Rear Admiral David Baucom loses his command after being found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and disorderly conduct for getting drunk and locking himself out of his hotel room … naked
By David Larter
Navy Times
December 8, 2015
One of the Navy's top supply officers has been fired and rebuked for drunkenness and nudity that was fueled by hard drinking at a trade conference in Florida becoming the Navy's most senior officer removed from their post this year.
Rear Adm. David Baucom was removed from his job as the director of Strategy, Policy, Capabilities, and Logistics at U.S. Transportation Command in October after an investigation into his misbehavior in April while attending the National Defense Transportation Association's Transportation Advisory Board in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
On the night of April 7, Baucom attended a dinner with about 70 conference attendees and imbibed all or part of at least eight drinks,according to an investigation released by the Navy after inquiries from Navy Times.
Baucom, 56, became so intoxicated that he was unable to stand and had to be brought by a hotel employee back to his room. Later, he was discovered wandering naked through public areas of the hotel, seeking a towel to cover himself, the investigation found.
Baucom, 56, blames his mistake of mixing alcohol and prescription medications for his lewd behavior and asked that his 34-year career not be judged on a single incident.
"After extensive medical testing and diagnoses, four doctors have stated in writing that I most probably experienced an atrial fibrillation event the evening of April 8th which caused lightheadedness, disorientation, dizziness and confusion," Baucom said in a statement provided to Navy Times. "These symptoms may last up to 24 hours. I am now being treated for those symptoms and other medical conditions.
"I have served the Navy for more than 34 years and am proud of our institution. I deeply regret my actions caused discredit to the Navy I love."
After reading the investigation, TRANSCOM decided to remove Baucom from his joint billet. Baucom was transferred to Fleet Forces Command in October. Adm. Phil Davidson, the FFC boss, found Baucom guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and disorderly conduct at a Nov. 20 admiral's mast.
The service opted to allow Baucom the opportunity to appeal his nonjudicial punishment before disclosing his removal and reprimand, the Navy's top spokeswoman said.
According to the investigation, Baucom was attending a meeting of defense transportation senior officers and executives as part of a TRANSCOM delegation.
Baucom allegedly drank at least part of a gin and tonic, two glasses of wine with dinner and a scotch after dinner at the bar. Then a group of attendees went to another bar at the center compound where he allegedly ordered four more scotch whiskeys over two hours.
During this time, at least one of his fellow attendees offered to take him back to his room, but he made clear he was not going back.
At several points in the evening, security camera footage shows Baucom stumbling, at one point hitting his head on a bar stool. At 1:30 a.m., a hotel employee drove Baucom to his room about half a mile away.
While in his room, Baucom took his clothes off, showered and got ready for the next day. He also took prescription medications, which can cause drowsiness and dizziness when mixed with alcohol. Baucom told investigators that he awoke in the night from a deep sleep and thought he was entering a bathroom, but was in fact exiting his room.
At around 5:45 a.m., he was observed walking around without clothes on, apparently disoriented and seeking a towel to cover up with.
Once he realized he had left his room, he knew he had to find a towel and get to the front desk to be let back in his room, he told investigators.
"I'm looking for something to cover up with," Baucom told investigators. "So I'm looking for just something, if I can find a spare towel anywhere or something laying around so I can get to the lobby, get a key, and get back to my room."
Baucom was ultimately discovered by one of his colleagues and let back into his room. When he returned to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, where TRANSCOM's headquarters is located, he checked himself into the drug and alcohol treatment program, he told investigators. He was determined not to have alcohol dependence but has given up hard alcohol.
The IG, however, concluded that his actions were not excused by his mixing medications and that his behavior was more a result of intoxication.
"We determined that RADM Baucom's level of intoxication and his public nudity are of such a nature that they dishonored or disgraced him personally and seriously compromised his standing as an officer," the report read.
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Tuesday, December 08, 2015
LAPD MISCLASSIFIED MORE THAN 25,000 SERIOUS CRIMES AS MINOR, AUDIT FINDS
A report shows LAPD misclassified serious crimes, omitting them from the tally of violence over the past seven years
By Ben Poston and Joel Rubin
Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2015
Poor training, an error-prone records system and widespread confusion among Los Angeles police led to thousands of serious crimes being omitted from the city's tally of violence over the past seven years, an audit by the department's independent watchdog found.
In the report, which was released Friday, Inspector General Alex Bustamante estimated the LAPD misclassified more than 25,000 aggravated assaults as minor incidents from 2008 to 2014.
The errors meant the number of serious attacks would have been 36% higher than what the LAPD reported during that time, the audit found. Aggravated assaults are included in the department's official count of crime, while the less-serious incidents are not counted.
The number of misclassified crimes was not large enough to alter the overall crime trends reported by the department from one year to the next, which included a steady drop in violence until 2014, when the crime rate began to climb. Bustamante's report echoes the findings of a Times analysis in October that also concluded the department misclassified thousands of crimes during an eight-year period ending in 2012.
However, the inspector general, who had far greater access than The Times to crime reports and other internal LAPD documents, found considerably more errors.
The inaccurate statistics "were due to a combination of systemic issues, procedural deficiencies, department-wide misconceptions about what constitutes an aggravated assault, and, in a small number of cases, individual officer error," the audit found.
In one startling finding, Bustamante wrote that a survey conducted by department officials in recent years found roughly 70% of LAPD personnel had received "little or no training" on standardized rules for reporting crime that are set out by the FBI.
The internal survey also found there was "some confusion" within department ranks about who was responsible for entering the information about incidents into the agency's crime database. And watch commanders, who serve as station supervisors, often wrongly refer to the state's criminal penal code when making decisions about how to classify crimes instead of FBI guidelines.
The widespread shortcomings gave rise to a host of problems.
When completing reports on domestic violence cases, for example, officers and supervisors often failed to specify if the attack was a serious or minor offense under the FBI rules, Bustamante wrote. Without knowing which to choose, station clerks "defaulted to the code indicating simple assault," when documenting incidents into the department's crime database, Bustamante found. One-fifth of the misclassified incidents identified by the inspector general fit this pattern, the report said.
More than a quarter of the errors were due to the LAPD failing to count cases in which suspects brandished weapons as aggravated assaults.
The police commission, a civilian board that oversees the LAPD, instructed Bustamante to conduct the audit after a 2014 Times investigation that examined 12 months of LAPD crime data and found widespread errors in how assaults — including hundreds of stabbings and beatings — were classified.
In response to that report, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck publicly acknowledged problems with the department's process for recording crimes. He launched a series of changes aimed at improving internal accountability and the training officers receive on how to classify crimes.
The reforms implemented last year center around a newly formed team of detectives responsible for improving the quality of the department's crime reporting. Known as the Data Integrity Unit, the team has retrained hundreds of officers who have a role in classifying crimes. The unit also now conducts spot checks on crime reports from across the department's regional divisions in search of mistakes.
Bustamante concluded the reforms appear to be showing results as the LAPD committed errors at about half the rate of previous years in the first quarter of 2015, the audit found.
Saying the department had worked closely with the inspector general as he conducted the audit, Assistant Chief Michel Moore acknowledged that the department had made crime reporting errors. He said the reforms and increased oversight the department implemented following the Times investigation have begun to take root and are meant to improve the accuracy of crime classifications.
The audit, based on a random sample of 3,856 minor crime reports, did not address the issue of "reclassifications," which happen when a case is initially documented as serious but later downgraded to a minor offense. Last year, The Times obtained records on 53 incident reports and found that one-third were improperly changed.
"Numbers matter, especially when they are reported to the public," said Matt Johnson, president of the police commission. "The increase in aggravated assaults is very troubling and I wish it was identified sooner, but I'm pleased that we have fully diagnosed the problem and that the actions from the department appear to be addressing those shortcomings.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: No wonder LA has been such a ‘safe’ city the past seven years. This sure looks like a deliberate manipulation of crime stats to me. I seriously doubt LA cops were confused about what charges to file.
By Ben Poston and Joel Rubin
Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2015
Poor training, an error-prone records system and widespread confusion among Los Angeles police led to thousands of serious crimes being omitted from the city's tally of violence over the past seven years, an audit by the department's independent watchdog found.
In the report, which was released Friday, Inspector General Alex Bustamante estimated the LAPD misclassified more than 25,000 aggravated assaults as minor incidents from 2008 to 2014.
The errors meant the number of serious attacks would have been 36% higher than what the LAPD reported during that time, the audit found. Aggravated assaults are included in the department's official count of crime, while the less-serious incidents are not counted.
The number of misclassified crimes was not large enough to alter the overall crime trends reported by the department from one year to the next, which included a steady drop in violence until 2014, when the crime rate began to climb. Bustamante's report echoes the findings of a Times analysis in October that also concluded the department misclassified thousands of crimes during an eight-year period ending in 2012.
However, the inspector general, who had far greater access than The Times to crime reports and other internal LAPD documents, found considerably more errors.
The inaccurate statistics "were due to a combination of systemic issues, procedural deficiencies, department-wide misconceptions about what constitutes an aggravated assault, and, in a small number of cases, individual officer error," the audit found.
In one startling finding, Bustamante wrote that a survey conducted by department officials in recent years found roughly 70% of LAPD personnel had received "little or no training" on standardized rules for reporting crime that are set out by the FBI.
The internal survey also found there was "some confusion" within department ranks about who was responsible for entering the information about incidents into the agency's crime database. And watch commanders, who serve as station supervisors, often wrongly refer to the state's criminal penal code when making decisions about how to classify crimes instead of FBI guidelines.
The widespread shortcomings gave rise to a host of problems.
When completing reports on domestic violence cases, for example, officers and supervisors often failed to specify if the attack was a serious or minor offense under the FBI rules, Bustamante wrote. Without knowing which to choose, station clerks "defaulted to the code indicating simple assault," when documenting incidents into the department's crime database, Bustamante found. One-fifth of the misclassified incidents identified by the inspector general fit this pattern, the report said.
More than a quarter of the errors were due to the LAPD failing to count cases in which suspects brandished weapons as aggravated assaults.
The police commission, a civilian board that oversees the LAPD, instructed Bustamante to conduct the audit after a 2014 Times investigation that examined 12 months of LAPD crime data and found widespread errors in how assaults — including hundreds of stabbings and beatings — were classified.
In response to that report, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck publicly acknowledged problems with the department's process for recording crimes. He launched a series of changes aimed at improving internal accountability and the training officers receive on how to classify crimes.
The reforms implemented last year center around a newly formed team of detectives responsible for improving the quality of the department's crime reporting. Known as the Data Integrity Unit, the team has retrained hundreds of officers who have a role in classifying crimes. The unit also now conducts spot checks on crime reports from across the department's regional divisions in search of mistakes.
Bustamante concluded the reforms appear to be showing results as the LAPD committed errors at about half the rate of previous years in the first quarter of 2015, the audit found.
Saying the department had worked closely with the inspector general as he conducted the audit, Assistant Chief Michel Moore acknowledged that the department had made crime reporting errors. He said the reforms and increased oversight the department implemented following the Times investigation have begun to take root and are meant to improve the accuracy of crime classifications.
The audit, based on a random sample of 3,856 minor crime reports, did not address the issue of "reclassifications," which happen when a case is initially documented as serious but later downgraded to a minor offense. Last year, The Times obtained records on 53 incident reports and found that one-third were improperly changed.
"Numbers matter, especially when they are reported to the public," said Matt Johnson, president of the police commission. "The increase in aggravated assaults is very troubling and I wish it was identified sooner, but I'm pleased that we have fully diagnosed the problem and that the actions from the department appear to be addressing those shortcomings.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: No wonder LA has been such a ‘safe’ city the past seven years. This sure looks like a deliberate manipulation of crime stats to me. I seriously doubt LA cops were confused about what charges to file.
COULD FEAR OF TERRORISM BE DEADLIER THAN TERRORISM ITSELF?
A neuroscientist finds fear of terrorism ccould lead to potentially fatal cardiovascular events
By Erin Blakemore
The Washington Post
December 4, 2015
As recent attacks in Paris, Mali, Colorado Springs and San Bernardino show, threats of terrorism and mass violence are all too real. But could your fear of such attacks be more deadly than the unlikely chance you will be physically hurt by terror? Recent research suggests the answer could be yes.
Israeli neuroscientist Shani Shenhar-Tsarfaty, who lives in Jerusalem, became interested in the psychological and physical effects of fear through both her work and daily life. “I’m very interested in vulnerability to fear,” she says. She got a chance to study just that while analyzing a large dataset from the Tel Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey.
The survey, which follows 17,380 apparently healthy workers over time, includes a substantial questionnaire that asks participants to quantify their fear of terror — including worries about personal safety, heightened tension while in crowded places and fear of a terror strike harming them or their families. Shenhar-Tsarfaty wondered if those emotions might be linked to certain biomarkers linked to morbidity and mortality.
Blood pressure and pulse have long been considered predictors of not only cardiovascular health but of heightened risk of death from stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Since pulse rates tend to decrease over time, increases can indicate serious heart issues. In other research, for example, participants whose resting heart rate rose by 15 beats per minute were 90 percent more likely to die during the study.
Researchers aren’t yet sure of a complete list of factors that cause pulse rates to rise over time. Shenhar-Tsarfaty questioned whether fear of terror could be implicated in that and elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker that increases in response to inflammation and signals risk for conditions like cancer and heart disease. And when she and her team compared answers to questions about fear of terror to heart rate measurements over time, they found “major contributions to annual pulse increases and effects of inflammation”—despite the fact that nobody surveyed was present at the time of a terror attack.
Shenhar-Tsarfaty is quick to point out that correlation is not causation. “We didn’t prove causality,” she insists. But high fear of terror predicted higher pulse rates in 4.1 percent of the cohort. C-reactive protein markers were higher, too.
“I can’t tell you whether fear of terror will make you die,” she says. But she believes there’s definitely a link—one that she connects to the ongoing stress of terrorism. She points out that residents of Tel Aviv have been subject to violence, war and chaos for over 60 years. She's now digging deeper into what genetic and physical factors could influence individual responses to ongoing threats. In the future, she hopes this research can be used to inform public response to terror and help individuals become more aware of their degree of fear and its stressful impact on health.
Though her work took place in Israel, Shenhar-Tsarfaty’s study could be relevant in any place that is grappling with real or perceived threats of terror. If 4.1 percent of Americans were to experience potentially fatal cardiovascular events from their fear of terror, their risk of death would be much greater than the likelihood that they could die in a terrorist attack.
Maybe “fear of terror” belongs on the long list of things more likely to kill you than terror itself.
By Erin Blakemore
The Washington Post
December 4, 2015
As recent attacks in Paris, Mali, Colorado Springs and San Bernardino show, threats of terrorism and mass violence are all too real. But could your fear of such attacks be more deadly than the unlikely chance you will be physically hurt by terror? Recent research suggests the answer could be yes.
Israeli neuroscientist Shani Shenhar-Tsarfaty, who lives in Jerusalem, became interested in the psychological and physical effects of fear through both her work and daily life. “I’m very interested in vulnerability to fear,” she says. She got a chance to study just that while analyzing a large dataset from the Tel Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey.
The survey, which follows 17,380 apparently healthy workers over time, includes a substantial questionnaire that asks participants to quantify their fear of terror — including worries about personal safety, heightened tension while in crowded places and fear of a terror strike harming them or their families. Shenhar-Tsarfaty wondered if those emotions might be linked to certain biomarkers linked to morbidity and mortality.
Blood pressure and pulse have long been considered predictors of not only cardiovascular health but of heightened risk of death from stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Since pulse rates tend to decrease over time, increases can indicate serious heart issues. In other research, for example, participants whose resting heart rate rose by 15 beats per minute were 90 percent more likely to die during the study.
