Sunday, May 31, 2020

MAJOR NEWS FLASH: MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR DOES OWN A NECK TIE

by Bob Walsh

Jacob Frey is the pajama-boy major of Minneapolis.  He actually wore a neck tie in his TV appearance immediately following Governor Walz.  (OK, maybe he borrowed it and doesn't really own it.)

The Governor was announcing a call-out of the Minnesota National Guard to deal with the rioters, agitators and assholes trying to burn down Minneapolis.  Surprisingly, Mayor Frey is actually opposed to people burning down his city, or at least SAYS he is opposed to people burning down his city.  

The governor also stated as fact that many of the rioters are not local and seem to be being directed by out-of-staters.  Some of them seem to be in possession of rather sophisticated communications equipment and are being directed by trained shit-stirrers.

OK, THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN EVERY DAY

by Bob Walsh

A man was arrested on Thursday in San Joaquin County for shooting up a firing range.

Zonathan Derrell Butler, 29, was apparently pissed that the privately-owned firing range on Hewitt Road was not open to the public, so he opened fire on the range.  

When the cops showed up he fled.  With great exuberance with little skill.  They found him and his crashed vehicle in a dust cloud in a field off of Drais Road.  He is now a guest of the people facing five felony charges and awaiting a $600,000 bail, which I expect will not be forthcoming.  No one at the range was injured.    

EDITOR'S NOTE: Was he wearing a MAGA cap?

AND PPLICE CHIEF ACEVEDO MARCHED WITH THE PROTESTERS

Houston police launch investigation after mounted horse was seen TRAMPLING on a George Floyd demonstrator during protest that saw eight cops injured and 137 people arrested 

 

Daily Mail

May 30, 2020

 

A woman was knocked to the ground and trampled by a police horse during a George Floyd protest in Houston on Friday.

 

Police said they were investigating the incident on Saturday as they prepared for further protests in the city. 

 

The video shows the woman standing with her back to the camera when the police horse plows into her and stamps on her as she struggles to get up. It is not clear if the woman was injured. 

 

There were 137 arrests and eight police officers were injured in Houston on Friday night as protests gathered over the death of Floyd while in police custody.

 

He was a Houston native. The demonstrations continued on Saturday night.'

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: TV news cameras filmed Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo as he marched together with a group of protesters.  Acevedo was walking alongside a huge black man who was spouting off to the cameras.  Acevedo kept nodding to the man's remarks.  What a schmuck!  I suppose he figured that by marching with the protesters, he would prevent what took place later that evening ... four of his cops were hospitalized and 16 police cars damaged.  What a jerk!  With his officers being assaulted by Kaepernick's freedom fighters, you would think Acevedo had much more important business to take care of than marching with the protesters.

 

As for the horse knocking the woman down, I'm sure the rider did not deliberately have his horse plow into her, nor did the horse deliberately stamp on her.    

MICHELLE OBAMA PIPES IN

"Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on."

By Michelle Obama

Like so many of you, I’m pained by these recent tragedies. And I’m exhausted by a heartbreak that never seems to stop. Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on.

Race and racism is a reality that so many of us grow up learning to just deal with. But if we ever hope to move past it, it can’t just be on people of color to deal with it.

It’s up to all of us—Black, white, everyone—no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose lives are different from our own.

It ends with justice, compassion, and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets. I pray we all have the strength for that journey, just as I pray for the souls and the families of those who were taken from us.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nicely said.  But it does not address the violence that has broken out all over the country, rather it seems to excuse it. 

Mrs. Obama mentions six blacks that were killed by white cops.   Let's put that in its proper perspective.   There are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in the U.S and hundreds of thousands incidents faced by cops every day.  Every once in a while a white cop kills a black man.  And when that happens half the country sinks into chaos.  

And because of that, Mrs. Obama and others tell us white folks that we are all racists.  

KAEPERNICK'S BENEFACTOR JUMPS INTO THE FLOYD KILLING

'For once, just DON'T do it': Nike switches its famous slogan in new ad urging people 'not to turn their backs on racism' following death of George Floyd

 

Daily Mail 

May 30, 2020

 

Nike has released a new ad on social media urging people to join the fight against racism in America following the death of black man George Floyd.

The brand, famously known for its 'just do it' slogan, flipped its catchphrase to 'don't do it' as it delivered a powerful message against police brutality and racism.
   
'For once, don't do it. Don't pretend there's not a problem in America. Don't turn your back on racism. Don't accept innocent lives being taken from us,' the video begins.

'Don't make any more excuses. Don't think this doesn't affect you. Don't sit back and be silent. Don't think you can't be part of the change. Let's all be part of the change.'

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nike which gave Kaepernick a platform and paid him very well for it has absolutely no credibility to me.

Nike pretends that white cops  take the lives of innocent blacks because cops are racists.   What a sorry load of pure horseshit.  There are some 800,000 law enforcement officers in the U.S and hundreds of thousands incidents faced by cops every day.  Every once in a while a white cop kills a black man.  And when that happens half the country sinks into chaos.    

NYPD COP MAY LOSE HIS JOB FOR SHOVING WOMAN PROTESTER TO THE PAVEMENT

NYPD cop seen tossing protester to ground in video under investigation   

 

By Sara Dorn

 

New York Post

May 30, 2020

 

The NYPD is investigating an officer filmed  shoving a much smaller, female protester to the ground during a demonstration in Brooklyn over the death of George Floyd.
 
The video, first posted around 8:30 p.m. Friday by Newsweek reporter Jason Lemon, shows a uniformed NYPD officer using two hands to toss the woman to the pavement. She flies like a ragdoll into the curb as others scream “get his badge number!”

According to Lemon, the officer called the protester a “stupid fucking bitch” before throwing her to the ground.

An NYPD spokeswoman said Saturday the incident “is under internal review.”

The video, which has racked up 7.4 million views, appears to be taken a few blocks from the Barclays Center, where protests over Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis erupted in chaos Friday night.

The young woman in the video,  Dounya Zayer, has since come forward to debunk “lies” that she spit in the officer’s face.

“This was me, and I want to make one thing clear to all the people that are commenting lies below this video,” she tweeted. “I did NOT spit in this officer’s face. I was wearing a face mask. He told me to get out of the street and then immediately threw me out of the way.”

In a separate video posted from a hospital bed, Zayer said the officer was “walking in my direction” and “I did not get in his face … I was standing in place … and I never put my hands on him.”

She also posted a second video, purportedly taken from her own phone minutes before the altercation, of the officer walking toward her.
“Get out of the street,” he said.

“Why?” she asks, before he swipes his hand in the direction of her phone and the video ends.

Zayer, captioned the video: “This is the officer. He threw my phone before throwing me. As you can see I was already backing up. All I asked was why.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: We do not know what she said or did between the time her video ends and she was shoved to the pavement.   

