Natalie Lynn Webb deserves to be executed by dogs. According to the Daily Mail, this mother from hell charged adults, both men and women, to watch her rape her children while being naked.
NATALIE WEBB ACCUSED OF MOLESTING HER CHILDREN WHILE ADULTS WATCHED
By Sebastian Murdock
The Huffington Post
January 6, 2014
An Oklahoma mother faces serious charges after authorities say she sexually abused her children in the presence of other adults.
Natalie Lynn Webb, 30, was arrested in Elk City, Okla., and charged with sexual abuse of children under 12, and child neglect. Police said she abused three of her children from December 2012 to March 2013.
Webb is due in Beckham County Court Jan. 6 for a preliminary hearing, and is being held on a $2 million bond. Her four children now live with their grandparents.
A Dec. 18 police affidavit, obtained by The Huffington Post, contains accounts of repeated rapes, beatings and deplorable living conditions through interviews with Webb and her children.
Webb's 9-year-old son told investigators that his 8-year-old brother and two 3-year-old sisters were repeatedly raped by their mother as other men and women looked on, according to the document. The boy told police that he saw his sisters resist as their mother dragged them into a room, then he could hear his sisters screaming and crying. Police also wrote that the boy told
them he saw his mother using a foreign object in the abuse and that people may have paid his mother to watch the abuse.
One of Webb's 3-year-old daughters corroborated her brother's interview, telling investigators that it felt "nasty" when she was being molested, according to the affidavit. The 9-year-old said he also saw his brother being abused, but was able to avoid being sexually abused himself by running and hiding in a dumpster. In interviews with police, Webb denied sexually molesting her children.
Webb told authorities that she often took methamphetamine and sold it out of her house; the 9-year-old described seeing needles around the house.
"[The child] said these things would happen lots of times. He thinks when mom took the needles it would make her act different ... she would act weird and... her arm would have little dots where it was bleeding," the affidavit says.
Along with the allegations of sexual abuse, the children told investigators that they were often subjected to beatings and being thrown against a wall over and over again.
"[The 9-year-old] said his mom would not feed them and he would have to find stuff and cook it in the microwave or pop tarts and stuff," the affidavit reads. "If there was nothing [the children] would just scavenge the floor. On the floor they would find crumbs or cookies that were there from a week ago."
Webb admitted to authorities that she sometimes traded her food stamps for meth. During past interviews included in the affidavit, she demanded to take a polygraph test to prove that she had not sexually molested her children. In late November, Webb told officer Steve Bonds, of the Beckham County Sheriff's Office, that she did not want to talk with the polygraph examiner after the examiner told her she failed the test.
"Somebody hurt 'em," Webb said to Bonds. "I'm supposed to protect my kids."
"Natalie, you didn't," Bonds replied.
According to the affidavit, Webb has past felony convictions for child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance, along with misdemeanor convictions of unlawful possession of paraphernalia, bogus checks and unauthorized use of a credit card.
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
ISRAEL’S FOREIGN MINISTER BELIEVES KERRY’S PEACE PROPOSALS BETTER THAN WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WILL DEMAND
The Israelis are really between a rock and a hard place. The international community is ready to pounce on Israel if it refuses to make suicidal concessions to the Palestinians. If Israel’s hardline foreign minister thinks Kerry is offering the best deal the Jewish state will be able to get, that is really saying something.
KERRY’S OFFER THE BEST WE’LL GET, SAYS ISRAELI FM
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
January 6, 2014
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday suggested Israel get fully on board with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s current peace push, noting that the American’s proposals were the best Israel could expect from the international community.
Speaking at a gathering of Israeli ambassadors in Jerusalem, Lieberman said he appreciated Kerry’s serious approach to the question of Israeli security, as well as his support for Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state. Kerry’s most recent framework proposal allowed for Israel to maintain a military presence in the Jordan Valley for the foreseeable future, while trading the rest of the so-called “West Bank” for explicit recognition by the Palestinian Authority for “the Jewish state.”
“Any alternative proposals brought forward by the international community will suit us much less,” said the typically-hawkish foreign minister, who just months earlier insisted there was no hope of peace with the current Palestinian leadership.
That might still be the case, actually. Kerry’s proposals have been rejected out of hand by the Palestinian leadership and by the Arab League, though the American reported on Monday that he had obtained the backing of both Saudi Arabia and Jordan for a more vague proposal aimed at getting Israel and the Palestinians to reach a kind of interim agreement in the near future.
In the interim, Lieberman is keen to make his own amendments to any US-brokered deal. In particular, Lieberman insists there must be a small land and population swap included in the agreement. Under his vision, Israel would retain the large Jewish “settlement blocs” in Judea and Samaria, while the Palestinian Authority would gain sovereignty over the so-called “Triangle,” an area in the Lower Galilee populated primarily by Arabs.
KERRY’S OFFER THE BEST WE’LL GET, SAYS ISRAELI FM
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
January 6, 2014
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday suggested Israel get fully on board with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s current peace push, noting that the American’s proposals were the best Israel could expect from the international community.
Speaking at a gathering of Israeli ambassadors in Jerusalem, Lieberman said he appreciated Kerry’s serious approach to the question of Israeli security, as well as his support for Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state. Kerry’s most recent framework proposal allowed for Israel to maintain a military presence in the Jordan Valley for the foreseeable future, while trading the rest of the so-called “West Bank” for explicit recognition by the Palestinian Authority for “the Jewish state.”
“Any alternative proposals brought forward by the international community will suit us much less,” said the typically-hawkish foreign minister, who just months earlier insisted there was no hope of peace with the current Palestinian leadership.
That might still be the case, actually. Kerry’s proposals have been rejected out of hand by the Palestinian leadership and by the Arab League, though the American reported on Monday that he had obtained the backing of both Saudi Arabia and Jordan for a more vague proposal aimed at getting Israel and the Palestinians to reach a kind of interim agreement in the near future.
In the interim, Lieberman is keen to make his own amendments to any US-brokered deal. In particular, Lieberman insists there must be a small land and population swap included in the agreement. Under his vision, Israel would retain the large Jewish “settlement blocs” in Judea and Samaria, while the Palestinian Authority would gain sovereignty over the so-called “Triangle,” an area in the Lower Galilee populated primarily by Arabs.
OOPS! PALESTINIAN ENVOY ACCIDENTALLY KILLS SELF, ILLEGAL ARSENAL UNCOVERED
The Palestinian embassy in the Czech Republic needs an arsenal to defend itself from ??? The real reason for having all those weapons is that old habits die hard with terrorists.
12 WEAPONS FOUND IN PALESTINIAN ENVOY’S MISSION: PRAGUE POLICE
AFP
January 5, 2013
Investigators have found 12 weapons inside the Palestinian mission in Prague where a New Year's day explosion fatally wounded its envoy, police said Sunday.
At the same time Prague police chief Martin Cervicek denied media speculation that an arsenal of more than 70 weapons had been kept at the embassy, but would not give details.
"I firmly protest against false information that police officers found about 70 weapons. This doesn't make sense," the website of Prague daily Dnes quoted him as saying.
Cervicek said the weapons including submachine guns and pistols would undergo DNA and ballistic tests, but that no further information would be made public before that has happened.
Jamal al-Jamal, the 56-year-old ambassador to the Czech Republic since October, died on January 1. Police later ruled out an assassination, instead advancing the theory that the blast was caused by an anti-theft device inside a safe Jamal was manipulating.
They also said unregistered weapons were found inside the mission in violation of diplomatic treaties.
The Czech police are pursuing their investigation into the blast with Palestinian officials sent to Prague.
Jamal will be repatriated on Monday, his daughter Rana, who lives in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, said.
She has cast doubt on the police theory of the cause of her father's death telling Dnes on Saturday, "What is certain is that it was not an accident".
Palestinian officials have given contradictory accounts of the explosion.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki has described the death as an "accident" caused by an old safe booby-trapped to explode if opened the wrong way. But a spokesman for the Palestinian embassy said the safe in question was new, often used, and contained "no built-in anti-theft system".
The ambassador's daughter said she was convinced the explosives were put inside the safe when the diplomatic mission was recently moved from a different address in the Czech capital.
"A political or other motive" could be behind her father's death, she said, without elaborating.
"I don't know and I won't mention anyone."
12 WEAPONS FOUND IN PALESTINIAN ENVOY’S MISSION: PRAGUE POLICE
AFP
January 5, 2013
Investigators have found 12 weapons inside the Palestinian mission in Prague where a New Year's day explosion fatally wounded its envoy, police said Sunday.
At the same time Prague police chief Martin Cervicek denied media speculation that an arsenal of more than 70 weapons had been kept at the embassy, but would not give details.
"I firmly protest against false information that police officers found about 70 weapons. This doesn't make sense," the website of Prague daily Dnes quoted him as saying.
Cervicek said the weapons including submachine guns and pistols would undergo DNA and ballistic tests, but that no further information would be made public before that has happened.
Jamal al-Jamal, the 56-year-old ambassador to the Czech Republic since October, died on January 1. Police later ruled out an assassination, instead advancing the theory that the blast was caused by an anti-theft device inside a safe Jamal was manipulating.
They also said unregistered weapons were found inside the mission in violation of diplomatic treaties.
The Czech police are pursuing their investigation into the blast with Palestinian officials sent to Prague.
Jamal will be repatriated on Monday, his daughter Rana, who lives in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, said.
She has cast doubt on the police theory of the cause of her father's death telling Dnes on Saturday, "What is certain is that it was not an accident".
Palestinian officials have given contradictory accounts of the explosion.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki has described the death as an "accident" caused by an old safe booby-trapped to explode if opened the wrong way. But a spokesman for the Palestinian embassy said the safe in question was new, often used, and contained "no built-in anti-theft system".
The ambassador's daughter said she was convinced the explosives were put inside the safe when the diplomatic mission was recently moved from a different address in the Czech capital.
"A political or other motive" could be behind her father's death, she said, without elaborating.
"I don't know and I won't mention anyone."
GET OUT YOUR BARF BAGS
'Miraculous' San Quentin program rehabilitates cold blooded juvenile murderers
Bob Walsh says: This article its readers how wonderful, socially useful, and rehabilitated juvenile murderers are. This is clearly a warm-up to the new law which makes juvenile lifers eligible for a possible do-over on their sentencing. The Kid CAT group of juvenile murderers is “creating awareness together.” The principle pimp of this group is a criminal named Michael Nelson who, when he was 15, beat a man in the back of the head with a baseball bat so his accomplice could more easily slit his throat. A couple of Hollywood bleeding heart liberals really like the program, so it MUST be good, right? So, if you feel really into the concept of wholesale redemption of homicidal juvenile sociopaths enjoy the read. Just make sure you have your barf bag handy.
Let me add that it is obvious the participants in the Kid CAT program are con-wise and are playing their adoring supporters like a fiddle.
TEEN KILLERS -- SENTENCED FOR UP TO LIFE TERMS IN SAN QUENTIN PRISON – SPEAK OUT
By Aaron Kinney
Marin Independent Journal
January 4, 2014
MICHAEL NELSON doesn't look like a killer.
He is handsome and well-groomed. His voice is gentle, his demeanor polite. You wouldn't flinch if he approached you on a dark and empty sidewalk.
But when he was 15, Nelson sneaked up behind a middle-aged man and cracked his skull with a baseball bat. Then he watched a friend finish off the victim with a knife. Charged as an adult, Nelson pleaded guilty in 1998 to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life.
Fifteen years later, it's hard to reconcile such gruesome violence with the articulate 31-year-old man holding a discussion in a classroom at San Quentin State Prison, where Nelson leads a notable group of 16 inmates. The men are all "juvenile lifers," serving up to life in prison with the possibility of parole for murders committed while under the age of 18.
The group calls itself Kid CAT. "Kid" refers to the age when the men committed their crimes. "CAT" stands for "creating awareness together."
Even at a prison known for its rehabilitative programs, the men have drawn acclaim for their focus on self-improvement through education and counseling. Scott Budnick, a Hollywood producer and advocate for juvenile justice reform, is one of many people, from educators to politicians, who have met and lauded the group.
"To me they are proof in the flesh of why we should never throw our kids away," said Budnick, who visited Kid CAT in 2012.
The ostensible transformation of these men evokes two of the thorniest questions in the field of criminal justice: Do young criminals have a unique capacity for rehabilitation? And to what extent should society treat them differently from adults who commit similar crimes?
An influential body of psychological and neurological research suggests adolescents are less culpable than grown-ups. Teenagers are generally rash and suggestible, the thinking goes, and fail to anticipate consequences — once their brains fully develop, young people tend to mature out of violent or impulsive thoughts and behavior.
For that reason, reformers claim, teenage offenders who work to improve themselves in prison should receive ample opportunities to show they're worthy of re-entering society.
The argument is taking hold in California, where the punishment for 14- to 17-year-old killers ranges from life without parole in state prison to less than a decade in a juvenile facility. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed two laws since 2012 creating mechanisms for many adolescents sentenced to life with or without parole to reduce their terms.
But some Californians find these changes repellent. Christine Ward, leader of the nonprofit Crime Victims Action Alliance, which lobbied against both bills, asserts "the consequences of murder need to be severe," no matter the killer's age. She questions how many young offenders are truly rehabilitated and how many act the part to gain parole.
Phyllis Loya, 65, knows the devastation of losing a family member to violent crime. Her son, Pittsburg police Officer Larry Lasater, was shot and killed by an 18-year-old fleeing an armed robbery. His accomplice was 17.
"You can't excuse these terrible crimes by saying they're just kids," said Loya, of Bay Point. "My grandson has to live his life without a father to guide him, with only knowing his father through pictures and stories of others."
Atonement
Nelson and 10 other juvenile lifers founded Kid CAT in 2011 to support one another and perform acts of service inside and outside the notorious Marin County prison. The inmates run the program with the help of citizen volunteers and two San Quentin officials.
Most of the homicides committed by these young men were not as ghastly as Nelson's. Several of them pulled the trigger in gang-related shootings. One handed a gun to a friend, who shot a 16-year-old boy in the neck during a botched robbery.
The men say they take responsibility for their crimes, and admit they deserved to be punished. Now they are trying to give back, in ways small and large, to the society they so viciously harmed.
Their projects include a hygiene drive Nelson is planning for homeless children. The men aim to assemble backpacks filled with donated toiletries for distribution in San Francisco.
Most significantly, Kid CAT designed a 24-week curriculum that its members are teaching to more than 80 fellow inmates. The course encourages participants to delve into the origins of their criminal behavior. Kid CAT hopes one day to offer the course to Bay Area at-risk youths to shepherd them away from prison.
This and other projects may help demonstrate the men of Kid CAT's suitability for release — one of them, Inglewood native Gary Scott, left prison on parole in June — but the parole board isn't their only audience. Michael Tyler, just 17 when he fired eight bullets into the chest of a man who used drugs with his mother, said he yearns to demonstrate to the world that he isn't a cancer, but a person with something to contribute.
"I want to show I'm somebody that's redeemable," said Tyler, 34, "that wants to be considered human again."
A brutal crime
Michael Nelson tells his story. Kid CAT has gathered for a weekly meeting in a classroom off San Quentin's recreation yard, where shirtless inmates play basketball and lounge on picnic tables.
He grew up east of Los Angeles in Riverside. His father was in and out of prison, Nelson says, and his mother beat him routinely — more than once he awoke to the pain of her striking him.
When Nelson was 12, his mom started locking him out of the house at night. For several months, he says, he slept in the garage — surrounded by cages holding rats, tarantulas and a boa constrictor.
By 15, he was out of school and using crystal meth daily. Homeless, aimless, he was drawn into a bizarre murder scheme. Nelson's two friends, a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, wanted a car so they could run away to Las Vegas. The group decided to kill a local man for his Cadillac.
Nelson, his girlfriend and the two other teens talked their way into the man's home. As his victim played a video game, Nelson smashed him three times in the head with an aluminum bat. The other boy took over, stabbing the man in the neck and throttling him with an electrical cord.
Nelson's eyes well up as he considers the pain he felt and inflicted on others, not just the victim and his loved ones, but Nelson's own family. For years he has grappled with the question of why he lashed out so savagely. He'd begun lying and stealing when he reached adolescence. But although he'd witnessed plenty of violence, he claims he had never committed any until that day in January 1998.
"The only way I can connect with what I did is that I had no value for human life," Nelson says. "I wasn't capable of valuing the lives of other people. I didn't value my own."
San Quentin's counseling programs, particularly the nonprofit Insight Prison Project's intense Victim Offender Education Group, have helped him understand the consequences of his crime. Now Kid CAT offers a modest chance for atonement.
"I don't think 'I'm sorry' is enough, and I don't think my actions will ever be enough," Nelson says. "But it's all that I have to give."
An evolving debate
The United States has long been one of the harshest countries in the world when it comes to punishing juvenile murderers, according to human rights groups, but the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction.
Since 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court has incorporated the notion of adolescents' reduced culpability into four major rulings, including Roper v. Simmons, which outlawed the death penalty for those who commit crimes under the age of 18.
Those decisions are reverberating throughout the country, including California, which has more juvenile offenders serving life without parole — 286 — than all but a handful of states. California has been tough on adolescent crime in other ways: In 2000 voters passed Proposition 21, which made it easier for youths to be tried in adult court.
In August 2012, however, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill giving most teenage offenders serving life without parole a chance to have their sentences reduced to 25 years to life. This September he signed SB 260, which provides some juveniles lifers an earlier shot at release and requires the parole board to give "great weight to the diminished culpability" of adolescent offenders.
Elizabeth Calvin, an advocate for Human Rights Watch, which sponsored both bills, acknowledges violent crime must be punished, but she argues the criminal justice system should reflect young people's ability to change.