Researchers aren’t yet sure of a complete list of factors that cause pulse rates to rise over time. Shenhar-Tsarfaty questioned whether fear of terror could be implicated in that and elevated levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker that increases in response to inflammation and signals risk for conditions like cancer and heart disease. And when she and her team compared answers to questions about fear of terror to heart rate measurements over time, they found “major contributions to annual pulse increases and effects of inflammation”—despite the fact that nobody surveyed was present at the time of a terror attack.
Shenhar-Tsarfaty is quick to point out that correlation is not causation. “We didn’t prove causality,” she insists. But high fear of terror predicted higher pulse rates in 4.1 percent of the cohort. C-reactive protein markers were higher, too.
“I can’t tell you whether fear of terror will make you die,” she says. But she believes there’s definitely a link—one that she connects to the ongoing stress of terrorism. She points out that residents of Tel Aviv have been subject to violence, war and chaos for over 60 years. She's now digging deeper into what genetic and physical factors could influence individual responses to ongoing threats. In the future, she hopes this research can be used to inform public response to terror and help individuals become more aware of their degree of fear and its stressful impact on health.
Though her work took place in Israel, Shenhar-Tsarfaty’s study could be relevant in any place that is grappling with real or perceived threats of terror. If 4.1 percent of Americans were to experience potentially fatal cardiovascular events from their fear of terror, their risk of death would be much greater than the likelihood that they could die in a terrorist attack.
Maybe “fear of terror” belongs on the long list of things more likely to kill you than terror itself.
KINGPIN ESCOBAR LIVES ON IN THE HEART OF TOP HITMAN POPEYE
Jhon Jairo Velasquez aka Popeye was Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s chief "sicario" and claims to have killed between 250 and 300 people in the 1980s
By Florence Panoussian
AFP
December 6, 2015
MEDELLIN, Colombia -- Popeye the hitman kneels down in the gravel, bends over and kisses the black slate tomb of his late boss and friend, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
He parted ways with Escobar's blood-stained Medellin Cartel in 1992, and, after serving a 23-year prison sentence, says he is trying hard to be a new man.
But this self-confessed killer of hundreds of people still harbors fond memories of the man who took him aside three decades ago and invited him into a world of glitz, intrigue, violence and wealth he could only have dreamed of.
"Pablo Escobar Gaviria was a murderer, a terrorist, a drug trafficker, a kidnapper and an extortionist. But he was my friend," said Popeye, whose real name is Jhon Jairo Velasquez.
"He had an incredible magnetism," he told AFP in an interview in Medellin, the city from which Escobar ran a massive cocaine trafficking operation that made him the world's seventh-richest man.
Popeye was Escobar's chief "sicario," or hitman, during the bloodiest period of the Medellin Cartel's reign in the 1980s.
He met the feared kingpin while working as a bodyguard for a Colombian beauty queen. Escobar invited her to his house one night, and Popeye went along.
"He came up to talk to me and asked me to come work for him. I was 23," Popeye said.
Simple as that, this cattle farmer's son from the small village of Yarumal was employed by the Medellin Cartel.
Popeye, who is 53 today, is unabashed by his crimes.
He estimates he killed "at least 250 people, maybe 300," and ordered the killing of some 3,000 others.
"At that level, you don't count anymore. I didn't make a little hash mark every time I killed somebody," he said, seated on a bench in front of Escobar's austere tomb in the Itagui cemetery perched above Medellin.
"It was a brutal war. The Medellin Cartel against the Cali Cartel, against the government, against the Americans... But the problem with war is that there are innocents, there are pregnant women who fall," he said with a sigh.
'I'm not a psychopath'
Popeye quit Escobar's outfit one morning in July 1992, knowing he would be arrested. He was 30 years old.
"I was in love. I wanted to live. I gave him my pistol. We hugged and I left him, alone," he said.
Escobar was killed in a rooftop shootout with police in Medellin the following year.
Popeye for his part was sentenced to 30 years in a maximum security prison. He was released last year on parole, nearly seven years early.
He went into therapy while he was in prison.
"I'm a professional killer, not a psychopath who kills people because he can't help it," he said.
For eight years, he and his psychologist "worked on my violence," he said.
"Every day, I made a list of all the nasty things I said to the guards. Little by little, I changed my way of thinking and acting."
Popeye got his nickname from an early stint as a sailor and his sharply protruding chin -- which he has since had plastic surgery to reduce.
Today, his close-cropped hair going white, he says little remains of his younger self. But he retains his esteem for "the boss."
Cult of Escobar
He is not alone.
Every year in Medellin, Escobar's admirers celebrate the anniversary of his birth and death -- December 1, 1949 and December 2, 1993.
People come from across the country and even overseas to visit his grave.
"Pablo Escobar was a god," said 28-year-old Jorge Londono. "Even if he did a lot of harm to Colombia. He was a complex character, capable of loving and hating with the same strength."
Irene Gaviria, 88, thanks the fallen drug lord for giving her a decent roof over her head -- one of the thousands of colorful houses he built for the destitute people who lived at the Moravia garbage dump.
The neighborhood is today called Barrio Pablo Escobar.
"He did a lot of good things for us," said Gaviria.
The reverence for Escobar extends to Popeye, who gamely signed autographs on 2,000-peso bills (worth about 60 US cents) for visitors to the drug lord's grave.
"People like me, they support me," he said.
But Popeye is glad to distance himself from the past.
"I'd never been free before. I was with Pablo Escobar and then I was in prison," he said.
"Today I'm the owner of my time, my life."
By Florence Panoussian
AFP
December 6, 2015
MEDELLIN, Colombia -- Popeye the hitman kneels down in the gravel, bends over and kisses the black slate tomb of his late boss and friend, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
He parted ways with Escobar's blood-stained Medellin Cartel in 1992, and, after serving a 23-year prison sentence, says he is trying hard to be a new man.
But this self-confessed killer of hundreds of people still harbors fond memories of the man who took him aside three decades ago and invited him into a world of glitz, intrigue, violence and wealth he could only have dreamed of.
"Pablo Escobar Gaviria was a murderer, a terrorist, a drug trafficker, a kidnapper and an extortionist. But he was my friend," said Popeye, whose real name is Jhon Jairo Velasquez.
"He had an incredible magnetism," he told AFP in an interview in Medellin, the city from which Escobar ran a massive cocaine trafficking operation that made him the world's seventh-richest man.
Popeye was Escobar's chief "sicario," or hitman, during the bloodiest period of the Medellin Cartel's reign in the 1980s.
He met the feared kingpin while working as a bodyguard for a Colombian beauty queen. Escobar invited her to his house one night, and Popeye went along.
"He came up to talk to me and asked me to come work for him. I was 23," Popeye said.
Simple as that, this cattle farmer's son from the small village of Yarumal was employed by the Medellin Cartel.
Popeye, who is 53 today, is unabashed by his crimes.
He estimates he killed "at least 250 people, maybe 300," and ordered the killing of some 3,000 others.
"At that level, you don't count anymore. I didn't make a little hash mark every time I killed somebody," he said, seated on a bench in front of Escobar's austere tomb in the Itagui cemetery perched above Medellin.
"It was a brutal war. The Medellin Cartel against the Cali Cartel, against the government, against the Americans... But the problem with war is that there are innocents, there are pregnant women who fall," he said with a sigh.
'I'm not a psychopath'
Popeye quit Escobar's outfit one morning in July 1992, knowing he would be arrested. He was 30 years old.
"I was in love. I wanted to live. I gave him my pistol. We hugged and I left him, alone," he said.
Escobar was killed in a rooftop shootout with police in Medellin the following year.
Popeye for his part was sentenced to 30 years in a maximum security prison. He was released last year on parole, nearly seven years early.
He went into therapy while he was in prison.
"I'm a professional killer, not a psychopath who kills people because he can't help it," he said.
For eight years, he and his psychologist "worked on my violence," he said.
"Every day, I made a list of all the nasty things I said to the guards. Little by little, I changed my way of thinking and acting."
Popeye got his nickname from an early stint as a sailor and his sharply protruding chin -- which he has since had plastic surgery to reduce.
Today, his close-cropped hair going white, he says little remains of his younger self. But he retains his esteem for "the boss."
Cult of Escobar
He is not alone.
Every year in Medellin, Escobar's admirers celebrate the anniversary of his birth and death -- December 1, 1949 and December 2, 1993.
People come from across the country and even overseas to visit his grave.
"Pablo Escobar was a god," said 28-year-old Jorge Londono. "Even if he did a lot of harm to Colombia. He was a complex character, capable of loving and hating with the same strength."
Irene Gaviria, 88, thanks the fallen drug lord for giving her a decent roof over her head -- one of the thousands of colorful houses he built for the destitute people who lived at the Moravia garbage dump.
The neighborhood is today called Barrio Pablo Escobar.
"He did a lot of good things for us," said Gaviria.
The reverence for Escobar extends to Popeye, who gamely signed autographs on 2,000-peso bills (worth about 60 US cents) for visitors to the drug lord's grave.
"People like me, they support me," he said.
But Popeye is glad to distance himself from the past.
"I'd never been free before. I was with Pablo Escobar and then I was in prison," he said.
"Today I'm the owner of my time, my life."
Monday, December 07, 2015
TEXAS GOP SECESSIONIST LOONIES LOSE OUT
The resolution to put secession from the union on the Texas GOP primary ballot goes down in flames
Loony State Representative Tanya Robertson presented a resolution to the State Republican Executive Committee that would have allowed Texas Republicans to vote for or against secession from the Union during the March 1 primary election. The resolution states:
"If the federal government continues to disregard the constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."
Tanya claims that many of her constituents had voiced support for a reborn Republic of Texas.
Tanya and her fellow loonies managed Friday to get a subcommittee to approve the resolution. It went to a vote of the whole executive committee Saturday.
Tanya and her supporters on the committee argued passionately in favor of the resolution by invoking the spirit of 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence and the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence.
However, State Republican Executive Committee member Fred Henneke told the assembled members that "I'm not sending my grandson out with a 12-gauge shotgun to take on the 82nd Airborne.”
The Houston Chronicle reports that the resolution went down in flames Saturday by a 52-10 vote.
The Texas secession threat was brought up by then Gov. Rick Perry who was pissed off at President Obama’s executive actions which, according to him, bypassed the Constitution. While Rick may have been suffering from a case of temporary insanity at the time, the rest of the State’s loonies were quick to sign on.
The Chronicle did not report whether a group of men in white coats came to take the 10 loonies away from the committee meeting and onto Rusk State Hospital for some serious electric shock treatments. But sources tell me that some ambulances pulled away from the meeting, and that screams of “Remember the Alamo” were heard coming from inside the ambulances.
Loony State Representative Tanya Robertson presented a resolution to the State Republican Executive Committee that would have allowed Texas Republicans to vote for or against secession from the Union during the March 1 primary election. The resolution states:
"If the federal government continues to disregard the constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."
Tanya claims that many of her constituents had voiced support for a reborn Republic of Texas.
Tanya and her fellow loonies managed Friday to get a subcommittee to approve the resolution. It went to a vote of the whole executive committee Saturday.
Tanya and her supporters on the committee argued passionately in favor of the resolution by invoking the spirit of 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence and the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence.
However, State Republican Executive Committee member Fred Henneke told the assembled members that "I'm not sending my grandson out with a 12-gauge shotgun to take on the 82nd Airborne.”
The Houston Chronicle reports that the resolution went down in flames Saturday by a 52-10 vote.
The Texas secession threat was brought up by then Gov. Rick Perry who was pissed off at President Obama’s executive actions which, according to him, bypassed the Constitution. While Rick may have been suffering from a case of temporary insanity at the time, the rest of the State’s loonies were quick to sign on.
The Chronicle did not report whether a group of men in white coats came to take the 10 loonies away from the committee meeting and onto Rusk State Hospital for some serious electric shock treatments. But sources tell me that some ambulances pulled away from the meeting, and that screams of “Remember the Alamo” were heard coming from inside the ambulances.
REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR
Let's not forget that today is Pearl Harbor Day
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese sunk a good part of our Navy during a sneak bombing attack on Pearl Harbor. While some historians consider the attack a huge success, others consider it a catastrophic failure because the Japanese chose a day when our aircraft carriers were far out at sea.
Had our aircraft carriers been at Pearl Harbor, most if not all would have been sunk along with our battleships. Then the war in the Pacific would have been much harder for us to win. Our aircraft carriers played a huge part in the defeat of Japan.
What's so sad is that today many of our high school graduates do not have the foggiest notion of what Pearl Harbor Day is all about.
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese sunk a good part of our Navy during a sneak bombing attack on Pearl Harbor. While some historians consider the attack a huge success, others consider it a catastrophic failure because the Japanese chose a day when our aircraft carriers were far out at sea.
Had our aircraft carriers been at Pearl Harbor, most if not all would have been sunk along with our battleships. Then the war in the Pacific would have been much harder for us to win. Our aircraft carriers played a huge part in the defeat of Japan.
What's so sad is that today many of our high school graduates do not have the foggiest notion of what Pearl Harbor Day is all about.
LOONIES RAMPANT IN TEXAS GOP
Some Texas Republican leaders want the State to secede from the Union even though the Constitution does not allow secession and the Supreme Court ruled it illegal in 1861
You gotta love Texas! The other day, the State’s loony Republican Lt. Governor responded to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino by tweeting:
"14 Dead in California Mass Shooting: God Hears Our Prayers."
Now a Republican lawmaker wants Texas to secede from the Union even though the Constitution does not allow secession and the Supreme Court ruled it illegal in 1861. This loony woman has some support within the State Republican Executive Committee, but there are probably not quite enough loonies among the 40 members for her resolution to be approved.
TEXAS SECESSION RESOLUTION PASSES GOP COMMITTEE, HEADED FOR PARTY VOTE SATURDAY
Officials will decide Saturday whether to put the non-binding resolution on the March 1 primary ballot
By Dylan Baddour
Houston Chronicle
December 4, 2015
A proposal to put Texas secession to a non-binding vote in March passed a state GOP committee vote in Austin on Friday afternoon, clearing the way for a vote Saturday by the Party's full executive assembly, party officials reported.
Party leadership has said the independence item won't likely be approved in a full-body vote. An informal poll of executive committee members conducted by the Chronicle showed the assembly was split on the issue.
The resolution would put a breakup with Uncle Sam to a non-binding vote, which would essentially serve as an opinion poll and wouldn't legally compel Texas to secede.
It was introduced by State Republican Executive Committee member Tanya Robertson, who represents parts of Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties. In November, she told the Chronicle that many of her constituents had voiced support for a reborn Republic of Texas, the short-lived nation of the mid-1800s.
The resolution reads, "If the federal government continues to disregard the constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."
The SREC is the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas, and it decides what will appear on the March 1 Republican primary ballot. The Party is currently assembled in Austin to author the ballot. On Friday, the independence resolution passed the Resolutions Committee, which selects items to go before the full 40-member assembly on Saturday. Of 12 resolutions presented at the committee Friday, five were approved, including independence, members said.
Of the 40 SREC members polled by the Chronicle this week, 13 responded. Six said they would support a vote on independence, six said they would not and one declined to comment.
Supporters of the resolution argued that the Party should not prohibit the citizens from voicing their opinion, while opponents argued that secession was unpatriotic and unconstitutional.
Several polls have explored secession before. A 2009 Rasmussen survey found 18 percent of Texas would opt to secede, while seven percent were undecided.
In September 2014, Reuters reported "1 in 4 Americans are open to secession," with the highest support for secession—34 percent--in the three-state Southwest region that includes Texas.
Reuters asked 9,000 people across the country, "Do you support or oppose the idea of your state peacefully withdrawing from the United States of America and the federal government?"
Experts have said Texas would face an exceptionally difficult path to independence. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled secession illegal in 1861, the federal government would be compelled to use force against any state's attempt to leave the union.
You gotta love Texas! The other day, the State’s loony Republican Lt. Governor responded to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino by tweeting:
"14 Dead in California Mass Shooting: God Hears Our Prayers."