A JEWISH DYNASTY IN A CHANGING CHINA

For more than a century, the fortunes of the powerful Kadoorie family have been a barometer of Chinese openness to the worl

  

By Jonathan Kaufman

 

The Wall Street Journal

May 28, 2020

 

Since 1880, when an Iraqi Jewish refugee named Elly Kadoorie arrived in Hong Kong, China has gone through a series of revolutions—from domination by Western powers to independence, from Nationalist to Communist rule, from colonialism to capitalism to communism. Through it all, the Kadoorie family have been a barometer of the country’s openness to the world, rising to become the richest Western family in China. Leaders have been seeking their advice for generations, drawn by their combination of business skills and political acumen. Now, as China cracks down on dissent in Hong Kong and defiant protesters again take to the streets, the problem facing the family—like other companies and governments seeking to deal with a more repressive and nationalistic regime—is whether China will continue to welcome them.
The Kadoories built their first fortune in Shanghai between the world wars, when the city became a global crossroads. When the communists took over in 1949 and expelled foreigners, they lost almost everything, fleeing to British-ruled Hong Kong to make a new start. Over the next 25 years they grew richer than ever, amassing an $18 billion portfolio that includes China Light and Power, which provides electricity to 80% of Hong Kong’s residents, and the luxury Peninsula hotel chain.
When the People’s Republic began to open up in 1972, after President Nixon’s visit, one of the first calls the communist leadership made was to the Kadoories, seeking their help in building a nuclear power plant. The Kadoories, who remain British citizens, became one of the country’s biggest foreign investors, returning to Shanghai triumphantly to build a new Peninsula Hotel. Today they meet regularly with top Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping.
It has been a steep ascent since Elly Kadoorie landed in Hong Kong at the age of 18. He had been recruited to work for a major trading firm owned by the Sassoons, another Jewish family that had come to China from Baghdad 35 years earlier, just after the Opium Wars. But Elly soon struck out on his own, steering clear of opium, one of the main commodities the Sassoons transported between India and China. Instead he invested in hotels, land and utilities, building the infrastructure for the growing city of Shanghai as it became the “Paris of the East.” In time he built the grandest mansion in the city—43 rooms for just three people—and entertained celebrities like Charles Lindbergh. The Kadoories’ hotels hosted the world’s elites, including the wedding of Chiang Kai-shek.
The Kadoories were what Americans would call Reform Jews; they attended High Holiday services and spoke about religion in terms of Jewish history and values. Privately, many British businessmen disparaged the Kadoories with anti-Semitic slurs, mocking them as “hook nosed,” members of the “Jew boys club.” But in the early 20th century, as China opened up to Western ideas and students and officials began to travel abroad, many Chinese intellectuals developed a fascination with Jewish culture. Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China, wrote to Elly Kadoorie that the Jews were a “wonderful and historic nation, which has contributed so much to the civilization of the world.” Kadoorie, an active Zionist, helped persuade him to endorse the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which laid the groundwork for the founding of the state of Israel. Like the Jews, the Chinese knew what it meant to be powerless and lose control over their homeland.
During World War II, the elderly Elly Kadoorie was imprisoned in a Japanese camp, and he died in captivity in 1944. Soon after the war ended, the Chinese communists swept through Shanghai, seizing the family’s buildings and art collection. Most Westerners in China, including the Sassoons, fled to Europe, Australia or the Americas. But Elly’s grown sons, Lawrence and Horace, stayed close by, moving to the family’s hotel in Hong Kong. “If we sit down and worry, not only will no progress be made but everything will get worse,” Lawrence wrote to Horace in 1946. “If we go ahead optimistically, and in the belief that Hong Kong has a great future before it…we shall recover our losses and progress.” Hong Kong, Lawrence declared, “may become another Shanghai.”
He turned out to be spectacularly correct. Over the next 70 years, through the Cold War and China’s economic rise, the Kadoories rebuilt their fortune in Hong Kong. They also concluded that businessmen of their father’s generation, isolated and wealthy, had been blind to the rise of communism and paid a terrible price. “The best protection against Communism is to provide living conditions that are better than those in China proper,” Lawrence declared. The Kadoories poured millions into helping displaced Chinese farmers and refugees set up small farms in Hong Kong. Research supported by the Kadoories led to the breeding of a new strain of pig that provided more meat for the city’s booming population. The Jewish Kadoories, the Chinese farmers joked, “know everything about the pig except the way it tastes.”
At the same time, the Kadoories were convinced that one day China would open up again. They maintained covert ties with the mainland and never publicly criticized the communist regime. The strategy paid off in 1978, when the Kadoories were welcomed back by Deng Xiaoping and invested a billion dollars in China’s first nuclear plant. Later they helped to keep Hong Kong calm as the British negotiated its handover to China, which took place in 1997. “You have always been a friend to China,” an aide to Xi Jinping told Michael Kadoorie, grandson of Elly and the current head of the family.
Michael Kadoorie still believes that Hong Kong’s business community must work with China. Last summer, as the city was racked by increasingly violent anti-China demonstrations, he wrote a full-page advertisement that ran in local English and Chinese newspapers. “It is disheartening to see what has overtaken the city recently,” he wrote. “I do not support violence nor do I believe this should be the way to resolve conflicts.” Instead, he pleaded, China must “find solutions in mutual respect, understanding and open dialogue.”
It’s a familiar dilemma for the Kadoories. Whenever China has been open and engaged with the world—in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s, in Hong Kong under British rule, and in mainland China after 1978—the family has prospered. Their success is a testament to China’s ability to absorb foreign influences and benefit from foreign investment. But as the country turns more assertive and nationalistic, the tightrope the Kadoories walk is growing thinner.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

KAEPERNICK'S 'FREEDOM FIGHTERS' REVOLT IN THE TWIN CITIES

It's time to start shooting the hoodlums when they attack a police station and when they set buildings ablaze ... and not with rubber bullets!

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Times
May 30, 2020











On Thursday, disgraced former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick tweeted that it's time for a revolution because of George Floyd's death by the knee of a white cop.  Well, that night he got his wish.  The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul experienced the kind of revolution Kaepernick called for.

In Minneapolis hoodlums looted and set buildings ablaze.  They stormed the Third Precinct police headquarters and set it on fire.  Race baiting ("He'd be alive today if he were white.")  Mayor Jacob Frey ordered the police to evacuate the building and cops on the roof had to be rescued by helicopters.

Across the Mississippi River in St. Paul, hoodlums looted businesses and torched buildings.  According to the police, about 170 buildings had been damaged by night’s end.

Kaepernick's revolution cannot be allowed to continue.  The time to plead with 'the community' for peace has ended.  Kaepernick himself said: "The cries for peace will rain down, and when they do, they will land on deaf ears.  The time for action is past due."    

Kaepernick is right, the time for action is past due, not only in the Twin Cities, but anywhere else  where this kind of rioting takes place.  No more pussyfooting around!  It's time to start shooting Kaepernick's hoodlums when they attack a police station and when they set buildings ablaze ... and not with rubber bullets!

Tear gas and rubber bullets obviously do not do the job.  Real bullets will!  I'm not advocating shooting peaceful protesters.  But the hoodlums who torch buildings and storm a police station are not peaceful protesters.  They are destroying property and endangering innocent people's lives.