"There's no question that murder is a horrible crime with a ripple effect of pain and suffering for everybody involved," said Calvin, who sought Kid CAT's input in crafting SB 260. "A lot of people think if you take a life, you lose your life. I just think, particularly when we're talking about young people, the analysis has to be deeper and more complex."
The California Board of Parole Hearings determines which lifers, having served their minimum term behind bars, are safe to be released from prison. Some members of Kid CAT will get earlier parole hearings under SB 260. Nelson will not; he has 10 years to wait before he is eligible. But he will likely have a better chance of earning parole.
For both juvenile and adult lifers the prospect of leaving prison alive is much less daunting today than it was a decade ago. Legal challenges have forced the board to loosen its grasp — 14 percent of lifer hearings resulted in a parole grant in 2012, up from 3 percent in 2002. Meanwhile, Gov. Brown has used his authority to overturn the board's approvals far less than his two predecessors — in just 19 percent of cases last year.
Still, freedom is far from certain for inmates serving life with parole, including the state's nearly 2,500 juvenile lifers. Most inmates serving Nelson's sentence of 25 to life never get out, says California corrections spokesman Bill Sessa.
That's OK with former Riverside County prosecutor Brian Sussman, who worked on Michael Nelson's case. Sussman says he believes in rehabilitation, but he puts more stock in consequences.
"You could be remorseful, you could be rehabilitated, but you put someone in the ground, and they're never coming back," he said. "Why do you get to make a comeback?"
Roots of violence
When Nelson finishes speaking at the Kid CAT meeting, Michelle Rochelle, a San Quentin secretary who helps the group, hands him a box of tissues. He wipes away his tears.
"Tissue means that it's not OK to cry," he teases.
Masculinity is a key topic in the group's curriculum — how children absorb twisted lessons about manhood. Like many inmates, the members of Kid CAT learned men are supposed to be tough and hard.
Vinh Nguyen, serving 29 to life for a fatal shooting in San Jose, grew up hearing that men in his culture should never show vulnerability.
"We shed blood before we shed tears," said Nguyen, 35, reciting an adage his Vietnamese elders ingrained in him.
Journal writing has helped Nguyen learn to express his feelings. He and the other men of Kid CAT are, to varying degrees, willing to expose themselves emotionally in a way that defies prison stereotypes.
At a June luncheon marking the completion of the group's curriculum, a Marin County filmmaker screened a trailer for an upcoming Kid CAT documentary. A crowd including inmates and prison officials watched the clips, in which several men of Kid CAT cried while recounting their crimes. Heidi Rummel, a University of Southern California law professor, said she was "blown away" by the experience.
"I heard men speaking very frankly and emotionally about their crimes, expressing remorse," said Rummel, a former prosecutor who now runs a program to assist lifers with parole hearings. "You don't see that at men's prisons in front of other men."
Kid CAT's chief sponsor is Lt. Sam Robinson, San Quentin's public information officer. Before assuming that post Robinson spent several years as sergeant in charge of the Adjustment Center, which houses the prisons's most dangerous, hardened inmates. The veteran corrections officer claims the men of Kid CAT are different.
"What they did was monstrous," Robinson said. "But they are not monsters."
Bob Walsh says: This article its readers how wonderful, socially useful, and rehabilitated juvenile murderers are. This is clearly a warm-up to the new law which makes juvenile lifers eligible for a possible do-over on their sentencing. The Kid CAT group of juvenile murderers is “creating awareness together.” The principle pimp of this group is a criminal named Michael Nelson who, when he was 15, beat a man in the back of the head with a baseball bat so his accomplice could more easily slit his throat. A couple of Hollywood bleeding heart liberals really like the program, so it MUST be good, right? So, if you feel really into the concept of wholesale redemption of homicidal juvenile sociopaths enjoy the read. Just make sure you have your barf bag handy.
Let me add that it is obvious the participants in the Kid CAT program are con-wise and are playing their adoring supporters like a fiddle.
TEEN KILLERS -- SENTENCED FOR UP TO LIFE TERMS IN SAN QUENTIN PRISON – SPEAK OUT
By Aaron Kinney
Marin Independent Journal
January 4, 2014
MICHAEL NELSON doesn't look like a killer.
He is handsome and well-groomed. His voice is gentle, his demeanor polite. You wouldn't flinch if he approached you on a dark and empty sidewalk.
But when he was 15, Nelson sneaked up behind a middle-aged man and cracked his skull with a baseball bat. Then he watched a friend finish off the victim with a knife. Charged as an adult, Nelson pleaded guilty in 1998 to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life.
Fifteen years later, it's hard to reconcile such gruesome violence with the articulate 31-year-old man holding a discussion in a classroom at San Quentin State Prison, where Nelson leads a notable group of 16 inmates. The men are all "juvenile lifers," serving up to life in prison with the possibility of parole for murders committed while under the age of 18.
The group calls itself Kid CAT. "Kid" refers to the age when the men committed their crimes. "CAT" stands for "creating awareness together."
Even at a prison known for its rehabilitative programs, the men have drawn acclaim for their focus on self-improvement through education and counseling. Scott Budnick, a Hollywood producer and advocate for juvenile justice reform, is one of many people, from educators to politicians, who have met and lauded the group.
"To me they are proof in the flesh of why we should never throw our kids away," said Budnick, who visited Kid CAT in 2012.
The ostensible transformation of these men evokes two of the thorniest questions in the field of criminal justice: Do young criminals have a unique capacity for rehabilitation? And to what extent should society treat them differently from adults who commit similar crimes?
An influential body of psychological and neurological research suggests adolescents are less culpable than grown-ups. Teenagers are generally rash and suggestible, the thinking goes, and fail to anticipate consequences — once their brains fully develop, young people tend to mature out of violent or impulsive thoughts and behavior.
For that reason, reformers claim, teenage offenders who work to improve themselves in prison should receive ample opportunities to show they're worthy of re-entering society.
The argument is taking hold in California, where the punishment for 14- to 17-year-old killers ranges from life without parole in state prison to less than a decade in a juvenile facility. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed two laws since 2012 creating mechanisms for many adolescents sentenced to life with or without parole to reduce their terms.
But some Californians find these changes repellent. Christine Ward, leader of the nonprofit Crime Victims Action Alliance, which lobbied against both bills, asserts "the consequences of murder need to be severe," no matter the killer's age. She questions how many young offenders are truly rehabilitated and how many act the part to gain parole.
Phyllis Loya, 65, knows the devastation of losing a family member to violent crime. Her son, Pittsburg police Officer Larry Lasater, was shot and killed by an 18-year-old fleeing an armed robbery. His accomplice was 17.
"You can't excuse these terrible crimes by saying they're just kids," said Loya, of Bay Point. "My grandson has to live his life without a father to guide him, with only knowing his father through pictures and stories of others."
Atonement
Nelson and 10 other juvenile lifers founded Kid CAT in 2011 to support one another and perform acts of service inside and outside the notorious Marin County prison. The inmates run the program with the help of citizen volunteers and two San Quentin officials.
Most of the homicides committed by these young men were not as ghastly as Nelson's. Several of them pulled the trigger in gang-related shootings. One handed a gun to a friend, who shot a 16-year-old boy in the neck during a botched robbery.
The men say they take responsibility for their crimes, and admit they deserved to be punished. Now they are trying to give back, in ways small and large, to the society they so viciously harmed.
Their projects include a hygiene drive Nelson is planning for homeless children. The men aim to assemble backpacks filled with donated toiletries for distribution in San Francisco.
Most significantly, Kid CAT designed a 24-week curriculum that its members are teaching to more than 80 fellow inmates. The course encourages participants to delve into the origins of their criminal behavior. Kid CAT hopes one day to offer the course to Bay Area at-risk youths to shepherd them away from prison.
This and other projects may help demonstrate the men of Kid CAT's suitability for release — one of them, Inglewood native Gary Scott, left prison on parole in June — but the parole board isn't their only audience. Michael Tyler, just 17 when he fired eight bullets into the chest of a man who used drugs with his mother, said he yearns to demonstrate to the world that he isn't a cancer, but a person with something to contribute.
"I want to show I'm somebody that's redeemable," said Tyler, 34, "that wants to be considered human again."
A brutal crime
Michael Nelson tells his story. Kid CAT has gathered for a weekly meeting in a classroom off San Quentin's recreation yard, where shirtless inmates play basketball and lounge on picnic tables.
He grew up east of Los Angeles in Riverside. His father was in and out of prison, Nelson says, and his mother beat him routinely — more than once he awoke to the pain of her striking him.
When Nelson was 12, his mom started locking him out of the house at night. For several months, he says, he slept in the garage — surrounded by cages holding rats, tarantulas and a boa constrictor.
By 15, he was out of school and using crystal meth daily. Homeless, aimless, he was drawn into a bizarre murder scheme. Nelson's two friends, a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, wanted a car so they could run away to Las Vegas. The group decided to kill a local man for his Cadillac.
Nelson, his girlfriend and the two other teens talked their way into the man's home. As his victim played a video game, Nelson smashed him three times in the head with an aluminum bat. The other boy took over, stabbing the man in the neck and throttling him with an electrical cord.
Nelson's eyes well up as he considers the pain he felt and inflicted on others, not just the victim and his loved ones, but Nelson's own family. For years he has grappled with the question of why he lashed out so savagely. He'd begun lying and stealing when he reached adolescence. But although he'd witnessed plenty of violence, he claims he had never committed any until that day in January 1998.
"The only way I can connect with what I did is that I had no value for human life," Nelson says. "I wasn't capable of valuing the lives of other people. I didn't value my own."
San Quentin's counseling programs, particularly the nonprofit Insight Prison Project's intense Victim Offender Education Group, have helped him understand the consequences of his crime. Now Kid CAT offers a modest chance for atonement.
"I don't think 'I'm sorry' is enough, and I don't think my actions will ever be enough," Nelson says. "But it's all that I have to give."
An evolving debate
The United States has long been one of the harshest countries in the world when it comes to punishing juvenile murderers, according to human rights groups, but the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction.
Since 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court has incorporated the notion of adolescents' reduced culpability into four major rulings, including Roper v. Simmons, which outlawed the death penalty for those who commit crimes under the age of 18.
Those decisions are reverberating throughout the country, including California, which has more juvenile offenders serving life without parole — 286 — than all but a handful of states. California has been tough on adolescent crime in other ways: In 2000 voters passed Proposition 21, which made it easier for youths to be tried in adult court.
In August 2012, however, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill giving most teenage offenders serving life without parole a chance to have their sentences reduced to 25 years to life. This September he signed SB 260, which provides some juveniles lifers an earlier shot at release and requires the parole board to give "great weight to the diminished culpability" of adolescent offenders.
Elizabeth Calvin, an advocate for Human Rights Watch, which sponsored both bills, acknowledges violent crime must be punished, but she argues the criminal justice system should reflect young people's ability to change.
"There's no question that murder is a horrible crime with a ripple effect of pain and suffering for everybody involved," said Calvin, who sought Kid CAT's input in crafting SB 260. "A lot of people think if you take a life, you lose your life. I just think, particularly when we're talking about young people, the analysis has to be deeper and more complex."
The California Board of Parole Hearings determines which lifers, having served their minimum term behind bars, are safe to be released from prison. Some members of Kid CAT will get earlier parole hearings under SB 260. Nelson will not; he has 10 years to wait before he is eligible. But he will likely have a better chance of earning parole.
For both juvenile and adult lifers the prospect of leaving prison alive is much less daunting today than it was a decade ago. Legal challenges have forced the board to loosen its grasp — 14 percent of lifer hearings resulted in a parole grant in 2012, up from 3 percent in 2002. Meanwhile, Gov. Brown has used his authority to overturn the board's approvals far less than his two predecessors — in just 19 percent of cases last year.
Still, freedom is far from certain for inmates serving life with parole, including the state's nearly 2,500 juvenile lifers. Most inmates serving Nelson's sentence of 25 to life never get out, says California corrections spokesman Bill Sessa.
That's OK with former Riverside County prosecutor Brian Sussman, who worked on Michael Nelson's case. Sussman says he believes in rehabilitation, but he puts more stock in consequences.
"You could be remorseful, you could be rehabilitated, but you put someone in the ground, and they're never coming back," he said. "Why do you get to make a comeback?"
Roots of violence
When Nelson finishes speaking at the Kid CAT meeting, Michelle Rochelle, a San Quentin secretary who helps the group, hands him a box of tissues. He wipes away his tears.
"Tissue means that it's not OK to cry," he teases.
Masculinity is a key topic in the group's curriculum — how children absorb twisted lessons about manhood. Like many inmates, the members of Kid CAT learned men are supposed to be tough and hard.
Vinh Nguyen, serving 29 to life for a fatal shooting in San Jose, grew up hearing that men in his culture should never show vulnerability.
"We shed blood before we shed tears," said Nguyen, 35, reciting an adage his Vietnamese elders ingrained in him.
Journal writing has helped Nguyen learn to express his feelings. He and the other men of Kid CAT are, to varying degrees, willing to expose themselves emotionally in a way that defies prison stereotypes.
At a June luncheon marking the completion of the group's curriculum, a Marin County filmmaker screened a trailer for an upcoming Kid CAT documentary. A crowd including inmates and prison officials watched the clips, in which several men of Kid CAT cried while recounting their crimes. Heidi Rummel, a University of Southern California law professor, said she was "blown away" by the experience.
"I heard men speaking very frankly and emotionally about their crimes, expressing remorse," said Rummel, a former prosecutor who now runs a program to assist lifers with parole hearings. "You don't see that at men's prisons in front of other men."
Kid CAT's chief sponsor is Lt. Sam Robinson, San Quentin's public information officer. Before assuming that post Robinson spent several years as sergeant in charge of the Adjustment Center, which houses the prisons's most dangerous, hardened inmates. The veteran corrections officer claims the men of Kid CAT are different.
"What they did was monstrous," Robinson said. "But they are not monsters."
DESPERATE FOR WATER
The Unconventional Gazette
January 6, 2014
A Palestinian terrorist fleeing from Israeli border police was plodding through the Negev desert desperate for water when he saw something far off in the distance.
Hoping to find water, he hurried toward the mirage, only to find a very frail little old Jewish man standing at a small makeshift display rack selling neckties.
The Palestinian terrorist asked, "Do you have water?"
The Jewish man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are only 20 Shekels."
The Palestinian shouted hysterically, "Idiot pig of a Jew! I do not need any of your over-priced neckties - I spit on your ties. I need water!”
"Sorry, I have none - just ties - pure silk - and only 20 Shekels."
"Pahh! A curse on your ties! I should wrap one around your scrawny little Jew neck and choke the life out of you, but I must conserve my energy and find water!"
"Okay," said the little old Jewish man, “It does not matter that you do not want to buy a tie from me, or that you hate me, threaten my life, and call me an idiot pig of a Jew. I will show you that I am bigger than any of that. If you continue over that hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a restaurant. It has the finest food and all the ice-cold water you need. Go in peace."
Cursing him again, the desperate terrorist staggered away over the hill.
Several hours later the Palestinian terrorist crawled back all but dead and gasped, "They won't let me in without a tie!”
January 6, 2014
A Palestinian terrorist fleeing from Israeli border police was plodding through the Negev desert desperate for water when he saw something far off in the distance.
Hoping to find water, he hurried toward the mirage, only to find a very frail little old Jewish man standing at a small makeshift display rack selling neckties.
The Palestinian terrorist asked, "Do you have water?"
The Jewish man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are only 20 Shekels."
The Palestinian shouted hysterically, "Idiot pig of a Jew! I do not need any of your over-priced neckties - I spit on your ties. I need water!”
"Sorry, I have none - just ties - pure silk - and only 20 Shekels."
"Pahh! A curse on your ties! I should wrap one around your scrawny little Jew neck and choke the life out of you, but I must conserve my energy and find water!"
"Okay," said the little old Jewish man, “It does not matter that you do not want to buy a tie from me, or that you hate me, threaten my life, and call me an idiot pig of a Jew. I will show you that I am bigger than any of that. If you continue over that hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a restaurant. It has the finest food and all the ice-cold water you need. Go in peace."
Cursing him again, the desperate terrorist staggered away over the hill.
Several hours later the Palestinian terrorist crawled back all but dead and gasped, "They won't let me in without a tie!”
Monday, January 06, 2014
HONOR BEFORE PROFITS
Kudos to Desert Tech for giving up a tidy sum of money to make sure that its high-powered precision rifles would not someday be used against American troops. It’s not often that you see a business putting honor before profits.
UTAH GUNMAKER TURNS DOWN $15M DEAL WITH PAKISTAN
Associated Press
January 5, 2014
A Utah-based gun manufacturer has turned down a $15 million deal to supply Pakistan with precision rifles, citing concerns they could eventually be used against U.S. troops.
Mike Davis, sales manager at Desert Tech, said the company was on a short list for a contract with Pakistan, but spurned the opportunity because of unrest in Pakistan and ethical concerns.
It was a difficult decision because of the amount of money involved, he said, and the sale of rifles to Pakistan would have been legal.
"We don't know that those guns would've went somewhere bad, but with the unrest we just ended up not feeling right about it," Davis told KTVX-TV.
The company, based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City, was founded in 2007 on the principle of keeping America and its allies safe, he added.
"As a business owner you always want to be successful, but I think ethically and morally you want to go about it the right way and stick behind your founding principles," Davis told KSL.
Weapons sales to allies such as Pakistan are nothing new but they can be complicated, especially in a country with an al-Qaida presence. The U.S. often targets al-Qaida, Taliban and their Pakistani supporters in the country's tribal regions.
"I've got to admire Desert Tech for potentially turning down what could have been a very lucrative contract in the interest of protecting American service members," said Col. Steven R. Watt of the Utah National Guard.
The rifles can change caliber within minutes and have the capacity to shoot as far as 3,000 yards.
Desert Tech, formerly known as Desert Tactical Arms, has had military contracts with other countries but declined to reveal specifics.