Now a Republican lawmaker wants Texas to secede from the Union even though the Constitution does not allow secession and the Supreme Court ruled it illegal in 1861. This loony woman has some support within the State Republican Executive Committee, but there are probably not quite enough loonies among the 40 members for her resolution to be approved.
TEXAS SECESSION RESOLUTION PASSES GOP COMMITTEE, HEADED FOR PARTY VOTE SATURDAY
Officials will decide Saturday whether to put the non-binding resolution on the March 1 primary ballot
By Dylan Baddour
Houston Chronicle
December 4, 2015
A proposal to put Texas secession to a non-binding vote in March passed a state GOP committee vote in Austin on Friday afternoon, clearing the way for a vote Saturday by the Party's full executive assembly, party officials reported.
Party leadership has said the independence item won't likely be approved in a full-body vote. An informal poll of executive committee members conducted by the Chronicle showed the assembly was split on the issue.
The resolution would put a breakup with Uncle Sam to a non-binding vote, which would essentially serve as an opinion poll and wouldn't legally compel Texas to secede.
It was introduced by State Republican Executive Committee member Tanya Robertson, who represents parts of Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties. In November, she told the Chronicle that many of her constituents had voiced support for a reborn Republic of Texas, the short-lived nation of the mid-1800s.
The resolution reads, "If the federal government continues to disregard the constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."
The SREC is the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas, and it decides what will appear on the March 1 Republican primary ballot. The Party is currently assembled in Austin to author the ballot. On Friday, the independence resolution passed the Resolutions Committee, which selects items to go before the full 40-member assembly on Saturday. Of 12 resolutions presented at the committee Friday, five were approved, including independence, members said.
Of the 40 SREC members polled by the Chronicle this week, 13 responded. Six said they would support a vote on independence, six said they would not and one declined to comment.
Supporters of the resolution argued that the Party should not prohibit the citizens from voicing their opinion, while opponents argued that secession was unpatriotic and unconstitutional.
Several polls have explored secession before. A 2009 Rasmussen survey found 18 percent of Texas would opt to secede, while seven percent were undecided.
In September 2014, Reuters reported "1 in 4 Americans are open to secession," with the highest support for secession—34 percent--in the three-state Southwest region that includes Texas.
Reuters asked 9,000 people across the country, "Do you support or oppose the idea of your state peacefully withdrawing from the United States of America and the federal government?"
Experts have said Texas would face an exceptionally difficult path to independence. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled secession illegal in 1861, the federal government would be compelled to use force against any state's attempt to leave the union.
NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION TYSON FURY IS OLD SCHOOL ABOUT WOMEN
Fury says “a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back, that’s my personal belief.”
Weekend before last, Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko to win the world heavyweight boxing championship. Fury, a Brit, has raised a fury over remarks he has made about homosexuality and women. He is now under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control for his controversial remarks.
Fury is definitely from the politically incorrect old school concerning his opinions on women and homosexuals.
Fury will probably be removed from the BBBC’s shortlist of candidates for the Sports Personality of the Year award. I don’t they will do it, but it would be a shame if the BBBC were to strip Fury of his newly won title because he expressed opinions that are offensive to women and gay people.
BOXING BOARD TO SCRUTINIZE FURY’S COMMENTS
Sky News
December 5, 2015
The controversial comments made by new heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury will be on the agenda when the British Boxing Board of Control meets on Wednesday.
Fury controversially compared homosexuality with paedophilia and suggested both should be made illegal along with abortion in an interview last month in the build-up to last weekend's world title victory over Wladimir Klitschko.
Fury told the Mail On Sunday: "There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the Devil comes home. One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia."
And the 27-year-old was thrust into the spotlight again this week after a video released online showed Fury making a string of sexist comments, some of which were directed at Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Fury has now claimed, through a statement provided to Sky Sports News by his uncle and trainer Peter Fury, that he is not homophobic.
"I am aware of the recent newspaper articles and I would like to put on record that I am not homophobic," Fury said.
"I have homosexual friends and I do not judge them because of their sexuality. My comments that you may have read are of from the Holy Scriptures and this is what I live from.
"I am aware of my position as the heavyweight champion of the world and the responsibility that this brings. I am also aware of my position as a role model and I hope to be a positive ambassador for the sport of boxing for many years to come."
Fury caused outrage this week after video on YouTube showed him giving his views on women. He said: "A woman's best place is in the kitchen and on her back, that's my personal belief."
Fury also gave his opinion on women in boxing, in which he spoke about the ring girls who "give me inspiration, when I'm tired and I see them wiggling around with their round two, round eight (cards)".
British heptathlete Ennis-Hill was also discussed during the interview which has led to people signing a petition to have Fury removed from the shortlist for BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award.
When asked about her, Fury said: "That's the runner isn't it?
"I think she's good, she's won quite a few medals for Britain, she slaps up good as well, when she's got a dress on she looks quite fit."
Weekend before last, Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko to win the world heavyweight boxing championship. Fury, a Brit, has raised a fury over remarks he has made about homosexuality and women. He is now under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control for his controversial remarks.
Fury is definitely from the politically incorrect old school concerning his opinions on women and homosexuals.
Fury will probably be removed from the BBBC’s shortlist of candidates for the Sports Personality of the Year award. I don’t they will do it, but it would be a shame if the BBBC were to strip Fury of his newly won title because he expressed opinions that are offensive to women and gay people.
BOXING BOARD TO SCRUTINIZE FURY’S COMMENTS
Sky News
December 5, 2015
The controversial comments made by new heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury will be on the agenda when the British Boxing Board of Control meets on Wednesday.
Fury controversially compared homosexuality with paedophilia and suggested both should be made illegal along with abortion in an interview last month in the build-up to last weekend's world title victory over Wladimir Klitschko.
Fury told the Mail On Sunday: "There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the Devil comes home. One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia."
And the 27-year-old was thrust into the spotlight again this week after a video released online showed Fury making a string of sexist comments, some of which were directed at Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Fury has now claimed, through a statement provided to Sky Sports News by his uncle and trainer Peter Fury, that he is not homophobic.
"I am aware of the recent newspaper articles and I would like to put on record that I am not homophobic," Fury said.
"I have homosexual friends and I do not judge them because of their sexuality. My comments that you may have read are of from the Holy Scriptures and this is what I live from.
"I am aware of my position as the heavyweight champion of the world and the responsibility that this brings. I am also aware of my position as a role model and I hope to be a positive ambassador for the sport of boxing for many years to come."
Fury caused outrage this week after video on YouTube showed him giving his views on women. He said: "A woman's best place is in the kitchen and on her back, that's my personal belief."
Fury also gave his opinion on women in boxing, in which he spoke about the ring girls who "give me inspiration, when I'm tired and I see them wiggling around with their round two, round eight (cards)".
British heptathlete Ennis-Hill was also discussed during the interview which has led to people signing a petition to have Fury removed from the shortlist for BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award.
When asked about her, Fury said: "That's the runner isn't it?
"I think she's good, she's won quite a few medals for Britain, she slaps up good as well, when she's got a dress on she looks quite fit."
Sunday, December 06, 2015
FORGET THAT HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD STUFF
The Rev. Thom Miller, who claims he found God in prison, may have lost the Good Lord after his release
On December 2, I posted a story about Thom Miller who while doing seven years in an Ohio prison, stole a bible and found God. After his release he became an ordained minister and found two wives. It looks as though Thom’s church may just be a con for him to make money. The church seems to be a traveling church as it keeps moving from one abandoned Mansfield Ohio building to another.
All his life Thom has been one big Lothario. Here is his record as compiled by the Daily Mail:
FIRST WIFE: Phyllis - 1972 to 1976
Her age at marriage: 16 or 17
Children: Thomas, 43 and Renee, 41
SECOND WIFE: Mary - 1977 to 1982
Her age at marriage: 17
Children: Michael, 38, Angelina, 35, Leah, 34, Dana, 33
MISTRESS: Jamie, mother of Tom, 31
MISTRESS: Ann, mother of Nick, now 30
THIRD WIFE: Norma Jean Daffner - 1986 to 1993
Her age at marriage: 19
Children: Joseph, 28, and Robert, 27
MISTRESS: Ann Chipuk, mother of Ryan, 24
MISTRESS: Mary Spinelli, mother of a 22-year-old
FOURTH WIFE: Julia - 1999 to January 2009
Her age at marriage: 42
FIFTH WIFE: Belinda - March 2009 - present
Her age at marriage:38
SIXTH 'WIFE': Reba Kerfoot
Her age at marriage: 19
Children: One due next year
The 60-year-old Lothario is still going strong as evidenced by Reba’s pregnancy.
Thom’s ex-wives are not too fond of him. He’s behind more than $100,000 in child support with just one of them. Thom’s ‘bio-children’ as they call themselves, are not too fond of their father either. One of them, Angelina, who is married with two children, said: 'He absolutely disgusts me. It makes me sick to know I'm related to him. It's that simple. I mean what 60-year-old man has sex with a 19-year-old? She's younger than his grandchild.”
So it seems as though I may have been in error when I wrote: “Who says prisons don’t rehabilitate anyone? Rev. Thom Miller has proven you wrong.”
In Thom’s case, let’s just forget that Hallelujah, praise the Lord stuff.
On December 2, I posted a story about Thom Miller who while doing seven years in an Ohio prison, stole a bible and found God. After his release he became an ordained minister and found two wives. It looks as though Thom’s church may just be a con for him to make money. The church seems to be a traveling church as it keeps moving from one abandoned Mansfield Ohio building to another.
All his life Thom has been one big Lothario. Here is his record as compiled by the Daily Mail:
FIRST WIFE: Phyllis - 1972 to 1976
Her age at marriage: 16 or 17
Children: Thomas, 43 and Renee, 41
SECOND WIFE: Mary - 1977 to 1982
Her age at marriage: 17
Children: Michael, 38, Angelina, 35, Leah, 34, Dana, 33
MISTRESS: Jamie, mother of Tom, 31
MISTRESS: Ann, mother of Nick, now 30
THIRD WIFE: Norma Jean Daffner - 1986 to 1993
Her age at marriage: 19
Children: Joseph, 28, and Robert, 27
MISTRESS: Ann Chipuk, mother of Ryan, 24
MISTRESS: Mary Spinelli, mother of a 22-year-old
FOURTH WIFE: Julia - 1999 to January 2009
Her age at marriage: 42
FIFTH WIFE: Belinda - March 2009 - present
Her age at marriage:38
SIXTH 'WIFE': Reba Kerfoot
Her age at marriage: 19
Children: One due next year
The 60-year-old Lothario is still going strong as evidenced by Reba’s pregnancy.
Thom’s ex-wives are not too fond of him. He’s behind more than $100,000 in child support with just one of them. Thom’s ‘bio-children’ as they call themselves, are not too fond of their father either. One of them, Angelina, who is married with two children, said: 'He absolutely disgusts me. It makes me sick to know I'm related to him. It's that simple. I mean what 60-year-old man has sex with a 19-year-old? She's younger than his grandchild.”
So it seems as though I may have been in error when I wrote: “Who says prisons don’t rehabilitate anyone? Rev. Thom Miller has proven you wrong.”
In Thom’s case, let’s just forget that Hallelujah, praise the Lord stuff.
NYPD COP AND MARILYN MONROE WANNABE MAY FACE DISCIPLINE FOR DATING CONVICTED KILLER
NYPD cops can be disciplined and even fired for fraternizing with a known felon
By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
December 4, 2015
She was sleeping with the enemy, and now she may pay.
A Staten Island cop known as the Marilyn Monroe of the NYPD faces possible internal charges for having a turbulent love affair with an ex-con who served 19 years in prison for killing a man, the Daily News has learned.
The rocky romance between Officer Nancy Heinz, 53, and 48-year-old Mark Liverano came to light after the parolee was busted following a fight with another man inside the Hot Shotz sports bar in Staten Island Friday night.
Heinz — a platinum blond who often likened herself to Monroe, according to people who know her — was inside the bar when the fight broke out.
Liverano ended up facing assault charges, and he apparently violated an order of protection Heinz had filed against him after a previous incident, sources said. She described herself in court papers as Liverano’s ex-girlfriend.
A high ranking police source confirmed that the Internal Affairs Bureau was investigating their relationship, although it was unclear if Heinz knew she was dating a convicted killer.
At her Staten Island home on Thursday afternoon, Heinz declined to comment. Her NYPD uniform and badge could be seen beneath a long coat.
Liverano’s family confirmed the ex-con had dated Heinz from January to July this year. The two appeared happy and had attended family gatherings as a couple, belying his violent past, they said.
But according to Liverano’s sister, Marie Liverano, after the two split, Heinz — who works at the 120th Precinct in Staten Island — would often “taunt him” and goad him into violence.
“She kept seeking him out,” Marie Liverano told the News. “She’s just no good.”
“He was doing everything right until he met her,” Liverano said about her brother’s parole. “He’s just trying to put his life back together.”
Liverano was convicted in the April 14, 1995 shooting death of 37-year-old Richard Boeke — a father of two — as Boeke tried to break up a fight outside the Vegas Diner in Bensonhurst.
Liverano pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison. He was paroled in August 2014, court documents say.
He has now been charged with attacking retired cop Michael Davis — a friend of Heinz — during the argument last Friday night. Liverano allegedly struck Davis with a “black pistol-shaped object” that he pulled from his waistband, leaving the retired cop with a deep head gash that needed 17 staples to close, according to court records. He’s also accused of approaching Heinz, lifting up his shirt and flashing what appeared to be a gun.
“I don’t want you in here,” he screamed as he smashed beer bottles, according to the court records. “Fucking leave the bar!”
In a confrontation at another restaurant in September, Liverano spit on Heinz, law enforcement sources said.
According to the NYPD Patrol Guide, cops can be hit with a violation for fraternizing with a known felon. Cops found guilty could face a loss of vacation days or even lose their jobs.
The NYPD did not immediately return a call for comment.
Heinz, who joined the force in 1989, apparently has a bad track record when it comes to men — her former husband is Police Officer Mark Faljean, who in 2004 was convicted of molesting a colleague's wife and sentenced to sex offender treatment, according to court records.
By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
December 4, 2015
She was sleeping with the enemy, and now she may pay.
A Staten Island cop known as the Marilyn Monroe of the NYPD faces possible internal charges for having a turbulent love affair with an ex-con who served 19 years in prison for killing a man, the Daily News has learned.
The rocky romance between Officer Nancy Heinz, 53, and 48-year-old Mark Liverano came to light after the parolee was busted following a fight with another man inside the Hot Shotz sports bar in Staten Island Friday night.
Heinz — a platinum blond who often likened herself to Monroe, according to people who know her — was inside the bar when the fight broke out.
Liverano ended up facing assault charges, and he apparently violated an order of protection Heinz had filed against him after a previous incident, sources said. She described herself in court papers as Liverano’s ex-girlfriend.
A high ranking police source confirmed that the Internal Affairs Bureau was investigating their relationship, although it was unclear if Heinz knew she was dating a convicted killer.
At her Staten Island home on Thursday afternoon, Heinz declined to comment. Her NYPD uniform and badge could be seen beneath a long coat.
Liverano’s family confirmed the ex-con had dated Heinz from January to July this year. The two appeared happy and had attended family gatherings as a couple, belying his violent past, they said.
But according to Liverano’s sister, Marie Liverano, after the two split, Heinz — who works at the 120th Precinct in Staten Island — would often “taunt him” and goad him into violence.
“She kept seeking him out,” Marie Liverano told the News. “She’s just no good.”
“He was doing everything right until he met her,” Liverano said about her brother’s parole. “He’s just trying to put his life back together.”
Liverano was convicted in the April 14, 1995 shooting death of 37-year-old Richard Boeke — a father of two — as Boeke tried to break up a fight outside the Vegas Diner in Bensonhurst.