Kaepernick calls the arsonists and looters "freedom fighters" and said he will pay their legal expenses.  "In fighting for liberation there’s always retaliation," Kaepernick said Friday morning .  "We must protect our Freedom Fighters. We started a legal defense initiative to give legal representation to Freedom Fighters in Minneapolis paid for by [Know Your Rights Camp]."
 
Finally, there ought to be some way to arrest and charge Colin Kaepernic with a crime.  It looks like he clearly incited his 'Freedom Fighters' to loot stores, torch businesses and clash with the police..  And he got his wish.

UPDATE: More of the same for the Twin Cities and more than 30 other cities Friday night, including in Dallas and Houston.  In Oakland, California, Kaepernick’s freedom fighters shot two Federal Protective Services officers stationed at the downtown Federal Building.  One of the cops died.  And in Brooklyn, a woman freedom fighter tossed a Molotov cocktail at a cop car with four officers inside.

Right here in Houston, freedom fighters threw rocks and bottles at cops and damaged 16 police cars. Four Houston cops had to be hospitalized. One freedom fighter blasted a group of cops with a fire extinguisher.

Rocks can kill!  So can a Molotov cocktail. Houston’s cops should have fired at the rock throwers and the New York cops should have shot at the woman who tossed the Molotov cocktail … and with real bullets.

GEE, WHAT A SURPRISE

by Bob Walsh

Two nights ago a mob stormed and set fire to a police precinct building in Minneapolis.  The cops didn't do jack.

Last night a mob stormed and set fire to a police precinct building in Minneapolis.  The cops didn't do jack.  The National Guard didn't do jack.

I wonder what will happen tonight.

Also, a modest mob started a confrontation with the Secret Service outside the White House.  The Secret Service drew a line in the sand.  As I write this (2300 Friday) the mob took them at their word.  They behaved like assholes, but didn't try to rush the fence.  I suspect it would have gone poorly for them had they done so.  I suspect they KNEW that and that is why they didn't push it.

By the way, as an aside, a friend of mine (who is otherwise intelligent and semi-normal) assured me that it is now a "proven fact" that most of the fires set in Minneapolis were set by white cops who were doing it to try to compel a police response so they could get to shoot some people.  Strangely she was unable to give me a source for this other than "the internet."  And of course as well all know everything on the internet is factual, right?   By the way, she was dead-ass serious about it.

A MOB TRIES TO BURN DOWN CNN BUILDING IN ATLANTA

by Bob Walsh

They were not successful.  Some people can't do anything right.

I AM PISSED AT THE MINNEAPOLIS PD SO I WILL BURN DOWN ATLANTA

by Bob Walsh

Somehow the logic of this position eludes me.

GOVERNOR BLAMES NIGHT OF ARSON AND LOOTING ON THE 'VISCERAL PAIN' SUFFERED BY THE BLACK COMMUNITY

Chauvin charged with murder, manslaughter in Floyd death

 

By , Chao Xiong and Paul Walsh   

 

Star Tribune

May 29, 2020

 

In an unusually swift move, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman on Friday afternoon announced criminal charges against the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd Monday – an act caught on video and seen around the world, turning Minneapolis and St. Paul into a tinderbox as angry demonstrators set a police station ablaze and looted and destroyed several businesses.
 
Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter four days after pinned his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes at the intersection of E. 38th St. and Chicago Avenue as Floyd, who was handcuffed, told him he couldn't breathe. Bystanders also begged Chauvin and three other officers at the scene to relent, but their calls went unheeded as Floyd grew unresponsive and later died.

Freeman said a criminal complaint will be released later, but "I didn't want to wait any longer to share the news that he's in custody and charged with murder."

Three other officers involved in the detention were also fired, but they have yet to be arrested or charged.

Freeman explained that Chauvin was the first charged because "we felt it was important to focus on the most dangerous perpetrator. I must say this case has moved with extraordinary speed."

A somber Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz vowed to restore order Friday after what he termed the “abject failure” of a third night of protests and violence in response to George Floyd’s death in police custody, an incident that sparked looting and blazes across the Twin Cities.

The governor and the state’s top law enforcent officials acknowledged challenges in coordination and lines of command between various state, county and city agencies that led to delays and sometimes confusion in the response to a rampage that included the breach and fiery destruction of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct headquarters Thursday night.

Jon Jensen, Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard, said there was a lack of clarity on the “mission” of the Guard in responding to the protests ahead of time. He had some concerns before soldiers were even dispatched. “We never got such mission description,” he said.

Walz, facing criticism over the lack of a visible police and Guard presence Thursday night as dozens of buildings in Minneapolis and St. Paul were burned or looted, called the episode “one of our darkest chapters.”

The night of destruction and urban unrest, unlike anything seen in the Twin Cities in decades, put the DFL governor and the city’s two mayors on the defensive about a response that many residents saw as shockingly slow and inadequate. Walz and other state and city leaders also came under criticism for their relative silence through much of the previous evening.

President Donald Trump, who spoke with Walz Thursday night, weighed in on the rioting, singling out Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for a “total lack of leadership” and saying he would send in the federal troops to “get the job done right.”

Walz called Trump’s remarks, including a tweet threatening to shoot looters, as “unhelpful.”

He called for balancing the outrage over the violent protests with an understanding of the despair and lack of trust that led to them.

“What the world has witnessed since the killing of George Floyd on Monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here,” he said. “We have to restore order to our society before we can start addressing the issues, before we turn back to where we should be spending our energy: making sure justice is served.”

Nevertheless, Walz faced mounting criticism from Republicans calling for a more forceful response to the looters who dominated television images that brought the cities national attention.

Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, raised concerns about the coming weekend. “There has been a disturbing lack of leadership and clear plan on how we’re going to prevent further chaos with the weekend approaching,” he said in a statement. “City and state leaders knew that there would be more looting and riots last night, but took no visible steps to prevent the destruction.”

Republican Party Chair Jennifer Carnahan said “Minneapolis is in a state of disorder.” “It’s traumatizing and scary and sad and depressing and devastating,” she said. “Our leaders @GovTimWalz and Mayor Frey have disappeared. How long will it take to undo this damage?”

Walz and Guard official indicated that they initially took their cues from local officials as to where to deploy and how.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey held a news conference shortly after 1 a.m. and said the decision to evacuate the 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis was his to protect the lives of officers and protesters.

“This is one of the most difficult situations that our city has been through,” he said. “I’m not going to stand up here to tell you that there are easy answers to it.”

Adding to the sense of confusion, Walz was forced to intervene early Friday in the State Patrol arrest of a CNN crew trying to cover the protests on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Walz publicly apologized to CNN President Jeff Zucker and the news media for the detention of the journalists, which was captured on live television.

They were among the only arrests seen during a night of widespread looting and arson. “I take full responsibility,” Walz said, calling the episode “inexcusable.”

Walz promised a more coordinated law enforcement response if disturbances continue into the weekend, when more protests are planned. Walz and some protest leaders called for demonstrations to remain peaceful. Officials hoped that the arrest Friday of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in connection with Floyd’s death might help calm tensions.

State Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington called Floyd’s death at the hands of police a “murder” during a morning news conference with the governor. “That’s what it looked like to me.”

Democratic leaders in the Legislature had expressed frustration earlier about a news conference called Thursday afternoon by U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, where they promised a “robust” investigation but did not announce any charges.

“The county attorney needs to file charges and the officers must be arrested as soon as possible, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler tweeted. “The case must be won, and legal standards met in order to get a conviction, but we need to have a clear statement that a murder trial is coming. Now.”

'MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE BEING TREATED DIFFERENTLY ON ACCOUNT OF RACE'

By Barack Obama

I want to share parts of the conversations I've had with friends over the past couple days about the footage of George Floyd dying face down on the street under the knee of a police officer in Minnesota.

The first is an email from a middle-aged African American businessman.

"Dude I gotta tell you the George Floyd incident in Minnesota hurt. I cried when I saw that video. It broke me down. The 'knee on the neck' is a metaphor for how the system so cavalierly holds black folks down, ignoring the cries for help. People don't care. Truly tragic."

Another friend of mine used the powerful song that went viral from 12-year-old Keedron Bryant to describe the frustrations he was feeling.

The circumstances of my friend and Keedron may be different, but their anguish is the same. It's shared by me and millions of others.

It's natural to wish for life "to just get back to normal" as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly "normal" — whether it's while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.

This shouldn't be "normal" in 2020 America. It can't be "normal." If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.

It will fall mainly on the officials of Minnesota to ensure that the circumstances surrounding George Floyd's death are investigated thoroughly and that justice is ultimately done. But it falls on all of us, regardless of our race or station — including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day — to work together to create a "new normal" in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It would have been far better had America's first black president called on his brothers and sisters to stop looting stores and torching businesses. 

OTTO SKORZENY PLANNED TO ASSASSINATE ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL AND STALIN

Nazi commandos came 'appallingly close' to assassinating Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt as leaders met at secret 1943 summit in Tehran to plan the liberation of occupied Europe, new book reveals

 

By Darren Boyle

 

Daily Mail

May 29, 2020

 

A group of Nazi-trained commandos almost managed to kill Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin who were attending a top-secret conference in Tehran in 1943, a new book reveals.

The book, Night of the Assassins, uses information from declassified archives in Washington, Moscow and London. 

Author Howard Blum's story outlines how Hitler's favourite commando, Otto Skorzeny, developed the audacious plan to kill the three leaders using a crack team of 42 assassins, who would be parachuted to the outskirts of the Iranian capital in November 1943 before striking. 

The Tehran Conference was the first time Roosevelt and Churchill met Stalin. The leaders wanted to meet face-to-face to open discussions about defeating Hitler and Japan and the future of post-war Europe. 

Churchill and Roosevelt wanted to liberate the continent from Nazism. Stalin was determined to carve out an area to provide a safety buffer for the Soviet Union.  

When German intelligence agents had discovered details about the proposed meeting, Hitler ordered a mission to wipe out his opponents. 
One possible attack involved storming the British embassy using underground water tunnels during a party for Churchill's birthday on November 30, 1943. 

Roosevelt had spent two years trying to arrange a meeting with Stalin, believing he would be able to negotiate with the tyrant, though the Soviet leader was reluctant to  travel, fearing assassination. 
  
The mission, Operation Long Jump, saw Skorzeny train a group of renegade Russians - who were opposed to Stalin - in commando tactics. They were tasked with parachuting into Iran in two groups ahead of two further groups of German commandos - including Skorzeny himself. 

Skorzeny was chosen for the mission by Hitler as he had led an audacious mission to rescue Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who was being held under guard in a mountain top hotel that was only accessible by cable car.

After conducting aerial surveillance, Skorzeny decided to use a pair of gliders to storm the mountain top and rescue the dictator. The plan involved Mussolini then being flown to safety on a Storch aircraft. The Storch had the ability to land and take off in a little more than twice its own length. 
  
Tehran was chosen as the location for the meeting as Stalin was unwilling to travel far from Russian territory and Iran was nominally neutral during the conflict. 

It was an important meeting as it was the first time that Stalin had met with the US and British leaders. He was anxious by the failure in late 1943 of Roosevelt and Churchill to launch a second front in Europe. Stalin wanted the Western allies to help relieve pressure on Soviet troops by splitting German troops. 

Ahead of the meeting, Soviet intelligence claimed to have gathered information that the Germans, having cracked US naval codes, knew about the meeting and were planning to strike. 

The Soviets also claimed to have agents close to those involved in the plot. 

Tehran had been flooded with 40,000 NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB) ahead of the conference. The Russians claimed to have intercepted the first group of parachutists and killed them. The Russians also wiped out the second group of commandos, but had not been able to track down the last remaining threats. 
 
They claimed both Churchill and Roosevelt would be at risk while travelling to the Soviet embassy from their own compounds during the conference and should instead stay as guests of the Russian ambassador - in rooms which had been bugged. 

The plot, which is outlined in detail in the book, seemed utterly implausible.  

According to Blum: 'Although the war is undoubtedly lost, the Germans believe that perhaps a new set of Allied leaders might be willing to make a more reasonable peace in its aftermath. And so a plan is devised—code name Operation Long Jump—to assassinate FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.

'Immediately, a highly trained, hand-picked team of Nazi commandos is assembled, trained, armed with special weapons, and parachuted into Iran. They have six days to complete the daring assignment before the statesmen will return home.'

Blum gathered together details of the plot from documents held in archives in London, Moscow and Washington. 

He outlined how FDR's Secret Service chief, Mike Reilly, who described himself as 'an Irish cop with more muscle than brains', had to ensure the safety of the president. 

The assassins were working on a plan developed by Otto Skorzeny, who was once described as 'the most dangerous man in Europe'. 

The Russian defectors among the commandos were split into two groups and would parachute separately into the outskirts of Tehran. 

One group planned to meet up with local tribesmen who would act as guides to bring them into the city. 

The men were equipped with Soviet manufactured machine guns and uniforms. They also planned to use British-made bombs which had been captured by the Germans to blow up the three leaders. 

The two groups of Russians were killed shortly after arriving in Iran.

A group of six Germans, under the command of Rudolf von Holten-Pflug, managed to avoid capture after they dropped into the wrong location near Qom.

They managed to sneak into Tehran undetected ahead of the conference despite the presence of a large NKVD force. 

The commandos made the decision to continue with their attack despite the growing evidence that they had been betrayed. 

According to Blum: 'Skorzeny, seeing the element of surprise had been lost, stayed in Germany, not wanting to risk his life or his reputation.'

The book claims the commandos had been betrayed by a group of Iranian wrestlers who had been sheltering them in a gymnasium after they accepted a $20,000 reward. 

Yet the highly trained German operatives managed to escape and decided first to make an attempt on Churchill's life during his birthday party which was being held at the British embassy. 

The commandos had planned to attack using water tunnels under the building. However, a captured German spy had surrendered details of the plot, allowing the allies  to saturate the area with guards. 