UTAH GUNMAKER TURNS DOWN $15M DEAL WITH PAKISTAN
Associated Press
January 5, 2014
A Utah-based gun manufacturer has turned down a $15 million deal to supply Pakistan with precision rifles, citing concerns they could eventually be used against U.S. troops.
Mike Davis, sales manager at Desert Tech, said the company was on a short list for a contract with Pakistan, but spurned the opportunity because of unrest in Pakistan and ethical concerns.
It was a difficult decision because of the amount of money involved, he said, and the sale of rifles to Pakistan would have been legal.
"We don't know that those guns would've went somewhere bad, but with the unrest we just ended up not feeling right about it," Davis told KTVX-TV.
The company, based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City, was founded in 2007 on the principle of keeping America and its allies safe, he added.
"As a business owner you always want to be successful, but I think ethically and morally you want to go about it the right way and stick behind your founding principles," Davis told KSL.
Weapons sales to allies such as Pakistan are nothing new but they can be complicated, especially in a country with an al-Qaida presence. The U.S. often targets al-Qaida, Taliban and their Pakistani supporters in the country's tribal regions.
"I've got to admire Desert Tech for potentially turning down what could have been a very lucrative contract in the interest of protecting American service members," said Col. Steven R. Watt of the Utah National Guard.
The rifles can change caliber within minutes and have the capacity to shoot as far as 3,000 yards.
Desert Tech, formerly known as Desert Tactical Arms, has had military contracts with other countries but declined to reveal specifics.
SIX ARMED ATTACKERS DISGUISED AS COPS STORM MEXICAN PRISON
Five of the attackers were killed after they killed four inmates at Tuxpan Prison
Our penal system is constantly criticized by human rights organizations, but compared to Mexico and third-world countries, America’s prisons are more like luxury hotels.
NINE DEAD IN ATTACK ON TUXPAN PRISON IN GUERRERO STATE
Borderland Beat
January 4, 2013
The Attorney General of the State (PGJE) confirmed that an armed group early Friday attacked the Center for Rehabilitation of Tuxpan in Guerrero State, and 9 people, 4 inmates and 5 of the attackers, were killed. The attack occurred in the city of Iguala, about halfway between Mexico City and the Pacific Coast resorts of Acapulco.
Unofficial sources said the six armed attackers approached the prison disguised as Ministerial Police and told a guard at the gate that they were bringing in a prisoner after midnight. Once inside the prison, they went immediately to the area where the prisoners slept and opened fire on the sleeping inmates.
Four inmates were killed in the gunfire. The armed command then kidnapped a guard and held him hostage as they ran for the gate. They opened fire on the guard tower and gunfire was exchanged with the tower and other guards. Five of the attackers were killed in the shootout, while another attacker and a guard were injured.
The motive for the assault on the prison was unknown. Yahoo news reported that one of the dead inmates was a convicted cocaine dealer, another was a kidnapper and the two others were imprisoned for carrying illegal weapons.
In a statement Friday, the state prosecutors stated they had not ruled out the possibility of involvement by prison officials “by omission or participation”. Mexican prison authorities have a long history of colluding with criminals. Members of the country’s powerful drug cartels, meanwhile, have a long tradition of masquerading as law enforcement officials while doing some of their bloodiest business.
The attack came less than 2 months after the Mexican human rights commission issued a report on the deplorable conditions of the country’s penal system, noting that 65 of the 101 most crowded prisons were effectively under inmate control. That report emphasized that in 2012, in Mexican prisons, 261 inmates escaped and 174 were killed in riots, fights, and other acts of violence.
Our penal system is constantly criticized by human rights organizations, but compared to Mexico and third-world countries, America’s prisons are more like luxury hotels.
NINE DEAD IN ATTACK ON TUXPAN PRISON IN GUERRERO STATE
Borderland Beat
January 4, 2013
The Attorney General of the State (PGJE) confirmed that an armed group early Friday attacked the Center for Rehabilitation of Tuxpan in Guerrero State, and 9 people, 4 inmates and 5 of the attackers, were killed. The attack occurred in the city of Iguala, about halfway between Mexico City and the Pacific Coast resorts of Acapulco.
Unofficial sources said the six armed attackers approached the prison disguised as Ministerial Police and told a guard at the gate that they were bringing in a prisoner after midnight. Once inside the prison, they went immediately to the area where the prisoners slept and opened fire on the sleeping inmates.
Four inmates were killed in the gunfire. The armed command then kidnapped a guard and held him hostage as they ran for the gate. They opened fire on the guard tower and gunfire was exchanged with the tower and other guards. Five of the attackers were killed in the shootout, while another attacker and a guard were injured.
The motive for the assault on the prison was unknown. Yahoo news reported that one of the dead inmates was a convicted cocaine dealer, another was a kidnapper and the two others were imprisoned for carrying illegal weapons.
In a statement Friday, the state prosecutors stated they had not ruled out the possibility of involvement by prison officials “by omission or participation”. Mexican prison authorities have a long history of colluding with criminals. Members of the country’s powerful drug cartels, meanwhile, have a long tradition of masquerading as law enforcement officials while doing some of their bloodiest business.
The attack came less than 2 months after the Mexican human rights commission issued a report on the deplorable conditions of the country’s penal system, noting that 65 of the 101 most crowded prisons were effectively under inmate control. That report emphasized that in 2012, in Mexican prisons, 261 inmates escaped and 174 were killed in riots, fights, and other acts of violence.
‘MORAL CHARACTER’ A REQUIREMENT TO JOIN THE BAR?
While I have absolutely no use for child molesters or those who enjoy watching child pornography, it’s sort of laughable that the Kentucky Supreme Court will deny someone a law license because he lacks the moral character required of a lawyer when all practicing lawyers are liars, many will cheat to win their cases, and some are outright thieves.
SEX OFFENDER SEEKS ADMISSION TO KENTUCKY BAR
Associated Press
January 5, 2014
A Kentucky man on a sex offender registry is pushing the state's Supreme Court to allow him to take the bar exam and become a practicing lawyer.
Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith, of Lexington, plans to ask the justices by Jan. 13 to reconsider a decision that he lacks the moral character to join the bar.
Hamilton-Smith graduated in the top third of his law school class, but the Kentucky Supreme Court last month blocked him from taking the bar exam because he is on the registry.
Hamilton-Smith pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a child in March 2007 and received a five-year suspended sentence. He was also required to register as a sex offender until 2027.
SEX OFFENDER SEEKS ADMISSION TO KENTUCKY BAR
Associated Press
January 5, 2014
A Kentucky man on a sex offender registry is pushing the state's Supreme Court to allow him to take the bar exam and become a practicing lawyer.
Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith, of Lexington, plans to ask the justices by Jan. 13 to reconsider a decision that he lacks the moral character to join the bar.
Hamilton-Smith graduated in the top third of his law school class, but the Kentucky Supreme Court last month blocked him from taking the bar exam because he is on the registry.
Hamilton-Smith pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a child in March 2007 and received a five-year suspended sentence. He was also required to register as a sex offender until 2027.
WHICH VOTERS CHOSE TO LEGALIZE POT IN COLORADO AND WASHINGTON?
Those idiots who voted for Obama are the most likely suspects and it will be the idiots who voted for Obama that will vote to legalize pot in California
I’ll bet if you could take a survey, you would find that the idiots who elected Obama were the same voters that voted to legalize pot in Colorado and Washington. And those idiots in California who voted for Obama will also vote to legalize pot in the former Golden State, now Rusty Iron State.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the majority of people who voted for the legalization of pot were dedicated liberals, young voters whose age group tends to be liberal and was already using marijuana, and a few conservatives on a guilt trip over their own illegal use of pot. The dedicated liberals and young voters are the same ones who voted for Obama.
I’ll bet if you could take a survey, you would find that the idiots who elected Obama were the same voters that voted to legalize pot in Colorado and Washington. And those idiots in California who voted for Obama will also vote to legalize pot in the former Golden State, now Rusty Iron State.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the majority of people who voted for the legalization of pot were dedicated liberals, young voters whose age group tends to be liberal and was already using marijuana, and a few conservatives on a guilt trip over their own illegal use of pot. The dedicated liberals and young voters are the same ones who voted for Obama.
INTRODUCTION TO POT LED TO LED TO MURDER OF COP (ADDENDUM)
Marijuana should not be legalized, whether for medical purposes or for recreational use, because it is unquestionable the Gateway Drug that leads many users to become addicted to other drugs
I also posted this piece on PACOVILLA Corrections blog. Michael Mason responded with a comprehensive and well thought-out argument debunking the claim that marijuana is the Gateway Drug to the use of harder drugs. Here is Mr. Mason’s argument, followed by my rebuttal.
Michael Mason says:
With all of the ills facing our society, I’m a little confusused by your ongoing campaign against the legalization of marijuana, including for medical purposes. Hardly one of the pressing issues facing our civilization. Nonetheless, I’m one who always cringes when facts are omitted from an argument, regardless of the topic. And the “gateway drug” argument has to be one of the most illogical arguments made by those against the legalization of marijuana.
There is absolutely no evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are linked to the subsequent abuse of harder drugs. In fact, numerous scientific research studies have have proven this theory to be completely bogus. The gateway theory is not only wrong, but also harmful to properly understanding and addressing drug abuse.
Research has found that the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances, not by the past use of any particular drug. Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug that most people encounter. Consequently, most users of harder drugs have obviously used marijuana. Actually, the fact is most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana.
And for those who like to cherry pick and cite whatever politically motivated study fits their agenda, the basic fact that most marijuana users don’t use other drugs cannot be disputed. As the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports, more than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana. 14.4 million Americans are estimated to be “past-month” users. Yet there are only an estimated 2,075,000 “past-month” users of cocaine and 153,000 “past-month” users of marijuana. Simple math proves that marijuana users rarely become involved in other drug use.
By the way, before somebody takes the predictable shot and calls me a stoner or pothead, know that I’m not a drug or alcohol user, and never have been . Just a boring guy who likes factual debates.
__________
Rebuttal:
Mr. Mason, it sure looks like you are doing the same thing you accuse those of us who oppose pot of doing … cherry picking.
I have dealt closely with hundreds of heroin users and I can assure you that over 90 percent of them started out using marijuana. And there have been plenty of studies showing that marijuana is indeed a gateway drug. And those ’2,075,000 “past-month” cocaine users’ … I’ll guarantee you that over 90 percent of them used pot before they got hooked on coke. The fact is that when the use of marijuana becomes prosaic, its users will seek a higher high by turning to the use of more potent drugs. So please don’t give us that crap about ‘there is absolutely no evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are linked to the subsequent abuse of harder drugs.’
Here are some other studies on the deleterious effects of marijuana;
A study proved that users who smoked two joints of marijuana a day developed psychotic disorders an average 2.7 years earlier than people who did not use pot. On the other hand, alcohol was found not to be associated with early onset of mental disorders. The report was published in the June 2011 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry and concluded that the results “provide evidence for a relationship between cannabis use and earlier onset of psychotic illness.” The study was conducted by researchers in England, Australia and the United States.
Another study reported that among 190 patients with schizophrenia, 121 of whom had used marijuana, cannabis appeared to affect the age of psychosis onset in a subgroup of 44 patients. The affected patients either had their first symptoms within a month of smoking pot for the first time, or experienced a severe worsening of psychotic symptoms each time they smoked. That study was conducted by Marie-Odile Krebs, professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) laboratory in France, and her colleagues.
There have been many other studies that have indicated a link between pot use and the onset of psychotic disorders.
And what about the problem of driving under the influence of pot? In California alone, nearly 1,000 deaths and injuries each year are blamed directly on drugged drivers, according to CHP data. Law enforcement puts much of the blame on the rapid growth of medical marijuana use in the last decade.
“Marijuana is a significant and important contributing factor in a growing number of fatal accidents,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy in the White House and former Seattle police chief. “There is no question, not only from the data but from what I have heard in my career as a law enforcement officer.”
Now what about all those glowing tributes put out by the proponents of medical marijuana? Well, the feds strongly contend that marijuana has no legitimate place in medicine.
In July 2011, the federal government ruled that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should remain classified as a highly dangerous drug like heroin. In a letter to Congress, DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart declared that marijuana “has a high potential for abuse … has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States … (and) lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.” Her letter and 37 pages of supporting documents were published in the Federal Register.
OK, so I’ve been cherry picking studies that support my opposition to the legalization of pot. So what?! You’ve done the same thing in support of your arguments. I suspect that much of the research you have referred to was conducted by researchers with an agenda … they wanted to prove that pot is innocuous. That makes their research flawed.
Let me wind this up by returning to the murder of NYPD Officer Daniel Enchautegui who was shot to death while interrupting a burglary for drugs. Lillo Brancato, one of the perps, told a jury that his drug problems began when he was ‘introduced to marijuana’ on a movie set. That led him to become hooked on crack and heroin. So in this case I think it is fair to say that the introduction to pot led to the murder of a cop.
In any case, Mr. Mason, good for you that you do not use drugs.
I also posted this piece on PACOVILLA Corrections blog. Michael Mason responded with a comprehensive and well thought-out argument debunking the claim that marijuana is the Gateway Drug to the use of harder drugs. Here is Mr. Mason’s argument, followed by my rebuttal.
Michael Mason says:
With all of the ills facing our society, I’m a little confusused by your ongoing campaign against the legalization of marijuana, including for medical purposes. Hardly one of the pressing issues facing our civilization. Nonetheless, I’m one who always cringes when facts are omitted from an argument, regardless of the topic. And the “gateway drug” argument has to be one of the most illogical arguments made by those against the legalization of marijuana.
There is absolutely no evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are linked to the subsequent abuse of harder drugs. In fact, numerous scientific research studies have have proven this theory to be completely bogus. The gateway theory is not only wrong, but also harmful to properly understanding and addressing drug abuse.
Research has found that the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined by the user’s individual tendencies and environmental circumstances, not by the past use of any particular drug. Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug that most people encounter. Consequently, most users of harder drugs have obviously used marijuana. Actually, the fact is most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana.
And for those who like to cherry pick and cite whatever politically motivated study fits their agenda, the basic fact that most marijuana users don’t use other drugs cannot be disputed. As the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports, more than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana. 14.4 million Americans are estimated to be “past-month” users. Yet there are only an estimated 2,075,000 “past-month” users of cocaine and 153,000 “past-month” users of marijuana. Simple math proves that marijuana users rarely become involved in other drug use.
By the way, before somebody takes the predictable shot and calls me a stoner or pothead, know that I’m not a drug or alcohol user, and never have been . Just a boring guy who likes factual debates.
__________
Rebuttal:
Mr. Mason, it sure looks like you are doing the same thing you accuse those of us who oppose pot of doing … cherry picking.
I have dealt closely with hundreds of heroin users and I can assure you that over 90 percent of them started out using marijuana. And there have been plenty of studies showing that marijuana is indeed a gateway drug. And those ’2,075,000 “past-month” cocaine users’ … I’ll guarantee you that over 90 percent of them used pot before they got hooked on coke. The fact is that when the use of marijuana becomes prosaic, its users will seek a higher high by turning to the use of more potent drugs. So please don’t give us that crap about ‘there is absolutely no evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are linked to the subsequent abuse of harder drugs.’
Here are some other studies on the deleterious effects of marijuana;
A study proved that users who smoked two joints of marijuana a day developed psychotic disorders an average 2.7 years earlier than people who did not use pot. On the other hand, alcohol was found not to be associated with early onset of mental disorders. The report was published in the June 2011 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry and concluded that the results “provide evidence for a relationship between cannabis use and earlier onset of psychotic illness.” The study was conducted by researchers in England, Australia and the United States.
Another study reported that among 190 patients with schizophrenia, 121 of whom had used marijuana, cannabis appeared to affect the age of psychosis onset in a subgroup of 44 patients. The affected patients either had their first symptoms within a month of smoking pot for the first time, or experienced a severe worsening of psychotic symptoms each time they smoked. That study was conducted by Marie-Odile Krebs, professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) laboratory in France, and her colleagues.
There have been many other studies that have indicated a link between pot use and the onset of psychotic disorders.
And what about the problem of driving under the influence of pot? In California alone, nearly 1,000 deaths and injuries each year are blamed directly on drugged drivers, according to CHP data. Law enforcement puts much of the blame on the rapid growth of medical marijuana use in the last decade.
“Marijuana is a significant and important contributing factor in a growing number of fatal accidents,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy in the White House and former Seattle police chief. “There is no question, not only from the data but from what I have heard in my career as a law enforcement officer.”
Now what about all those glowing tributes put out by the proponents of medical marijuana? Well, the feds strongly contend that marijuana has no legitimate place in medicine.
In July 2011, the federal government ruled that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should remain classified as a highly dangerous drug like heroin. In a letter to Congress, DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart declared that marijuana “has a high potential for abuse … has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States … (and) lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.” Her letter and 37 pages of supporting documents were published in the Federal Register.
OK, so I’ve been cherry picking studies that support my opposition to the legalization of pot. So what?! You’ve done the same thing in support of your arguments. I suspect that much of the research you have referred to was conducted by researchers with an agenda … they wanted to prove that pot is innocuous. That makes their research flawed.
Let me wind this up by returning to the murder of NYPD Officer Daniel Enchautegui who was shot to death while interrupting a burglary for drugs. Lillo Brancato, one of the perps, told a jury that his drug problems began when he was ‘introduced to marijuana’ on a movie set. That led him to become hooked on crack and heroin. So in this case I think it is fair to say that the introduction to pot led to the murder of a cop.
In any case, Mr. Mason, good for you that you do not use drugs.