Liverano pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison. He was paroled in August 2014, court documents say.
He has now been charged with attacking retired cop Michael Davis — a friend of Heinz — during the argument last Friday night. Liverano allegedly struck Davis with a “black pistol-shaped object” that he pulled from his waistband, leaving the retired cop with a deep head gash that needed 17 staples to close, according to court records. He’s also accused of approaching Heinz, lifting up his shirt and flashing what appeared to be a gun.
“I don’t want you in here,” he screamed as he smashed beer bottles, according to the court records. “Fucking leave the bar!”
In a confrontation at another restaurant in September, Liverano spit on Heinz, law enforcement sources said.
According to the NYPD Patrol Guide, cops can be hit with a violation for fraternizing with a known felon. Cops found guilty could face a loss of vacation days or even lose their jobs.
The NYPD did not immediately return a call for comment.
Heinz, who joined the force in 1989, apparently has a bad track record when it comes to men — her former husband is Police Officer Mark Faljean, who in 2004 was convicted of molesting a colleague's wife and sentenced to sex offender treatment, according to court records.
TRUMP COURTS REUBLICAN JEWS WITH OFFENSIVE STEREOTYPES
The Donald also got booed for refusing to commit to Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel
By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
The Times of Israel
December 3, 2015
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday invoked a series of stereotypes about Jews that are often deemed offensive and even anti-Semitic — in an address to Jewish Republicans.
“I’m a negotiator like you folks were negotiators,” the controversial candidate declared to his audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition, as he explained that he would broker a stronger nuclear deal with Iran than the one concluded earlier this year. At another point in his speech, he said: “Is there anyone in this room who doesn’t negotiate deals? Probably more than any room I’ve ever spoken.”
His speech came at the tail end of a morning of addresses in which the other Republican candidates boasted of their pro-Israel credentials and their close ties to the US Jewish community.
Although Trump did reiterate his tight ties with his “friend” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the audience wasn’t tolerant of the mogul’s attempts to duck a question on Jerusalem. Asked about his position on the unification of the Israeli capital, Trump refused to commit – as most Republican candidates have – to declaring the city to be the eternal capital of the Jewish state, and was greeted with boos.
However, the audience did not offer any negative response when Trump told them, “You’re not gonna support me even though you know I’m the best thing that could ever happen to Israel. And I’ll be that.” He continued, evoking a stereotype about Jews, money and control, “And I know why you’re not going to support me. You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money. Isn’t it crazy?”
According to AP, he added: “You want to control your own politician.”
Trump backtracked on comments that he made Wednesday in which he suggested that Israelis could sacrifice more than they had already for the sake of peace.
“It has to be said that Israel has given a lot,” he acknowledged. “I don’t know whether or not they want to go that final step, you know, and that’s going to be up to them. But Israel has not been given the credit that they deserve for what they’ve done, I will say that. I will say that.” At the same time, he added that he didn’t know “if Israel has the commitment to make [a deal with the Palestinians]” or “if the other side has the commitment to make it.”
Trump, who previously questioned whether President Barack Obama was born a US citizen, also reiterated insinuations that the president was hiding something, implying that perhaps he is crypto-Muslim.
“Radical Islamic terrorism — we have a president who refuses to use the term,” he complained. “There’s something going on with him that we don’t know about.”
Earlier Thursday, the head of the Republican Party in Israel said that Trump should not not be the president of the United States. Speaking on Army Radio, Marc Zell said that American voters would be sure to recognize that the candidate did not possess the necessary qualities to lead his country.
“The voters understand that to lead the United States, you need a person who knows more than how to sell products, with all due respect to Donald Trump, and everything he has achieved in his career,” Zell said. “In my opinion, he cannot be president of the United States.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: It would seem that Trump is in dire need of taking Dale Carnegie's course “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
The Times of Israel
December 3, 2015
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday invoked a series of stereotypes about Jews that are often deemed offensive and even anti-Semitic — in an address to Jewish Republicans.
“I’m a negotiator like you folks were negotiators,” the controversial candidate declared to his audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition, as he explained that he would broker a stronger nuclear deal with Iran than the one concluded earlier this year. At another point in his speech, he said: “Is there anyone in this room who doesn’t negotiate deals? Probably more than any room I’ve ever spoken.”
His speech came at the tail end of a morning of addresses in which the other Republican candidates boasted of their pro-Israel credentials and their close ties to the US Jewish community.
Although Trump did reiterate his tight ties with his “friend” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the audience wasn’t tolerant of the mogul’s attempts to duck a question on Jerusalem. Asked about his position on the unification of the Israeli capital, Trump refused to commit – as most Republican candidates have – to declaring the city to be the eternal capital of the Jewish state, and was greeted with boos.
However, the audience did not offer any negative response when Trump told them, “You’re not gonna support me even though you know I’m the best thing that could ever happen to Israel. And I’ll be that.” He continued, evoking a stereotype about Jews, money and control, “And I know why you’re not going to support me. You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money. Isn’t it crazy?”
According to AP, he added: “You want to control your own politician.”
Trump backtracked on comments that he made Wednesday in which he suggested that Israelis could sacrifice more than they had already for the sake of peace.
“It has to be said that Israel has given a lot,” he acknowledged. “I don’t know whether or not they want to go that final step, you know, and that’s going to be up to them. But Israel has not been given the credit that they deserve for what they’ve done, I will say that. I will say that.” At the same time, he added that he didn’t know “if Israel has the commitment to make [a deal with the Palestinians]” or “if the other side has the commitment to make it.”
Trump, who previously questioned whether President Barack Obama was born a US citizen, also reiterated insinuations that the president was hiding something, implying that perhaps he is crypto-Muslim.
“Radical Islamic terrorism — we have a president who refuses to use the term,” he complained. “There’s something going on with him that we don’t know about.”
Earlier Thursday, the head of the Republican Party in Israel said that Trump should not not be the president of the United States. Speaking on Army Radio, Marc Zell said that American voters would be sure to recognize that the candidate did not possess the necessary qualities to lead his country.
“The voters understand that to lead the United States, you need a person who knows more than how to sell products, with all due respect to Donald Trump, and everything he has achieved in his career,” Zell said. “In my opinion, he cannot be president of the United States.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: It would seem that Trump is in dire need of taking Dale Carnegie's course “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
Saturday, December 05, 2015
MOVIE DANCE SCENES MASHUP
Here are some terrific movie dance scenes all mashed together for our enjoyment. I’m old enough to remember many of these movies and I suspect some of you are too. For those who are not old enough, you will also enjoy watching these dance scenes.
The song is Uptown Funk sung by Bruno Mars.
The song is Uptown Funk sung by Bruno Mars.
SAN FRANCISCO, THE SANCTUARY CITY FOR CRIMINALS AS WELL AS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The ability of criminals to break into cars and take whatever they want without any consequences has bitten the City of San Francisco in the butt
By Richard Krupp, PhD
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 3, 2015
A few weeks ago we reported here at Pacovilla.com about the Sanctuary City of San Francisco’s apparent decision to accept car burglaries as “non-criminal activity.”
The ability of criminals to break into cars and take whatever they want without any consequences has bitten the city in the butt.
Just as the failure to retain an illegal alien resulted in the murder of a young lady in San Francisco, the failure to follow up on a car burglar has resulted in the death of a young man in Oakland.
Here are highlights from an article from the Los Angeles Times:
Man charged in the death of muralist shot while painting anti-violence art in Oakland
An anti-violence artist fatally shot while painting a mural in Oakland was killed with a gun stolen from a federal immigration agent, local media reported Wednesday.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Police Department Chief Greg Suhr said that when Oakland police investigated Antonio Ramos’ slaying, they found the murder weapon matched a gun reported stolen by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in San Francisco.
San Francisco police officials said the gun was stolen Sept. 13 between 7:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. near 2nd and South Park streets while the agent was away from his SUV.
Someone smashed the passenger-side front window and stole the agent’s Glock handgun and other personal items, police said. Sometime after that, authorities say the weapon ended up in the hands of Oakland resident Marquese Holloway.
Holloway, 20, was charged Tuesday with one count of murder, two counts of attempted robbery and three separate robbery charges, according to the Alameda County Superior Court criminal complaint.
He was arrested Friday in Stockton by U.S. Marshals in connection with a string of robberies in late September and early October. He’s accused of robbing two separate groups who had been filming on Oct. 5 in Oakland, according to his arrest warrant.
The Emeryville artist was working on a project led by the Attitudinal Healing Connection. He and a group of other artists had been painting a mural conceptualized by middle-school students in West Oakland. For the project, the students had re-imagined themselves as superheroes to help solve issues in their communities (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/novxd9y.)
It appears that this murder can be traced back to a car burglary in San Francisco that may have been lost in the lax criminal justice efforts in the Sanctuary City.
Ironically the victim was trying to show children something about Non-Violence. It seems San Francisco inadvertently contributed to the tragic lesson learned by the muralist and the children.
Not only did the Sanctuary City disease metastasize and spread like a cancer to Oakland, it moved on to Stockton as well. A few robberies here and there rounded out the a pattern of crimes related to one event spawned in San Francisco’s “enforcement-free zone.”
Some in San Francisco may be whistling past the graveyard, but others are not so lucky. Unfortunately the political hacks responsible for the spread of this Sanctuary cancer will not be held accountable.
Where will the cancer spread to next? Maybe a neighborhood near you. The progressive agenda continues to leave dead bodies in its wake.
By Richard Krupp, PhD
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 3, 2015
A few weeks ago we reported here at Pacovilla.com about the Sanctuary City of San Francisco’s apparent decision to accept car burglaries as “non-criminal activity.”
The ability of criminals to break into cars and take whatever they want without any consequences has bitten the city in the butt.
Just as the failure to retain an illegal alien resulted in the murder of a young lady in San Francisco, the failure to follow up on a car burglar has resulted in the death of a young man in Oakland.
Here are highlights from an article from the Los Angeles Times:
Man charged in the death of muralist shot while painting anti-violence art in Oakland
An anti-violence artist fatally shot while painting a mural in Oakland was killed with a gun stolen from a federal immigration agent, local media reported Wednesday.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Police Department Chief Greg Suhr said that when Oakland police investigated Antonio Ramos’ slaying, they found the murder weapon matched a gun reported stolen by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in San Francisco.
San Francisco police officials said the gun was stolen Sept. 13 between 7:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. near 2nd and South Park streets while the agent was away from his SUV.
Someone smashed the passenger-side front window and stole the agent’s Glock handgun and other personal items, police said. Sometime after that, authorities say the weapon ended up in the hands of Oakland resident Marquese Holloway.
Holloway, 20, was charged Tuesday with one count of murder, two counts of attempted robbery and three separate robbery charges, according to the Alameda County Superior Court criminal complaint.
He was arrested Friday in Stockton by U.S. Marshals in connection with a string of robberies in late September and early October. He’s accused of robbing two separate groups who had been filming on Oct. 5 in Oakland, according to his arrest warrant.
The Emeryville artist was working on a project led by the Attitudinal Healing Connection. He and a group of other artists had been painting a mural conceptualized by middle-school students in West Oakland. For the project, the students had re-imagined themselves as superheroes to help solve issues in their communities (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/novxd9y.)
It appears that this murder can be traced back to a car burglary in San Francisco that may have been lost in the lax criminal justice efforts in the Sanctuary City.
Ironically the victim was trying to show children something about Non-Violence. It seems San Francisco inadvertently contributed to the tragic lesson learned by the muralist and the children.
Not only did the Sanctuary City disease metastasize and spread like a cancer to Oakland, it moved on to Stockton as well. A few robberies here and there rounded out the a pattern of crimes related to one event spawned in San Francisco’s “enforcement-free zone.”
Some in San Francisco may be whistling past the graveyard, but others are not so lucky. Unfortunately the political hacks responsible for the spread of this Sanctuary cancer will not be held accountable.
Where will the cancer spread to next? Maybe a neighborhood near you. The progressive agenda continues to leave dead bodies in its wake.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS CAN KILL YOU
The President of the United States, with his hapless policies and feckless notions, fails to understand what justice and terrorism really look like
By Greg ‘Gadfly’ Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 4, 2015
As a retired police sergeant who worked in San Bernardino County for over a quarter of a century, I am not surprised by the excellent police work performed under the harsh and stressful conditions the San Bernardino Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and surrounding mutual-aid policing agencies responded to on December 2, 2015.
Job well done, Brothers and Sisters! Well done, indeed!
The question in my mind is whether or not they will be allowed to continue to do so considering the imposition of the President of the United States into this and similar tragedies around the country with his hapless policies and feckless notions of what justice and terrorism really look like.
Terrorism is NOT work place violence. Justice is NOT mob rule. Yet the president often lends his support to these notions to the detriment of American sovereignty and security. And I for one am sick of his pathetic double-speak.
I submit that the changing landscape within these United States, whether through student uprisings on college campuses, riots over allegations of racism and police brutality in urban areas, or the rise in home-grown Radicalized Islamic Terrorism by lone wolves or small cell groups are, in part, the consequential fall-out from bad progressive policies and scholarly notions that have little to no practical application in real life. That is why university professors are rarely, if ever, hired as police chiefs and sheriffs.
As we have witnessed in San Francisco, Merced, and now San Bernardino, fear of profiling suspicious people and immediately notifying the authorities to investigate (often due stigmatization from political correctness) can kill you (or someone else.) That appears, at least, to be the circumstances in Redlands, California, where a suspicious neighbor remained silent regarding the suspects in the San Bernardino tragedy, according to news reports.
Failing to enforce laws to discourage illegal aliens from entering and remaining in the United States is a standing policy of our president. The failure to crack down on sanctuary cities by the Department of Justice is also a prerogative of the Executive Branch. Failure to act decisively in the Middle East—and instead withdraw the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as the Surge had stabilized much of the region—was a conscious and calculated decision by, and policy of, our president.
Do these policies make you feel more secure? Our allies are under attack abroad, our embassies have been targeted, and now our citizens at home are subject to attack.
Who was it that refused to use the term “War on Terror” after taking office in 2009? Who puffed up his chest about killing Usama Bin Laden, then misled the American people in the rose garden about the embassy attack in Benghazi to win an election? Who claimed Al-Qaeda was on the run and dismissed ISIS as the JV team?
If you said the President of the United States, you would be correct.
Who has consistently refused to utter the word “Muslim” in any speech concerning terror at home or abroad? Who has been regularly adverse to identifying our enemy “Radical Islam” by name, even in the face of terrorist attacks at home and abroad?
Who continues to blame firearms, and not the individuals or groups who wield them, as the culprit in the acts of domestic and radicalized Islamic terrorism we have witnessed in recent tragedies? Who continues to vilify the National Rifle Association for its stand on the Second Amendment? Who is determined to obtain the early release of convicted drug traffickers and alleged non-violent felons back into our communities?
If you said the president, the ACLU, or Governor Jerry Brown (all political operatives of the left) you would be correct.
What have their progressive and politically correct notions really done for the average citizen?
Hmmmmmm. That is an interesting question. In my opinion, the mantra of the duplicitous left and a feckless president is leaving a conspicuous crimson blood-trail leading right back to an incompetent and divisive leftist-agenda-driven White House.
Ask yourself this: Does the disarming of soft targets (aka:law-abiding citizens) prevent criminals or fanatics (or deranged individuals intent on committing first-time criminal acts) from obtaining firearms?
My answer is, “No.” There is a black market available to anyone who needs a gun badly enough.
Please consider this: Are the probabilities of survival better or worse for a well-trained and armed citizen when suddenly thrust into a confrontation with one or more armed suspects during an active shooter situation? Are the probabilities of survival better or worse for an unarmed and defenseless citizen (soft target) in the same situation?
Strange. The president seems to think limiting our access to firearms and ammunition will minimize the risks of us being attacked. How does that work?