In a final change of plan, the commandos decided on a suicide attack on the VIP convoy as it approached the airport. Again, the commandos were betrayed and blew themselves up to avoid capture. 

Blum told The Express: 'There is too much documentary evidence and too many witness statements proving that the assassination plot was real. But in espionage you never know the entire truth.

'The plot would have succeeded if the Russians hadn’t killed most of the commando force. And if a captured spy hadn’t disclosed the scheme to use the water tunnel to enter the embassy compound, German commandos would have burst in on Churchill’s birthday party. It would have changed the face of the war, and possibly reshaped the world for years to come.'

HUMAN SACRIFICE TO WARD OFF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Indian priest chops off man’s head inside temple to appease gods, ward off coronavirus

 

By  

 

CUTTACK, India -- An elderly priest in Odisha’s Cuttack allegedly performed ‘human sacrifice’ to appease the gods and end the coronavirus pandemic. The priest chopped off the head of a local man inside the temple premises to perform rituals.

The incident took place at a temple near Bandhahuda under Narasinghpur police station in Odisha’s Cuttack district on Wednesday night.

The accused priest has been identified as Sansari Ojha (72), who is the priest of Bandha Maa Budha Brahmani Dei Temple. He later surrendered before the police on Wednesday night soon after committing the crime.

The deceased man has been identified as Saroj Kumar Pradhan (52). According to the accused, an argument erupted between him and Pradhan at the temple over the ‘sacrifice’.

As the argument aggravated, Ojha hacked him to death with a sharp weapon. The man died on the spot after he received the blow on his head.

During interrogation, the priest said he committed the murder after receiving ‘orders from god’ in his dream in which he saw that human sacrifice will dispel the coronavirus.

Police have seized the axe that was used in the murder. Police have sent the body for post-mortem. Further investigation into the incident is underway.

Locals at Bandhahuda village said the priest had a long-standing dispute with the deceased over a mango orchard on the periphery of the village.

Police DIG Central Range Ashish Kumar Singh told India Today TV, “Preliminary investigation reveals the accused was heavily drunk at the time of incident. The next morning when he came back to his senses he surrendered and accepted the crime.”

The priest also said that he committed the murder after receiving ‘orders from the goddess’ in his dream and that the human sacrifice will dispel the coronavirus. Police also said that the priest seems mentally unstable.

Social activist Satya Prakash Pati said, “It’s unbelievable in 21st century that people still behave in such barbaric ways. We demand strong action against the guilty.”

COPS AGAINST BAD COPS

‘Police Brutality Is Unacceptable’: Southland Police Departments, LAPD Union Condemn Death Of George Floyd After LA Protest

LAPPL News Watch
May 29, 2020

Just one day after protestors took to the streets in downtown Los Angeles, several Southland police departments issued statements condemning the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Late Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Police Protective League released a statement that said the union agreed with National Association of Police Organizations Executive Director Bill Johnson who said he could not see “any legal justification, any self-defense justification, or any moral justification” for what was shown on the video.

“What we saw on that video was inconsistent and contrary to everything we have been taught, not just as an academy recruit or a police officer, but as human beings,” the statement said. “Reverence for life in every incident a police officer encounters must be the floor and not the ceiling.”

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS FORBIDS THE USE OF THE TERMS 'ALIAN' AND 'ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT'

NYC Council Votes to Ban the Terms ‘Alien’ and ‘Illegal Immigrant’ on Official Docs

 

NBC New York 

May 29, 2020

 

New York City officials and law enforcement will no longer be able to use the terms "alien" and "illegal immigrant" to refer to undocumented immigrants.

The NYC Council voted Thursday to ban the "dehumanizing and offensive" words in local laws, rules and documents, said Speaker Corey Johnson. The term that officials will use going forward will be "noncitizen."

“These words are outdated and loaded words used to dehumanize the people they describe. It’s time to retire them," Council Member Francisco Moya said ahead of the vote. "Words matter. The language we choose to use has power and consequences."

AMY'S PAST COMES BACK TO BITE HER IN THE ASS

Amy Klobuchar once declined to prosecute Derek Chauvin, cop in Floyd death

By Joshua Rhett Miller 

 

New York Post
May 29, 2020

Former Democratic presidential candidate and potential vice presidential pick Amy Klobuchar failed to prosecute the police officer involved in George Floyd’s death while serving as a county attorney in 2006, prompting criticism of her law enforcement background.

Derek Chauvin, the officer seen on video with a knee on Floyd’s neck Monday as Floyd begged for air, was one of six officers who fatally shot 42-year-old Wayne Reyes in 2006 after the man brandished a shotgun at the cops, according to a report by Minneapolis watchdog group Communities United Against Police Brutality.

The shooting occurred during Klobuchar’s tenure as Hennepin County attorney, but the case didn’t go before a grand jury until after she left office and later became a Minnesota senator, the Star Tribune reports.

In 2008, a grand jury ultimately decided not to charge the officers with any wrongdoing in the shooting, the Guardian reports.

Klobuchar, who has been floated as a possible VP pick for presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, also did not criminally charge other cops involved in more than two dozen officer-involved fatalities that took place during her time as prosecutor from 1999 to 2006, according to the Star Tribune.

Those decisions were left to a grand jury, a common practice at the time, according to the newspaper.

In a statement released Friday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Klobuchar had “no involvement” whatsoever in the decision not to charge Chauvin in the shooting.

“Sen. Klobuchar’s last day in the office here was December 31 2006, and she had no involvement in the prosecution of this case at all,” the statement obtained by the New York Times read.

But the national outrage connected to Floyd’s death is now putting added pressure on Biden to pick a running mate who’s more aligned with “key audiences,” Aimee Allison, president of political group She The People, told the Star Tribune.

“We need to close the enthusiasm gap that Biden currently faces,” Allison said. “We need to have a VP pick that expands the capacity of the campaign to reach key audiences. Black women are key. Brown women are key. And Klobuchar does not do that.”

In March, Klobuchar admitted to the Washington Post that she didn’t have a “perfect record” as Hennepin County’s chief prosecutor, saying she wished she had taken more “individual responsibility” in the cases.

“But I promise you, every single day in that job, I tried to put myself in other people’s shoes to try to do the right thing,” she said.

A message seeking Chauvin’s complete service record from Minneapolis police was not immediately returned Friday.

Klobuchar, meanwhile, said in a statement released Tuesday that Floyd’s “horrifying and gutwrenching” death called for immediate action.

“There must be a complete and thorough outside investigation into what occurred, and those involved in this incident must be held accountable,” Klobuchar’s statement read.
 
EDITOR'S NOTE: I believe that exposing Klobuchar this way is nothing more than a blatant attempt to make Biden choose a black woman as his running mate.

Friday, May 29, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR A RACE BAITER

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says former Houston resident George Floyd would be alive today if he were white

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Times
May 28, 2020









Let me be crystal clear that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin should not have kept his knee on George Floyd's neck when the latter begged him to stop because he could not breathe. Actually, Chauvin should never have knelled on Floyd's neck in the first place.

