BIDEN'S DOJ INTERFERS WITH GOV. ABBOTT'S ATTEMPT TO PREVENT COVID SPREADING INTO TEXAS FROM SOUTH OF THE BORDEN

Justice Department sues Texas over Gov. Greg Abbott's order for state troopers to pull over vehicles with migrants

 

By Uriel J. Garcia 

 

The Texas Tribune

July 30, 2021

 

 

 

The Biden administration sued Texas on Friday, asking a federal judge to block Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that state troopers pull over drivers transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19 as a way to prevent the spread of the virus.

The lawsuit comes a day after the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a letter to the governor, threatened to take legal action against Texas if Abbott didn’t rescind his order. Garland described the order as “dangerous and unlawful.”

The Department of Justice said in the lawsuit that Abbott’s order will contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and it will disrupt immigration officials’ network of contractors and non government organizations that help host recently arrived migrants as their legal cases are pending.

“In our constitutional system, a State has no right to regulate the federal government’s operations,” the DOJ argued in a motion asking the judge to block Abbott’s order, adding “this restriction on the transportation of noncitizens would severely disrupt federal immigration operations.”

 

    Texas DPS troopers stopped SUV containing seven illegal immigrants

 

On Wednesday, Abbott issued the order, allowing Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to reroute civilian vehicles back to their origin point or a port of entry, or seize the vehicles, if police suspect the driver is transporting migrants who are infected with the virus. 

Abbott said in a statement that his order “will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities,” though the governor will not allow local government officials to issue mask mandates even as coronavirus infections are again increasing across the state.

The lawsuit says that if migrants are not allowed to be transported by volunteers or contractors they would have to be confined to immigration facilities where there would not be enough space for every migrant.

The governor responded to the lawsuit in a statement claiming the Biden administration has created this crisis because it doesn’t enforce immigration laws. He also said he would not back down because his “duty remains to the people of Texas, and I have no intention of abdicating that.”

Currently, the Biden administration is turning back many migrants under Title 42, which allows agents to make migrants return to Mexico because of the risk of spreading COVID-19. This practice has been in place since the Trump administration.

The governor had also responded to Garland’s letter with his own July 30 letter, telling the U.S. attorney general that his authority “to protect noncitizens directly conflicts with my authority, and duty, to protect citizens of Texas and the United States.”

He also argued that the Biden administration should “stop admitting migrants who are not authorized by Congress to be admitted.”

“That would substantially reduce the importation of COVID-19 while also fulfilling the federal government’s role to faithfully execute the laws of the United States,” Abbott said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also responded to the lawsuit in a statement saying Abbott’s order was “much-needed” and is “perfectly legal.”

Immigration rights advocates say that Abbott’s most recent order would not only disrupt shelters who have been hosting migrants released by Border Patrol agents, but would also invite troopers to racially profile people. They also said that this would impact volunteers who drive migrants to bus stops or airports.

Many of the migrants have attempted to enter the country through the Rio Grande Valley. Many of them have requested asylum and immigration officials have released some migrants pending the outcomes of their asylum cases.

Some migrants stay at shelters until friends or relatives send them money for a bus ride or plane ticket to their U.S. destination.

FROM THE SYNDICATE TO STREET GANGS

Crime Is No Longer a Family Business in Chicago 

 

By Joseph Epstein

 

The Wall Street Journal

July 30, 2021 

 

 

                        Al Capone

 

                             Members of the Black P. Stones street gang

 

When I was a kid and told people not from Chicago, the city of my birth and upbringing, where I was from, it wasn’t uncommon for them to raise their arms as if holding a machine gun, murmur ratatatatatat, then utter “Al Capone.” Capone died in 1947, but Chicago and violence have ever after been linked. And now that link is more firmly established than ever, given the murder and shooting statistics announced at the end of every weekend in the city.

After Prohibition, crime in Chicago moved from bootlegging to gambling, prostitution, and loan-sharking. These operations were run by a group of mostly Italian and some Jewish gangsters known variously as the Syndicate, the Mob, the Boys, the Outfit, never for some reason called the Mafia.

Under the Syndicate such crime tended to be perpetrated on those who couldn’t pay their gambling or loan debts or attempted to step into territory thought to be exclusively the Syndicate’s. A friend of mine whose father had a strong taste for corruption bought a controlling interest in a few prizefighters. One thing leading to another, soon he found himself being simultaneously pursued by a murderous thug named Felix “Milwaukee Phil” Alderisio and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Fortunately, the FBI got to him first.

Occasionally the body of someone with the hubris to betray the Syndicate would be found in the trunk of a car in a church or hotel parking lot. These crimes were horrendous but controlled, their victims carefully targeted, everyone else in the city left to go about his business. 

With the uncontrolled and ubiquitous nature of current crime in Chicago, one almost feels nostalgia for old Syndicate figures such as Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik and Sam “Momo” Giancana. They might bully someone on a golf course, or take over the best tables at city steakhouses, but they didn’t shoot into crowds, hijack your car, or wantonly kill children. In their day, the local television news didn’t open with yet another mother weeping over her murdered child.

For a time much of the violence in Chicago was confined to a small number of neighborhoods on the city’s south and west sides. More than 80% of such crimes in Chicago are said to be perpetrated by young black men, most of them members of rivaling gangs. Living outside those neighborhoods, one felt sad for the scores of innocent people killed but felt relatively safe oneself.

That has now changed. Muggings and murders in Chicago are now taking place in once quiet middle-class neighborhoods such as Rogers Park and even in swanky ones such as Streeterville. A new crime du jour in the city is the hit-and-run, the perpetrator as often as not driving a stolen car.