To my knowledge, in nearly every active shooting tragedy in the United States, unarmed civilians were mercilessly gunned down because no one among them was armed in the location where the shooter gained access and control. However, where a firearm was available, the threat was usually neutralized and the carnage IMMEDIATELY stopped.
My suggestion to this president is to reach out to the NRA and seek their assistance in improving training for an otherwise defenseless citizenry.
With all due respect, Mister President, your domestic policy on terrorism is the poorest performer when compared to your foreign policy and government-run health care law at the moment. I am not impressed by your performance in those areas either.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Instead of “Radicalized Islamic Terrorism” or “Radical Islam,” Greg would be more correct to say “Islamic Terrorism” and “fundamentalist Islam.” There is nothing radical about fundamentalist Muslims other than that they believe in every word of the Quran and that Prophet Muhammed must be obeyed. And Muhammed ordered the faithful to take up the sword and kill the infidels. All acts of Islamic terrorism are committed by extremists among fundamentalist Muslims.
I also take issue with the following:
“To my knowledge, in nearly every active shooting tragedy in the United States, unarmed civilians were mercilessly gunned down because no one among them was armed in the location where the shooter gained access and control. However, where a firearm was available, the threat was usually neutralized and the carnage IMMEDIATELY stopped.”
Greg should know better than that. If one, or even three people at the scene in San Bernardino had been armed, they probably would not have been able to stop the heavily armed Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Hell, it took an army of cops firing more than 300 AR-15 rounds to take them down in their SUV.
And if several armed civilians had been present at the Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs or in the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, in all probability they would not have been able to stop the shooters. More likely, instead of IMMEDIATELY stopping the carnage, they would have unintentionally added to it.
As for what Greg said about the police response and President Obama, he is spot on.
By Greg ‘Gadfly’ Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 4, 2015
As a retired police sergeant who worked in San Bernardino County for over a quarter of a century, I am not surprised by the excellent police work performed under the harsh and stressful conditions the San Bernardino Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and surrounding mutual-aid policing agencies responded to on December 2, 2015.
Job well done, Brothers and Sisters! Well done, indeed!
The question in my mind is whether or not they will be allowed to continue to do so considering the imposition of the President of the United States into this and similar tragedies around the country with his hapless policies and feckless notions of what justice and terrorism really look like.
Terrorism is NOT work place violence. Justice is NOT mob rule. Yet the president often lends his support to these notions to the detriment of American sovereignty and security. And I for one am sick of his pathetic double-speak.
I submit that the changing landscape within these United States, whether through student uprisings on college campuses, riots over allegations of racism and police brutality in urban areas, or the rise in home-grown Radicalized Islamic Terrorism by lone wolves or small cell groups are, in part, the consequential fall-out from bad progressive policies and scholarly notions that have little to no practical application in real life. That is why university professors are rarely, if ever, hired as police chiefs and sheriffs.
As we have witnessed in San Francisco, Merced, and now San Bernardino, fear of profiling suspicious people and immediately notifying the authorities to investigate (often due stigmatization from political correctness) can kill you (or someone else.) That appears, at least, to be the circumstances in Redlands, California, where a suspicious neighbor remained silent regarding the suspects in the San Bernardino tragedy, according to news reports.
Failing to enforce laws to discourage illegal aliens from entering and remaining in the United States is a standing policy of our president. The failure to crack down on sanctuary cities by the Department of Justice is also a prerogative of the Executive Branch. Failure to act decisively in the Middle East—and instead withdraw the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as the Surge had stabilized much of the region—was a conscious and calculated decision by, and policy of, our president.
Do these policies make you feel more secure? Our allies are under attack abroad, our embassies have been targeted, and now our citizens at home are subject to attack.
Who was it that refused to use the term “War on Terror” after taking office in 2009? Who puffed up his chest about killing Usama Bin Laden, then misled the American people in the rose garden about the embassy attack in Benghazi to win an election? Who claimed Al-Qaeda was on the run and dismissed ISIS as the JV team?
If you said the President of the United States, you would be correct.
Who has consistently refused to utter the word “Muslim” in any speech concerning terror at home or abroad? Who has been regularly adverse to identifying our enemy “Radical Islam” by name, even in the face of terrorist attacks at home and abroad?
Who continues to blame firearms, and not the individuals or groups who wield them, as the culprit in the acts of domestic and radicalized Islamic terrorism we have witnessed in recent tragedies? Who continues to vilify the National Rifle Association for its stand on the Second Amendment? Who is determined to obtain the early release of convicted drug traffickers and alleged non-violent felons back into our communities?
If you said the president, the ACLU, or Governor Jerry Brown (all political operatives of the left) you would be correct.
What have their progressive and politically correct notions really done for the average citizen?
Hmmmmmm. That is an interesting question. In my opinion, the mantra of the duplicitous left and a feckless president is leaving a conspicuous crimson blood-trail leading right back to an incompetent and divisive leftist-agenda-driven White House.
Ask yourself this: Does the disarming of soft targets (aka:law-abiding citizens) prevent criminals or fanatics (or deranged individuals intent on committing first-time criminal acts) from obtaining firearms?
My answer is, “No.” There is a black market available to anyone who needs a gun badly enough.
Please consider this: Are the probabilities of survival better or worse for a well-trained and armed citizen when suddenly thrust into a confrontation with one or more armed suspects during an active shooter situation? Are the probabilities of survival better or worse for an unarmed and defenseless citizen (soft target) in the same situation?
Strange. The president seems to think limiting our access to firearms and ammunition will minimize the risks of us being attacked. How does that work?
To my knowledge, in nearly every active shooting tragedy in the United States, unarmed civilians were mercilessly gunned down because no one among them was armed in the location where the shooter gained access and control. However, where a firearm was available, the threat was usually neutralized and the carnage IMMEDIATELY stopped.
My suggestion to this president is to reach out to the NRA and seek their assistance in improving training for an otherwise defenseless citizenry.
With all due respect, Mister President, your domestic policy on terrorism is the poorest performer when compared to your foreign policy and government-run health care law at the moment. I am not impressed by your performance in those areas either.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Instead of “Radicalized Islamic Terrorism” or “Radical Islam,” Greg would be more correct to say “Islamic Terrorism” and “fundamentalist Islam.” There is nothing radical about fundamentalist Muslims other than that they believe in every word of the Quran and that Prophet Muhammed must be obeyed. And Muhammed ordered the faithful to take up the sword and kill the infidels. All acts of Islamic terrorism are committed by extremists among fundamentalist Muslims.
I also take issue with the following:
“To my knowledge, in nearly every active shooting tragedy in the United States, unarmed civilians were mercilessly gunned down because no one among them was armed in the location where the shooter gained access and control. However, where a firearm was available, the threat was usually neutralized and the carnage IMMEDIATELY stopped.”
Greg should know better than that. If one, or even three people at the scene in San Bernardino had been armed, they probably would not have been able to stop the heavily armed Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Hell, it took an army of cops firing more than 300 AR-15 rounds to take them down in their SUV.
And if several armed civilians had been present at the Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs or in the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, in all probability they would not have been able to stop the shooters. More likely, instead of IMMEDIATELY stopping the carnage, they would have unintentionally added to it.
As for what Greg said about the police response and President Obama, he is spot on.
THE PERILS OF CONSPICUOUS STUPIDITY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 4, 2015
It would seem that a group of “jail guards” in Santa Clara County are about to get bit on the ass big time for conspicuous stupidity. Among them is the head of their union.
You might remember that a prisoner died in the main jail there recently under highly dubious circumstances and that three correctional officers are being prosecuted in that death.
While going over an officer’s phone, seized as part of an internal investigation, the S O has found a string of very nasty racist messages and images apparently swapped back and forth between a number of their staff. One of the jail deputies being looked into is a “known associate” of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club.
Lance Seimeca is the head of their union, he is assigned to a different jail complex and is not involved directly in the death investigation. It seems, however, that he liberally threw in racist and offensive references in messaging with his colleagues.
Most of this messaging does not appear to be criminal in nature as it does not explicitly incite illegal behavior. The Sheriff has, however, stated she intends to sack those involved. The words “nigger” “gook” and “kike” liberally spice these messages.
The Officer’s Union lawyer has voiced the opinion that the S O has deliberately leaked information from this internal investigation to paint the officers in an unfavorable light.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “To paint the officers in an unfavorable light?” No shit!
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 4, 2015
It would seem that a group of “jail guards” in Santa Clara County are about to get bit on the ass big time for conspicuous stupidity. Among them is the head of their union.
You might remember that a prisoner died in the main jail there recently under highly dubious circumstances and that three correctional officers are being prosecuted in that death.
While going over an officer’s phone, seized as part of an internal investigation, the S O has found a string of very nasty racist messages and images apparently swapped back and forth between a number of their staff. One of the jail deputies being looked into is a “known associate” of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club.
Lance Seimeca is the head of their union, he is assigned to a different jail complex and is not involved directly in the death investigation. It seems, however, that he liberally threw in racist and offensive references in messaging with his colleagues.
Most of this messaging does not appear to be criminal in nature as it does not explicitly incite illegal behavior. The Sheriff has, however, stated she intends to sack those involved. The words “nigger” “gook” and “kike” liberally spice these messages.
The Officer’s Union lawyer has voiced the opinion that the S O has deliberately leaked information from this internal investigation to paint the officers in an unfavorable light.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “To paint the officers in an unfavorable light?” No shit!
Friday, December 04, 2015
GOD HEARS OUR PRAYERS ….. OOPS, DID I REALLY TWEET THAT?
The Lt. Governor of Texas put his mouse in motion before he put his brain in gear
The New York Daily News had a tacky front page Thursday mocking the prayers given by Republicans in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings and entitled “GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS.”
That upset the most powerful leader of the great State of Texas, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Dan wasn’t about to let the Daily News get away with that. He Tweeted:
"14 Dead in California Mass Shooting: God Hears Our Prayers."
Oops! Good ole Dan quickly deleted his tweet when he was hit with a barrage of responding tweets ridiculing him for what he had said. The good Lt. Governor had embarrassed himself and the State by putting his mouse in motion before he put his brain in gear.
The New York Daily News had a tacky front page Thursday mocking the prayers given by Republicans in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings and entitled “GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS.”
That upset the most powerful leader of the great State of Texas, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Dan wasn’t about to let the Daily News get away with that. He Tweeted:
"14 Dead in California Mass Shooting: God Hears Our Prayers."
Oops! Good ole Dan quickly deleted his tweet when he was hit with a barrage of responding tweets ridiculing him for what he had said. The good Lt. Governor had embarrassed himself and the State by putting his mouse in motion before he put his brain in gear.
CALL IT WHAT IT WAS: ISLAMIC TERRORISM
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the San Bernardino shooters, committed an act of Islamic terrorism
Accuse me of jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in, but in the case of the San Bernardino shootings, I will say unequivocally that Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik committed an act of Islamic terrorism.
The authorities in San Bernardino seem to be having a hard time admitting that 14 of their fellow citizens were killed by Islamic terrorists. Even after revealing that Farook had been in touch with Jihadists in this country and abroad by phone and over the internet, as of Thursday evening the FBI still refused to label the shootings for what they were: Islamic terrorism.
Their excuse is that they must determine whether the shootings meet the FBI’s definition of terrorism:
Terrorism involves acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law and appear intended (1) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (2) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (3) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping.
Cone on fellas, give us a break. What a crock of supreme shit! A rose by any other name. It’s Islamic terrorism, stupid!
The U.S. Attorney General babbled that the shootings may have been work-related or something worse. And you will never hear the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ used by the President. Shit, Obama won’t even acknowledge that ISIL (or ISIS if you prefer) is an Islamic organization and he won’t use the terms Islamic and terrorism in the same breath.
Why am I so sure that Farook and his wife were Islamic terrorists? In addition to the FBI’s revelation that Farook had been in contact with Jihadists here and abroad, he made two trips to Saudi Arabia, during the most recent of which he picked up Tashfeen, his Pakistani bride to be. At their residence in Redlands, the FBI found 6,000 .9mm rounds, a dozen pipe bombs and bomb making material.
The San Bernardino attack was not a spur-of-the-moment workplace dispute, but a well carried out attack that had to take weeks of planning. And, just as with Maj. Nidal Hasan’s 2009 attack at Fort Hood, they still won’t call the San Bernardino shooting Islamic terrorism.
A word of caution is in order. For those who are suspicious of all Muslims, the San Bernardino attack serves to fuel their fear and distrust of all American members of that faith.
Hoe many American Muslims are there? Estimates range that between five to 12 million Muslims live in the United States. About one-third of them are African-Americans. Another third are originally from the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Many of the African-American Muslims belong to race-baiting and Jew-hating Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, a homegrown version of the Muslim faith.
As I’ve said many times before, the overwhelming majority of American Muslims are hardworking loyal citizens of this country. Some of them are secular Muslims. Most of them are not fundamentalists who take the words of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammed literally and consider Western culture to be evil. The Jihadists are fundamentalists who follow Muhammed’s orders to take up the sword and kill the infidels.
The Saudis have long founded and funded Wahhabi mosques and madrassahs (religious schools) in this country. The Wahhabis are fundamentalists and it is in their mosques and madrassahs that Imams have bred Islamic terrorists.
In this age of political correctness, it is verboten to use the term ‘fundamentalist Muslims.’ Instead we must use the term ‘radicalized Muslims.’ Fundamentalists are radical only to the extent that they believe in every word of the Quran and that Prophet Muhammed must be obeyed.
Most of the poverty stricken Muslims in Africa and the Asian subcontinent are fundamentalists. Most of the groups fighting against the Syrian secular regime of Bashar al-Assad are fundamentalist Muslims. The Mullahs that govern Iran are fundamentalists. The Saudi royal family is Wahhabi, although you couldn't tell it by the way its princes behave when they are in Europe and in America.
It is the young American Wahhabis that are potentially dangerous Islamic terrorists. Imams fill their minds with Jihadism and hatred of Western culture. But the Wahhabis constitute only a tiny fraction of American Muslims.
Forget that politically correct term ‘radicalized Muslims.’ ‘Fundamentalist Muslims’ is the correct term. And it is among the fundamentalist Muslims that you will find Islamic terrorists, two words – Islamic and terrorism or terrorists - President Obama absolutely refuses to say in the same breath.
UPDATE: It took until 11 a.m. today (Friday, Pacific time) for the FBI to announce that “We are currently investigating this as an act of terrorism.”
Apparently the tipping point came when the FBI learned that Tashfeen Malik, using an alias, had pledged allegiance to ISIS and praised Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, its leader, Wednesday on Facebook just before she and her husband stormed the San Bernardino social service center.
Accuse me of jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in, but in the case of the San Bernardino shootings, I will say unequivocally that Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik committed an act of Islamic terrorism.
The authorities in San Bernardino seem to be having a hard time admitting that 14 of their fellow citizens were killed by Islamic terrorists. Even after revealing that Farook had been in touch with Jihadists in this country and abroad by phone and over the internet, as of Thursday evening the FBI still refused to label the shootings for what they were: Islamic terrorism.
Their excuse is that they must determine whether the shootings meet the FBI’s definition of terrorism:
Terrorism involves acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law and appear intended (1) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (2) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (3) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping.
Cone on fellas, give us a break. What a crock of supreme shit! A rose by any other name. It’s Islamic terrorism, stupid!
The U.S. Attorney General babbled that the shootings may have been work-related or something worse. And you will never hear the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ used by the President. Shit, Obama won’t even acknowledge that ISIL (or ISIS if you prefer) is an Islamic organization and he won’t use the terms Islamic and terrorism in the same breath.
Why am I so sure that Farook and his wife were Islamic terrorists? In addition to the FBI’s revelation that Farook had been in contact with Jihadists here and abroad, he made two trips to Saudi Arabia, during the most recent of which he picked up Tashfeen, his Pakistani bride to be. At their residence in Redlands, the FBI found 6,000 .9mm rounds, a dozen pipe bombs and bomb making material.