Furthermore, videos of the arrest show that before the kneeling incident, Floyd was removed from his car and walked away with his hands cuffed behind his back. I do not know what happened between that time and the kneeling, but Floyd's arrest sure looks awful lousy.

Floyd was arrested Monday night for trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store.

There were protests and rioting in Minneapolis Tuesday and Wednesday evening. While most protesters were peaceful, mobs clashed with the police both nights. On Wednesday, mobs set fires to an apartment building under construction and set a number of other fires, including in an Auto Zone store which they also looted along with a Target store. Outside the Target, a wheelchair-bound white woman was beaten and sprayed with a fire extinguisher when she tried to stop the looting.

A mob protesting Floyd's death in Los Angeles closed down a freeway and surrounded two California Highway Patrol cars, smashing in the rear windows of both cars.

A peaceful protest was held Tuesday in Houston's Emancipation Park. Floyd had lived in Houston until he moved to Minneapolis six years ago. Friends described Floyd as a good lovable person.

That good lovable person has a long criminal history in Houston dating back to 1998 when he was busted for aggravated robbery with a firearm. In 2007 Floyd committed another robbery with a firearm for which he was sent to prison. When he was released from prison in 2014, Floyd moved to Minneapolis.

Houston's top cop could not restrain himself from getting his two cents worth in. On Wednesday Morning, Chief Acevedo tweeted: "The death of #GeorgFloyd should be condemned by all in law enforcement and our extended community. His death serves as a stark reminder that when bad policing happens, it disproportionately impacts communities of color and poor communities." Acevedo attached a screengrab of one of his earlier tweets in which he supported Colin Kaepernick's protest against police brutality.

But worst of all was what the white mayor of Minneapolis said about Floyd's death. During a Thursday interview on CBS This Morning, Mayor Jacob Frey said: "He'd be alive today if he were white." What an outrageous remark! That's pure race baiting of the worst kind, something you would expect of Al Sharpton, but not from the mayor of a big city.

As for Chief Acevedo, he already made a complete fool out of himself with his comments on the botched Harding Street raid.  He should have been sacked then. But now, Acevedo should be tarred and feathered, and run out of Houston on a rail for apparently siding with Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who is best known for disrespecting our flag and country.

UPDATE:  The Colin Kaepernick that Acevedo supports has just said it's time for a revolution because of Floyd's death.  On Thursday, Kaepernick tweeted: "When civility leads to death, revolting is the only logical reaction. The cries for peace will rain down, and when they do, they will land on deaf ears, because your [police] violence has brought this resistance. We have the right to fight back!"

CHEVY SILVERADO BEATS PISTOL

by Bob Walsh

Master Sergeant David Royer is a military cop. On Wednesday he was driving home from Fort Leavenworth when he say a guy with two weapons bail out on the Centenail Bridge and open fire apparently at random on cars on the bridge.  

Sgt. Royer ran him down and left him underneath his truck until the local constabulary showed up.

Not real subtle, but pretty effective.  

A couple of cars were damaged but only one person besides the shooter was injured.  The other injured person was also a Ft. Leavenworth soldier.  Unfortunately the six-year old Silverado suffered significant damage.  Maybe Chevy will have some brains and give the guy a new Truck.

The shooter is in serious but stable condition.  The cops seem to think that the action was justified and din't give Royer a ticket.    

TRUMP HAS IT IN THE BAG ..... MAYBE

by Bob Walsh

I watched a bit of Laura Ingraham on Fox last night.  One of her guests was a political scientist who is said to be very skilled at election computer monitoring.  He called 2016 for Trump in March.  

Now I grant you that this election will be heavily influenced by the Covid-19 thing and other considerations that are not necessarily typical of a presidential campaign.  Nevertheless he said his modelling is showing a a 91% probability that Trump will take it in 2020.

SORRY HOWIE, BUT AMY KLOBUCHAR IS NOW TOAST

by Bob Walsh

Up until yesterday Amy Klobuchar was doing pretty good for a White girl and was at least in the running and maybe arguably at the top of the back.  Then the kiss of death came.  Turns out she had the opportunity to prosecute the cop that is accused of killing the guy in Minneapolis several years back when she was a prosecutor and she didn't do it.  Stick a fork in her, she is done.

OK, THIS COULD GET INTERESTING

Barr Appoints A Prosecutor To Examine Flynn Unmasking Flurry

by Bob Walsh

Attorney General Barr has appointed a prosecutor from Texas too look into the herb of people who indulged in a flurry of unmasking requests directed at Mike Flynn during the waning moments of the Obummer administration.

Will anything come of it?  Maybe.  I suspect the mid-level knaves may be thrown to the wolves.  Whether anybody higher up in the food chain will suffer anything is an open question.  There certainly SHOULD BE some people hung, drawn and quartered over what is now obviously an administrative coup initiated against the Orange Man.  However, what SHOULD be and what IS can be two very different things indeed.  

Still, it will be fun to watch.

SO, IT LOOKS LIKE RUSH CRASHED A COUPLE OF WEB SITES

by Bob Walsh

I caught a little bit of Howie's favorite radio guy, Rush Limbaugh, yesterday while I was driving around.  He mentioned that somebody suggested he check out Mike Flynn's personal web site, and told Rush that Flynn had a small, subtle PayPal link at the bottom of his personal web page for people to kick down a few bucks to him if they felt the mood strike.

Less than ten minutes later Flynn's web site crashed.  That ins't surprising.  Most personal websites have very limited band width.  However it appears that the traffic also crashed Limbaugh's web site, which does NOT have a small bandwidth.  Also PayPal was down for a time at exactly the same time.  

So, did the DittoHeads crash PayPal kicking down to Mike Flynn?  It is distinctly possible.  Ditto-heads have crashed other large websites, so it is far from impossible.

RUGER PC-9 REPORT

by Bob Walsh

I hadn't bought a new gun all year, so last month I went out and bought a nice new Ruger PC-9 9mm semi-automatic breakdown carbine.  I got a decent electronic sight for it and took it out yesterday morning to put some rounds thru it.

It didn't want to cycle 147 gn Subsonics reliably.  It SHOT them very well, but constantly short-stroked the bolt.  I did shoot 150 rounds of other ammo, the weapon liked them just fine.  I had rough-zeroed the sights with a bore sighter so it took only 4 or 5 shots to get the optic zeroed up properly.

It's fun.  I liked it and it was, IMHO, about $650 well spent.  I did notice that it likes the Ruger magazines better than the Glocks, presumably because the plastic Glocks bulge slightly when they are fully loaded.  Th metal Ruger mags don't.  The Glocks "drag" going into the mag well.  Changing the mag well is very easy.  The weapon is not light but it is very comfortable to shoot.

If you are looking for something along those lines you should definitely at least take a look at this one. 

SEMI-SORT-OF USED-TO-BE HIGH SPEED RAIL GETTING TRIMMED

by Bob Walsh

The California High Speed Rail Authority has been a spectacular and expensive failure almost since its inception.  It is kind of like a horizontal money pit.  

The Gavin administration has just informed them they need to cut 88 private sector consultant positions from their budget.  (What the hell were they doing with 88 private sector consulting positions in the first place?)  These jobs would be turned into 70 state civil service jobs with a total saving of about $16 million.  