Such has been the spread of crime in Chicago, I now find I lock my door as soon as I get in my car; I leave a full space between my car and the car in front of me at stoplights, allowing room to swerve away from any potential carjackers. I don’t check my phone at stoplights. I walk the streets of Chicago warily, even in relatively safe neighborhoods, and seldom go out at night.

Meanwhile, the city’s officials—Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Police Chief David Brown, Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx —pass the buck. The mayor appears to believe that the chief problem is getting the guns off the street, but she is more likely to eliminate mosquitoes than guns from Chicago. The police chief blames Ms. Foxx for releasing people brought in for gun crimes without bail, while Ms. Foxx reports that owing to Covid her office has a backlog of some 35,000 felony cases. So the unmerry-go-round goes, where it stops nobody knows.

Where it ought to stop is at the doubtless difficult but necessary task of breaking up the city’s street gangs. Some argue that gangs are the only refuge for young black men in a country where systemic racism reigns and they are its primary victims. These young men have no jobs, it is said; education for them is a dead end, it is argued. Progress in race relations, they are told, is nonexistent. The people who propagate this nonsense call for more programs: in mentoring, in psychotherapy, in advanced French, in whatever else you’ve got.

One wonders, though, if a start might be made by banishing all such talk, from charges of systemic racism to the cry for more programs, and to back it up by enforcing heavy penalties for gun crimes as a way of letting their perpetrators know that stiff jail sentences remain the best program on record for putting a stop to violent and vicious crime.

BE CAREFUL AND DON'T LET A PENIS FISH BITE YOUR DICK

Are 'Penis Fish' dangerous? Bizzare species enters the US and makes its home in Florida

 

By Yasmin Tinwala  

 

meaww

July 31, 2021

 

 

 

After reports of penis fish washing up to California Beach in 2019, it's time for Florida to record an unsual sighting. Penis snakes have made their way to the Sunshine state and these creatures have managed to create a lot of buzz about themselves. They derive their name from their appearance as they are manhood-shaped and it wouldn't be a surprise if the state which is famous for its many beaches and beach resorts amongst other attractions will now be known for these phallic-shaped creatures as well. 

Speaking about penis-shaped things that have created a lot of noise in the recent past, Jeff Bezos's space rocket was compared to the male genitalia before he took off on July 20. People on the Internet were quite ruthless with their comments for the rocket but nonetheless, it was a successful 10-minute flight to the edge of space for the former CEO and founder of Amazon and his crew. Johnson & Johnson made a lot of people laugh after they released their vaccine efficacy chart earlier this year in May. People were quick to observe that it looked like a giant penis and it immediately went viral on Twitter. 

Are penis fish dangerous?

 

 

The penis-shaped creature was first spotted in Florida in 2019. Authorities had captured a 2 feet long specimen at the C-4 Canal near Miami Airport after which they kept it in captivity where it died of starvation. According to the New York Post, its remains were sent to the Florida Museum of Natural History for DNA analysis. It was revealed that the penile creature was not a snake but a cecilian, a tropical amphibian that looks like a slick snake or worm. These species are native to Venezuela and Colombia and have also been spotted near the Amazon basin from where they're believed to have slithered into the US for the first time. 

“This was not on my radar,” herpetologist Coleman Sheehy said about the species which is considered invasive. “I didn’t think we’d one day find a caecilian in Florida. So, this was a huge surprise.” These creatures can grow up to five feet long and as much as they're freaky to look at, they aren't known to cause any harm to humans. "There’s nothing particularly dangerous about them, and they don’t appear to be serious predators,” Sheehy said adding that the only thing they prey upon is small animals. 

Florida has become a hotspot for invasive flora and fauna which includes feral pigs, gorgeous lionfish, climbing fern fronds, Burmese python, and iguanas amongst others including the latest addition of penis snakes.

CONNER MARTIN IS NO DEREK CHAUVIN AND SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED FOR TRYING TO DO HIS JOB WHILE TRIGG'S MOTHER INTERFERES WITH THE ARREST

'I can't breathe': Viral video shows White Texas cop Conner Martin pin down Black teen Nekia Trigg

 

By Pritha Paul  

 

meaww

July 31, 2021

 

 

 

Conner Martin, a white male sheriff's deputy in Texas, was placed on leave after a video surfaced on Facebook which showed him laying on top of a crying Black teenage girl named Nekia Trigg as she vomited and said, "I can't breathe."

The seven-minute video was posted on Wednesday, July 28, on Facebook, after which the Kaufman County, Texas sheriff's department identified the police officer as Conner Martin and the 18-year-old African-American teen as Trigg. Several local residents called the police after Trigg was seen jumping in front of cars in traffic in Forney, Texas, possibly in a suicidal manner. In the video, Martin was seen laying on top of Trigg, and the women surrounding the two were heard screaming. 

What happened in the video?

Antanique Ray, 41, who is Trigg's mother was heard telling Martin, "You don't have to ever hit her, okay? She will stay down." Martin responded saying, "You need to back up. You need to back up." After Ray lightly touches Martin's hand, holding her daughter's wrist, Martin yelled at her saying, "Do not touch me! Back up! Back up!"

 

 

Trigg's mother touches the cop's hand

 

"Just calm down," Ray told him as the officer lay back down on top of Trigg. One woman in the vicinity is heard saying Trigg's name and telling her, "Just calm down." Another person exclaims, "It's 102 degrees out here." While being pinned to the ground by Martin, Trigg says, "I can't breathe," the same words iconically spoken by George Floyd, a black man who was killed by ex-Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin last year. At one point during the video, Trigg vomits. The camera then zooms in to capture the watery vomit coating Trigg's right cheek as she gasps for breath. She is then instructed by Martin and another cop to roll over. The teen cries as she is handcuffed. 