The San Bernardino attack was not a spur-of-the-moment workplace dispute, but a well carried out attack that had to take weeks of planning. And, just as with Maj. Nidal Hasan’s 2009 attack at Fort Hood, they still won’t call the San Bernardino shooting Islamic terrorism.
A word of caution is in order. For those who are suspicious of all Muslims, the San Bernardino attack serves to fuel their fear and distrust of all American members of that faith.
Hoe many American Muslims are there? Estimates range that between five to 12 million Muslims live in the United States. About one-third of them are African-Americans. Another third are originally from the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Many of the African-American Muslims belong to race-baiting and Jew-hating Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, a homegrown version of the Muslim faith.
As I’ve said many times before, the overwhelming majority of American Muslims are hardworking loyal citizens of this country. Some of them are secular Muslims. Most of them are not fundamentalists who take the words of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammed literally and consider Western culture to be evil. The Jihadists are fundamentalists who follow Muhammed’s orders to take up the sword and kill the infidels.
The Saudis have long founded and funded Wahhabi mosques and madrassahs (religious schools) in this country. The Wahhabis are fundamentalists and it is in their mosques and madrassahs that Imams have bred Islamic terrorists.
In this age of political correctness, it is verboten to use the term ‘fundamentalist Muslims.’ Instead we must use the term ‘radicalized Muslims.’ Fundamentalists are radical only to the extent that they believe in every word of the Quran and that Prophet Muhammed must be obeyed.
Most of the poverty stricken Muslims in Africa and the Asian subcontinent are fundamentalists. Most of the groups fighting against the Syrian secular regime of Bashar al-Assad are fundamentalist Muslims. The Mullahs that govern Iran are fundamentalists. The Saudi royal family is Wahhabi, although you couldn't tell it by the way its princes behave when they are in Europe and in America.
It is the young American Wahhabis that are potentially dangerous Islamic terrorists. Imams fill their minds with Jihadism and hatred of Western culture. But the Wahhabis constitute only a tiny fraction of American Muslims.
Forget that politically correct term ‘radicalized Muslims.’ ‘Fundamentalist Muslims’ is the correct term. And it is among the fundamentalist Muslims that you will find Islamic terrorists, two words – Islamic and terrorism or terrorists - President Obama absolutely refuses to say in the same breath.
UPDATE: It took until 11 a.m. today (Friday, Pacific time) for the FBI to announce that “We are currently investigating this as an act of terrorism.”
Apparently the tipping point came when the FBI learned that Tashfeen Malik, using an alias, had pledged allegiance to ISIS and praised Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, its leader, Wednesday on Facebook just before she and her husband stormed the San Bernardino social service center.
CONSEQUENCES OF HATEFUL ANTI-POLICE RHETORIC
Police officers are likely to be quicker on the trigger finger, knowing that police-hating demonstrators have howled for the murder of cops
There has been an increase in the number of unarmed civilians shot by police officers. A plausible explanation for the increased shootings is that cops have been in a ‘Fight or Flight’ mode as the result of several deadly ambushes on police officers. Add to that the howling for the murder of cops by police-hating demonstrators and you get officers that are understandably quick on the trigger finger.
Hateful rhetoric carries with it unpleasant consequences. The problem is that even though a cop was in fear of his life, in today’s political turbulence he will likely be fired and possibly charged with murder if he shoots what turns out to be an unarmed civilian.
MAN SHOT IN HEAD TO SUE LAPD
By Amanda Lee Myers
Associated Press
December 2, 2015
An unarmed man who lost a quarter of his skull after being shot by a Los Angeles police officer notified the city and police department on Wednesday that he plans to sue, claiming the shooting was part of a broad, disturbing pattern in the police force of the nation's second-largest city.
Attorneys for Walter DeLeon, 49, filed the notice of claim in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The notice, a precursor to a lawsuit, accuses police Officer Cairo Palacios of shooting an unarmed DeLeon without warning on June 19 as he was on his regular evening walk to a popular park.
Palacios' attorney, Gary Fullerton, said the shooting was within departmental policy because Palacios was convinced that a towel wrapped around DeLeon's hand was hiding a gun and that he and his partner were in imminent danger.
"He basically forced their hand to deal with him," Fullerton said. "In the matter of a couple seconds they have to make a choice, and the choice is, 'Do I let him shoot me first and then fire?' or 'Do I shoot first and defend myself?'"
Soon after DeLeon was shot, a police spokesman said Palacios and another officer were driving in stop-and-go traffic when they saw DeLeon walk aggressively toward them on a sidewalk.
Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith, a department spokesman, said DeLeon's hands were clasped together and wrapped in a gray cloth, and that the officers believed he had a gun. Smith said DeLeon was shot after ignoring orders to drop the gun.
DeLeon's attorney, Ben Meiselas, said DeLeon had a towel wrapped around his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow on a hot summer day, and that DeLeon had been flagging down the officers for help, though he said his client can't remember why.
"The next thing he was shot, and the next thing he remembers is he was in the hospital," Meiselas said. "This is the most catastrophic of catastrophic injuries and it affects every aspect of life — physical, economic, family. It's a total destruction of self and self-worth, and the only way to rebuild is through this process we're initiating."
DeLeon lost a quarter of his skull, almost all his eyesight and the ability to walk. He still has his memory and most cognitive functions but has trouble speaking.
He spent five months in the hospital, underwent 10 surgeries and is completely dependent on his family's care.
"My whole life was turned upside-down," DeLeon told The Associated Press through tears.
His sister and primary caregiver, Yovanna DeLeon, said her brother has lost everything most people take for granted.
"We get up, we get ourselves dressed and ready to eat, we go about our day ... My brother will never be able to do that again," she said. "If this had been a normal citizen that had done this to Walter, that person would have never seen the light of day."
The DeLeons are seeking unspecified damages. They also want Palacios to face criminal charges and for the department to make changes to ensure no similar shootings ever happen again.
Palacios' attorney said he was still working at the department but is off the streets pending an internal investigation.
Through mid-November, there had been 45 officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles, double the total through the same time period last year. Nineteen of this year's shootings have been fatal, up from 18 deaths in all of 2014 and 26 in 2011.
There has been an increase in the number of unarmed civilians shot by police officers. A plausible explanation for the increased shootings is that cops have been in a ‘Fight or Flight’ mode as the result of several deadly ambushes on police officers. Add to that the howling for the murder of cops by police-hating demonstrators and you get officers that are understandably quick on the trigger finger.
Hateful rhetoric carries with it unpleasant consequences. The problem is that even though a cop was in fear of his life, in today’s political turbulence he will likely be fired and possibly charged with murder if he shoots what turns out to be an unarmed civilian.
MAN SHOT IN HEAD TO SUE LAPD
By Amanda Lee Myers
Associated Press
December 2, 2015
An unarmed man who lost a quarter of his skull after being shot by a Los Angeles police officer notified the city and police department on Wednesday that he plans to sue, claiming the shooting was part of a broad, disturbing pattern in the police force of the nation's second-largest city.
Attorneys for Walter DeLeon, 49, filed the notice of claim in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The notice, a precursor to a lawsuit, accuses police Officer Cairo Palacios of shooting an unarmed DeLeon without warning on June 19 as he was on his regular evening walk to a popular park.
Palacios' attorney, Gary Fullerton, said the shooting was within departmental policy because Palacios was convinced that a towel wrapped around DeLeon's hand was hiding a gun and that he and his partner were in imminent danger.
"He basically forced their hand to deal with him," Fullerton said. "In the matter of a couple seconds they have to make a choice, and the choice is, 'Do I let him shoot me first and then fire?' or 'Do I shoot first and defend myself?'"
Soon after DeLeon was shot, a police spokesman said Palacios and another officer were driving in stop-and-go traffic when they saw DeLeon walk aggressively toward them on a sidewalk.
Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith, a department spokesman, said DeLeon's hands were clasped together and wrapped in a gray cloth, and that the officers believed he had a gun. Smith said DeLeon was shot after ignoring orders to drop the gun.
DeLeon's attorney, Ben Meiselas, said DeLeon had a towel wrapped around his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow on a hot summer day, and that DeLeon had been flagging down the officers for help, though he said his client can't remember why.
"The next thing he was shot, and the next thing he remembers is he was in the hospital," Meiselas said. "This is the most catastrophic of catastrophic injuries and it affects every aspect of life — physical, economic, family. It's a total destruction of self and self-worth, and the only way to rebuild is through this process we're initiating."
DeLeon lost a quarter of his skull, almost all his eyesight and the ability to walk. He still has his memory and most cognitive functions but has trouble speaking.
He spent five months in the hospital, underwent 10 surgeries and is completely dependent on his family's care.
"My whole life was turned upside-down," DeLeon told The Associated Press through tears.
His sister and primary caregiver, Yovanna DeLeon, said her brother has lost everything most people take for granted.
"We get up, we get ourselves dressed and ready to eat, we go about our day ... My brother will never be able to do that again," she said. "If this had been a normal citizen that had done this to Walter, that person would have never seen the light of day."
The DeLeons are seeking unspecified damages. They also want Palacios to face criminal charges and for the department to make changes to ensure no similar shootings ever happen again.
Palacios' attorney said he was still working at the department but is off the streets pending an internal investigation.
Through mid-November, there had been 45 officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles, double the total through the same time period last year. Nineteen of this year's shootings have been fatal, up from 18 deaths in all of 2014 and 26 in 2011.
MILLIONS AT STAKE IN THE ‘ADELSON PRIMARY’
The race for the endorsement of Sheldon Adelson is neck and neck
By Michael Isikoff
Yahoo News
December 2, 2015
It is the biggest financial prize in Republican presidential politics: the endorsement of Sheldon Adelson, the multibillionaire casino magnate legendary for his willingness to spend huge sums to promote the candidates of his choosing.
But this year the bidding to become the winner of what is informally called the “Adelson primary” has gotten complicated. After being wooed by virtually all the major GOP contenders, the 82-year-old Adelson was believed to be close to announcing his backing of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio shortly after the Dec. 15 Republican debate — an event that, conveniently enough, is being held at the Venetian Las Vegas, a hotel Adelson owns.
That scenario, however, has run into resistance from a surprising source: Miriam Adelson, the megadonor’s strong-willed and equally hawkish wife. An Israeli-born physician, Miriam Adelson has become enamored of late with Ted Cruz, according to four Republican sources close to the couple. The Texas senator has impressed her with his unwavering toughness on national security issues, especially his support for Israel, the issue that the couple cares most passionately about.
“He really likes Marco, but she really likes Cruz — and it’s a standoff,” said one well-placed Republican fundraiser familiar with Adelson family dynamics.
It’s a standoff that could result in an awkward split decision — or no decision at all, according to some GOP insiders. Both the Adelsons give generously in their own names, almost always in tandem: The couple’s publicly reported donations exceeded $98 million during the 2012 election. Miriam Adelson wrote nearly half those checks personally, totaling more than $47 million, usually delivering them on the same day her husband wrote seven-figure checks for about the same amount.
But one prediction that is gaining traction in GOP circles is that the Adelsons may end up sitting out the early GOP primaries altogether, rather than choose sides and risk funding attack ads against a candidate one of them actually favors. Some say they could even go their separate ways, at least in the early stages of the contest. “She’s very capable of doing whatever she wants,” said one GOP insider in regular touch with the Adelsons. “If she wants to support Cruz, there’s nothing stopping her.” (Spokesmen for Adelson and for Cruz did not respond to requests for comment. Rubio spokesman Alex Conant emailed: “I don’t comment on the Adelsons.”)
The Adelsons’ dilemma comes at a critical juncture in the GOP race. Rubio and Cruz are openly sniping at each other over national security issues as they vie to become the “responsible” conservative alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump.
In recent days, a super-PAC allied with Rubio has begun running attack ads blasting Cruz for allegedly voting to “weaken America’s ability to identify and hunt down terrorists” — a reference to the Texas senator’s support for legislation that this week ended bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the NSA. Cruz shot back that the pro-Rubio ad was “impugning” his patriotism, while his campaign released its own attack ads in Iowa criticizing Rubio for his past support for the so-called Gang of Eight immigration reform bill that would have given Obama authority “to admit even more Syrian refugees.” (Rubio has since backed away from his support for the bill.)
The bidding in the Adelson primary moves into its next phase Thursday when the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a group heavily backed by Adelson, hosts a presidential forum at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. The Adelsons won’t be present — they are traveling in South Africa this week. But notably, all 14 GOP candidates (including Rubio and Cruz) are confirmed speakers, hoping to use the event as an opportunity to showcase their hardline national security credentials.
“It’s the only forum outside of the debates where every Republican presidential candidate is going to appear,” even Jim Gilmore, says Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC.
(Conveniently, many of the candidates and their super-PACs are also holding fundraisers tied to the event in hopes of raking in dollars from other wealthy members of the RJC. Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise super-PAC has a 7:30 a.m. breakfast at the Reagan building Thursday morning aimed at RJC donors; Rubio has his own campaign fundraiser, co-chaired by Wayne Berman, his national finance chairman and an RJC board member, on the same day at noon.)
The behind-the-scenes wooing of the Adelsons has been underway for months — a graphic testament to the outside influence that one or two fabulously wealthy donors can have on the presidential race. According to an account first reported by National Review, Jeb Bush initially fell out of Sheldon Adelson’s favor after one of his foreign policy advisers, former Secretary of State James Baker, spoke at an event sponsored by J Street, an American Jewish “pro-peace” group that supports Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. The appearance prompted the casino magnate to send word that the move cost the former Florida governor “a lot of money,” while associates of Adelson were quoted as saying that Bush was “dead to him.”
Bush scrambled to make amends. One top GOP donor who is close to the Adelsons told Yahoo News that he quickly got a phone call from Bush distancing himself from Baker. Bush “told me that he [Baker] was just on a list and that he’s never called him for any advice,” said the donor, who, like most others interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified publicly. The donor, at Bush’s request, then passed this along to Adelson. It was “helpful,” the donor said, in mollifying Adelson.
Rubio, meanwhile, saw an opportunity and began aggressively courting the Adelsons, reportedly calling the mogul on the phone every two weeks to give him detailed updates on his campaign. The two also had a private dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak DC, a restaurant near Capitol Hill, where they talked for hours about their families and personal lives, according to a Politico account last April that proclaimed Rubio the “frontrunner” in the Adelson primary.
But as in other aspects of his campaign, Cruz — mostly below the radar — has been assiduously courting the Adelsons as well as other conservative Jewish donors, building bridges with his base among evangelical Christians who also support Israel. Last year, Cruz named Nick Muzin, an Orthodox Jew and medical doctor with a law degree from Yale, as his deputy chief of staff. Muzin now also works on the campaign, doing “outreach” with Jewish contributors. With the Adelsons on hand, Cruz was a keynote speaker (along with Rev. John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel and a leading figure in the religious right) last December at the annual gala of the Zionist Organization of America. As can be seen on a YouTube video that has made the rounds in GOP donor circles, Cruz brought down the house by recounting how he stood up to a Christian group that included supporters of Hezbollah, telling them: “If you will not stand with the Jews, I will not stand with you,” prompting the crowd to erupt in chants of “Go, Ted, Go!”
Cruz had another chance to cultivate the couple’s support last May when he received a Protector of Israel award at Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s World Values Network and sat at the head table with the Adelsons. “Sen. Cruz is a phenomenal friend of Israel, and the Adelsons have made it clear that Israel is the top priority for them,” Boteach told Yahoo News.
A Cruz ally who is closely connected to conservative Jewish circles tells Yahoo News that the Texas senator now makes frequent phone calls to the Adelsons and has impressed Sheldon as well as Miriam. “She likes passionate, ideas-driven people,” says the Cruz supporter. But even if Cruz’ courtship does not result in actual support, his cultivation has a strategic purpose. “This is not just about an endorsement,” says the supporter who is familiar with the calls. “It’s about not being on the other side of them. You don’t want their money going to [super-PAC] attack ads against you.”