When the initiative was passed to create a high-speed train from NorCal to SoCal the bill was $40 billion.  That has now doubled, and the performance expectations have decreased, even though the performance characteristics were written into the law just so this shit wouldn't happen.  Newsom still wants to complete a section between Merced and Bakersfield (just where you need a high speed passenger train I guess) mostly in order to not have to kick millions back to the feds.

ANOTHER FAILURE FOR ZERO BAIL

by Bob Walsh

Aubrey Crowder is a denizen of Alameda County, CA.  He has been arrested four times in the last four weeks for robbery, assault on an officer, trespassing and violation of court orders.  The cops finally asked a judge to sign a bail hold request.  The judge refused.  He was again released without bond and again assaulted cops.  

When you tolerate bad behavior you get more bad behavior.  ANYBODY knows that.  Its just that many people don't care.  Some of them have power unfortunately.

FIVE SHOT, ONE DEAD, DURING "PEACEFUL" PROTESTS IN MINN

by Bob Walsh

The unfortunate and almost certainly unjustifiable death of Floyd George has turned Minneapolis into a war zone.  A total of five people were shot on Wednesday night, one of them was a fatality.  Of course the guy who was shot to death was in a pawn shop that he didn't own and had no business being in and the guy who shot him owned and operated the pawnshop, but most people won't tell you that.

Several stores were looted.  An Auto Zone store was burned to the ground.  All the stuff in these sort of stores gives off lots of very interesting and very dangerous fumes.

The National Guard has been called out to try to keep a lid on things.  Unless they are willing to get unpleasant that probably won't happen.

Not that I am recommending it, but there is something to be said for the Mexico City P D school of riot control.  You order the rioters to disperse.  Once.  Then you open fire with automatic weapons with live ammunition.  They have damn few riots in Mexico City.

MARKET UP ... WILL IT HOLD?

by Bob Walsh

The DJIA closed above 25,000 on Wednesday for the first time since the plague began.  Things are looking up in general.  There are several bio-tech firms that seem to think they have a handle on an effective Covid-19 vaccine or treatment.  All 50 states have some level of return towards normal economic operations.  Even Dr. Fauci seems to think (or at least SAYS he thinks) that a second wave of the virus is far from a for-sure thing and, even if it does occur, is not necessarily going to be very bothersome.

Trump has already said that even if there is a second wave he is not going to shut down the country again.

Maybe it's just me (actually I know it isn't just me) but I get the distinct feeling that there are a fair number of liberals out there who would be happy to crash the country's economy if it meant that Trump would not get a second term. 

ONE OF THE MOST BRAZEN AND EGREGIOUS CASES OF HOME HEALTH MEDICARE FRAUD

Las Vegas couple charged in $13M Medicaid fraud

By David Ferrara

Las Vegas Review-Journal
May 27, 2020

A Las Vegas couple are facing multiple federal charges in connection with allegations that they defrauded the North Carolina Medicaid Program out of $13 million, according to the Department of Justice.

Latisha Harron, 44, also known as Latisha Holt, and Timothy Harron, 50, are accused of working together to defraud the program by billing the government for phony home health services, according to an indictment that was unsealed Wednesday after the two were arrested.

“This case represents one of the most brazen and egregious cases of home health Medicaid fraud ever seen in this district,” Robert Higdon Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said in a statement.

The Harrons are charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, one count of health care fraud, 54 counts of wire fraud, six counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and 11 counts of conducting transactions in criminally derived property with fraud and money laundering.

Latisha Harron is also charged with making false statements relating to health care matters.

Concealed ’17 N.C. felonies

In May 2017, Latisha Harron moved to Las Vegas to live with Timothy Harron, both with previous felony convictions, and they married the next year. The couple concealed their felony convictions from the North Carolina Medicaid system, and worked together to collect more than $10 million between 2017 and 2019, according to the Justice Department.

The couple scoured North Carolina online obituaries from offices and a penthouse condo in Las Vegas, as well as from resorts and hotels around the world, to find people who had died and collect personal information to find out if they had Medicaid eligibility in order to “back-bill” the system for a up to a year of home health services, according to the Justice Department.

They spent laundered money on a $900,000 private jet, high-end jewelry and clothing, and properties in North Carolina, the indictment alleges. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of a 2017 Aston Martin DB 11 and a wine collection.

UNFAIR TRANSATHLETES

US Education Department: Transgender sports inclusion violates others’ rights

By Pat Eaton-Robb

Associated Press
May 28, 2020

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut’s policy allowing transgender girls to compete as girls in high school sports violates the civil rights of athletes who have always identified as female, the U.S. Education Department has determined in a decision that could force the state to change course to keep federal funding and influence others to do the same.

A letter from the department’s civil rights office, a copy of which was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, came in response to a complaint filed last year by several cisgender female track athletes who argued that two transgender female runners had an unfair physical advantage.

The office said in the 45-page letter that it may seek to withhold federal funding over the policy, which allows athletes to participate under the gender with which they identify. The policy is a violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that guarantees equal education opportunities for women, including in athletics, the office said.

It has “denied female student-athletes athletic benefits and opportunities, including advancing to the finals in events, higher level competitions, awards, medals, recognition, and the possibility of greater visibility to colleges and other benefits,” according to the letter, which is dated May 15.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference says its policy complies with a state law barring schools from discriminating against transgender students.

“Connecticut law is clear and students who identify as female are to be recognized as female for all purposes — including high school sports,” the athletic conference said in a statement. “To do otherwise would not only be discriminatory but would deprive high school students of the meaningful opportunity to participate in educational activities, including inter-scholastic sports, based on sex-stereotyping and prejudice sought to be prevented by Title IX and Connecticut state law.”

The federal decision carries implications beyond Connecticut, said Roger Brooks, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the girls who brought the complaint.

“Around the nation, districts are going to want to be reading this, because it does have legal implications,” he said. “It is a first decision from the agency charged with enforcing Title IX addressing the question of whether males on the playing field or on the track are depriving girls of opportunities consistent with Title IX.”

The decision by the civil rights office names the conference, along with the school districts for which the transgender runners and those filing the complaint competed — Glastonbury, Bloomfield, Hartford, Cromwell, Canton and Danbury.

The office said it will “either initiate administrative proceedings to suspend, terminate, or refuse to grant or continue and defer financial assistance” to the conference and those districts or refer the cases to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In its letter, the civil rights office said that it notified the athletic conference and the school districts of its pending decision in February, but that later negotiations failed to result in an agreement.

“All that today’s finding represents is yet another attack from the Trump administration on transgender students,” said Chase Strangio, who leads transgender justice initiatives for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT and HIV Project.

“Trans students belong in our schools, including on sports teams, and we aren’t backing down from this fight,” Strangio said.

The dispute, already the subject of a federal lawsuit, centers on two transgender sprinters, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who have frequently outperformed their competitors, winning a combined 15 girls state indoor or outdoor championship races since 2017, according to the lawsuit.