At this point, Ray then screams at Martin, telling him "I need your f*cking badge number and your name." Noticing Martin's body camera is not on his shirt, she asks him why his bodycam was not in the right place when he was pinning her daughter. As the officers walk Trigg towards a patrol car, Martin yells, "Let go of her!" twice before tackling Ray to the ground. Ray is arrested and one of the officers threatens bystanders with a Taser. While laying in the middle of the street, Ray says, "All I did was ask you to loosen the handcuffs on her," adding that she did not touch them. The girl recording the video says, "You got seven police out here, for three little Black girls." According to the Dallas Morning News, Trigg was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation while Ray was charged with assault of a public servant and interference with public duties. 

Conner Martin suspended

After the video went viral, the sheriff's office in Kaufman County was bombarded with calls, requesting the deputy in question be fired, WFAA reported. This caused the office to open an investigation into Martin and placed him on administrative leave. The sheriff's office also released unedited body camera footage of the incident, along with 911 calls. According to the police footage, Martin's body camera fell off as he struggled to contain Trigg. It showed the early stages of the incident when the deputy confronts Trigg.

"What's wrong? How come you're crying," Martin says at the start of the video. When he puts his hand on Trigg's shoulder, and grabs the teenager's arm, she says, "I don't want you to hurt me." Martin then says, "If you keep pulling away I got a put you in handcuffs though." Before his bodycam fell off, he is heard trying to calm her as Trigg says that he was already hurting her.

COPS ASSIGNED TO MOST DANGEROUS BEATS SHOULD BE PAID A PREMIUM

Why NYPD officers on most dangerous beats deserve ‘cost of risk’ bonus

 

By John Mac Ghlionn

 

New York Post

July 31, 2021

 

 

                                       A dangerous section of Brooklyn

 

 

Across the city, shootings are up. Crime is now the number one issue for New Yorkers, especially in areas like Brooklyn’s East New York and the Southwest Bronx, where murders have surged. 

Residents in these parts don’t just need more cops, they need more experienced cops who know how to combat violent situations. 

And herein lies the problem: Many of the beat cops who work the most dangerous precincts are also some of the least experienced. They’ve recently joined the force and have no choice in where they’re placed, while cops who’ve served for longer get more flexibility and choice about where they work. They often choose to work safer beats. 

This is completely fair. So, what we need is an incentivization scheme. Experienced beat cops should be paid more to work in the areas where they’re most needed. Call it a “cost of risk” bonus. 

This isn’t a new idea. In 1981, the economist Kip Viscusi devised a formula for the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL). Viscusi calculated that about 1 in 10,000 Americans died on the job every year. In return for accepting the fact that one of them would likely die, Viscusi calculated that the most at-risk workers were entitled to an extra $300 each year. 

 

                                    South Bronx crime scene

 

Last year, in New York, 22 police officers were killed in the line of duty. With 36,000 NYPD officers, that represents a mortality risk of 6/10,000. The NYPD’s exact “cost of risk” bonus would need to be figured out, but Viscusi said “the premium should be higher” for officers working “in the more dangerous boroughs.” 

Right now, regardless of the precinct an officer operates in, starting salaries are the same “for all” members of the force, said Rev. Dr. Marcos A. Miranda, the founder and CEO of New York State Chaplain Task Force. That starting salary? “Approximately $42,000.” For anyone familiar with living costs in New York (or any other major city), that won’t get you very far. 

Meanwhile, “in villages and townships throughout Long Island,” there are officers “who can do 20 years” and never once have “to pull their firearm, or even find themselves in a life-threatening encounter,” Miranda said. On the other hand, “you have police officers within inner-cities who have to reach for their mace, baton and ultimately their firearm on a continuous basis, and who furthermore find themselves in life-threatening situations consistently.” These officers, according to Rev. Miranda, are “paid substantially less” than the cops in Long Island. 

Over the past decade, officer pay across the country “has fallen in real terms by 8.7 percent,” according to a report issued by the Police Federation. At the same time, the cost of living continues to rise. A Police Federation report from 2020 shows that just 36 percent of respondents have enough money to cover their monthly essentials. 

Around the US, according to Bloomberg CityLab, “the 50 largest US cities reduced their 2021 police budgets by 5.2 percent in aggregate.” In New York City, Bill de Blasio, no friend of the police, slashed almost $500 million from NYPD funding. 

Eric Adams, a former NYPD cop and our presumptive next mayor, has the chance to change that, starting with an incentive program for cops, giving higher pay to experienced officers to serve in the places they’re needed most. 

The NYPD could start by splitting the officers into high-risk and low-risk groups, with those more likely to face danger — in places like Brownsville, Midtown, Bedford, Fordham, Tremont and East Harlem — paid more. 

Let’s hope we can do this, because NYPD officers, especially those patrolling the most dangerous areas, deserve more money. And New Yorkers, especially those living in the riskiest areas, deserve the protection of New York’s finest. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Houston cops assigned to the dangerous Sunnyside neighborhood rather than the ritzy River Oaks neighborhood, should receive a bonus with each paycheck.   

UNDER BIDEN: INFLATION, CRIME AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ARE RETURNING TO PAST HIGH LEVELS

The Biden era is a wretched repeat of our 1960s and ’70s crises

 

By Michael Barone

 

New York Post

July 30, 2021

 

 

 

Why do I feel that I have seen this movie before?