Some in GOP circles say Cruz might have set himself back this week when he gave an interview to Bloomberg News in which, in an effort to differentiate himself from Rubio, he took a potshot at “aggressive Washington neo-cons” — a line that is likely to offend the Adelsons.
But others say their sense from talking to Sheldon Adelson in recent weeks is that the couple may just end up biding their time to see how the race shakes out. In the last presidential race, they poured $15 million into a Newt Gingrich-allied super-PAC — only to see it squandered when the former speaker dropped out. This time, one of the donors quoted in this story said, both Adelsons want to be more “strategic.” “I talked to him recently, and he told me he’s not in any hurry,” the donor said.
By Michael Isikoff
Yahoo News
December 2, 2015
It is the biggest financial prize in Republican presidential politics: the endorsement of Sheldon Adelson, the multibillionaire casino magnate legendary for his willingness to spend huge sums to promote the candidates of his choosing.
But this year the bidding to become the winner of what is informally called the “Adelson primary” has gotten complicated. After being wooed by virtually all the major GOP contenders, the 82-year-old Adelson was believed to be close to announcing his backing of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio shortly after the Dec. 15 Republican debate — an event that, conveniently enough, is being held at the Venetian Las Vegas, a hotel Adelson owns.
That scenario, however, has run into resistance from a surprising source: Miriam Adelson, the megadonor’s strong-willed and equally hawkish wife. An Israeli-born physician, Miriam Adelson has become enamored of late with Ted Cruz, according to four Republican sources close to the couple. The Texas senator has impressed her with his unwavering toughness on national security issues, especially his support for Israel, the issue that the couple cares most passionately about.
“He really likes Marco, but she really likes Cruz — and it’s a standoff,” said one well-placed Republican fundraiser familiar with Adelson family dynamics.
It’s a standoff that could result in an awkward split decision — or no decision at all, according to some GOP insiders. Both the Adelsons give generously in their own names, almost always in tandem: The couple’s publicly reported donations exceeded $98 million during the 2012 election. Miriam Adelson wrote nearly half those checks personally, totaling more than $47 million, usually delivering them on the same day her husband wrote seven-figure checks for about the same amount.
But one prediction that is gaining traction in GOP circles is that the Adelsons may end up sitting out the early GOP primaries altogether, rather than choose sides and risk funding attack ads against a candidate one of them actually favors. Some say they could even go their separate ways, at least in the early stages of the contest. “She’s very capable of doing whatever she wants,” said one GOP insider in regular touch with the Adelsons. “If she wants to support Cruz, there’s nothing stopping her.” (Spokesmen for Adelson and for Cruz did not respond to requests for comment. Rubio spokesman Alex Conant emailed: “I don’t comment on the Adelsons.”)
The Adelsons’ dilemma comes at a critical juncture in the GOP race. Rubio and Cruz are openly sniping at each other over national security issues as they vie to become the “responsible” conservative alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump.
In recent days, a super-PAC allied with Rubio has begun running attack ads blasting Cruz for allegedly voting to “weaken America’s ability to identify and hunt down terrorists” — a reference to the Texas senator’s support for legislation that this week ended bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the NSA. Cruz shot back that the pro-Rubio ad was “impugning” his patriotism, while his campaign released its own attack ads in Iowa criticizing Rubio for his past support for the so-called Gang of Eight immigration reform bill that would have given Obama authority “to admit even more Syrian refugees.” (Rubio has since backed away from his support for the bill.)
The bidding in the Adelson primary moves into its next phase Thursday when the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a group heavily backed by Adelson, hosts a presidential forum at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. The Adelsons won’t be present — they are traveling in South Africa this week. But notably, all 14 GOP candidates (including Rubio and Cruz) are confirmed speakers, hoping to use the event as an opportunity to showcase their hardline national security credentials.
“It’s the only forum outside of the debates where every Republican presidential candidate is going to appear,” even Jim Gilmore, says Matt Brooks, executive director of the RJC.
(Conveniently, many of the candidates and their super-PACs are also holding fundraisers tied to the event in hopes of raking in dollars from other wealthy members of the RJC. Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise super-PAC has a 7:30 a.m. breakfast at the Reagan building Thursday morning aimed at RJC donors; Rubio has his own campaign fundraiser, co-chaired by Wayne Berman, his national finance chairman and an RJC board member, on the same day at noon.)
The behind-the-scenes wooing of the Adelsons has been underway for months — a graphic testament to the outside influence that one or two fabulously wealthy donors can have on the presidential race. According to an account first reported by National Review, Jeb Bush initially fell out of Sheldon Adelson’s favor after one of his foreign policy advisers, former Secretary of State James Baker, spoke at an event sponsored by J Street, an American Jewish “pro-peace” group that supports Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. The appearance prompted the casino magnate to send word that the move cost the former Florida governor “a lot of money,” while associates of Adelson were quoted as saying that Bush was “dead to him.”
Bush scrambled to make amends. One top GOP donor who is close to the Adelsons told Yahoo News that he quickly got a phone call from Bush distancing himself from Baker. Bush “told me that he [Baker] was just on a list and that he’s never called him for any advice,” said the donor, who, like most others interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified publicly. The donor, at Bush’s request, then passed this along to Adelson. It was “helpful,” the donor said, in mollifying Adelson.
Rubio, meanwhile, saw an opportunity and began aggressively courting the Adelsons, reportedly calling the mogul on the phone every two weeks to give him detailed updates on his campaign. The two also had a private dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak DC, a restaurant near Capitol Hill, where they talked for hours about their families and personal lives, according to a Politico account last April that proclaimed Rubio the “frontrunner” in the Adelson primary.
But as in other aspects of his campaign, Cruz — mostly below the radar — has been assiduously courting the Adelsons as well as other conservative Jewish donors, building bridges with his base among evangelical Christians who also support Israel. Last year, Cruz named Nick Muzin, an Orthodox Jew and medical doctor with a law degree from Yale, as his deputy chief of staff. Muzin now also works on the campaign, doing “outreach” with Jewish contributors. With the Adelsons on hand, Cruz was a keynote speaker (along with Rev. John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel and a leading figure in the religious right) last December at the annual gala of the Zionist Organization of America. As can be seen on a YouTube video that has made the rounds in GOP donor circles, Cruz brought down the house by recounting how he stood up to a Christian group that included supporters of Hezbollah, telling them: “If you will not stand with the Jews, I will not stand with you,” prompting the crowd to erupt in chants of “Go, Ted, Go!”
Cruz had another chance to cultivate the couple’s support last May when he received a Protector of Israel award at Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s World Values Network and sat at the head table with the Adelsons. “Sen. Cruz is a phenomenal friend of Israel, and the Adelsons have made it clear that Israel is the top priority for them,” Boteach told Yahoo News.
A Cruz ally who is closely connected to conservative Jewish circles tells Yahoo News that the Texas senator now makes frequent phone calls to the Adelsons and has impressed Sheldon as well as Miriam. “She likes passionate, ideas-driven people,” says the Cruz supporter. But even if Cruz’ courtship does not result in actual support, his cultivation has a strategic purpose. “This is not just about an endorsement,” says the supporter who is familiar with the calls. “It’s about not being on the other side of them. You don’t want their money going to [super-PAC] attack ads against you.”
Some in GOP circles say Cruz might have set himself back this week when he gave an interview to Bloomberg News in which, in an effort to differentiate himself from Rubio, he took a potshot at “aggressive Washington neo-cons” — a line that is likely to offend the Adelsons.
But others say their sense from talking to Sheldon Adelson in recent weeks is that the couple may just end up biding their time to see how the race shakes out. In the last presidential race, they poured $15 million into a Newt Gingrich-allied super-PAC — only to see it squandered when the former speaker dropped out. This time, one of the donors quoted in this story said, both Adelsons want to be more “strategic.” “I talked to him recently, and he told me he’s not in any hurry,” the donor said.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
COCKS NOT GLOCKS
University of Texas students plan a huge demonstration with dildos to call for repeal of the law allowing concealed carry guns on university campuses
During its last session, the Texas State Legislature passed a law allowing concealed carry licensees to carry their guns on college and university campuses. The law goes into effect next August.
The law has created apoplectic tremors among college administrators, faculty and students. The wussies have been scared absolutely shitless.
While the law is mandatory for public colleges, private universities can still prohibit guns on campus if they opt to do so. Southern Methodist University and several other private universities have already enacted policies prohibiting guns on campus when the new law takes into effect. Rice University is about to enact the same policy.
The law does allow public universities to prohibit guns in certain designated areas. The administrators are already scheming to prohibit guns in school buildings, thereby effectively circumventing the law.
At the University of Texas, the wussies are beside themselves. The administrators and faculty at the Berkeley of Texas have been pissing in their pants at the thought of a gun on their campus. UT has already announced that it plans to restrict guns in “classrooms, laboratories, residence halls, university offices and other spaces of education.”
That doesn’t appear to satisfy UT’s students. They are moving to have the law repealed. According to the Houston Press:
UT students were perhaps the most visibly angry about the campus-carry law, having planned a demonstration called “Cocks Not Glocks” in which they'll carry around dildos to protest the law next August. Their tagline: "Fighting absurdity with absurdity."
I’m sure the students are being egged on by their Marxist and other far-left professors. I doubt they can get the law repealed, but the Austin area can look for a big spike in the sale of dildos.
During its last session, the Texas State Legislature passed a law allowing concealed carry licensees to carry their guns on college and university campuses. The law goes into effect next August.
The law has created apoplectic tremors among college administrators, faculty and students. The wussies have been scared absolutely shitless.
While the law is mandatory for public colleges, private universities can still prohibit guns on campus if they opt to do so. Southern Methodist University and several other private universities have already enacted policies prohibiting guns on campus when the new law takes into effect. Rice University is about to enact the same policy.
The law does allow public universities to prohibit guns in certain designated areas. The administrators are already scheming to prohibit guns in school buildings, thereby effectively circumventing the law.
At the University of Texas, the wussies are beside themselves. The administrators and faculty at the Berkeley of Texas have been pissing in their pants at the thought of a gun on their campus. UT has already announced that it plans to restrict guns in “classrooms, laboratories, residence halls, university offices and other spaces of education.”
That doesn’t appear to satisfy UT’s students. They are moving to have the law repealed. According to the Houston Press:
UT students were perhaps the most visibly angry about the campus-carry law, having planned a demonstration called “Cocks Not Glocks” in which they'll carry around dildos to protest the law next August. Their tagline: "Fighting absurdity with absurdity."
I’m sure the students are being egged on by their Marxist and other far-left professors. I doubt they can get the law repealed, but the Austin area can look for a big spike in the sale of dildos.
NETANYAHU ADMITS ISRAELI FORCES OPERATING INSIDE SYRIA
AFP
December 1, 2015
Jerusalem -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time Tuesday that Israeli forces have been operating in Syria, where the Iran-backed regime is battling rebels including the jihadist Islamic State.
"We occasionally carry out operations in Syria to prevent that country from becoming a front against us," Netanyahu told reporters during a visit to northern Israel.
"We also do everything to prevent weapons, particularly lethal ones, being moved from Syria to Lebanon," he added.
Netanyahu did not provide further details and his comments were the first public recognition that Israel has been active in conflict-riddled Syria.
Several purported strikes have occurred in recent months, targeting alleged Iranian arms transfers from Syria to Lebanon and destined for Israel's arch-foe, the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
But these strikes were not officially acknowledged by Israeli authorities.
Israel opposes the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been battling an armed rebellion since March 2011, but has sought to avoid being dragged into the war in neighbouring Syria.
Russia, an ally of the Assad regime along with Iran, launched an air campaign against his opponents in late September.
On Sunday, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said a Russian warplane had recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria but the intrusion was resolved without incident.
"It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan," Yaalon said.
Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
Yaalon said Israel and Russia had made arrangements to avoid clashes over Syria, with the agreement said to include a "hotline" and information sharing.
Netanyahu echoed his comments on Tuesday, saying the Israeli and Russian military forces "are in close coordination to avoid such incidents".
Their remarks came in the aftermath of the downing by Turkey over a Russian warplane which Ankara said had entered Turkish airspace -- a claim denied by Moscow.
December 1, 2015
Jerusalem -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time Tuesday that Israeli forces have been operating in Syria, where the Iran-backed regime is battling rebels including the jihadist Islamic State.
"We occasionally carry out operations in Syria to prevent that country from becoming a front against us," Netanyahu told reporters during a visit to northern Israel.
"We also do everything to prevent weapons, particularly lethal ones, being moved from Syria to Lebanon," he added.
Netanyahu did not provide further details and his comments were the first public recognition that Israel has been active in conflict-riddled Syria.
Several purported strikes have occurred in recent months, targeting alleged Iranian arms transfers from Syria to Lebanon and destined for Israel's arch-foe, the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
But these strikes were not officially acknowledged by Israeli authorities.
Israel opposes the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been battling an armed rebellion since March 2011, but has sought to avoid being dragged into the war in neighbouring Syria.
Russia, an ally of the Assad regime along with Iran, launched an air campaign against his opponents in late September.
On Sunday, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said a Russian warplane had recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria but the intrusion was resolved without incident.
"It was apparently an error by the pilot who was flying near the Golan," Yaalon said.
Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
Yaalon said Israel and Russia had made arrangements to avoid clashes over Syria, with the agreement said to include a "hotline" and information sharing.
Netanyahu echoed his comments on Tuesday, saying the Israeli and Russian military forces "are in close coordination to avoid such incidents".
Their remarks came in the aftermath of the downing by Turkey over a Russian warplane which Ankara said had entered Turkish airspace -- a claim denied by Moscow.
THE AMERICAN ACADEMIA WAR AGAINST THE JEWS
Jews are the greatest victims of the fascist takeover of American academia
By Caroline Glick
The Jerusalem Post
November 30, 2015
The foundations of American Jewish life are under assault today in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago. Academia is ground zero of the onslaught.
The protest movements on campuses are first and foremost anti-Jewish movements.
For the past decade or so, Jewish communal leaders and activists have focused on just one aspect of this anti-Jewish campaign. Jewish leaders have devoted themselves to helping Jewish students combat the direct anti-Semitism inherent to the anti-Israel student movements.
Despite the substantial funds that have been devoted to fighting anti-Israel forces on campuses, they have not been diminished. To the contrary, with each passing year they have grown more powerful and menacing.
Consider a sampling of the anti-Jewish incidents that took place over the past two weeks.
Two weeks ago, Daniel Bernstein, a Jewish student at University of California Santa Cruz and a member of the university’s student government was ordered not to vote on a resolution calling for the university to divest from four companies which do business with Israel.
Bernstein represents UCSC’s Stevenson College at the university student government. He is also vice president of his college’s Jewish Student Union. Ahead of the anti-Israel vote, Bernstein received a message from a member of his college’s student council ordering him to abstain from the vote on Israel divestment.
The student council, Bernstein was informed, had determined that he was motivated by “a Jewish agenda,” and therefore couldn’t be trusted to view the resolution fairly.
In the same message, Bernstein’s correspondent gave him a friendly “heads up” that his fellow students are considering removing him from office because he is a Jew supported by the Jewish community.
To his credit, Bernstein ignored his orders. He voted to oppose the anti-Israel resolution.
Following the incident Bernstein published a statement decrying the anti-Jewish discrimination and hatred now rampant on his campus.
Among other things, he wrote, “I wish that [my] being subjected to anti-Semitism was a shocking new occurrence. But the truth is that I’m not shocked. I’m not shocked because this hatred and ignorance has followed me everywhere. I’m not shocked because Jewish students have been targeted with this vile racism all over the [University of California] UC system for years, and especially since BDS became a major issue of discussion. Anti-Semitism ... has ... become an inseparable part of campus politics right here at UC Santa Cruz and across the UC system.”