The ACLU’s lawyers for the transgender athletes have argued both are undergoing hormone treatments that have put them on an equal footing with the girls they are competing against.

Brooks said he hopes the judge in the lawsuit will take the Education Department decision into consideration.

One of the plaintiffs, Chelsea Mitchell, won two state indoor title races over Miller this year.

Mitchell, a senior, said Thursday that she is both happy and relieved by the Department of Education’s decision.

“It feels like we are finally headed in the right direction, and that we will be able to get justice for the countless girls along with myself that have faced discrimination for years,” she said. “It is liberating to know that my voice, my story, my loss, has been heard; that those championships I lost mean something.”

The plaintiffs sought to block the participation of Miller and Yearwood, both seniors, from spring track meets, which were later canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were also seeking to erase all records set by the transgender athletes.

Connecticut is one of 18 states, along with Washington, D.C., that allow transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions, according to Transathlete.com.

Several other states have polices barring the participation of transgender athletes, and Idaho recently became the first to pass a law banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

The ACLU and Legal Voice filed a federal lawsuit contending that law violates the U.S. Constitution because it is discriminatory and an invasion of privacy.

ONE BUSY BURGLAR

After More Than 130 Burglaries, LA Man Arrested

LAPPL News Watch
May 28, 2020

A man tied to more than 130 burglaries in Southern California as well as in Minnesota was arrested this week in Los Angeles, police said Wednesday.

Torrance police were investigating several commercial burglaries in the city dating to last year when on Tuesday, investigators located and arrested 48-year-old Brian Williams in Los Angeles, police said in a statement.

Williams was accused of more than 30 burglaries in Los Angeles County and more than 100 in Minnesota, according to Torrance police.

“During the burglaries commission, the suspect would target office buildings with multiple suites looking for currency,” police said. “Over the past several months, the suspect was able to elude authorities by utilizing several aliases.”

THE MASK MAN IS OUT OF BUSINESS

Feds Arrest 'The Mask Man,' New York Pharmacist Accused Of Profiteering On N95 Masks

By Bill Chappell

NPR
May 26, 2020

A licensed pharmacist in New York bought up thousands of rare N95 masks and sold them at much higher prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal authorities said Tuesday, announcing the arrest of Richard Schirripa, aka "the Mask Man," on charges that include violating the Defense Production Act. Schirripa is accused of charging up to $25 per mask – often selling them out of his car.

Schirripa is accused of buying about $200,000 worth of N95 masks between February and April and selling thousands of them "at severely inflated prices during both late March and April 2020," according to a criminal complaint that was recently unsealed. The time frame coincides with the wave of coronavirus cases that came crashing into New York as the pandemic arrived in the U.S. in full force.

"I feel like a drug dealer standing out here," Schirripa, 66, allegedly said in early April as he was recorded selling 16 boxes of N95 masks to a customer on a Manhattan street, according to the complaint.

The sale took place near Madison Avenue Pharmacy, just east of Central Park – a business Schirripa had recently shut down. But rather than arriving through official channels, the masks had come from "the black market," Schirripa allegedly said. He is accused of selling most of the protective gear out of the trunk of his Audi.

Schirripa "said that he normally buys the surgical grade masks for $20 per box and sells them for $40, but he said he had purchased these for $400 per box," the criminal complaint said.

"We're in a time of emergency and shortage," Schirripa allegedly told an undercover agent during a phone call that was recorded. The scarcity and vital need for N95 masks – which have been in such short supply that some medical professionals have been forced to improvise devices to protect themselves – justified their high price, Schirripa allegedly said.

"As alleged, Richard Schirripa exploited an unprecedented crisis to engage in profiteering," Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement Tuesday. Several agencies, from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to the Drug Enforcement Administration, played roles in the case against Schirripa.

Agents recovered some 6,660 masks from Schirripa's house in Long Island, his apartment in New York City and his car, according to the complaint.

The complaint said Schirripa told investigators who interviewed him at his house that "others had nicknamed him 'the Mask Man.' "

Schirripa allegedly began hoarding N95 masks in February — and the authorities said he continued to do so after President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act in late March, making it illegal to engage in hoarding or price gouging of personal protective equipment such as N95 masks.

His customers spanned eight states and included several doctors, a nursing home, a funeral home and a drugstore, according to court documents. Authorities were able to learn details about Schirripa's sales because he kept invoices for each transaction — paperwork that apparently used the name of his recently closed pharmacy, the complaint said.

Schirripa faces other serious but unrelated charges stemming from an earlier investigation into his pharmacy – especially the disposition of thousands of doses of strong opiates, including fentanyl, oxycodone and morphine sulfate, when he closed his business and sold its assets.

Early this year, Schirripa sent a letter to the DEA in which he said that as part of his pharmacy's closure he had transferred, sold or destroyed all controlled substances that the business had held.

"In fact, he had thousands of pills/patches in his downstairs safe," the complaint said, describing the results of a search of Schirripa's home in early April.

When Schirripa spoke to federal agents last month, he acknowledged he should have destroyed the drugs in his home, according to the complaint. On Tuesday, he turned himself over to federal custody and was to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang in Manhattan federal court.

The complaint accuses Schirripa of causing Medicare and Medicaid to be billed for controlled substances when he allegedly used customers' personal data to fabricate prescriptions for the drugs. During the search of his home, the complaint said, investigators found prescription bottles with more than two dozen different names on the labels.

Based on that inquiry, the pharmacist is accused of health care fraud and identity theft.

If Schirripa is convicted of all the charges against him, he could face a prison sentence of more than 30 years. That includes a count of health care fraud, which carries a maximum 20-year sentence.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

NO-MASK INCONSIDERATE SORRY ASSHOLES

Face masks do not keep you from getting infected by coronavirus, but they do keep you from infecting others

by Howie Katz

I did some shopping at Walmart on Monday. The place was packed. I estimate that 3 out of every 4 shoppers were not wearing face masks. There was no social distancing whatsoever.

I also saw TV news coverage of how people celebrated the Memorial Day weekend all over the country. Crowds packed the beaches and bars. There was hardly a mask in sight and there was absolutely no social distancing.

Those Walmartians and those holiday revelers either did not know, or did not care, that face masks do not keep you from getting infected by coronavirus, but they do keep you from infecting others.

I had to see my dermatologist yesterday. You cannot come into the building unless you are wearing a mask. While I was in the waiting room, they gave a young couple the heave-ho for not wearing masks.

Here is what Bob Walsh said in a post yesterday: "If you are under 60 and you have no co-morbidity issues your chances of dying from this shit [coronavirus] are very, very low. Your chances of GETTING it are decent, but you may very well not even know you have it."

Health experts say that up to 80 percent of people who become infected with coronavirus may not even know they're sick. These people spread the virus to those they come in contact with.

That means some of those no-mask shoppers at Walmart could very well have been infected with coronavirus and not know it. And Houston is one of the nation's COVID-19 hot spots.

If I come down with corona, I most likely got it at Walmart from some ignorant bastard or from some inconsiderate sorry asshole who did not give a shit about spreading the virus to others.