I would like to think that learning is cumulative. But I’m beginning to think that every generation or two, people need to learn all over again the lessons that have unaccountably been forgotten or tossed aside. The elderly among us can see this, even as young people are ­inclined to insist that they are experiencing things never before experienced by humans, that this time will be different.

Let’s take it issue by issue:

Inflation

The consumer price index for June rose on an annual basis before seasonal adjustment by 5.4 percent. That’s higher than May, which suggests that inflation is accelerating. And it’s far above the 2 percent annual rate, which is the professed goal of the Federal Reserve. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen insisted that the jumps in prices are just temporary adjustments to the COVID-19 economy, although she has extended the period for adjustments. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said he isn’t worried and will keep interest rates low.

They’ve got the bond market on their side. But those expressing alarm include not only The Wall Street Journal editorial page, but also Harvard economist and Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. He has been ­arguing for months that President Biden’s administration is pumping too much money into the economy.

Consumers may agree: A New York Fed survey showed they ­expect a 4.8 percent annual rise in prices over the next year. We learned in the 1970s that once people start expecting inflation, they start to feed it by raising prices and boosting wages to keep ahead of the trend.

We know how to get rid of ­inflation. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker raised interest rates and triggered a steep recession from which a low-inflation growth economy eventually emerged. Are we ready for that kind of pain again?

Crime

Calendar year 2020 saw a 25 percent increase in homicides, the highest since 1960 and higher than in any single year in the 1965-75 decade, when the number of violent crimes almost tripled. They seem to be rising by similar rates this year.

Many people don’t like to ­admit it, but this is obviously a result of the de-policing movement urged by Black Lives Matter and cheered on by liberal editorial writers, corporate moguls and Silicon Valley monopolists.

They applauded and declared exempt from COVID-19 restrictions the “mostly peaceful” demonstrations against supposed systemic police misconduct. Few, if any, deplored the nearly 600 violent riots that caused some $2 billion in damage. If the experience of the 1960s is a guide, this will severely damage modest-income neighborhoods for decades after.

Once again, solutions are visible for those with sufficient memory. The intensive policing tactics of Rudy Giuliani and Bill Bratton in New York City in the 1990s cut violent-crime rates by more than half. Thousands of black lives were saved — and the number of black people with prison records reduced. Neighborhoods once abandoned to criminals were revived with new jobs and opportunities.

Can that happen again? Maybe ex-NYPD cop Eric Adams, who seems sure to be elected mayor in November, can show the way.

Illegal immigration

Does the United States need 1 million or 2 mill­ion new illegal immigrants? The Biden administration apparently thinks so. It has opened the southern border to tens of thousands of supposed asylum seekers, not just from Central America and Mexico, but also from Haiti, the Middle East and Africa.

The illegal-immigrant population increased from 3.5 million in the 1990s to 8.4 million in 2000 and peaked at 12.2 million in 2007, then dropped and leveled off at 10.5 million in 2017, according to Pew Research.

The 2007-08 recession ­reduced low-skill immigration over the southern border to zero. Trump administration agreements with Mexico kept it down. As a result, low-skill Americans saw greater percentage wage gains than the rich, even as ­immigrant inflow became ­increasingly high-skill. What was so terrible about that?

It may be that these problems will just solve themselves: Inflation will subside, as many economists expect; violent crime will subside, de-policing or not; recent border crossers will meet their court dates and legalize their status.

But maybe not. In which case, doesn’t it make sense to go back and update policies that worked rather than watch this movie go on at agonizing length?

HIRED KIDNAPPERS DROWNED IN LOUISIANA INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY WHILE FLEEING FROM COPS

Lafayette millionaire takes plea deal in 2017 kidnapping case of estranged wife 

 

By Katie Gagliano 

The Acadiana Advocate

July 26, 2021

                 Lawrence Handley

 

A bizarre 2017 kidnapping case involving a Lafayette millionaire, his estranged wife and suspected hired kidnappers who later drowned while fleeing police came to a quiet close Monday evening after Lawrence Michael Handley accepted a plea deal.

Handley, 53, has been incarcerated at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center since August 2017, when he was apprehended at a Slidell motel and arrested in the kidnapping of his estranged wife, Schanda Handley.

 

            Handley and his ex-wife Schanda during happier times

 

He appeared in court Monday shackled in an orange and tan striped jumpsuit, with a long gray beard and shoulder length graying hair. He sat calmly for hours as other cases were addressed and his team of attorneys worked with the state to reach a plea agreement; once taken up at 5 p.m. by 15th Judicial District Court Judge Scott Privat, the hearing took all of 10 minutes.

Handley was originally indicted on counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, attempted second-degree kidnapping, second-degree kidnapping and violation of a protective order.

The 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office agreed to waive both conspiracy charges and the protective order charge and reduce the aggravated kidnapping charge to second-degree kidnapping in exchange for a guilty plea.

In negotiations, they agreed both second-degree kidnapping charges will carry a possible sentence of 15 to 35 years and the attempted second-degree kidnapping charge will carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, all to be served concurrently, Privat said.

Prosecutor Donald Knecht said he felt a plea deal was the right path because it secured a substantial prison sentence that the victims were supportive of, saved the victims from the pressure of a trial and put to rest a widespread and complex case that involved multiple law enforcement agencies from two states and a slew of witnesses and evidence.

“I’m glad for the victims because the most important thing in a plea over a trial is there are no appeals...that really gives them a lot of peace of mind. The fact the victims were glad, not just satisfied but glad, and we can give them that kind of closure and ability to move on is the most important thing to me,” Knecht said.