Sunday, January 05, 2014
INTRODUCTION TO POT LED TO MURDER OF COP
Marijuana should not be legalized, whether for medical purposes or for recreational use, because it is unquestionable the Gateway Drug that leads many users to become addicted to other drugs
Actor Lillo Brancato, 37, played the son of Robert DeNiro in the 1993 movie A Bronx Tale and had a starring role in the HBO series The Sopranos during its second season. But on December 10, 2005, Brancato and a friend killed a NY cop as they attempted to commit a burglary for drugs.
Brancato and Steven Armento, now 51, were drinking at a strip club when they decided to break into the Bronx apartment of a friend to steal some Valium. Next door neighbor Daniel Enchautegui, an NYPD officer, heard a commotion and went outside to investigate. When he confronted the two burglars, Armento fatally shot the 28-year-old off-duty cop with a .357 Magnum.
Armento was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But to the outrage of NY cops and Enchautegui’s family, Brancato, who had been charged with second-degree murder, was only convicted of burglary. In 2009 he was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison to be followed by five years of probation. And now to rub salt in the wound, Brancato was released from prison on New Year’s Eve after serving only four years of his sentence.
During his trial, Brancato told the jury that on the night of the shooting, his judgment was impaired by heroin withdrawals. He said his drug problems began when he was ‘introduced to marijuana’ on the move set of A Bronx Tale. That led him to become hooked on crack and heroin.
While I too am outraged at the slap-on-the-wrist Brancato received in the murder of Officer Enchautegui, I believe it is just as important to point out that Marijuana is not the innocuous substance its advocates claim it is. It is truly the Gateway Drug that leads many of its users on the path to the addiction of heroin, coke, meth and other dangerous drugs. And that is one reason why marijuana should not be legalized!
Actor Lillo Brancato, 37, played the son of Robert DeNiro in the 1993 movie A Bronx Tale and had a starring role in the HBO series The Sopranos during its second season. But on December 10, 2005, Brancato and a friend killed a NY cop as they attempted to commit a burglary for drugs.
Brancato and Steven Armento, now 51, were drinking at a strip club when they decided to break into the Bronx apartment of a friend to steal some Valium. Next door neighbor Daniel Enchautegui, an NYPD officer, heard a commotion and went outside to investigate. When he confronted the two burglars, Armento fatally shot the 28-year-old off-duty cop with a .357 Magnum.
Armento was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But to the outrage of NY cops and Enchautegui’s family, Brancato, who had been charged with second-degree murder, was only convicted of burglary. In 2009 he was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison to be followed by five years of probation. And now to rub salt in the wound, Brancato was released from prison on New Year’s Eve after serving only four years of his sentence.
During his trial, Brancato told the jury that on the night of the shooting, his judgment was impaired by heroin withdrawals. He said his drug problems began when he was ‘introduced to marijuana’ on the move set of A Bronx Tale. That led him to become hooked on crack and heroin.
While I too am outraged at the slap-on-the-wrist Brancato received in the murder of Officer Enchautegui, I believe it is just as important to point out that Marijuana is not the innocuous substance its advocates claim it is. It is truly the Gateway Drug that leads many of its users on the path to the addiction of heroin, coke, meth and other dangerous drugs. And that is one reason why marijuana should not be legalized!
COKE, POT AND METH A DEADLY COMBINATION FOR FITNESS TRAINER
It doesn’t appear as though Yeudi Estrada Carrero was not much of a fitness instructor since he had consumed marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine at the time of his arrest. I would think that the combination made it very difficult to place him in custody and the officer pressing his foot against his throat may have felt it was the only way to restrain him. I don’t have any respect for Mexican cops but, under the circumstances in this case, they may not have resorted to the use of excessive force.
SIX MEXICAN COPS ARRESTED AFTER NEW YORK FITNESS INSTRUCTOR ‘SUFFOCATED TO DEATH AS THEY STOOD ON HIS THROAT’ IN CANCUN
On Wednesday, Yeudi Estrada Carrero was arrested, with three officers restraining him and one of the officers pressing his feet against his neck
Associated Press
January 4, 2014
Mexican authorities say they have detained six police officers over the death of a U.S. man, who died in their custody after being arrested for disorderly conduct in the resort city of Playa del Carmen.
Quintana Roo state Assistant Attorney General Carlos Alvarez said Friday that Yeudi Estrada Carrero died Wednesday inside a patrol truck while three police officers restrained him.
Alvarez says the 28-year-old fitness instructor died of asphyxiation after at least one of the officers pressed his foot against Estrada's neck.
Alvarez says Estrada was from New York state and lived and worked in Cancun.
He says an autopsy found Estrada had consumed cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine.
Alvarez says Estrada's body was turned over to his father, who also lives in Cancun.
An investigation is underway.
SIX MEXICAN COPS ARRESTED AFTER NEW YORK FITNESS INSTRUCTOR ‘SUFFOCATED TO DEATH AS THEY STOOD ON HIS THROAT’ IN CANCUN
On Wednesday, Yeudi Estrada Carrero was arrested, with three officers restraining him and one of the officers pressing his feet against his neck
Associated Press
January 4, 2014
Mexican authorities say they have detained six police officers over the death of a U.S. man, who died in their custody after being arrested for disorderly conduct in the resort city of Playa del Carmen.
Quintana Roo state Assistant Attorney General Carlos Alvarez said Friday that Yeudi Estrada Carrero died Wednesday inside a patrol truck while three police officers restrained him.
Alvarez says the 28-year-old fitness instructor died of asphyxiation after at least one of the officers pressed his foot against Estrada's neck.
Alvarez says Estrada was from New York state and lived and worked in Cancun.
He says an autopsy found Estrada had consumed cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine.
Alvarez says Estrada's body was turned over to his father, who also lives in Cancun.
An investigation is underway.
ONCE OPPOSED, TOP COP NOW SUPPORTS ARMED CITIZENRY AS STUDY SHOWS MURDER RATES LOWER WHERE CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED
Detroit’s chief of police now believes that citizens who have concealed weapons permits help deter crime
It would be even better if he were to drop his opposition to the ownership of so called assault weapons.
DETROIT POLICE CHIEF: ARMED CITIZENS DETER CRIME
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Newsmax
January 4, 2014
Detroit Police Chief James Craig has an idea for fighting crime — arm more citizens.
"When we look at the good community members who have concealed weapons permits, the likelihood they’ll shoot is based on a lack of confidence in this police department,” said the chief at a press conference this week, The Detroit News reports.
The chief said he believes the financially crippled city's residents are feeling safer and violent crime dropped seven percent in 2013. But Craig said that he's changed his mind over the years over whether citizens should be armed.
He said that when he was on the Los Angeles police force for 28 years, California law made it difficult to get a concealed weapon permit. However, when he became police chief in Portland, Me., in 2009 he changed his mind.
"I got to Maine, where they give out lots of CCWs (carrying concealed weapon permits), and I had a stack of CCW permits I was denying; that was my orientation," Craig said. "I changed my orientation real quick. Maine is one of the safest places in America. Clearly, suspects knew that good Americans were armed.”
Craig said on a radio show in mid-December that there are a number of people in Detroit with concealed pistol licenses (CPL), and he thinks it's a deterrent to crime.
"Good Americans with CPLs translates into crime reduction," said Craig. "I learned that real quick in the state of Maine.”
Craig's stance is unusual for a police chief, but Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police Director Robert Stevenson said that there are many police officers who have no problem when law-abiding citizens have guns, but they usually try to stay out of those discussions.
Craig's opinion, though, does not stretch to assault weapons, which he has said should be banned. He's also called for tight restrictions for online ammunition sales, to regulate high-capacity magazines, and for background checks for gun sales.
There were 15 justifiable homicides in Detroit in 2013, down from 25 in 2012, the Detroit News reports. In most of those cases, citizens were defending themselves by killing criminals.
__________
STUDY: MURDER RATES LOWER WHERE CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED
By Cathy Burke
Newsmax
January 2, 2013
A recent study showing a reverse correlation between concealed weapons and murder rates has renewed the contentious national debate about the effect of gun controls on violent crime.
Reason magazine reported last week on economist Mark Gius' study of gun controls, published in the journal Applied Economics Letters showing states with restrictions on concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states.
The study looked at the effects on murder rates of both state-level assault weapons bans and concealed weapons restrictions from 1980 to 2009.
Assault weapons bans, it found, didn't significantly affect murder rates at the state level.
The findings come as A 2007 study has been also getting a new look from those who dispute gun control efforts aimed at stemming gun violence, Boston magazine reported last summer.
In research first published in Harvard’s Journal of Public Law and Policy, criminologists Don Kates and Gary Mauser looked at the correlation between gun laws and death rates.
“International evidence and comparisons have long been offered as proof of the mantra that more guns mean more deaths and that fewer guns, therefore, mean fewer deaths," the pair wrote in their introduction. "Unfortunately, such discussions [have] all too often been afflicted by misconceptions and factual error and focus on comparisons that are unrepresentative."
The pair found "correlations that nations with stringent gun controls tend to have much higher murder rates than nations that allow guns.”
Many Americans appear to believe just that, Reason noted, citing a Dec. 12, 2013, poll showing 63 percent of Americans were unconvinced tighter restrictions on buying and owning guns will be effective.
It would be even better if he were to drop his opposition to the ownership of so called assault weapons.
DETROIT POLICE CHIEF: ARMED CITIZENS DETER CRIME
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Newsmax
January 4, 2014
Detroit Police Chief James Craig has an idea for fighting crime — arm more citizens.
"When we look at the good community members who have concealed weapons permits, the likelihood they’ll shoot is based on a lack of confidence in this police department,” said the chief at a press conference this week, The Detroit News reports.
The chief said he believes the financially crippled city's residents are feeling safer and violent crime dropped seven percent in 2013. But Craig said that he's changed his mind over the years over whether citizens should be armed.
He said that when he was on the Los Angeles police force for 28 years, California law made it difficult to get a concealed weapon permit. However, when he became police chief in Portland, Me., in 2009 he changed his mind.
"I got to Maine, where they give out lots of CCWs (carrying concealed weapon permits), and I had a stack of CCW permits I was denying; that was my orientation," Craig said. "I changed my orientation real quick. Maine is one of the safest places in America. Clearly, suspects knew that good Americans were armed.”
Craig said on a radio show in mid-December that there are a number of people in Detroit with concealed pistol licenses (CPL), and he thinks it's a deterrent to crime.
"Good Americans with CPLs translates into crime reduction," said Craig. "I learned that real quick in the state of Maine.”
Craig's stance is unusual for a police chief, but Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police Director Robert Stevenson said that there are many police officers who have no problem when law-abiding citizens have guns, but they usually try to stay out of those discussions.
Craig's opinion, though, does not stretch to assault weapons, which he has said should be banned. He's also called for tight restrictions for online ammunition sales, to regulate high-capacity magazines, and for background checks for gun sales.
There were 15 justifiable homicides in Detroit in 2013, down from 25 in 2012, the Detroit News reports. In most of those cases, citizens were defending themselves by killing criminals.
__________
STUDY: MURDER RATES LOWER WHERE CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED
By Cathy Burke
Newsmax
January 2, 2013
A recent study showing a reverse correlation between concealed weapons and murder rates has renewed the contentious national debate about the effect of gun controls on violent crime.
Reason magazine reported last week on economist Mark Gius' study of gun controls, published in the journal Applied Economics Letters showing states with restrictions on concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states.
The study looked at the effects on murder rates of both state-level assault weapons bans and concealed weapons restrictions from 1980 to 2009.
Assault weapons bans, it found, didn't significantly affect murder rates at the state level.
The findings come as A 2007 study has been also getting a new look from those who dispute gun control efforts aimed at stemming gun violence, Boston magazine reported last summer.
In research first published in Harvard’s Journal of Public Law and Policy, criminologists Don Kates and Gary Mauser looked at the correlation between gun laws and death rates.
“International evidence and comparisons have long been offered as proof of the mantra that more guns mean more deaths and that fewer guns, therefore, mean fewer deaths," the pair wrote in their introduction. "Unfortunately, such discussions [have] all too often been afflicted by misconceptions and factual error and focus on comparisons that are unrepresentative."
The pair found "correlations that nations with stringent gun controls tend to have much higher murder rates than nations that allow guns.”
Many Americans appear to believe just that, Reason noted, citing a Dec. 12, 2013, poll showing 63 percent of Americans were unconvinced tighter restrictions on buying and owning guns will be effective.
ARE DRUG DEALERS ABOVE THE STREET LEVEL INCLUDED IN THE PUSH TO LOWER SENTENCES FOR ‘NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS’?
I do not have a problem with changing the mandatory sentencing laws, but only as long as mandatory sentences remain in effect for drug dealers above the street level.
BIPARTISAN PUSH FOR SENTENCING CHANGES UNDERWAY IN CONGRESS
Associated Press
January 4, 2014
An unusual alliance of tea party supporters and liberal leaders in Congress is pursuing major changes in the country's mandatory sentencing laws.
What's motivating them are growing concerns about both the fairness of the sentences and the expense of running federal prisons.
The congressional push comes as President Barack Obama and his Cabinet draw attention to the issue of mandatory sentences, particularly for nonviolent drug offenders.
Supporters say mandatory minimum sentences are outdated, lump all offenders into one category and rob judges of the ability to use their own discretion.
They also cite the high costs of the policies. The Justice Department spends some $6.4 billion, about one-quarter of its budget, on prisons each year, and that number is growing steadily.
"People are coming here for different reasons, but there is a real opportunity," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., one of the Senate's leading proponents of sentencing changes.
The push is being led by the Senate, where Durbin has worked with tea party stalwarts such as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on legislation that would give judges more flexibility to determine prison sentences in many drug cases. At the same time, a right-left coalition is pressing for changes in the House.
Prison costs have soared in the past 30 years, when laws requiring mandatory prison time for many drug offenses were put in place.
The yearly cost for one federal inmate ranges from $21,000 to $33,000 depending on the prison's level of security. About half of the nation's more than 218,000 federal inmates are serving time for drug crimes — and virtually all of them faced some form of mandatory minimum sentencing.
Tough-on-crime drug policies once united Republicans and Democrats who didn't want to appear weak on crime. Now reversing or revising many of those policies is having the same effect.
The Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, drew bipartisan support for cutting penalties on crack cocaine offenses. The bill reduced a disparity between crack-related sentences and sentences for other drugs, though it only addressed new cases, not old ones.
Durbin, one of that bill's chief sponsors, has written a much broader bill with Lee, called the Smarter Sentencing Act. It would expand a provision that gives judges discretion for a limited number of nonviolent drug offenders. The new law would allow judges the same latitude for a larger group of drug offenders facing mandatory sentences.
It's one of four bills dealing with sentencing that the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take up early in the year. The committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he wants one consensus bill to clear the committee.
Leahy is a co-sponsor on the Durbin-Lee bill but has also introduced legislation with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would expand the safety valve even more, to all federal cases with mandatory sentences if certain conditions are met.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation late in December that is based on changes in Texas' state prison system.
A separate bill, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, allows inmates to earn credit for completing programs designed to reduce recidivism.
Leahy's committee delayed writing a sentencing bill several times in 2013. But supporters noted that the last sentencing legislation took months to negotiate and said that the committee has delayed work until early 2014 in large part because behind-the-scenes talks are proving fruitful. Durbin said he and Lee had been lobbying their fellow committee members — Durbin talking to skeptical Democrats, Lee to Republicans.
In the House, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, a tea party conservative, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., are co-sponsors of a companion to Durbin and Lee's bill.
A number of outside groups have expressed support for the Durbin-Lee bill, too, and they run the ideological spectrum, including the conservative Heritage Action, the American Bar Association, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
In August, Attorney General Eric Holder called on Congress to make permanent changes in sentencing laws and instructed federal prosecutors to stop charging nonviolent drug offenders with crimes that carry mandatory minimum sentences.
BIPARTISAN PUSH FOR SENTENCING CHANGES UNDERWAY IN CONGRESS
Associated Press
January 4, 2014
An unusual alliance of tea party supporters and liberal leaders in Congress is pursuing major changes in the country's mandatory sentencing laws.
What's motivating them are growing concerns about both the fairness of the sentences and the expense of running federal prisons.
The congressional push comes as President Barack Obama and his Cabinet draw attention to the issue of mandatory sentences, particularly for nonviolent drug offenders.
Supporters say mandatory minimum sentences are outdated, lump all offenders into one category and rob judges of the ability to use their own discretion.
They also cite the high costs of the policies. The Justice Department spends some $6.4 billion, about one-quarter of its budget, on prisons each year, and that number is growing steadily.
"People are coming here for different reasons, but there is a real opportunity," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., one of the Senate's leading proponents of sentencing changes.
The push is being led by the Senate, where Durbin has worked with tea party stalwarts such as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on legislation that would give judges more flexibility to determine prison sentences in many drug cases. At the same time, a right-left coalition is pressing for changes in the House.
Prison costs have soared in the past 30 years, when laws requiring mandatory prison time for many drug offenses were put in place.
The yearly cost for one federal inmate ranges from $21,000 to $33,000 depending on the prison's level of security. About half of the nation's more than 218,000 federal inmates are serving time for drug crimes — and virtually all of them faced some form of mandatory minimum sentencing.
Tough-on-crime drug policies once united Republicans and Democrats who didn't want to appear weak on crime. Now reversing or revising many of those policies is having the same effect.
The Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010, drew bipartisan support for cutting penalties on crack cocaine offenses. The bill reduced a disparity between crack-related sentences and sentences for other drugs, though it only addressed new cases, not old ones.
Durbin, one of that bill's chief sponsors, has written a much broader bill with Lee, called the Smarter Sentencing Act. It would expand a provision that gives judges discretion for a limited number of nonviolent drug offenders. The new law would allow judges the same latitude for a larger group of drug offenders facing mandatory sentences.
It's one of four bills dealing with sentencing that the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take up early in the year. The committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he wants one consensus bill to clear the committee.
