ABOUT A SORE FUCKING LOOSER
by Bob Walsh
Some asshoile who just got eliminated in the runup for the semi-final of a FUCKING VIDEO GAME TOURNAMENT in Jacksonville, FL, pulled out his gat and started blasting. As far as I have heard right now (3 p.m. Sunday) there are 15 shot including four dead, which includes the shooter. The situation is still fluid so that number could go either way very easily.
Some people seriously need to get a real life.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following every mass shooting, I always hear, “If someone only had a gun.” Well, Florida is a very gun-friendly state. But where were any of those gun-toters when panic-stricken people rushed in all directions as Katz was firing away?
IF TRUE, THIS IS SURE TO INFURIATE THE PALESTINIANS AND PISS OFF THE EUROPEANS TOO
President Trump is reportedly set to demand that the Palestinians and the international community apply to the Palestinian refugees the same rules it does to every other refugee population
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
August 26, 2018
US President Donald Trump says he has already taken Jerusalem "off the table" when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Now, he's reportedly set to demolish another of the Palestinian Authority's unacceptable hard-line positions: the right of return for millions of so-called "Palestinian refugees."
Israel's Hadashot News reported over the weekend that the Trump Administration will soon declare its opposition to the unique criteria by which the United Nations counts Palestinian refugees.
There were up to 800,000 legitimate Palestinian Arab refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. But the United Nations decided to let those original refugees pass on that status to their descendants, and their descendants after them, something it has never been done for any other refugee population.
As a result, even those descendants of the original refugees who are entirely resettled in other countries are still being counted as Palestinian refugees.
And the Palestinian Authority insists that as part of any final status peace deal, Israel must open its gates and allow those estimated 5-7 million Arabs to resettle in the Jewish state.
The Trump Administration sees the situation as ludicrous, and an obstacle to concluding a genuine peace agreement. That is something Israel has been saying for decades. Even the most liberal Israeli government would never be able to sign a deal that so threatens the Jewish demographic majority.
Instead, Trump is reportedly set to demand that the Palestinians and the international community apply to the Palestinian refugees the same rules it does to every other refugee population, which would result in there today being no more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, a number Israel could much more reasonably work with.
The first consequence of this new approach would be the US slashing its contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a body established to aid the Palestinian refugee population, the only refugee population to get its own dedicated UN agency. Trump will also ask Israel to revoke its own approval for UNRWA to operate in the West Bank so as to choke the agency out of existence, according to the report.
Many Israelis are surprised by the no-nonsense approach Trump is taking to the conflict, after decades of American leaders trying in vain to give both sides everything they want.
The status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian "right of return" have long been the two major sticking points in peace negotiations. A firm majority of Israelis have made clear they will never surrender any part of their holiest city, Jerusalem, the division of which would anyway create a security and political nightmare. Likewise, even left-wing Israeli lawmakers have for years said they simply can't accept a Palestinian right of return that would demographically destroy the Jewish state.
Without either side budging on these issues, a genuine peace never had a chance. Will Trump taking them both "off the table" bring us any closer to that desired outcome?
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
August 26, 2018
US President Donald Trump says he has already taken Jerusalem "off the table" when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Now, he's reportedly set to demolish another of the Palestinian Authority's unacceptable hard-line positions: the right of return for millions of so-called "Palestinian refugees."
Israel's Hadashot News reported over the weekend that the Trump Administration will soon declare its opposition to the unique criteria by which the United Nations counts Palestinian refugees.
There were up to 800,000 legitimate Palestinian Arab refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. But the United Nations decided to let those original refugees pass on that status to their descendants, and their descendants after them, something it has never been done for any other refugee population.
As a result, even those descendants of the original refugees who are entirely resettled in other countries are still being counted as Palestinian refugees.
And the Palestinian Authority insists that as part of any final status peace deal, Israel must open its gates and allow those estimated 5-7 million Arabs to resettle in the Jewish state.
The Trump Administration sees the situation as ludicrous, and an obstacle to concluding a genuine peace agreement. That is something Israel has been saying for decades. Even the most liberal Israeli government would never be able to sign a deal that so threatens the Jewish demographic majority.
Instead, Trump is reportedly set to demand that the Palestinians and the international community apply to the Palestinian refugees the same rules it does to every other refugee population, which would result in there today being no more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, a number Israel could much more reasonably work with.