Handley will next have a sentencing hearing after a pre-sentencing investigation is completed. His attorney, Kevin Stockstill, said while they were confident they could counter the prosecution’s arguments, a life sentence was on the table as a possibility for the aggravated kidnapping charge, and they wanted to ensure Handley has a shot at life after prison.

Stockstill said he’s hopeful Handley’s good deeds in the community, including philanthropic work and drug addiction services provided through Townsend Addiction Treatment Center, which he sold in 2015, coupled with his lack of violent criminal history, and mitigating factors like his battles to overcome addiction and mental illness, will work in his favor to secure a sentence on the lower end of the agreed upon range.

“Mr. Handley did a lot of good things in his life,” Stockstill. “You have to consider the good he’s done, especially when he’s been sober.”

“We feel he was initially overcharged and that the district attorney’s office was overzealous in their prosecution. We’re glad we got the DA to see the light,” attorney Scott Hawkins said.

Handley pleaded guilty in the kidnapping of his then-estranged wife, Schanda Handley, who was kidnapped at gunpoint by two men from the couple’s Founders Street home on Aug. 6, 2017, and taken away handcuffed in the back of a white van. A friend of Schanda’s and a minor were home at the time of the kidnapping and were also corralled by the kidnappers, the adult handcuffed, arrest documents said.

Schanda Handley was recovered later that same day after the kidnappers attracted police attention while driving on the shoulder of Interstate 10 to circumvent a traffic crash. The duo was pursued by Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies to a Turner Industries facility near La. 1. They abandoned the van after it became trapped in mud, and Schanda Handley was found in the back.

 

              Sylvester Bracey

 

 

               Arsenio Haynes

 

The accused kidnappers — identified as Sylvester Bracey and Arsenio Montreal Haynes, two 27-year-old men from Jackson, Mississippi — drowned while fleeing law enforcement and their bodies were discovered in the Intracoastal Waterway near Port Allen on Aug. 7, 2017.

Handley and his estranged wife had been involved in a contentious divorce at the time of the kidnapping. In sanity evaluations conducted during the case, examiners also noted Handley reported a history of relapsed substance abuse in the months leading to the kidnapping and mental health struggles after ending long-term psychiatric care.

The couple was granted a divorce in March 2018.

HOUSTON JUDGE WOULD FIT RIGHT IN WITH NEW YORK JUDGES

Houston Criminal Dist. Court judge repeatedly grants bond, frees convicted felon now with 14 bonds

 

By Randy Wallace 

 

Fox 26

July 28, 2021

 

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - "He’s a one-man crime spree," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.

38-year-old convicted felon Jeffery Robertson just keeps showing up over and over again in the 230th Criminal District Court.

Every time Robertson gets a new charge, like burglary, Judge Chris Morton frees him from jail by granting him another bond.

So far Robertson has racked up 14 bonds.

"Seven bonds were posted this month," Kahan said.

"I was a business manager and I came across break-ins at the business I managed," said Garland Smith.

As you can imagine, Smith questions why Judge Morton keeps granting bonds for Robertson.

"It was crazy to us," he said. "He would get arrested and it wouldn’t be long before he was back in our facilities doing the same thing again."

"Based on his track record, it’s a matter of days before he breaks into some other building or business and gets charged again," Kahan said. "It simply defies logic."

In a Breaking Bond report last March, we told you how Judge Chris Morton granted bond for 19-year-old Jose Perez 11 times.

Police call the teen a serial armed robber.

"We now have members of the Judiciary that are absolutely not caring about victims," then Police Chief Art Acevedo told us. "I don’t know what they are caring about because they are getting people killed."

As for Jeffery, the District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to revoke Robertson’s bond.

It states, "Robertson is a true habitual offender. At this time, he has 10 pending charges. He’s got prior felony convictions. Based on the risk to community safety, I find clear and convincing evidence that no bond or conditions can safely assure the community he will not re-offend again."

When FOX 26 attempted to ask Judge Chris Morton about the repeat bonds, he said our facts were wrong. When we attempted to give him a chance to explain the situation, he hung up the phone on us. 

MASKS AGAIN IN CA......AND I AM GLAD

by Bob Walsh

With much of California moving back towards forcing residents to wear face diapers indoors due to the "new and horrible threat" of Covid 19 Delta Variation I am pleased.  The latest polling shows Newsom maybe hanging on to his job as the God-Emperor of the formerly great state of California at about a 50/50 chance.  The more people forced back into masks and the more schools that are NOT opening the more people will vote against the arrogant sonofabitch. 

RECALL THE ARROGANT COMMIE BASTARD

PG&E IS A MURDERER AGAIN

by Bob Walsh

A local DA in NorCal is now advocating charging PG&E with criminal homicide in the deaths of four people in the Zogg fire last year.  Strangely enough PG&E disputes the conclusion, but does not dispute the facts.  Their equipment cause the fire.

KIM NO LONGER PORKY

Is Kim even SLIMMER? North Korean leader appears to have lost even more weight in new photos - a month after state TV described his ‘emaciated’ condition as ‘heart-breaking’

 

Daily Mail

July 30, 2021

 

 

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have lost even more weight in new photos after he shed up to 44 pounds earlier this year.

The despot was shown waving to a crowd of enthusiastic military officers and seemed to have lost weight around his waist and face with his trademark Mao suit appearing slightly baggy. 

 

 

Images from the first workshop of the commanders and political officers of the Korean People's Army show held in July showed Kim with a noticeably slimmer face.     