Leahy is a co-sponsor on the Durbin-Lee bill but has also introduced legislation with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would expand the safety valve even more, to all federal cases with mandatory sentences if certain conditions are met.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation late in December that is based on changes in Texas' state prison system.
A separate bill, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, allows inmates to earn credit for completing programs designed to reduce recidivism.
Leahy's committee delayed writing a sentencing bill several times in 2013. But supporters noted that the last sentencing legislation took months to negotiate and said that the committee has delayed work until early 2014 in large part because behind-the-scenes talks are proving fruitful. Durbin said he and Lee had been lobbying their fellow committee members — Durbin talking to skeptical Democrats, Lee to Republicans.
In the House, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, a tea party conservative, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., are co-sponsors of a companion to Durbin and Lee's bill.
A number of outside groups have expressed support for the Durbin-Lee bill, too, and they run the ideological spectrum, including the conservative Heritage Action, the American Bar Association, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
In August, Attorney General Eric Holder called on Congress to make permanent changes in sentencing laws and instructed federal prosecutors to stop charging nonviolent drug offenders with crimes that carry mandatory minimum sentences.
Saturday, January 04, 2014
DECLARED DEAD A YEAR AGO, CROOKED GEORGIA BANKER HAS SECOND COMING AS OWNER OF FLORIDA POT PLANTATION
Arising from the dead when busted for a minor traffic violation, he had changed his looks by sporting a Jesus hairdo
Aubrey Lee Price was the minister at a Baptist church in North Fulton and a director of the Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey, Georgia. After embezzling $21 million between 2010 and 2012 from more than 100 investors, Price wrote a rambling letter confessing to his crimes and indicating he was going to commit suicide by jumping off a ferry boat. "I have broken laws and most importantly, hurt the very people I was entrusted to help. … My depression and discouragement have driven me to deep anxiety, fear and shame. I am emotionally overwhelmed and incapable of continuing in this life."
After purchasing some dive weights, Price was last seen in June 2012 boarding a ferry boat in Key West that was headed to Fort Myers, Florida. A Florida judge declared him dead about a year ago. But when Georgia cops stopped a pickup truck in Brunswick Tuesday for a tinted window violation, a true miracle occurred … Price arose from the dead sporting a Jesus hairdo. And in his second coming, he was found to be the owner of an indoor pot plantation. After his arrest, authorities raided some property he was renting in Citra, Florida where they found a grow house containing 225 marijuana plants.
If convicted of Federal bank fraud charges, Price is facing up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Aubrey Lee Price was the minister at a Baptist church in North Fulton and a director of the Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey, Georgia. After embezzling $21 million between 2010 and 2012 from more than 100 investors, Price wrote a rambling letter confessing to his crimes and indicating he was going to commit suicide by jumping off a ferry boat. "I have broken laws and most importantly, hurt the very people I was entrusted to help. … My depression and discouragement have driven me to deep anxiety, fear and shame. I am emotionally overwhelmed and incapable of continuing in this life."
After purchasing some dive weights, Price was last seen in June 2012 boarding a ferry boat in Key West that was headed to Fort Myers, Florida. A Florida judge declared him dead about a year ago. But when Georgia cops stopped a pickup truck in Brunswick Tuesday for a tinted window violation, a true miracle occurred … Price arose from the dead sporting a Jesus hairdo. And in his second coming, he was found to be the owner of an indoor pot plantation. After his arrest, authorities raided some property he was renting in Citra, Florida where they found a grow house containing 225 marijuana plants.
If convicted of Federal bank fraud charges, Price is facing up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
DE BLASIO’S INAUGURATION AS MAYOR ALL ABOUT MISTREATMENT AND PLIGHT OF NYC MINORITIES
What else would one expect from the speakers at Sandinista-loving Bill de Blasio’s inauguration as New York’s new mayor.
DE BLASIO’S NEW YORK
By Marilyn Penn
politicalmavens.com
January 3, 2014
New Yorkers who watched the inauguration ceremonies of Bill de Blasio saw something quite extraordinary take place the conversion of the Big Apple to the Apple that is Rotten to its core. Not one speaker came to praise our city - all were there to bury it and focus only on its racism and indifference to social justice. Starting with Harry Belafonte, a singer from Trinidad whose career was internationally launched from this country but who espouses anti-Americanism at every opportunity, we heard a litany of our many sins, notably our treatment of the black man. Instead of using his time at the podium to inspire his black brothers to stay in school, stay off drugs and marry before reproducing - he seized on New York’s stop and frisk law which has already been modified and needs no further comment. Instead of chastising his black brothers to stop murdering (mostly their own brethren), he bemoaned the fact that our country has the largest population of black prisoners in the world. On to the Reverend Fred Lucas Jr. (chaplain for the Dept of Sanitation), dressed in an elegant coat, scarf and hat, who referred to New York as a plantation but failed to say which massah gave him the fancy threads.
Letitia James, our new public advocate, chose to hold hands with 11 year old, gum-chewing Dasani Coates, the subject of a five-part series in the Times about the failure of NYC to adequately provide for our homeless. For political purposes, Dasani came to be a heroine instead of the victim of drug-addicted parents who sired 8 children, lost their jobs, have each served jail time and spend their disability benefits on such important priorities as redeeming the father’s previously hocked gold teeth. Ms. James’ speech was another rant about what we have failed to do for our least fortunate and her pledge to see that this changes. (Memo to smart journalist: check back on the Coates family at the end of de Blasio’s first term.) It was an arrow aimed at the departing mayor who spurred development of real estate projects and stadiums but it said nothing about the generosity of the man who contributed 658 million dollars of his own money  to various charities within our city. Somebody paid for young Dasani’s intricately braided hairstyle and the winter outfits worn by her whole family, not to mention the new apartment that was provided for them by the end of the Times series. Not one word of acknowledgment from Ms. James for any of these “entitlements.”
There was a time when we New Yorkers found much to praise in our city. We saw correctly that it was the cultural capital of the world - the center for art, theater, music, dance - the very fields represented by Belafonte and Cynthia Nixon who remained mum on that subject. We saw correctly that it was the financial hub of America, a polyglot city made up of immigrants from everywhere in the world whose integration into our school system is facilitated by interpreters for every language represented. But the biggest failures in our school system are not among the foreigners who tend to learn English quickly and recognize that education is the key to achievement. The biggest failures are among our homegrown minority populations whose illegitimacy rate exceeds 70% - a statistic that guarantees the continuing spiral of poverty, school drop-outs, drugs and violence. Not one exhortation on the part of any of the speakers to use this change in administration as an impetus for self-help and determination to stay in school. “It takes a village,” Bill Clinton reminded us, passing the buck to anyone with some to keep supporting the underclass.
We know that inequality exists in New York, as it does in every other city, but we are also a mecca of unparalleled opportunity for those who are capable of seizing it. Ask the Vietnamese, the Koreans, the Russians and other Eastern Europeans who clamor to get here and make lives for themselves and their families. Ask middle-class Hispanic and Black families whose children are doctors, lawyers, teachers and even first lady of our great city. Where was the legitimate pride New Yorkers should take in our energy, our industry and our innovation? If the inauguration ceremonies were indicative of what de Blasio sees as his sole purview, all the contributors to the medical, cultural and educational establishments of our city should think twice about their discretionary charitable support. The message from de Blasio was loud and clear: his administration is here to attend to the rights and demands of the neediest among us. Period. Those of us who have worked hard, paid taxes and made sacrifices in order to support our families and provide for our children’s education should feel guilty for having more than the downtrodden. We should work even harder and pay even more taxes so that Dosani Coates, her 7 siblings and her irresponsible parents can continue to live off the dole and buy some more gold teeth.
DE BLASIO’S NEW YORK
By Marilyn Penn
politicalmavens.com
January 3, 2014
New Yorkers who watched the inauguration ceremonies of Bill de Blasio saw something quite extraordinary take place the conversion of the Big Apple to the Apple that is Rotten to its core. Not one speaker came to praise our city - all were there to bury it and focus only on its racism and indifference to social justice. Starting with Harry Belafonte, a singer from Trinidad whose career was internationally launched from this country but who espouses anti-Americanism at every opportunity, we heard a litany of our many sins, notably our treatment of the black man. Instead of using his time at the podium to inspire his black brothers to stay in school, stay off drugs and marry before reproducing - he seized on New York’s stop and frisk law which has already been modified and needs no further comment. Instead of chastising his black brothers to stop murdering (mostly their own brethren), he bemoaned the fact that our country has the largest population of black prisoners in the world. On to the Reverend Fred Lucas Jr. (chaplain for the Dept of Sanitation), dressed in an elegant coat, scarf and hat, who referred to New York as a plantation but failed to say which massah gave him the fancy threads.
Letitia James, our new public advocate, chose to hold hands with 11 year old, gum-chewing Dasani Coates, the subject of a five-part series in the Times about the failure of NYC to adequately provide for our homeless. For political purposes, Dasani came to be a heroine instead of the victim of drug-addicted parents who sired 8 children, lost their jobs, have each served jail time and spend their disability benefits on such important priorities as redeeming the father’s previously hocked gold teeth. Ms. James’ speech was another rant about what we have failed to do for our least fortunate and her pledge to see that this changes. (Memo to smart journalist: check back on the Coates family at the end of de Blasio’s first term.) It was an arrow aimed at the departing mayor who spurred development of real estate projects and stadiums but it said nothing about the generosity of the man who contributed 658 million dollars of his own money  to various charities within our city. Somebody paid for young Dasani’s intricately braided hairstyle and the winter outfits worn by her whole family, not to mention the new apartment that was provided for them by the end of the Times series. Not one word of acknowledgment from Ms. James for any of these “entitlements.”
There was a time when we New Yorkers found much to praise in our city. We saw correctly that it was the cultural capital of the world - the center for art, theater, music, dance - the very fields represented by Belafonte and Cynthia Nixon who remained mum on that subject. We saw correctly that it was the financial hub of America, a polyglot city made up of immigrants from everywhere in the world whose integration into our school system is facilitated by interpreters for every language represented. But the biggest failures in our school system are not among the foreigners who tend to learn English quickly and recognize that education is the key to achievement. The biggest failures are among our homegrown minority populations whose illegitimacy rate exceeds 70% - a statistic that guarantees the continuing spiral of poverty, school drop-outs, drugs and violence. Not one exhortation on the part of any of the speakers to use this change in administration as an impetus for self-help and determination to stay in school. “It takes a village,” Bill Clinton reminded us, passing the buck to anyone with some to keep supporting the underclass.
We know that inequality exists in New York, as it does in every other city, but we are also a mecca of unparalleled opportunity for those who are capable of seizing it. Ask the Vietnamese, the Koreans, the Russians and other Eastern Europeans who clamor to get here and make lives for themselves and their families. Ask middle-class Hispanic and Black families whose children are doctors, lawyers, teachers and even first lady of our great city. Where was the legitimate pride New Yorkers should take in our energy, our industry and our innovation? If the inauguration ceremonies were indicative of what de Blasio sees as his sole purview, all the contributors to the medical, cultural and educational establishments of our city should think twice about their discretionary charitable support. The message from de Blasio was loud and clear: his administration is here to attend to the rights and demands of the neediest among us. Period. Those of us who have worked hard, paid taxes and made sacrifices in order to support our families and provide for our children’s education should feel guilty for having more than the downtrodden. We should work even harder and pay even more taxes so that Dosani Coates, her 7 siblings and her irresponsible parents can continue to live off the dole and buy some more gold teeth.
EX-DEUTSCHE BANK EXECUTIVE’S LAWSUIT AGAINST L.A. COPS PROCEEDS AHEAD
First LA cops helped the banker get a motel room; later, high on ‘white lightning,’ he attacked the cops and received a fractured nose and other injuries for his efforts
After Brian Mulligan admitted smoking pot and taking “white lightning” (bath salts), the cops gave him a break by taking him to a motel room instead of to the pokey. However, he left the motel only to be confronted again by the same two cops who then tried to arrest him. He fought the attempts to place him in custody.
When you chose to fight with the police, you’re most likely to come out second best. Because a combative person under the influence of drugs like bath salts, PCP or meth are very difficult to control, I believe the LAPD officers did not resort to the use of excessive force in this case.
Mulligan claimed he was using medically prescribed marijuana for a sleep problem. Apparently the pot did not calm him down and did not offset the bath salts effects.
EX-DEUTSCHE BANK EXECUTIVE TO GOT TO TRIAL AGAINST POLICE
By Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg News
January 2, 2013
A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) executive can take two Los Angeles policemen to trial over claims they beat him in May 2012 while he was in a neighborhood to visit a medical marijuana dispensary, a judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner today denied a request by the police officers to throw out Brian Mulligan’s claims they used excessive force, violated his civil rights, and engaged in assault and battery. The judge dismissed false imprisonment and police negligence claims, saying Mulligan didn’t provide sufficient evidence for those to go to trial.
Mulligan, a former vice chairman of media and telecommunications investment banking at Deutsche Bank, sued the two police officers, the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Protective League in February, seeking more than $20 million in damages. The case is set for trial Jan. 21.
Mulligan alleged that officers James Nichols and John Miller stopped him as he was walking in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles, where he says he had gone to legally buy tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient of marijuana, for use as a sleep aid.
Nichols and Miller found he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol and drugs and first took him to his car, where they discovered $3,000 in cash while searching without his consent, Mulligan said in his complaint.
The policemen took him to a motel and told him not to leave before morning or he would be “dead,” according to the complaint. Mulligan claims he was afraid he was being set up and fled the motel. He encountered the policemen again, and Nichols hit him in the face with his baton, shattering his nose, and broke his shoulder blade twice after he had been handcuffed, according to the complaint.
Lawyers for the two police officers and the city didn’t immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment on the judge’s ruling.
In a separate order today, the judge threw out a retaliation claim against the city. Mulligan can proceed with a negligent supervision claim against the city based on evidence he provided of other allegations of misconduct made against Nichols, Klausner said.
Klausner last month threw out Mulligan’s claims against the Police Protective League.
Mulligan’s lawyer, Louis “Skip” Miller, said in a phone interview that without the retaliation claim, the executive can’t seek damages for losing his job with Deutsche Bank after the publicity surrounding the beating.
Mulligan, who was 52 at the time of the beating, accused the Los Angeles Police Department and Police Protective League of releasing to the media a tape recording of a conversation he had had with a Glendale police officer, two days before his run-in with the LAPD officers, about bath salts, a paranoia-inducing stimulant.
Deutsche Bank fired Mulligan in November 2012, a few weeks after the tape recording was made public, citing concerns about “publicized disclosures related to personal matter,” according to Mulligan’s complaint.
After Brian Mulligan admitted smoking pot and taking “white lightning” (bath salts), the cops gave him a break by taking him to a motel room instead of to the pokey. However, he left the motel only to be confronted again by the same two cops who then tried to arrest him. He fought the attempts to place him in custody.
When you chose to fight with the police, you’re most likely to come out second best. Because a combative person under the influence of drugs like bath salts, PCP or meth are very difficult to control, I believe the LAPD officers did not resort to the use of excessive force in this case.
Mulligan claimed he was using medically prescribed marijuana for a sleep problem. Apparently the pot did not calm him down and did not offset the bath salts effects.
EX-DEUTSCHE BANK EXECUTIVE TO GOT TO TRIAL AGAINST POLICE
By Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg News
January 2, 2013
A former Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) executive can take two Los Angeles policemen to trial over claims they beat him in May 2012 while he was in a neighborhood to visit a medical marijuana dispensary, a judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner today denied a request by the police officers to throw out Brian Mulligan’s claims they used excessive force, violated his civil rights, and engaged in assault and battery. The judge dismissed false imprisonment and police negligence claims, saying Mulligan didn’t provide sufficient evidence for those to go to trial.
Mulligan, a former vice chairman of media and telecommunications investment banking at Deutsche Bank, sued the two police officers, the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Protective League in February, seeking more than $20 million in damages. The case is set for trial Jan. 21.
Mulligan alleged that officers James Nichols and John Miller stopped him as he was walking in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles, where he says he had gone to legally buy tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient of marijuana, for use as a sleep aid.
Nichols and Miller found he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol and drugs and first took him to his car, where they discovered $3,000 in cash while searching without his consent, Mulligan said in his complaint.
The policemen took him to a motel and told him not to leave before morning or he would be “dead,” according to the complaint. Mulligan claims he was afraid he was being set up and fled the motel. He encountered the policemen again, and Nichols hit him in the face with his baton, shattering his nose, and broke his shoulder blade twice after he had been handcuffed, according to the complaint.
Lawyers for the two police officers and the city didn’t immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment on the judge’s ruling.
In a separate order today, the judge threw out a retaliation claim against the city. Mulligan can proceed with a negligent supervision claim against the city based on evidence he provided of other allegations of misconduct made against Nichols, Klausner said.
Klausner last month threw out Mulligan’s claims against the Police Protective League.
Mulligan’s lawyer, Louis “Skip” Miller, said in a phone interview that without the retaliation claim, the executive can’t seek damages for losing his job with Deutsche Bank after the publicity surrounding the beating.
Mulligan, who was 52 at the time of the beating, accused the Los Angeles Police Department and Police Protective League of releasing to the media a tape recording of a conversation he had had with a Glendale police officer, two days before his run-in with the LAPD officers, about bath salts, a paranoia-inducing stimulant.
Deutsche Bank fired Mulligan in November 2012, a few weeks after the tape recording was made public, citing concerns about “publicized disclosures related to personal matter,” according to Mulligan’s complaint.
KROKODIL ATTACKS HOUSTON TEEN
Mexican officials say the girl injected krokodil in her genitals. I doubt that. She probably injected the drug, usually concocted by mixing codeine with gasoline, in her arm. The drug, which is known to destroy flesh, then probably attacked her genitals.