The first consequence of this new approach would be the US slashing its contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a body established to aid the Palestinian refugee population, the only refugee population to get its own dedicated UN agency. Trump will also ask Israel to revoke its own approval for UNRWA to operate in the West Bank so as to choke the agency out of existence, according to the report.
Many Israelis are surprised by the no-nonsense approach Trump is taking to the conflict, after decades of American leaders trying in vain to give both sides everything they want.
The status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian "right of return" have long been the two major sticking points in peace negotiations. A firm majority of Israelis have made clear they will never surrender any part of their holiest city, Jerusalem, the division of which would anyway create a security and political nightmare. Likewise, even left-wing Israeli lawmakers have for years said they simply can't accept a Palestinian right of return that would demographically destroy the Jewish state.
Without either side budging on these issues, a genuine peace never had a chance. Will Trump taking them both "off the table" bring us any closer to that desired outcome?
SWISS PROSTITUTE DRIVE-INS
Publicly funded drive-in sex booths where prostitutes work legally in Zurich are hailed a 'great success'
By Bridie Pearson-Jones
Daily Mail
August 25, 2018
Legal 'sex booths' where customers take their cars and 'drive-in' to meet prostitutes have been deemed a 'resounding success' by city officials in Zurich, Switzerland.
The booths, which look like garages, celebrate their fifth anniversary on Sunday after 52 per cent of Zurich citizens voted in favour of the local government spending $2million (£1,557,020) on 'sex boxes' in 2012.
Prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since the 1940s and the booths opened in 2013. Before this, most sex workers stayed on the city's riverfront, but many moved following complaints from locals over traffic and noise.
The legal areas help in preventing human trafficking and violent attacks against sex workers, most of whom are eastern European.
The government spends $800,000 (£623,000) each year maintaining the booths, which includes security and on-site social services.
The sex workers pay taxes, have regular health checks and are healthier overall, officials say.
In 2014, more improvements were made to the booths, including 'plank beds' for people who wanted to leave their cars.
Like many drive-ins, motorbikes and bicylces are allowed, but those on foot aren't. Pedestrians are told to go to another part of the city.
Once the customers arrive, one of the 24 women working agree a price and go to the booth, which is not monitored but has an emergency alarm for safety.
Nadeen Schuster, a spokesperson for the Zurich government told USA TODAY the area was 'effective in preventing violence against sex workers and human trafficking.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Works for me. What will they think of next … sex gates on toll roads?
By Bridie Pearson-Jones
Daily Mail
August 25, 2018
Legal 'sex booths' where customers take their cars and 'drive-in' to meet prostitutes have been deemed a 'resounding success' by city officials in Zurich, Switzerland.
The booths, which look like garages, celebrate their fifth anniversary on Sunday after 52 per cent of Zurich citizens voted in favour of the local government spending $2million (£1,557,020) on 'sex boxes' in 2012.
Prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since the 1940s and the booths opened in 2013. Before this, most sex workers stayed on the city's riverfront, but many moved following complaints from locals over traffic and noise.
The legal areas help in preventing human trafficking and violent attacks against sex workers, most of whom are eastern European.
The government spends $800,000 (£623,000) each year maintaining the booths, which includes security and on-site social services.
The sex workers pay taxes, have regular health checks and are healthier overall, officials say.
In 2014, more improvements were made to the booths, including 'plank beds' for people who wanted to leave their cars.
Like many drive-ins, motorbikes and bicylces are allowed, but those on foot aren't. Pedestrians are told to go to another part of the city.
Once the customers arrive, one of the 24 women working agree a price and go to the booth, which is not monitored but has an emergency alarm for safety.
Nadeen Schuster, a spokesperson for the Zurich government told USA TODAY the area was 'effective in preventing violence against sex workers and human trafficking.'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Works for me. What will they think of next … sex gates on toll roads?
CRACK LED TO A RISE IN PROPERTY CRIME AND NOT TO MURDER AS PREVIOUSLY SUSPECTED
New study by economists says it was cheap and accessible guns and not the CRACK epidemic that drove the violent murder boom of the 1990s
By Marlene Lenthang
Daily Mail
August 26, 2018
Researchers have longed scratched their heads at what caused the spike in America's murder rate in 1993 - where seven homicides by firearm were reported for every 100,000 Americans, according to the Pew Research Center.