It comes a month after state TV said Kim's 'emaciated' condition was 'breaking our people's hearts' in a highly unusual broadcast in a country where public discussion of the leader's health and personal life has always been off-limits.

The tightly controlled state media on June 25 quoted an unidentified resident of Pyongyang as saying that everyone in North Korea was heartbroken after seeing images of the noticeably slimmer Kim. 

Analysts say the remarks showed authorities were seeking to use the change to Kim's weight to reinforce loyalty to the regime in desperate times.

The impoverished, nuclear-armed country is more isolated than ever behind its self-imposed coronavirus barricade, and this month admitted it was tackling a food crisis, sounding the alarm in a nation with a moribund agricultural sector that has long struggled to feed itself.

At the same time Kim's health has long been closely watched internationally as his sudden death would raise questions over succession and stability.

Known as a heavy smoker, the leader has long been obese, with his weight appearing to increase steadily in recent years.

But he looked noticeably less overweight in recent media images published by Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency and on state television.

 

                                                               Jin San Pang or ‘Kim Fatty III’ 

 

 

Some observers say Kim - who is about 5ft8in tall and has previously weighed 308 pounds may have lost between 22 and 44 pounds. 

Kim's personal life is normally taboo for North Korea's state media and Pyongyang has never even confirmed how many children he has.

Analysts say Pyongyang is using Kim's appearance as a way to glorify him by portraying him as a 'devoted, hardworking' leader as the country struggles to tackle its food crisis and other challenges.

STANDOFF WITH COPS ENDS BADLY AS HOSTAGE IS SHOT DEAD

Who is Neida Tijerina? Texas mom-of-4 killed during police standoff with armed husband

 

By Yasmin Tinwala  

 

meaww

July 30, 2021

 

 

                                                            Neida Tijerina  

 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: A 29-year-old mother of four young children, Neida Tijerina, was apparently killed during an hours-long police standoff with her armed husband. San Antonio police chief William McManus addressed Tijerina's tragic death during a news conference on July 28. “This is an extremely tragic event for all involved, and I give my deepest condolences to the children and family of the deceased victim,” McManus said while identifying the victim as Tijerina.

In the recent past, law enforcement officers, as well as innocent civilians, have lost their lives during a standoff. Officer Gordon Beesley who was with the Arvada Police Department in Colorado was killed on June 21 while responding to a "suspicious incident" where he encountered the shooter. The incident resulted in the deaths of both the officer and the shooter as well as an innocent bystander. Brandon Stalker with Toledo Police Department was shot dead in January during a SWAT standoff where the suspect came out of the home with two firearms and started shooting. Andrew Brown Jr, father of 10 kids, was shot dead by a sheriff's deputy in North Carolina while serving a search warrant. His friend Daniel Bowser in an interview said, Brown Jr wasn't a violent person and he "didn't mess with guns, didn't tote no guns".

What happened to Neida Tijerina?

According to McManus, the police department responded to Tijerina's apartment complex on Monday, July 26. He said they responded to a complaint “for a suicidal male threatening to kill his common-law wife” who was with her three young children, according to NBC. Upon arriving at the scene, McManus said the cops learnt it was a hostage situation where 28-year-old suspect Angel Sanchez was armed with a shotgun and was wearing a body armor. McManus said Sanchez had a history of domestic violence and  “indicated to family that he was going to kill Ms Tijerina and then kill himself".

The police then sought the help of additional units including SWAT as well as a hostage negotiator. Nearby residents were evacuated for safety reasons after which Sanchez came out of the apartment while aiming his gun at the police officers. “Sanchez was heard taunting officers trying to get them into a confrontation,” McManus said, and all attempts of calming him down or getting him to surrender were unsuccessful and he went inside the house.

Tijerina had escaped the house once but couldn't leave with the police because her children were inside and she didn't want to leave them alone. Sanchez left the apartment once again, an infant in hand this time, and quickly retreated back inside. Three officers got on the roof of a nearby building and opened fire at Sanchez who came outside for the third time still pointing a gun at them. The three officers who were providing cover from the roof opened fire on Sanchez, striking him. Sanchez dropped his shotgun and officers approached to take him into custody. That's when Tijerina was found dead. 

“Officers discovered that Ms Tijerina had died from a gunshot wound," McManus said. "The Bexar County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy this morning. While they cannot yet conclusively state that Neida died as a result of the officers firing on the suspect, the physical evidence appears to support that conclusion," he added saying that the cause of the woman's death was a "ballistic injury to the chest" and the manner of her death is "homicide". Sanchez, who is described as the father of all four kids, the youngest and the eldest, 3 months and 13-years-old, was critically injured. He is charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a public servant. 

A GoFundMe campaign was started for raising money for Tijerina's funeral and to take care of her children. "Neida was the most humble and caring person! If she could help out anyone financially or to just bring a smile to your face she would! Our family thanks you in advance for donations of any kind. We need to raise money for her funeral expenses and anything for her children. She leaves behind 4 children of ages 13, 11, 5 and 3 months. Children’s clothes, shoes, pampers, etc! This is temporary until we all get settled. Again we thank you for anything you can do for our family in this time of need," the organizer wrote. At the time of writing this article, the page raised $5,480 of $5,000 goal.