TEEN WHO INJECTED KROKODIL IN GENITALS WAS FROM U.S., MEXICAN OFFICIALS SAY
Associated Press
January 2, 2013
MEXICO CITY -- Health authorities in western Mexico said Thursday they have detected a probable case of flesh lesions due to the drug Krokodil, often referred to as "the poor man's heroin."
The head of the council on addictions in the western state of Jalisco, Dr. Enrico Sotelo, said the patient is a 17-year-old woman who is a resident of Houston, Texas. She came to Mexico to visit the Pacific coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where she has relatives, in November. Soon after, she checked into a local health clinic for digestive problems, and it was there that doctors detected the flesh lesions.
Sotelo, who in accordance with privacy guidelines did not reveal the patient's name, said she told authorities she used the drug in Houston. Her current condition is unknown because she did not return to the health clinic there for any further treatment.
"She acquired this problem with Krokodil in Houston, not here in Puerto Vallarta," said Sotelo, who in any case has implemented an educational program to warn about the drug's ill effects.
Sotelo said a survey of rehab centers and clinics in Jalisco had revealed there were no other local cases. He said so far, Mexico has detected only two probable cases, the woman in Puerto Vallarta and another person in the border state of Baja California.
Diagnosis is usually based on the tell-tale lesions, because the body quickly metabolizes the drug's psychoactive agent, desomorphine. The drug was dubbed "krokodil" in Russia because of greenish, scaly skin lesions addicts develop, giving them the appearance of having crocodile skin.
A home-brewed heroin substitute popular in Russia, Krokodil is often concocted by cooking the prescription painkiller codeine along with gasoline, iodine, phosphorus and other chemicals.
TEEN WHO INJECTED KROKODIL IN GENITALS WAS FROM U.S., MEXICAN OFFICIALS SAY
Associated Press
January 2, 2013
MEXICO CITY -- Health authorities in western Mexico said Thursday they have detected a probable case of flesh lesions due to the drug Krokodil, often referred to as "the poor man's heroin."
The head of the council on addictions in the western state of Jalisco, Dr. Enrico Sotelo, said the patient is a 17-year-old woman who is a resident of Houston, Texas. She came to Mexico to visit the Pacific coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where she has relatives, in November. Soon after, she checked into a local health clinic for digestive problems, and it was there that doctors detected the flesh lesions.
Sotelo, who in accordance with privacy guidelines did not reveal the patient's name, said she told authorities she used the drug in Houston. Her current condition is unknown because she did not return to the health clinic there for any further treatment.
"She acquired this problem with Krokodil in Houston, not here in Puerto Vallarta," said Sotelo, who in any case has implemented an educational program to warn about the drug's ill effects.
Sotelo said a survey of rehab centers and clinics in Jalisco had revealed there were no other local cases. He said so far, Mexico has detected only two probable cases, the woman in Puerto Vallarta and another person in the border state of Baja California.
Diagnosis is usually based on the tell-tale lesions, because the body quickly metabolizes the drug's psychoactive agent, desomorphine. The drug was dubbed "krokodil" in Russia because of greenish, scaly skin lesions addicts develop, giving them the appearance of having crocodile skin.
A home-brewed heroin substitute popular in Russia, Krokodil is often concocted by cooking the prescription painkiller codeine along with gasoline, iodine, phosphorus and other chemicals.
HANKY-PANKY TEXAS POLICE CHIEF BEING SUED FOR HAVING HIS LOVER’S HUSBAND ARRESTED
Former Princeton Texas, now Kyle, Texas police chief had doctor harassed and arrested while having an affair with the physician’s wife
Chief Jeffery Barnett apparently continued to have an affair with Dr. Glen Hurlston’s wife as he moved up from the thriving metropolis of Princeton, population 7,500, to the even more thriving metropolis of Kyle, population 31,000.
FEDERAL LAWSUIT: TEXAS POLICE CHIEF TORMENTED MAN DURING AFFAIR WITH HIS WIFE
By Carol Christian
Houston Chronicle
January 2, 2014
A Louisiana physician who claims he endured police harassment while his wife was having an affair with a Texas police chief is suing a group of officials in federal court.
Dr. Glen W. Hurlston, of Vernon Parish, La., filed the suit Dec. 27 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, in Sherman.
Named as defendants are Jeffery Barnett, former police chief of Princeton, Texas, and now chief of the Kyle Police Department; Lt. Robert Mitchnik and other unnamed officers in the Princeton Police Department; and the cities of Princeton and Kyle.
According to Hurlston's complaint, his wife, Suzanne Hurlston, had an affair with Barnett for several years and bore him a son. At times, she fraudulently claimed the child was Hurlston's, the suit states.
Hurlston claims in the lawsuit that Barnett used his position as Princeton police chief to instruct other officers, including Mitchnik, to harass him.
According to the complaint, Mitchnik and other officers arrested Hurlston Jan. 1, 2012, on a charge of domestic abuse battery "without substantial evidence."
The charge was later reduced to a minor misdemeanor, to which Hurlston pleaded no contest, the suit states.
Hurlston claims he wouldn't have been arrested if it hadn't been for his wife's relationship with Princeton officers and their former chief.
Barnett, who left Princeton in May 2011 to become chief in Kyle, said the Kyle city attorney had advised him not to comment on the litigation because he had not yet been served with the suit.
In the complaint, Hurlston said the Princeton police department's harassment over the next year included numerous threats that he would be arrested if he "showed his face" in Collin County, for telephoning and texting his wife and her new boyfriend.
As for his wife, Hurlston's complaint states that she has "waxed hot and cold" since January 2012, going along with him as long as he provided money for her support, including paying for a photography course in Paris, France.
Hurlston is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees. He is represented by attorney James B. Doyle of Lake Charles, La.
Officials at the city of Princeton did not immediately return calls Thursday seeking comment.
Chief Jeffery Barnett apparently continued to have an affair with Dr. Glen Hurlston’s wife as he moved up from the thriving metropolis of Princeton, population 7,500, to the even more thriving metropolis of Kyle, population 31,000.
FEDERAL LAWSUIT: TEXAS POLICE CHIEF TORMENTED MAN DURING AFFAIR WITH HIS WIFE
By Carol Christian
Houston Chronicle
January 2, 2014
A Louisiana physician who claims he endured police harassment while his wife was having an affair with a Texas police chief is suing a group of officials in federal court.
Dr. Glen W. Hurlston, of Vernon Parish, La., filed the suit Dec. 27 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, in Sherman.
Named as defendants are Jeffery Barnett, former police chief of Princeton, Texas, and now chief of the Kyle Police Department; Lt. Robert Mitchnik and other unnamed officers in the Princeton Police Department; and the cities of Princeton and Kyle.
According to Hurlston's complaint, his wife, Suzanne Hurlston, had an affair with Barnett for several years and bore him a son. At times, she fraudulently claimed the child was Hurlston's, the suit states.
Hurlston claims in the lawsuit that Barnett used his position as Princeton police chief to instruct other officers, including Mitchnik, to harass him.
According to the complaint, Mitchnik and other officers arrested Hurlston Jan. 1, 2012, on a charge of domestic abuse battery "without substantial evidence."
The charge was later reduced to a minor misdemeanor, to which Hurlston pleaded no contest, the suit states.
Hurlston claims he wouldn't have been arrested if it hadn't been for his wife's relationship with Princeton officers and their former chief.
Barnett, who left Princeton in May 2011 to become chief in Kyle, said the Kyle city attorney had advised him not to comment on the litigation because he had not yet been served with the suit.
In the complaint, Hurlston said the Princeton police department's harassment over the next year included numerous threats that he would be arrested if he "showed his face" in Collin County, for telephoning and texting his wife and her new boyfriend.
As for his wife, Hurlston's complaint states that she has "waxed hot and cold" since January 2012, going along with him as long as he provided money for her support, including paying for a photography course in Paris, France.
Hurlston is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees. He is represented by attorney James B. Doyle of Lake Charles, La.
Officials at the city of Princeton did not immediately return calls Thursday seeking comment.
Friday, January 03, 2014
‘QUAN JUE’: EXECUTION BY DOGS
A Chinese newspaper reports that Kim Jong-Un had his uncle mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs
Hong Kong's Chinese government affiliated newspaper Wen Wei Po has reported that North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un had his uncle Jang Song-Thaek and five close aids executed by throwing them naked into a cage containing a pack of 120 wild dogs which had been starved for three days. The paper reported that it took the dogs more than one hour to complete the task. While executions in North Korea are usually carried out by firing squad, quan jue is supposedly reserved for the most hated persons in the country.
Kim’s uncle and mentor had been tried, convicted and sentenced to death on charges of treason and corruption. The paper reported that Kim personally observed the execution along with 300 senior North Korean officials. (Shades of the Roman Colosseum.)
Now it’s no secret that the North Koreans have been known for their ruthlessness and Dear Leader Kim is sort of an oddball. However, I don’t for one minute believe that Jang met his fate at the teeth of wild dogs. 120 dogs? Bullshit! It would have taken a very sizable enclosure to house those dogs, and by the second day of starvation they would have started tearing each other apart. Shit, they probably would have mauled each other while fully fed.
This report appears to be the collaboration between a Chinese journalist’s figment of imagination and the eagerness of an editor at Wen Wei Po to print a sensational story, probably fueled by their consumption of too much rice wine. I suspect Jang was executed in the traditional North Korean style … by firing squad.
Hong Kong's Chinese government affiliated newspaper Wen Wei Po has reported that North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un had his uncle Jang Song-Thaek and five close aids executed by throwing them naked into a cage containing a pack of 120 wild dogs which had been starved for three days. The paper reported that it took the dogs more than one hour to complete the task. While executions in North Korea are usually carried out by firing squad, quan jue is supposedly reserved for the most hated persons in the country.
Kim’s uncle and mentor had been tried, convicted and sentenced to death on charges of treason and corruption. The paper reported that Kim personally observed the execution along with 300 senior North Korean officials. (Shades of the Roman Colosseum.)
Now it’s no secret that the North Koreans have been known for their ruthlessness and Dear Leader Kim is sort of an oddball. However, I don’t for one minute believe that Jang met his fate at the teeth of wild dogs. 120 dogs? Bullshit! It would have taken a very sizable enclosure to house those dogs, and by the second day of starvation they would have started tearing each other apart. Shit, they probably would have mauled each other while fully fed.
This report appears to be the collaboration between a Chinese journalist’s figment of imagination and the eagerness of an editor at Wen Wei Po to print a sensational story, probably fueled by their consumption of too much rice wine. I suspect Jang was executed in the traditional North Korean style … by firing squad.
HOSPTITALS GOUGE PAYING PATIENTS TO MAKE UP FOR BILLS NEVER PAID BY INDIGENTS OR DEADBEATS
Low Medicaid payments also account for hospitals trying to make up their losses by overcharging their paying patients. Services provided to nonpaying and Medicaid patients drive up those health insurance premiums
ASTRONOMICAL $55,000 BILL FOR APPENDICITIS OPERATION GOES VIRAL AFTER IT IS POSTED ONLINE BY PATIENT OUTRAGED AT COST OF U.S. HEALTHCARE
The bill from Sutter General Hospital included $4,500 for anesthesia and the patient was also charged $7,500 for a two-hour stay in a recovery room
By Ted Thornhill
Mail Online
January 2, 2014
A California man received a hospital bill following a straightforward appendicitis operation for so much money that it was surprising it didn’t make him unwell again.
The 20-year-old was so shocked that the operation requiring just one overnight stay at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento came to a whopping $55,000, that he posted scans of the bill on social media site Reddit.
User Zcypher wrote: ‘I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the US.
Fortunately, his insurance company footed $43,000 of the bill, but he has been left with $11,000 to pay, which he said ‘is still a ton at this time in my life’.
He described the costs of the services he received as ‘outrageous’, explaining that the recovery room he spent two hours in cost $7,500, the room and board nearly $5,000 and that they apparently used $4,500 worth of anesthesia on him.
According to Healthcare Blue Book, a fair price for the whole procedure would have been $10,091, with anesthesia costing just $724.
The site, which is designed to help users look up the fair market cash price for thousands of medical procedures, recommends that patients shop for the best possible price.
It explains: ‘The Blue Book price is based on the typical fee that providers in your area accept as payment from insurance companies. This is the price you should have to pay, even if your provider charges more. You can use this price to negotiate with your provider or shop for an in-network provider that charges a Fair Price.’
The NHS website describes the procedure to remove the appendix, a small tube near the colon, as ‘one of the most common operations, and its success rate is excellent’.
A Sutter General spokesman told ABC News that billing is complicated and that it has advisers on hand to help patients comprehend them.
ASTRONOMICAL $55,000 BILL FOR APPENDICITIS OPERATION GOES VIRAL AFTER IT IS POSTED ONLINE BY PATIENT OUTRAGED AT COST OF U.S. HEALTHCARE
The bill from Sutter General Hospital included $4,500 for anesthesia and the patient was also charged $7,500 for a two-hour stay in a recovery room
By Ted Thornhill
Mail Online
January 2, 2014
A California man received a hospital bill following a straightforward appendicitis operation for so much money that it was surprising it didn’t make him unwell again.
The 20-year-old was so shocked that the operation requiring just one overnight stay at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento came to a whopping $55,000, that he posted scans of the bill on social media site Reddit.
User Zcypher wrote: ‘I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the US.
Fortunately, his insurance company footed $43,000 of the bill, but he has been left with $11,000 to pay, which he said ‘is still a ton at this time in my life’.
He described the costs of the services he received as ‘outrageous’, explaining that the recovery room he spent two hours in cost $7,500, the room and board nearly $5,000 and that they apparently used $4,500 worth of anesthesia on him.
According to Healthcare Blue Book, a fair price for the whole procedure would have been $10,091, with anesthesia costing just $724.
The site, which is designed to help users look up the fair market cash price for thousands of medical procedures, recommends that patients shop for the best possible price.
It explains: ‘The Blue Book price is based on the typical fee that providers in your area accept as payment from insurance companies. This is the price you should have to pay, even if your provider charges more. You can use this price to negotiate with your provider or shop for an in-network provider that charges a Fair Price.’
The NHS website describes the procedure to remove the appendix, a small tube near the colon, as ‘one of the most common operations, and its success rate is excellent’.
A Sutter General spokesman told ABC News that billing is complicated and that it has advisers on hand to help patients comprehend them.
KERRY PRESSURES NETANYAHU TO RELEASE MORE PALESTINIAN TERRORIST PRISONERS WHO, IF FREED, WILL CARRY OUT MORE ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAEL
The Obama Administration doesn’t have the foggiest idea, or just plain does not care, about the deadly threat posed to Israelis by the Palestinian prisoners it is pressuring Netanyahu to release.
NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF FREED PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS RETURN TO FIGHT
By Joel Himelfarb
Newsmax
January 2, 2014
Although nearly half of the 13,000 terrorists Israel has released since 1985 have returned to the battlefield, Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing Israel to free more imprisoned militants in the hope of bolstering Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Israel Hayom reported.
Israeli authorities say the high terrorist recidivism rate is because many of those released have long had a strong ideological belief in violence, and that this is reinforced by a culture of officially sanctioned anti-Israel incitement in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Earlier this month, for example, terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis received certificates of citation at a cultural event hosted by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
They were released from prison several months ago, according to veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, author of the Israel Hayom piece.
Footage of the event depicts a gun battle in which members of Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah organization unite to kill a group of “Israelis” opposing them.
Many Israelis who oppose further prisoner releases cite the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner deal in which a kidnapped Israeli soldier was freed in exchange for about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
During the last two years, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has intercepted at least 80 attempted terrorist attacks in the West Bank that were masterminded by Gaza-based Hamas operatives freed in the Shalit deal.
One individual involved in these operations was Omar Abu-Sneina, who mailed a computer disk drive from Gaza to his family in the West Bank with detailed instructions on carrying out a kidnapping.
The Shin Bet intercepted the mailing.
Even as Washington has urged Israel to free additional prisoners with Israeli blood on their hands, it unsuccessfully opposed the Israeli government’s decision to release Othman Omar Mustafa, a Palestinian convicted of the 1989 murder of Frederick Steven Rosenfeld, a former Marine and U.S. citizen, according to Israel Hayom.
Rosenfeld was stabbed to death by Mustafa and two other men who befriended him as he hiked near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, the Daily Beast reported.
NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF FREED PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS RETURN TO FIGHT
By Joel Himelfarb
Newsmax
January 2, 2014
Although nearly half of the 13,000 terrorists Israel has released since 1985 have returned to the battlefield, Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing Israel to free more imprisoned militants in the hope of bolstering Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Israel Hayom reported.
Israeli authorities say the high terrorist recidivism rate is because many of those released have long had a strong ideological belief in violence, and that this is reinforced by a culture of officially sanctioned anti-Israel incitement in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Earlier this month, for example, terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis received certificates of citation at a cultural event hosted by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
They were released from prison several months ago, according to veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, author of the Israel Hayom piece.
Footage of the event depicts a gun battle in which members of Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah organization unite to kill a group of “Israelis” opposing them.
Many Israelis who oppose further prisoner releases cite the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner deal in which a kidnapped Israeli soldier was freed in exchange for about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
During the last two years, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has intercepted at least 80 attempted terrorist attacks in the West Bank that were masterminded by Gaza-based Hamas operatives freed in the Shalit deal.
One individual involved in these operations was Omar Abu-Sneina, who mailed a computer disk drive from Gaza to his family in the West Bank with detailed instructions on carrying out a kidnapping.
The Shin Bet intercepted the mailing.
Even as Washington has urged Israel to free additional prisoners with Israeli blood on their hands, it unsuccessfully opposed the Israeli government’s decision to release Othman Omar Mustafa, a Palestinian convicted of the 1989 murder of Frederick Steven Rosenfeld, a former Marine and U.S. citizen, according to Israel Hayom.