For a long time theorists believed the influx of crack cocaine was the culprit as the drug flowed through poor urban areas and saw addicts turn to crime.
But two new academic papers reveal that crack didn't drive America's notorious murder boom, which fell in the mid-90s.
Instead it was a boom of cheap and accessible guns that weaponized and fueled the deadliest years in US history and led to New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's famous zero-tolerance policy, according to The Trace.
'What’s striking about the gun market is you get these surges in production. The production booms were followed by surges in killings,' Geoffrey Williams, an economist at Transylvania University in Kentucky researching US gun violence for the past three years, said.
Williams along with colleague W. Alan Bartley penned a working academic paper where they say that the 'supply shock' of cheap pistols in the 1980s and early 90s led to increases of gun homicide among young black men.
Research shows that the production of guns priced at $100 or less peaked in 1993. That same year murders, both committed by firearms or by other means, reached their highest point in history.
The nation's capitol had a gun murder rate of 75 per 100,000 residents. Gary, Indiana marked the highest murder rate with 110 deaths by gun violence per every 100,000 residents.
Shocking graphs reveal how US handgun production boomed in 1993 where nearly 1,200,000 firearms were manufactured. That year also saw the highest number of firearm homicides among young black men reaching nearly 200 per every 100,000.
That same year cocaine overdoses killed 100 per 100,000,000 people in the nation, a fraction of gun violence victims.
The violence was so bad that it led to Giuliani's famous zero-tolerance policy that allowed cops to stop and frisk suspicious suspects and arrest them for minor infractions such as loitering, prostitution, and aggressive panhandling.
While his tough crack-down led to an increase of misdemeanor arrests in the 1990s, it also correlated with New York's decrease in homicides, according to Politifact.
Williams and Bartley came to their conclusion by studying the price of handgun prices listen in Gun Digest over the years and cross matching them with gun fatality and cocaine epidemic data.
Why did US handgun production explode in the early 90s? The report authors say the The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives slacked off when it came to gun industry restrictions.
Additionally a group of six LA based gun manufacturers known as the 'Ring of Fire' expanded the market for cheap firearms that were nicknamed 'Saturday Night Specials' as they repeatedly were found at the crime scenes of weekend drunken disputes.
As a result of 1993's gun violence epidemic the federal government doubled ATF law enforcement funding from just over $2billion in 1990 to more than $4billion in 1994.
The Brady background check system also reduced the number of gun owners as allowed dealers to instantly check whether purchasers had felony histories.
By 2000 the cheap handguns sunk to the smallest share of production. Over those seven years, the gun homicide rate also fell among black men.
In contrast cocaine overdose deaths across all ages and races steadily increased from 1980 to all all time high in 2000. If the theory that crack fueled the 90s murder boom was correct, gun homicide rates should have followed - but they didn't.
Firearm homicide rates among black men actually sunk to 100 per every 100,000 when cocaine deaths peaked that year.
However crack was associated with a rise of property crime - not murder as previously suspected.
Another working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in July, reveals that also the overall gun homicide rate has declined in the US, the murder rate for young black men remains 25 per cent higher than it was before the crack epidemic.
Paper author Timothy Moore of Purdue University said: 'It's easy to think that it's gone. But younger black males are still doing worse than other groups.'
'The diffusion of guns both as a part of, and in response to, these violent crack markets permanently changed the young black males’ rates of gun possession and their norms around carrying guns,' the paper says.
In the past couple of years the number of gun homicides have risen yet again. The national murder rate rose by 10 per cent in 2015 and another 8 per cent in 2016.
Experts say history may be repeating itself as according to the ATF, domestic gun production reached an all-time peak of 11million weapons in 2016.
At the same time gun violence has ravaged cities across America, devastating cities including Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore.
'There’s nothing controversial about saying that means influence injuries. Take the likelihood of people committing suicide by jumping off bridges. Studies show that when you make it harder to jump off a bridge, fewer people commit suicide that way. The supply of guns is an integral part of that same story: the widespread availability of a means of injury results in a greater amount of that kind of injury,' Dr. Sandro Galea of the Boston University School of Public Health said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out more guns lead to more murders by gunfire. So if there are lots more guns there will be lots more murders.