BEHEADINGS NOW IN VOGUE

Who is Brian Williams? Indiana man, 36, decapitates woman and sets fire to her house

By Sayantani Nath 

 

meaww

July 29, 2021

 

 

                                                         Brian Williams

 

CLARKSVILLE, INDIANA: A man has been arrested in Clarksville, Indiana, for killing and decapitating a woman and later setting fire to her apartment, following a botched robbery attempt. Brian Williams, 36, reportedly murdered and dismembered 67-year-old Melody Gambetty and then put her body parts inside a suitcase. The horrific crime was discovered after another resident in Gambetty's building called 911 to report smoke coming out from her apartment. Firefighters later found her mutilated body when they entered the apartment. 

During a press briefing, Clarksville Police Major Joel DeMoss said, "Yesterday’s crime scene, in my 23 years, is probably one of the most horrific we’ve been involved in." Police zeroed in on Williams as the primary suspect after obtaining surveillance footage of the area and canvassing the neighborhood. DeMoss further emphasized that the police found "all pertinent evidence" at his residence to charge him with the homicide. 

Who is Brian Williams? 

Brian Montez Williams, who is 36-year-old, was reportedly going door-to-door in the Clarksville neighborhood on Monday, July 26, 2021. He interacted with several residents under the pretext of drumming up "community service work". Witnesses later described him as suspicious but polite. 

Don Miller, Gambetty's longtime landlord and neighbor, told wdrb that Williams approached him for work on July 26. "Well, the suspect came to my door looking for work as a community service. He had told other people that he had got out of jail and was doing this community service and looking for work," Miller said. "That young man looked super to me — like a young kid just out of high school or college, and he sure surprised me," he added. Another neighbor said he hired Williams to mow his lawn on July 26 and recalled a "million dollar smile" from Williams.

The surveillance footage shows him entering Gambetty's apartment at around 1 pm on July 26. She previously worked at the media outlet 'The News and Tribune' and retired in March this year. Williams was found leaving her home with two suitcases just before 4 pm on July 26 and later loading the suitcases into Gambetty's car. When Gambetty's body was found, she was decapitated and her fingers and toes were missing. Her body was also found stuffed inside a suitcase. Meanwhile, after searching Williams' apartment, police found two of Gambetty's suitcases with human remains, her personal use items and a small saw with human tissue and blood on the blade. 

Police first considered Williams as a suspect after a local resident was able to provide the name 'Brian W' and a phone number of the man suspiciously soliciting community service work on the day of the murder. As police called the number, the suspect identified himself as Brian Williams and gave the detectives his address for questioning about an arson. Later, police confirmed his identity with the surveillance footage and also found matching evidence at his home. 

He is currently in custody and charged with murder and arson. Speaking about the incident, DeMoss said, "We believe this was probably a botched robbery or home invasion and that it just went bad. I think this was just an opportunity that went bad. That went real bad. And it’s one of those things I’ll probably never see in my career again. And I hope none of my detectives see in their careers again.”

__________

 

Who is Alexis Saborit? Minnesota man beheads girlfriend, 55, on sidewalk in broad daylight

 

By Saumya Dixit  

 

 

                                                            Alexis Saborit 

 

SHAKOPEE, MINNESOTA: The police department of Minnesota made a grisly discovery when they responded to a report of a stabbing incident on Wednesday, July 28 afternoon, locating a woman's dead body in Shakopee, around 25 miles south of Minneapolis, according to police and local news reports.

Alexis Saborit, a 42-year-old man who police say knew the victim, was apprehended at the scene on suspicion of second-degree murder. Saborit allegedly killed Mafalda Thayer, 55, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Cops found Thayers' headless body and her head lying next to a vehicle when they arrived at the scene. The police also recovered one large knife, shirt, and bloody shoes in a nearby trashcan, according to an affidavit. Saborit was spotted by the police walking near Shenandoah Drive and 4th Avenue where he got arrested at around 3.20 pm. 

"I thought I saw a body on the pavement, but I wasn't overly sure," Carrol Erath, who lives nearby the scene, told the local news outlet. "It's shocking, I just couldn't believe somebody would be so brutal to somebody else." According to the investigators, Saborit knew Thayer and it wasn't a random attack, Shakopee police said. Saborit is being held at Scott County Jail as of Thursday, July 29 evening. 

Thayer allegedly worked at Dollar Tree and MyPillow. Her coworkers said she had been in a long-term relationship with Saborit, and alleged that domestic violence had been a 'consistent problem' between the couple. In 2017, Saborit was convicted of domestic assault in Carver County. 

"The Shakopee Police Department also wants to express its appreciation to the agencies who responded to assist on the incident. The department would also like to extend its condolences to the family of the victim,” the police department said in a press release. Neighbors said that they were stunned by the daytime beheading. "I have no words for it. Just scary. I just feel very sorry for the families," said neighbor Jessica Sondrol.

INDICTED 'EX-CARDINAL' IS NOT A FORMER ST. LOUIS, NOW ARZONA CARDINALS FOOTBALL PLAYER

Theodore McCarrick: Disgraced ex-Cardinal becomes first in US to face criminal charges

 

By Srivats Lakshman  

 

meaww

July 29, 2021

 

 

                                          Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick 

 

DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS: Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked by the Vatican in 2019, has become the first US Cardinal to be criminally charged. According to court documents, McCarrick was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery and will be tried in Dedham District Court, in Massachusetts. The latest setback to McCarrick comes years after Pope Francis defrocked him, confirming decades of rumors that he was a sexual predator.

Over the years, a large number of pastors and religious figureheads have openly been outed as sexual predators. On July 23, a senior "apostle" of a church in Southern California was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a minor girl. In May 2020, we reported on the arrest of Roy Shoop, an Oklahoma pastor who allegedly raped three girls under the pretext of training them for rodeo events. 