Rosenfeld was stabbed to death by Mustafa and two other men who befriended him as he hiked near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, the Daily Beast reported.
PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL THREATENS TO HAUL ISRAEL BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat blames Israel for failing peace negotiations
The Palestinians are in the driver’s seat because Israel is under great pressure from the Obama Administration and the international community to make suicidal concessions to the Palestinians who have vowed time and time again to obliterate the Jewish state. On the other hand, there has been hardly any pressure on the Palestinians to make any concessions, and they know that whatever they do, they have the support of the international community which will blame Israel if the peace talks fail.
NETANYAHU TO KERRY: DOUBTS SWELL OVER PALESTINIAN PEACE COMMITMENT
Thomson/Reuters
January 2, 2013
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday that doubts about the Palestinians' commitment to peace are mounting in Israel.
"There is growing doubt in Israel that the Palestinians are committed to peace," Netanyahu said, with Kerry at his side, at the start of their talks in Jerusalem.
Kerry arrived in Israel Thursday in his latest bid to re-energize peace negotiations and find scarce common ground between pessimistic Israeli and Palestinian officials.
His visit, the 10th to the region in under a year, aims to lay the foundations of a "framework agreement" that addresses the core issues of the decades-old conflict and open the way for an independent Palestine, according to U.S. officials.
But on the question of borders, security, refugees, and the status of Jerusalem, leaders from both sides have sounded far apart this week.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin on Thursday rejected the creation of a Palestinian state based on the lines pre-dating the 1967 Six Day War, in which Israel captured and occupied Gaza, east Jerusalem, and the West Bank.
"The Jordan Valley must be under Israeli sovereignty forever," he said, referring to the border area with Jordan, from which Palestinians want a full Israeli withdrawal.
"The 1967 borders are Auschwitz borders," Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying, suggesting that any such move would lead to the destruction of Israel.
On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas renewed a call for all Israeli settlers and soldiers within the 1967 lines to be evacuated, saying he would not hesitate to reject a bad deal.
"We will say "yes" to any ideas suggested to us which meet our rights. But we will not fear and will not hesitate for a moment . . . to say "no," whatever the pressure, to any proposal which detracts from or doesn't fulfill the higher national interests of our people," he said in a speech.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat last month said a framework agreement could allow the talks to be continued for another year. However, earlier this week, he said the U.S.-brokered talks were "failing" and threatened to haul Israel before the International Criminal Court.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a senior U.S. State Department official said Kerry was not expecting a breakthrough during his latest visit, when he is due to see Netanyahu and Abbas separately on several occasions.
The official, who declined to be named, said an eventual framework accord would act as a guideline for reaching a full peace treaty by the end of April.
The Palestinians are in the driver’s seat because Israel is under great pressure from the Obama Administration and the international community to make suicidal concessions to the Palestinians who have vowed time and time again to obliterate the Jewish state. On the other hand, there has been hardly any pressure on the Palestinians to make any concessions, and they know that whatever they do, they have the support of the international community which will blame Israel if the peace talks fail.
NETANYAHU TO KERRY: DOUBTS SWELL OVER PALESTINIAN PEACE COMMITMENT
Thomson/Reuters
January 2, 2013
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday that doubts about the Palestinians' commitment to peace are mounting in Israel.
"There is growing doubt in Israel that the Palestinians are committed to peace," Netanyahu said, with Kerry at his side, at the start of their talks in Jerusalem.
Kerry arrived in Israel Thursday in his latest bid to re-energize peace negotiations and find scarce common ground between pessimistic Israeli and Palestinian officials.
His visit, the 10th to the region in under a year, aims to lay the foundations of a "framework agreement" that addresses the core issues of the decades-old conflict and open the way for an independent Palestine, according to U.S. officials.
But on the question of borders, security, refugees, and the status of Jerusalem, leaders from both sides have sounded far apart this week.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin on Thursday rejected the creation of a Palestinian state based on the lines pre-dating the 1967 Six Day War, in which Israel captured and occupied Gaza, east Jerusalem, and the West Bank.
"The Jordan Valley must be under Israeli sovereignty forever," he said, referring to the border area with Jordan, from which Palestinians want a full Israeli withdrawal.
"The 1967 borders are Auschwitz borders," Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying, suggesting that any such move would lead to the destruction of Israel.
On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas renewed a call for all Israeli settlers and soldiers within the 1967 lines to be evacuated, saying he would not hesitate to reject a bad deal.
"We will say "yes" to any ideas suggested to us which meet our rights. But we will not fear and will not hesitate for a moment . . . to say "no," whatever the pressure, to any proposal which detracts from or doesn't fulfill the higher national interests of our people," he said in a speech.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat last month said a framework agreement could allow the talks to be continued for another year. However, earlier this week, he said the U.S.-brokered talks were "failing" and threatened to haul Israel before the International Criminal Court.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, a senior U.S. State Department official said Kerry was not expecting a breakthrough during his latest visit, when he is due to see Netanyahu and Abbas separately on several occasions.
The official, who declined to be named, said an eventual framework accord would act as a guideline for reaching a full peace treaty by the end of April.
LESBIAN’S ATTEMPT TO PUT THE MAKE ON A FEMALE PARTY GUEST LEADS TO A FIST-PUNCHING, NAIL-CLAWING AND TOE-BITING CAT FIGHT WITH THE FEMALE PARTY HOST
And I’ve always believed this type of cat fight would break out at a New Year’s Eve party in rough-and-tumble Texas, rather than at a party in sophisticated Boston.
WOMAN’S TOE BITTEN OFF AT NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY
By Jennifer Smith
The Boston Globe
January 2, 2014
A woman’s toe was bitten off during a fight at a raucous New Year’s Eve party in Dorchester, police said.
At about 5 a.m. Wednesday, officers received a call from Boston Medical Center reporting an assault and battery. The victim, whose name was not released, was attending a friend’s party when a fight broke out around 3 a.m., said Nicole Grant, Boston police spokeswoman.
The fight started after a victim approached a girl at the party and asked if she would like to “hook up,” the victim told police, according to Grant. The girl’s boyfriend was reportedly upset at the suggestion, grabbed the victim’s neck, and forcefully pulled her hair back. He eventually released her after she continuously yelled at him to let go.
Shaken, the woman told the host what happened, she told police, but her friend did not believe the story and accused her of ruining the party. The victim told police that the host then assaulted her, punching her until other guests pulled them apart, Grant said.
The victim said she grabbed her belongings and fled the house, but the party host attacked her again outside.
The two women fell to the ground, with the victim on top of her friend, according to her account. They fought until they were separated once more, at which point the host grabbed the victim’s left foot and bit off her left little toe.
Another friend of the victim drove her to Boston Medical Center. There were scratches on both of the victim’s arms, her forehead, and over her neck and chest, Grant said. Detectives are investigating the incident, Grant said.
WOMAN’S TOE BITTEN OFF AT NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY
By Jennifer Smith
The Boston Globe
January 2, 2014
A woman’s toe was bitten off during a fight at a raucous New Year’s Eve party in Dorchester, police said.
At about 5 a.m. Wednesday, officers received a call from Boston Medical Center reporting an assault and battery. The victim, whose name was not released, was attending a friend’s party when a fight broke out around 3 a.m., said Nicole Grant, Boston police spokeswoman.
The fight started after a victim approached a girl at the party and asked if she would like to “hook up,” the victim told police, according to Grant. The girl’s boyfriend was reportedly upset at the suggestion, grabbed the victim’s neck, and forcefully pulled her hair back. He eventually released her after she continuously yelled at him to let go.
Shaken, the woman told the host what happened, she told police, but her friend did not believe the story and accused her of ruining the party. The victim told police that the host then assaulted her, punching her until other guests pulled them apart, Grant said.
The victim said she grabbed her belongings and fled the house, but the party host attacked her again outside.
The two women fell to the ground, with the victim on top of her friend, according to her account. They fought until they were separated once more, at which point the host grabbed the victim’s left foot and bit off her left little toe.
Another friend of the victim drove her to Boston Medical Center. There were scratches on both of the victim’s arms, her forehead, and over her neck and chest, Grant said. Detectives are investigating the incident, Grant said.
Thursday, January 02, 2014
AS HEAD OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IS CHARGED WITH ENFORCING FEDERAL LAWS
Colorado and Washington’s legalization of marijuana for recreational use flies in the face of the federal laws enacted in 1937 which prohibit the manufacture, distribution, sales and possession of pot
The legalization of pot for recreational purposes goes into effect in Colorado on the first day of 2014. 136 pot shops, 102 of them in Denver, along with 178 pot plantations and 31 manufacturers of products containing marijuana have been licensed by the state. Washington’s version of recreational pot use will go into effect in mid-2014.
As U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder heads the U.S. Department of Justice. This is how President Obama’s White House website describes the mission of the Justice Department: “The mission of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is to enforce the law …..”
And here is the last part of the Oath of Office that Eric Holder took when he was sworn in as the Attorney General of the United States: "….. and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
Thus, as head of the Justice Department, the Attorney General is charged with enforcing federal laws, and that includes the laws prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, sales and possession of marijuana.
The Huffington Post and other media outlets have reported that Holder telephoned the governors of Colorado and Washington on August 29 and told them that the Justice Department would permit their states to put into effect the ballot initiatives that legalized the use of pot.
The DEA and FBI have been ordered not interfere with the medical marijuana laws passed by 19 states, even though those laws clearly violate the federal prohibition against marijuana. If Holder keeps the DEA and FBI from enforcing the federal laws against marijuana in Colorado and Washington, he will be preventing those law enforcement agencies from carrying out the mission of the Justice Department, thereby violating his oath of office. That would seem to offer Congress a strong case for the impeachment of Eric Holder.
The legalization of pot for recreational purposes goes into effect in Colorado on the first day of 2014. 136 pot shops, 102 of them in Denver, along with 178 pot plantations and 31 manufacturers of products containing marijuana have been licensed by the state. Washington’s version of recreational pot use will go into effect in mid-2014.
As U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder heads the U.S. Department of Justice. This is how President Obama’s White House website describes the mission of the Justice Department: “The mission of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is to enforce the law …..”
And here is the last part of the Oath of Office that Eric Holder took when he was sworn in as the Attorney General of the United States: "….. and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
Thus, as head of the Justice Department, the Attorney General is charged with enforcing federal laws, and that includes the laws prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, sales and possession of marijuana.
The Huffington Post and other media outlets have reported that Holder telephoned the governors of Colorado and Washington on August 29 and told them that the Justice Department would permit their states to put into effect the ballot initiatives that legalized the use of pot.
The DEA and FBI have been ordered not interfere with the medical marijuana laws passed by 19 states, even though those laws clearly violate the federal prohibition against marijuana. If Holder keeps the DEA and FBI from enforcing the federal laws against marijuana in Colorado and Washington, he will be preventing those law enforcement agencies from carrying out the mission of the Justice Department, thereby violating his oath of office. That would seem to offer Congress a strong case for the impeachment of Eric Holder.
NEW MAYOR SHOOTS DOWN AR-15 WEAPONS FOR BOSTON COPS
Marty Walsh, Boston’s incoming Democratic mayor, does not see anything good in arming the city’s cops with AR-15s. A typical liberal, he fears the police might hurt someone if armed with military-style rifles.
WALSH SHOOTS DOWN RIFLE PLAN
Won’t arm cops with military-style weapons
By Antonio Planas
Boston Herald
December 29, 2013
Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh is shooting down the plan to arm some Boston patrol officers with military-style rifles — setting up a potential showdown with the department which has backed the controversial measure, citing a need for high-powered weapons in light of school shootings and the marathon bombings.
“Mayor-elect Walsh is opposed to the AR-15 rifles,” his spokeswoman Kathryn Norton said in a short statement yesterday. “Unless otherwise convinced by the Boston Police Department, he does not think they are necessary.”
Walsh would have to approve a budget for 33 AR-15 rifles at a cost of $2,500 each. Police were in the planning phases of acquiring the rifles to put in the cruisers of two specially trained beat cops in each of the city’s 11 districts.
Thomas Nolan, a former BPD lieutenant and now a criminal justice professor at the State University of New York, said Walsh is making the right decision because arming beat cops with high-powered rifles is counterproductive to establishing trust with residents. He noted firing a round from an AR-15 can launch a bullet two miles.
“If the cops have these machine guns, they’re going to use them,” Nolan said. “Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get killed, an innocent bystander is going to get caught in the crossfire and there is going to be a tragic result,” he said.
But a veteran officer who asked not to be named said he was disappointed Walsh wouldn’t back the purchase of the AR-15s, saying the weapons are needed to make sure cops aren’t outgunned.
“It gives you at least a fighting chance if you go into something where suspects have more firepower than you,” he said.
Boston police spokesman Sgt. Mike McCarthy had said the plan to buy the guns and arm officers was in the works before the marathon bombings and was motivated by a nationwide surge in massacres such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., when suspects are still armed and shooting.
The use of the weapons, he said, would be strictly regulated and would not be used during routine patrol. Use of the weapons could include an active-shooter incident, firing on a suspect from a distance and confronting a suspect wearing body armor.
WALSH SHOOTS DOWN RIFLE PLAN
Won’t arm cops with military-style weapons
By Antonio Planas
Boston Herald
December 29, 2013
Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh is shooting down the plan to arm some Boston patrol officers with military-style rifles — setting up a potential showdown with the department which has backed the controversial measure, citing a need for high-powered weapons in light of school shootings and the marathon bombings.
“Mayor-elect Walsh is opposed to the AR-15 rifles,” his spokeswoman Kathryn Norton said in a short statement yesterday. “Unless otherwise convinced by the Boston Police Department, he does not think they are necessary.”
Walsh would have to approve a budget for 33 AR-15 rifles at a cost of $2,500 each. Police were in the planning phases of acquiring the rifles to put in the cruisers of two specially trained beat cops in each of the city’s 11 districts.
Thomas Nolan, a former BPD lieutenant and now a criminal justice professor at the State University of New York, said Walsh is making the right decision because arming beat cops with high-powered rifles is counterproductive to establishing trust with residents. He noted firing a round from an AR-15 can launch a bullet two miles.
“If the cops have these machine guns, they’re going to use them,” Nolan said. “Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get killed, an innocent bystander is going to get caught in the crossfire and there is going to be a tragic result,” he said.
But a veteran officer who asked not to be named said he was disappointed Walsh wouldn’t back the purchase of the AR-15s, saying the weapons are needed to make sure cops aren’t outgunned.
“It gives you at least a fighting chance if you go into something where suspects have more firepower than you,” he said.
Boston police spokesman Sgt. Mike McCarthy had said the plan to buy the guns and arm officers was in the works before the marathon bombings and was motivated by a nationwide surge in massacres such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., when suspects are still armed and shooting.
The use of the weapons, he said, would be strictly regulated and would not be used during routine patrol. Use of the weapons could include an active-shooter incident, firing on a suspect from a distance and confronting a suspect wearing body armor.
DISGUISED AS A PRIEST, A VULTURE JOURNALIST ATTEMPTS TO SNEAK INTO CRITICALLY INJURED MICHAEL SHUMACHER’S HOSPITAL ROOM
Michael Schumacher, arguably the greatest driver in Formula 1 racing history, crashed head-first into a rock Sunday while skiing with his 14-year-old son in the French Alpine resort of Meribel. Schumacher hit a boulder that was hidden by snow and was catapulted into a rock with such force that it split his helmet in half. A helicopter flew him to a local hospital and then to the Grenoble University Hospital where surgeons performed two brain surgeries on the unlucky skier.
Schumacher has been placed in a medically-induced coma and remains in critical condition, showing some improvement, but with an uncertain prognosis.
It has now been revealed that a scumbag journalist was caught attempting to sneak into Schumacher’s hospital room disguised as a priest. You can’t sink any lower than that. This vulture ought to be horsewhipped to within an inch of his life. Here is the Daily Mail’s report on the incident:
It emerged yesterday [Monday] that a cynical journalist tried to take advantage of the Schumacher family's spiritual beliefs by disguising himself as a priest in an attempt to gain access to Schumacher.
The journalist, who has not been identified, was stopped before reaching intensive care and was removed from the Grenoble University Hospital.
Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said: 'Apparently a journalist dressed as a priest had tried to gain access to Michael’s room. I would not have ever imagined something like this could happen.'
Schumacher has been placed in a medically-induced coma and remains in critical condition, showing some improvement, but with an uncertain prognosis.
It has now been revealed that a scumbag journalist was caught attempting to sneak into Schumacher’s hospital room disguised as a priest. You can’t sink any lower than that. This vulture ought to be horsewhipped to within an inch of his life. Here is the Daily Mail’s report on the incident:
It emerged yesterday [Monday] that a cynical journalist tried to take advantage of the Schumacher family's spiritual beliefs by disguising himself as a priest in an attempt to gain access to Schumacher.
The journalist, who has not been identified, was stopped before reaching intensive care and was removed from the Grenoble University Hospital.
Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said: 'Apparently a journalist dressed as a priest had tried to gain access to Michael’s room. I would not have ever imagined something like this could happen.'
THE AMERICANS WITH NO ABILITIES ACT (ANAA)
The Unconventional Gazette
January 1, 2014
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Senate are considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many more Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.
"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."
In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons with No Ability (63 percent).
Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.
Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability (POI) into middle-management positions, and give a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.
Finally, the Americans With No Abilities Act contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"
"As a non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. "This new law should be real good for people like me. I'll finally have job security." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other lazy untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said: "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a great salary for doing so."
Senators Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin are cosponsoring the ANAA legislation in the Senate, while Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee are cosponsoring it in the House, all with the strong backing of President Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Governors Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York, Mayors Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Bill de Blasio of New York, as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
January 1, 2014
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Senate are considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many more Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.
"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."
In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons with No Ability (63 percent).
Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.
Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability (POI) into middle-management positions, and give a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.
Finally, the Americans With No Abilities Act contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"
"As a non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. "This new law should be real good for people like me. I'll finally have job security." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other lazy untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said: "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a great salary for doing so."
Senators Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin are cosponsoring the ANAA legislation in the Senate, while Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee are cosponsoring it in the House, all with the strong backing of President Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Governors Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York, Mayors Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Bill de Blasio of New York, as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
THOSE HEFTY COURT ORDERED FINES AND RESTITUTION PAYMENTS
The common criminal does not have the means to pay those fines and make restitution to his victims, nor is he likely to afford child support payments for the children from a prior relationship if he is trying to support a wife and two or three kids
When sentencing a convicted felon to prison, judges will often order that in addition to his time in prison, he shall pay a fine of $10,000, $20,000 or more and make restitution for the losses suffered by his victims.
Let’s get real. At the time criminals are busted, most of them are in no position to pay those hefty fines or to make restitution. So, if some slob was not in a position to pay a fine or make restitution then, what makes anyone think they could do so when they are released from prison. I recall that most of my parolees were married with children and were barely able to provide support for their families, much less pay a fine or make restitution. And if they had to pay child support for children from a previous relationship, how in the hell would they be able to do that???
Court imposition of those fines and restitution is a feel-good farce and the judges have to know that you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.
And speaking of deadbeat dads, some are true deadbeats, but others are unable to make those child support payments because they simply do not have the means to do so.
The average convenience store robbery take is less than $900. The average bank robbery yields only a few thousand dollars. Although a burglar may steal TV sets, computers and other electronic gear from a house that his victim paid thousands of dollars for, he will realize only about 10 percent of that amount when disposing of his loot. In any case, the ill begotten robbery and burglary gains will not enable a parolee who is trying to support a wife and two or three kids to pay the fines and restitutions ordered by the courts or to make child support payments for the children from a prior relationship.
If the courts or parole officials were to insist that those court ordered fines, restitution and/or child support payments be made, they would likely drive the parolee to commit the one crime that is truly profitable … the sales of illegal drugs like pot, heroin, coke and meth. But if the parolee chooses not commit any crimes to raise money for those payments, he will be returned to prison as a parole violator for failure to obey a court order.
In either case, I don’t think that’s what the public wants.
When sentencing a convicted felon to prison, judges will often order that in addition to his time in prison, he shall pay a fine of $10,000, $20,000 or more and make restitution for the losses suffered by his victims.
Let’s get real. At the time criminals are busted, most of them are in no position to pay those hefty fines or to make restitution. So, if some slob was not in a position to pay a fine or make restitution then, what makes anyone think they could do so when they are released from prison. I recall that most of my parolees were married with children and were barely able to provide support for their families, much less pay a fine or make restitution. And if they had to pay child support for children from a previous relationship, how in the hell would they be able to do that???
Court imposition of those fines and restitution is a feel-good farce and the judges have to know that you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.
And speaking of deadbeat dads, some are true deadbeats, but others are unable to make those child support payments because they simply do not have the means to do so.
The average convenience store robbery take is less than $900. The average bank robbery yields only a few thousand dollars. Although a burglar may steal TV sets, computers and other electronic gear from a house that his victim paid thousands of dollars for, he will realize only about 10 percent of that amount when disposing of his loot. In any case, the ill begotten robbery and burglary gains will not enable a parolee who is trying to support a wife and two or three kids to pay the fines and restitutions ordered by the courts or to make child support payments for the children from a prior relationship.
If the courts or parole officials were to insist that those court ordered fines, restitution and/or child support payments be made, they would likely drive the parolee to commit the one crime that is truly profitable … the sales of illegal drugs like pot, heroin, coke and meth. But if the parolee chooses not commit any crimes to raise money for those payments, he will be returned to prison as a parole violator for failure to obey a court order.
In either case, I don’t think that’s what the public wants.
TEXAS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE WENDY DAVIS CONFIRMS THAT THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LAWYER AND A LIAR IS THE SPELLING
State Senator Wendy Davis is expected to be the Democratic nominee for Governor in the 2014 statewide election. The Republicans have dug up an old lawsuit Davis filed against the Fort Worth Star-Telegram way back in 1997 for libeling and defaming her and causing her emotional distress. A judge granted a defense motion to dismiss the suit. Davis lost her appeal of the dismissal in 2000.
Some Republicans plan to point out that “the best candidate the Texas Democrats could find to run is a lady who admits in open court that a newspaper editorial caused her mental health to be damaged.” Others plan to call her a “thin-skinned, liberal trial lawyer who is antagonistic toward freedom of speech.”
In her lawsuit, Davis accused the newspaper of running “a series of contrived and false news stories and editorials with malicious intent” and that because of the Star-Telegram’s “defamatory and libelous” statements, she “has suffered and is continuing to suffer damages to her mental health …..”
While Davis refuses to comment on the “ugliness” of the Republicans’ campaign tactics about her mental health, her campaign spokesman, Bo Delp, dismissed the mental health issue by declaring, “That 20-year-old lawsuit used standard lawyer language.”
Standard lawyer language, according to Delp, is not to be taken seriously. In other words, standard lawyer language can be defined as nothing more than a pack of lies. Thus Wendy Davis, through her spokesman, confirms that the only difference between a lawyer and a liar is the spelling.
Some Republicans plan to point out that “the best candidate the Texas Democrats could find to run is a lady who admits in open court that a newspaper editorial caused her mental health to be damaged.” Others plan to call her a “thin-skinned, liberal trial lawyer who is antagonistic toward freedom of speech.”
In her lawsuit, Davis accused the newspaper of running “a series of contrived and false news stories and editorials with malicious intent” and that because of the Star-Telegram’s “defamatory and libelous” statements, she “has suffered and is continuing to suffer damages to her mental health …..”
While Davis refuses to comment on the “ugliness” of the Republicans’ campaign tactics about her mental health, her campaign spokesman, Bo Delp, dismissed the mental health issue by declaring, “That 20-year-old lawsuit used standard lawyer language.”
Standard lawyer language, according to Delp, is not to be taken seriously. In other words, standard lawyer language can be defined as nothing more than a pack of lies. Thus Wendy Davis, through her spokesman, confirms that the only difference between a lawyer and a liar is the spelling.
MILWAUKEE COPS CONVICTED IN SPREE OF ILLEGAL BODY CAVITY SEARCHES
Three dumb cops stood by and did nothing to stop Officer Michael Vagnini from conducting a series of illegal body cavity searches. Now their police careers are over and done with.
WHITE EX-MILWAUKEE COPS SLAPPED WITH $300 FINES FOR STRING OF ILLEGAL CAVITY PROBES INFLICTED ON BLACK DRUG SUSPECTS
The string of assaults lasted two years and some victims were probed so hard they bled
By Eddie Wrenn
Mail Online
December 31, 2013
Two white ex-Milwaukee police officers have been given $300 fines for their roles in a sordid string of illegal anal cavity probes inflicted on male suspects, all of whom were black.
Six months after ringleader Michael Vagnini was sentenced to just 26 months in prison for the crimes, Jeffrey Dollhopf and Brian Kozelek were given the small fine and ordered to perform 100 hours and 20 hours respectively of community service.
Both officers pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct as a party to the crime in October and quit the police department in early December as part of a plea agreement.
The pair were facing a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail but their attorneys stressed that neither were ever charged with ordering or conducting the strip searches. They were, however, present when the grim probes took place.
According to the Journal Sentinel, prosecutors said in the proceedings that the two men should have acted to stop Vagnini, who been sentenced to just over two years in prison.
Vagnini, who is also white, pleaded no contest to four felonies and four misdemeanors for inflicting abhorrently invasive cavity searches on dozens of male drug suspects.
A fourth officer, Jacob Knight, took a plea deal in which he agreed to resign from the department and was sentenced in October to 20 days in jail, 60 hours of community service and a $300 fine.
According to The Journal Sentinel, one victim said that an officer put a gun to his head while Vagnini administered a choke hold, touched his scrotum and put his fingers in his anus. Another man was probed so violently that he bled, a court heard.
Wisconsin law clearly prohibits police officers from administering cavity searches. Only medical professionals may do so, and only when authorized by a warrant.
But Vagnini even conducted the illegal search a 15-year-old boy, touching his anus and genitals during a traffic stop in December of 2011. The JS documented at least a dozen similar instances of Vagnini performing invasive, illegal searches on black men.
The assaults happened over two years, according to a criminal complaint.
The victims, identified only by their initials, told prosecutors the officers searched them between February 2010 and February 2012.
Prosecutors say the stories are strikingly similar: The men allege that Vagnini stopped them, placed his hand down their pants and probed their anus or shifted their genitals, saying he was looking for drugs.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm charged Vagnini with 25 counts, including conducting an illegal strip search, misconduct in office, sexual assault and conducting an illegal body cavity search.
One of the victims testified under oath that officers stopped him in July 2011.
Vagnini pinched his anus, causing him to yell out 'Man, what are you doing? Don't touch me like that! You can't be doing that!' Vagnini replied with words to the effect of 'Be a man and give it up.'
Vagnini took the man to a room in a district police station, throwing a box in the room and told him if he defecated once in the box he would let him go.
The man tried to comply, investigators said in the complaint, but couldn't and was released with a ticket for driving with a suspended license.
Officers Dollhopf and Kozelek were in the room but did nothing to stop the proceedings and didn't report Vagnini to a supervisor, the complaint said.
A similar scenario allegedly took place that September, when Vagnini took a man he stopped to a room in the same police station after saying 'I want to see what he's got in his butt.'
He allegedly inserted his finger into the man's anus, prompting the man to call out 'This ain't right! Call my attorney!'
Vagnini then told the man to get the drugs out on his own, gave him a garbage can and had the man push the drugs out and place them into the can.
The complaint did not specify what type of drugs the man was hiding but said Dollhopf and Officer Jacob Knight were in the room and didn't try to stop Vagnini or report him.
Another victim testified that, in February, Vagnini saw him coming out of his aunt's house, cuffed him, and then searched his anus.
When the man tried to pull away, Vagnini put him in a chokehold. Two officers held his arms and one pressed a gun to his head, the victim said.
Chief Edward Flynn is under fire following the abhorrent scandal.
He told reporters at the time: 'Quite frankly I'm disgusted by the willful action of some of the officers of our police department.
'And I'm appalled by the willful inaction of some other officers in our police department in failing to stop egregious conduct. There's no justification for this.'
WHITE EX-MILWAUKEE COPS SLAPPED WITH $300 FINES FOR STRING OF ILLEGAL CAVITY PROBES INFLICTED ON BLACK DRUG SUSPECTS
The string of assaults lasted two years and some victims were probed so hard they bled
By Eddie Wrenn
Mail Online
December 31, 2013
Two white ex-Milwaukee police officers have been given $300 fines for their roles in a sordid string of illegal anal cavity probes inflicted on male suspects, all of whom were black.
Six months after ringleader Michael Vagnini was sentenced to just 26 months in prison for the crimes, Jeffrey Dollhopf and Brian Kozelek were given the small fine and ordered to perform 100 hours and 20 hours respectively of community service.
Both officers pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct as a party to the crime in October and quit the police department in early December as part of a plea agreement.
The pair were facing a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail but their attorneys stressed that neither were ever charged with ordering or conducting the strip searches. They were, however, present when the grim probes took place.
According to the Journal Sentinel, prosecutors said in the proceedings that the two men should have acted to stop Vagnini, who been sentenced to just over two years in prison.
Vagnini, who is also white, pleaded no contest to four felonies and four misdemeanors for inflicting abhorrently invasive cavity searches on dozens of male drug suspects.
A fourth officer, Jacob Knight, took a plea deal in which he agreed to resign from the department and was sentenced in October to 20 days in jail, 60 hours of community service and a $300 fine.
According to The Journal Sentinel, one victim said that an officer put a gun to his head while Vagnini administered a choke hold, touched his scrotum and put his fingers in his anus. Another man was probed so violently that he bled, a court heard.
Wisconsin law clearly prohibits police officers from administering cavity searches. Only medical professionals may do so, and only when authorized by a warrant.
But Vagnini even conducted the illegal search a 15-year-old boy, touching his anus and genitals during a traffic stop in December of 2011. The JS documented at least a dozen similar instances of Vagnini performing invasive, illegal searches on black men.
The assaults happened over two years, according to a criminal complaint.
The victims, identified only by their initials, told prosecutors the officers searched them between February 2010 and February 2012.
Prosecutors say the stories are strikingly similar: The men allege that Vagnini stopped them, placed his hand down their pants and probed their anus or shifted their genitals, saying he was looking for drugs.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm charged Vagnini with 25 counts, including conducting an illegal strip search, misconduct in office, sexual assault and conducting an illegal body cavity search.
One of the victims testified under oath that officers stopped him in July 2011.
Vagnini pinched his anus, causing him to yell out 'Man, what are you doing? Don't touch me like that! You can't be doing that!' Vagnini replied with words to the effect of 'Be a man and give it up.'
Vagnini took the man to a room in a district police station, throwing a box in the room and told him if he defecated once in the box he would let him go.
The man tried to comply, investigators said in the complaint, but couldn't and was released with a ticket for driving with a suspended license.
Officers Dollhopf and Kozelek were in the room but did nothing to stop the proceedings and didn't report Vagnini to a supervisor, the complaint said.
A similar scenario allegedly took place that September, when Vagnini took a man he stopped to a room in the same police station after saying 'I want to see what he's got in his butt.'
He allegedly inserted his finger into the man's anus, prompting the man to call out 'This ain't right! Call my attorney!'
Vagnini then told the man to get the drugs out on his own, gave him a garbage can and had the man push the drugs out and place them into the can.
The complaint did not specify what type of drugs the man was hiding but said Dollhopf and Officer Jacob Knight were in the room and didn't try to stop Vagnini or report him.
Another victim testified that, in February, Vagnini saw him coming out of his aunt's house, cuffed him, and then searched his anus.
When the man tried to pull away, Vagnini put him in a chokehold. Two officers held his arms and one pressed a gun to his head, the victim said.
Chief Edward Flynn is under fire following the abhorrent scandal.
He told reporters at the time: 'Quite frankly I'm disgusted by the willful action of some of the officers of our police department.
'And I'm appalled by the willful inaction of some other officers in our police department in failing to stop egregious conduct. There's no justification for this.'
EVEN THOUGH FOREIGNERS THINK AMERICA IS THE BIGGEST THREAT TO PEACE, THEY WOULD LIKE TO LIVE HERE
A Gallup poll reveals that even 13 percent of Americans see the U.S. as a danger to peace.
WORLDWIDE POLL: U.S. IS BIGGEST THREAT TO PEACE
By Lisa Barron
Newsmax
December 31, 2013
The United States is considered the greatest threat to peace in the world, says WIN/Gallup International's annual global end-of-year survey.
America was named the biggest threat by 24 percent of people surveyed, followed by Pakistan with 8 percent and China with 6 percent; Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Israel were tied at 5 percent.
"The world's sometimes eager, sometimes reluctant policeman is the subject of widespread animosity. Predictable in some areas (the Middle East and North Africa), but less so in others," the BBC's world affairs correspondent, Paul Adams, said of the findings.
"In the Americas themselves, decades of U.S. meddling have left an awkward legacy. Its neighbors, Mexico (37%) and Canada (17%), clearly have issues. Even 13% of Americans see their own country as a danger," Adams said.
At the same time, though, the poll found that the United States, Canada, and Australia are the countries where most people would like to live if they could.
The survey was conducted in 63 countries during October and November using a variety of methodologies, including online, face-to-face, and computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
WORLDWIDE POLL: U.S. IS BIGGEST THREAT TO PEACE
By Lisa Barron
Newsmax
December 31, 2013
The United States is considered the greatest threat to peace in the world, says WIN/Gallup International's annual global end-of-year survey.
America was named the biggest threat by 24 percent of people surveyed, followed by Pakistan with 8 percent and China with 6 percent; Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Israel were tied at 5 percent.
"The world's sometimes eager, sometimes reluctant policeman is the subject of widespread animosity. Predictable in some areas (the Middle East and North Africa), but less so in others," the BBC's world affairs correspondent, Paul Adams, said of the findings.
"In the Americas themselves, decades of U.S. meddling have left an awkward legacy. Its neighbors, Mexico (37%) and Canada (17%), clearly have issues. Even 13% of Americans see their own country as a danger," Adams said.
At the same time, though, the poll found that the United States, Canada, and Australia are the countries where most people would like to live if they could.
The survey was conducted in 63 countries during October and November using a variety of methodologies, including online, face-to-face, and computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THIS …
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 30, 2013
Clifton Chatman, 16, had a job, but it was a fairly dangerous one. He was a stick-up man. On December 14 of this year he ended up terminally rehabilitated in the Alemany public housing complex in Bernal Heights, San Francisco.
A man was accosted by several robbers at about 2300. They took his valuables. Then one shot him in the face, even though he gave up the goods and did not resist. The bullet bounced off his head, and struck one of the robbers, young Mr. Chatman, killing him. The victim is in the hospital but is believed likely to survive.
The 16-year old in custody has not been identified by the cops. They are still searching for other suspects. Karma is truly a bitch I guess.
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 30, 2013
Clifton Chatman, 16, had a job, but it was a fairly dangerous one. He was a stick-up man. On December 14 of this year he ended up terminally rehabilitated in the Alemany public housing complex in Bernal Heights, San Francisco.
A man was accosted by several robbers at about 2300. They took his valuables. Then one shot him in the face, even though he gave up the goods and did not resist. The bullet bounced off his head, and struck one of the robbers, young Mr. Chatman, killing him. The victim is in the hospital but is believed likely to survive.
The 16-year old in custody has not been identified by the cops. They are still searching for other suspects. Karma is truly a bitch I guess.
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