By Marlene Lenthang
Daily Mail
August 26, 2018
Researchers have longed scratched their heads at what caused the spike in America's murder rate in 1993 - where seven homicides by firearm were reported for every 100,000 Americans, according to the Pew Research Center.
For a long time theorists believed the influx of crack cocaine was the culprit as the drug flowed through poor urban areas and saw addicts turn to crime.
But two new academic papers reveal that crack didn't drive America's notorious murder boom, which fell in the mid-90s.
Instead it was a boom of cheap and accessible guns that weaponized and fueled the deadliest years in US history and led to New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's famous zero-tolerance policy, according to The Trace.
'What’s striking about the gun market is you get these surges in production. The production booms were followed by surges in killings,' Geoffrey Williams, an economist at Transylvania University in Kentucky researching US gun violence for the past three years, said.
Williams along with colleague W. Alan Bartley penned a working academic paper where they say that the 'supply shock' of cheap pistols in the 1980s and early 90s led to increases of gun homicide among young black men.
Research shows that the production of guns priced at $100 or less peaked in 1993. That same year murders, both committed by firearms or by other means, reached their highest point in history.
The nation's capitol had a gun murder rate of 75 per 100,000 residents. Gary, Indiana marked the highest murder rate with 110 deaths by gun violence per every 100,000 residents.
Shocking graphs reveal how US handgun production boomed in 1993 where nearly 1,200,000 firearms were manufactured. That year also saw the highest number of firearm homicides among young black men reaching nearly 200 per every 100,000.
That same year cocaine overdoses killed 100 per 100,000,000 people in the nation, a fraction of gun violence victims.
The violence was so bad that it led to Giuliani's famous zero-tolerance policy that allowed cops to stop and frisk suspicious suspects and arrest them for minor infractions such as loitering, prostitution, and aggressive panhandling.
While his tough crack-down led to an increase of misdemeanor arrests in the 1990s, it also correlated with New York's decrease in homicides, according to Politifact.
Williams and Bartley came to their conclusion by studying the price of handgun prices listen in Gun Digest over the years and cross matching them with gun fatality and cocaine epidemic data.
Why did US handgun production explode in the early 90s? The report authors say the The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives slacked off when it came to gun industry restrictions.
Additionally a group of six LA based gun manufacturers known as the 'Ring of Fire' expanded the market for cheap firearms that were nicknamed 'Saturday Night Specials' as they repeatedly were found at the crime scenes of weekend drunken disputes.
As a result of 1993's gun violence epidemic the federal government doubled ATF law enforcement funding from just over $2billion in 1990 to more than $4billion in 1994.
The Brady background check system also reduced the number of gun owners as allowed dealers to instantly check whether purchasers had felony histories.
By 2000 the cheap handguns sunk to the smallest share of production. Over those seven years, the gun homicide rate also fell among black men.
In contrast cocaine overdose deaths across all ages and races steadily increased from 1980 to all all time high in 2000. If the theory that crack fueled the 90s murder boom was correct, gun homicide rates should have followed - but they didn't.
Firearm homicide rates among black men actually sunk to 100 per every 100,000 when cocaine deaths peaked that year.
However crack was associated with a rise of property crime - not murder as previously suspected.
Another working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in July, reveals that also the overall gun homicide rate has declined in the US, the murder rate for young black men remains 25 per cent higher than it was before the crack epidemic.
Paper author Timothy Moore of Purdue University said: 'It's easy to think that it's gone. But younger black males are still doing worse than other groups.'
'The diffusion of guns both as a part of, and in response to, these violent crack markets permanently changed the young black males’ rates of gun possession and their norms around carrying guns,' the paper says.
In the past couple of years the number of gun homicides have risen yet again. The national murder rate rose by 10 per cent in 2015 and another 8 per cent in 2016.
Experts say history may be repeating itself as according to the ATF, domestic gun production reached an all-time peak of 11million weapons in 2016.
At the same time gun violence has ravaged cities across America, devastating cities including Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore.
'There’s nothing controversial about saying that means influence injuries. Take the likelihood of people committing suicide by jumping off bridges. Studies show that when you make it harder to jump off a bridge, fewer people commit suicide that way. The supply of guns is an integral part of that same story: the widespread availability of a means of injury results in a greater amount of that kind of injury,' Dr. Sandro Galea of the Boston University School of Public Health said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out more guns lead to more murders by gunfire. So if there are lots more guns there will be lots more murders.
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