McCarrick is one of the most high-profile church members to face criminal charges. In Australia, Cardinal George Pell was sentenced in 2018 for child abuse but had his conviction overturned in 2020. He was the first-ever Cardinal to face criminal charges for sex abuse. The charges against McCarrick stem from an alleged sexual assault in 1974. Here's everything we know about the case. 

Why was Theodore McCarrick charged?

According to documents, McCarrick was charged for sexually assaulting a then-minor at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. According to the unnamed individual, McCarrick groped him on the pretext of having a talk when they were at the boy's brother's wedding reception at Wellesley College. At the time, the victim was 16 years old. Allegedly, McCarrick said the boy's father wanted him to talk to the teenager because he was "being mischievous at home and not attending church".

McCarrick then led the boy for a walk around campus and groped him before going back to the party. Furthermore, McCarrick also sexually assaulted him in a "coat room type closet" after they returned to the reception. Those weren't the only instances. the individual alleged that McCarrick assaulted him on numerous occasions over the years, including after he had turned 18. The person is being represented by the well-known lawyer for church sexual abuse victims Mitchell Garabedian. 

Garabedian said in an email to the Associated Press, "It takes an enormous amount of courage for a sexual abuse victim to report having been sexually abused to investigators and proceed through the criminal process. Let the facts be presented, the law applied, and a fair verdict rendered." So far, McCarrick has decided not to comment on the charges. An attorney declined to comment and said that they "look forward to addressing the case in the courtroom".

According to AP, authorities began investigating McCarrick after Garabedian sent a letter alleging the abuse to the DA's office. The former Cardinal can be prosecuted because he wasn’t a Massachusetts resident and had left the state, stopping the clock on the statute of limitations, according to authorities. He currently lives in Missouri and has been asked to appear before the court for his arraignment on September 3, rescheduled from August 26. 

McCarrick's past in the spotlight

The case in Dedham is not the first time McCarrick's actions have been in the spotlight. In June 2018, he became the face of the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis after Pope Francis removed him from public ministry. That move came after he was accused of abusing a teenager when he was a priest in New York. Documents detail that those allegations were simply the latest in a long line. Reportedly, the Vatican had reports dating back to 1999 that McCarrick’s behavior was problematic. 

Despite those allegations, he became a key figure in the Church's diplomatic circles. Eventually, in 2019 after a two-year-long investigation, the Church confirmed the allegations against McCarrick and had him defrocked. That internal investigation was also publicly released in 2020, a first for the Vatican. The investigation laid blame on Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, DC, despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed he slept with seminarians.

While the road to conviction is long, the charges represent a huge win for the many victims of abuse by the Church. "For McCarrick, today’s reckoning is long overdue. We hope that these charges lead to justice," Anne Barrett Doyle, co-founder of the online research database BishopAccountability.org, said.

FURIOUS FARMERS STAGE PROTESTS AGAINST ISRAELI GOVERNMENT'S AGRICULTURE REFORMS

Famers block roads across country to protest 'cowardly' reform

 

By  Hili Yacobi-Handelsman  

 

Israel Hayom

July 30, 2021

 

 

 

Angry farmers block roads across Israel with discarded produce 

 

Thousands of farmers blocked roads and junctions across Israel on Thursday in protest of reforms that would open the fruit, vegetable and egg markets to foreign import, a move they say will threaten their livelihoods.

The reforms were proposed last week by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Agriculture Minister Oded Forer.

The farmers arrived at junctions on tractors and other heavy equipment as early as 7 a.m., and threw eggs and produce on the roads in anger.

The reforms aim to recognize European standards on fruits and vegetables and create more competition in the industries, thus, in theory, lowering prices. This will be done gradually by lowering tariffs on fruit and vegetables.

Additionally, regulations on European fruits will be loosened, meaning there will be a bigger range of fruits available all year round.

The reform, however, also includes compensation in the form of a support package consisting, among other things, of direct financial support for each farmer per cultivated dunam (acre). It also offers expanded tax benefits to encourage capital investment and an investment of over NIS 2 billion for raising productivity in the agriculture industry.

Avshalom Vilan, head of the Israeli Farmers Union, said: "Farmers from all over Israel went out to protest and say clearly: The prices in supermarkets are high not because of the farmers, who only receive a few shekels [per kilogram] for their produce, but because of the supermarket chains, who multiply the prices and make billions of shekels off of the backs of the farmers and consumers.

"The farmers have no control over fruit and vegetable prices or on the high cost of living" he continued. "This is cowardice on the part of the Finance and Agriculture ministers, who are afraid to challenge the retailers and supermarket chains, and therefore are bullying the farmers, who work in the fields in the heatwaves and the winter. The price mark-up is in the hundreds of percent, but apparently, they're afraid of taking on the chain stores."

Vilan added that "We're out here to prove that Israel's agriculture will not be shut down. We will not comply with a reform that will harm the country, the citizens, the farmers, and our collective physical and nutritional safety."

Last week, when announcing the reforms, Lieberman said their purpose was to "strengthen the Israeli farmer while addressing the cost of living and benefit consumers."

On Thursday, he said: "Throwing eggs, fruits and vegetables on the ground while blocking roads won't benefit the consumers. I'm sorry that farmers choose not to focus on the most troubling question – why in the last 20 years fruit prices have increased by more than 100%, vegetables by more than 80%, while consumption has fallen by 20%, and why fruits in Scandinavia are cheaper than Haifa?"

Lieberman added that the reform provides "unprecedented benefits" to farmers.

If it is adopted, the reform plan is expected to save Israelis around 2.7 billion shekels (around $823.6 million) a year, according to Lieberman and Forer.