Then there is the growing movement of professional associations that boycott Israel.
Last week the National Women’s Studies Association passed a resolution to join the BDS movement. The resolution, written in turgid, incomprehensible prose, proclaimed that the only state in the Middle East that provides full and equal rights to women is so evil that it must be singled out and boycotted, sanctioned and divested from.
Whereas Bernstein was personally targeted, and the NWSA criminalizes Israel, at CUNY, on November 12, a group of protesters targeted the Jewish community as a whole.
That day, as part of a national “million student march,” where students demanded free tuition, anti-Jewish students at CUNY rallied at Hunter college and introduced a new demand: the expulsion of all Israel supporters from campus.
Congregating in the center of the campus, some 50 students chanted in unison, “Zionists out of CUNY!”
Aside from an anodyne statement in favor of “freedom of expression,” CUNY administrators had nothing to say about the affair.
For their part, Hunter’s administrators issued a statement “condemning the anti-Semitic comments,” made by the rally participants.
But no disciplinary measures were taken against any of them.
Speaking to the Algemeiner, StandWithUs’s northeast regional director Shahar Azani said that the Hunter incident “is another example of the hijacking of various social causes by the anti-Israel movement.”
In making this claim, Azani was merely repeating the position taken by Jewish communal leaders and activists involved in the fight to defend Jews and Israel on university campuses. Unfortunately, this position is incorrect.
According to the prevailing wisdom guiding Jewish communal responses to the onslaught against Jewish students on campuses, the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish movements are distinct from the wider anti-liberal forces now disrupting campus life throughout the US. As Jewish leaders see things, there is no inherent connection between the protesters embracing victimhood and demanding constraints on freedom of expression, inquiry and assembly (and free tuition), and those who seek to drive Jews out of the public sphere on college campuses.
In other words, they believe that Zionists can be crybullies too.
But they can’t.
The crybully movement, which demands that universities constrain freedom to cater to victim groups, is necessarily hostile to Jews. This is the reason that at the same time that “victims” from blacks to transgenders are coddled and caressed, Jews have emerged as the only group that is not protected. Indeed, the BDS movement requires universities to discriminate against Jewish students.
The inherent conflict between the tenets of the “progressive” movement and Jewish rights is exposed in a guide to racial “microaggressions” published earlier this year by the University of California. Students and faculty must avoid committing these “microagressions” if they want to stay on the right side of campus authorities and the law.
The UC defines “microagressions” as, “brief, subtle verbal or non-verbal exchanges that send denigrating messages to the recipient because of his or her group membership (such as race, gender, age or socio-economic status).”
Transgressors can expect to be accused of engendering a “hostile learning environment,” an act that can get you expelled, fired and subjected to criminal probes.
As law professor Eugene Voloch reported in The Washington Post last June, among other things, the list of offenses includes embracing merit as a means of advancing in society. A statement along the lines of “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” can destroy a person’s academic career.
So too, statements rejecting race as a significant factor in judging a person’s competence are now deemed racist. For instance statements to the effect of, “There is only one race, the human race,” “America is a melting pot” or “I don’t believe in race” can land a student or instructor in hot water.
In a column last week, Dennis Prager noted that the list castigates as racism all the pillars of liberal society in America. The list, he wrote, shows that “the American university is now closer to fascism than to traditional liberty.”
Prager is right, of course. But the fascist takeover of American academia will not affect all Americans equally.
Jews are the greatest victims of this state of affairs.
For the better part of the past hundred years, the upward mobility of American Jewry has been directly correlated with America’s embrace of meritocratic values. The more Americans have looked past race and ethnicity and judged people by their talents, characters and professional competence, the higher Jews have risen. Conversely, where qualities other than competence, talent and professionalism have determined social and professional status, Jews have suffered. They have faced discrimination and their opportunities to advance have been limited.
Academia is but a small component of American society. But to earn a place in America’s middle, upper-middle and upper classes, you need at least an undergraduate degree. Moreover, university graduates go on to populate and head the state and federal governing bureaucracies, the business world, the entertainment sector and every other major area of human endeavor in American society.
Academia’s simultaneous rejection of core liberal principles and legitimization of anti-Semitic forces is not a coincidence. Jews are a constant reminder that human agency – rather than race and other group identities – has everything to do with a person’s ability to excel in academics and beyond. For fascist principles to hold, Jews must be demonized and hated.
The intrinsic link between anti-Semitism and fascism and their simultaneous embrace by a key American institution means that the equal rights and freedoms of Jews are far more threatened in America today than most Jewish leaders and activists have realized. The Jewish community’s failure to date to successfully defeat the anti-Semitic forces on campuses owes at least in part to its failure to recognize or contend with the dual nature of the problem.
By Caroline Glick
The Jerusalem Post
November 30, 2015
The foundations of American Jewish life are under assault today in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago. Academia is ground zero of the onslaught.
The protest movements on campuses are first and foremost anti-Jewish movements.
For the past decade or so, Jewish communal leaders and activists have focused on just one aspect of this anti-Jewish campaign. Jewish leaders have devoted themselves to helping Jewish students combat the direct anti-Semitism inherent to the anti-Israel student movements.
Despite the substantial funds that have been devoted to fighting anti-Israel forces on campuses, they have not been diminished. To the contrary, with each passing year they have grown more powerful and menacing.
Consider a sampling of the anti-Jewish incidents that took place over the past two weeks.
Two weeks ago, Daniel Bernstein, a Jewish student at University of California Santa Cruz and a member of the university’s student government was ordered not to vote on a resolution calling for the university to divest from four companies which do business with Israel.
Bernstein represents UCSC’s Stevenson College at the university student government. He is also vice president of his college’s Jewish Student Union. Ahead of the anti-Israel vote, Bernstein received a message from a member of his college’s student council ordering him to abstain from the vote on Israel divestment.
The student council, Bernstein was informed, had determined that he was motivated by “a Jewish agenda,” and therefore couldn’t be trusted to view the resolution fairly.
In the same message, Bernstein’s correspondent gave him a friendly “heads up” that his fellow students are considering removing him from office because he is a Jew supported by the Jewish community.
To his credit, Bernstein ignored his orders. He voted to oppose the anti-Israel resolution.
Following the incident Bernstein published a statement decrying the anti-Jewish discrimination and hatred now rampant on his campus.
Among other things, he wrote, “I wish that [my] being subjected to anti-Semitism was a shocking new occurrence. But the truth is that I’m not shocked. I’m not shocked because this hatred and ignorance has followed me everywhere. I’m not shocked because Jewish students have been targeted with this vile racism all over the [University of California] UC system for years, and especially since BDS became a major issue of discussion. Anti-Semitism ... has ... become an inseparable part of campus politics right here at UC Santa Cruz and across the UC system.”
Then there is the growing movement of professional associations that boycott Israel.
Last week the National Women’s Studies Association passed a resolution to join the BDS movement. The resolution, written in turgid, incomprehensible prose, proclaimed that the only state in the Middle East that provides full and equal rights to women is so evil that it must be singled out and boycotted, sanctioned and divested from.
Whereas Bernstein was personally targeted, and the NWSA criminalizes Israel, at CUNY, on November 12, a group of protesters targeted the Jewish community as a whole.
That day, as part of a national “million student march,” where students demanded free tuition, anti-Jewish students at CUNY rallied at Hunter college and introduced a new demand: the expulsion of all Israel supporters from campus.
Congregating in the center of the campus, some 50 students chanted in unison, “Zionists out of CUNY!”
Aside from an anodyne statement in favor of “freedom of expression,” CUNY administrators had nothing to say about the affair.
For their part, Hunter’s administrators issued a statement “condemning the anti-Semitic comments,” made by the rally participants.
But no disciplinary measures were taken against any of them.
Speaking to the Algemeiner, StandWithUs’s northeast regional director Shahar Azani said that the Hunter incident “is another example of the hijacking of various social causes by the anti-Israel movement.”
In making this claim, Azani was merely repeating the position taken by Jewish communal leaders and activists involved in the fight to defend Jews and Israel on university campuses. Unfortunately, this position is incorrect.
According to the prevailing wisdom guiding Jewish communal responses to the onslaught against Jewish students on campuses, the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish movements are distinct from the wider anti-liberal forces now disrupting campus life throughout the US. As Jewish leaders see things, there is no inherent connection between the protesters embracing victimhood and demanding constraints on freedom of expression, inquiry and assembly (and free tuition), and those who seek to drive Jews out of the public sphere on college campuses.
In other words, they believe that Zionists can be crybullies too.
But they can’t.
The crybully movement, which demands that universities constrain freedom to cater to victim groups, is necessarily hostile to Jews. This is the reason that at the same time that “victims” from blacks to transgenders are coddled and caressed, Jews have emerged as the only group that is not protected. Indeed, the BDS movement requires universities to discriminate against Jewish students.
The inherent conflict between the tenets of the “progressive” movement and Jewish rights is exposed in a guide to racial “microaggressions” published earlier this year by the University of California. Students and faculty must avoid committing these “microagressions” if they want to stay on the right side of campus authorities and the law.
The UC defines “microagressions” as, “brief, subtle verbal or non-verbal exchanges that send denigrating messages to the recipient because of his or her group membership (such as race, gender, age or socio-economic status).”
Transgressors can expect to be accused of engendering a “hostile learning environment,” an act that can get you expelled, fired and subjected to criminal probes.
As law professor Eugene Voloch reported in The Washington Post last June, among other things, the list of offenses includes embracing merit as a means of advancing in society. A statement along the lines of “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” can destroy a person’s academic career.
So too, statements rejecting race as a significant factor in judging a person’s competence are now deemed racist. For instance statements to the effect of, “There is only one race, the human race,” “America is a melting pot” or “I don’t believe in race” can land a student or instructor in hot water.
In a column last week, Dennis Prager noted that the list castigates as racism all the pillars of liberal society in America. The list, he wrote, shows that “the American university is now closer to fascism than to traditional liberty.”
Prager is right, of course. But the fascist takeover of American academia will not affect all Americans equally.
Jews are the greatest victims of this state of affairs.
For the better part of the past hundred years, the upward mobility of American Jewry has been directly correlated with America’s embrace of meritocratic values. The more Americans have looked past race and ethnicity and judged people by their talents, characters and professional competence, the higher Jews have risen. Conversely, where qualities other than competence, talent and professionalism have determined social and professional status, Jews have suffered. They have faced discrimination and their opportunities to advance have been limited.
Academia is but a small component of American society. But to earn a place in America’s middle, upper-middle and upper classes, you need at least an undergraduate degree. Moreover, university graduates go on to populate and head the state and federal governing bureaucracies, the business world, the entertainment sector and every other major area of human endeavor in American society.
Academia’s simultaneous rejection of core liberal principles and legitimization of anti-Semitic forces is not a coincidence. Jews are a constant reminder that human agency – rather than race and other group identities – has everything to do with a person’s ability to excel in academics and beyond. For fascist principles to hold, Jews must be demonized and hated.
The intrinsic link between anti-Semitism and fascism and their simultaneous embrace by a key American institution means that the equal rights and freedoms of Jews are far more threatened in America today than most Jewish leaders and activists have realized. The Jewish community’s failure to date to successfully defeat the anti-Semitic forces on campuses owes at least in part to its failure to recognize or contend with the dual nature of the problem.
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
THE SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING
It’s a good thing, a very very good thing that we have a Republican majority in Congress today. If there were a majority of Democrats, they would have passed a bill outlawing civilian ownership of rifles like the AR-15 and the AK-47 before the end of the day and an eager Obama would be watering at the mouth to sign it at the first opportunity.
Even with the Republicans in control of Congress, we may still see some new form of gun control legislation passed soon, what with today's shooting following so soon on the heels of the Colorado Springs shooting.
Even with the Republicans in control of Congress, we may still see some new form of gun control legislation passed soon, what with today's shooting following so soon on the heels of the Colorado Springs shooting.
HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD!
While doing seven years in an Ohio prison, Thom Miller stole a bible and found God; then he became an ordained minister and found two wives; hallelujah, praise the Lord!
According to the Daily Mail, Rev. Thom Miller, 60, is an ordained minister with a church in Mansfield, Ohio and a prison ministry. The good reverend is also married to both Belinda, 44, and 19-year-old Reba. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller claims to have been an enforcer for the Mafia in Cleveland. He also told a newspaper in 2003 that he had been shot three times, jailed more than 20 times and fathered 12 children with five different women. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
In 1991, Miller was sent to prison for stabbing a man during a bar fight. While in prison, he stole a bible and found God. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller was released from Prison after serving seven years. He became an ordained minister. He has a church in Mansfield and runs a prison ministry. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
He and second wife Reba were recently married in his church, some seven years after he married first wife Belinda there. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Belinda and Thom met Reba Kerfoot at a soup kitchen. They got close and Reba moved in with them. Miller had been friends with the Kerfoots and knew Reba as a child. Miller was smitten with the child who had blossomed into a fine looking woman. Reba is now pregnant. I am estimating that this will be child number 13 for the good reverend who claims to have sired 12 kids with five different women. Number 13 will make Reba the sixth woman. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Belinda is OK sharing Thom with Reba. Belinda says: “We kind of make jokes about the baby and where he or she will sleep because we've got two separate master suites - in case mommy Reba needs a break then mommy Belinda can have the baby for the night.” Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller says: “I don't preach about polygamy but I feel it is a very Christian lifestyle. I have no problem with homosexuals but I think it's wrong that their marriage is now recognised by the state but my second marriage is not. I'm going to try and fight the bigotry of that - this is America and my wives and I have the right to live anyway we please - providing we're not hurting anybody.” Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Right now Thom is building a house with two wings, one for Belinda and the other one for Reba. They have arranged for Belinda and Reba to take turns sleeping with Thom, each spending three nights with the good reverend on rotation. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Who says prisons don’t rehabilitate anyone? Rev. Thom Miller has proven you wrong. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
According to the Daily Mail, Rev. Thom Miller, 60, is an ordained minister with a church in Mansfield, Ohio and a prison ministry. The good reverend is also married to both Belinda, 44, and 19-year-old Reba. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller claims to have been an enforcer for the Mafia in Cleveland. He also told a newspaper in 2003 that he had been shot three times, jailed more than 20 times and fathered 12 children with five different women. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
In 1991, Miller was sent to prison for stabbing a man during a bar fight. While in prison, he stole a bible and found God. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller was released from Prison after serving seven years. He became an ordained minister. He has a church in Mansfield and runs a prison ministry. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
He and second wife Reba were recently married in his church, some seven years after he married first wife Belinda there. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Belinda and Thom met Reba Kerfoot at a soup kitchen. They got close and Reba moved in with them. Miller had been friends with the Kerfoots and knew Reba as a child. Miller was smitten with the child who had blossomed into a fine looking woman. Reba is now pregnant. I am estimating that this will be child number 13 for the good reverend who claims to have sired 12 kids with five different women. Number 13 will make Reba the sixth woman. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Belinda is OK sharing Thom with Reba. Belinda says: “We kind of make jokes about the baby and where he or she will sleep because we've got two separate master suites - in case mommy Reba needs a break then mommy Belinda can have the baby for the night.” Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Miller says: “I don't preach about polygamy but I feel it is a very Christian lifestyle. I have no problem with homosexuals but I think it's wrong that their marriage is now recognised by the state but my second marriage is not. I'm going to try and fight the bigotry of that - this is America and my wives and I have the right to live anyway we please - providing we're not hurting anybody.” Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Right now Thom is building a house with two wings, one for Belinda and the other one for Reba. They have arranged for Belinda and Reba to take turns sleeping with Thom, each spending three nights with the good reverend on rotation. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
Who says prisons don’t rehabilitate anyone? Rev. Thom Miller has proven you wrong. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
CALIFORNIA STATE NONESENSE AND NON SEQUITUR
The new class of criminal, the “Nons” - Non-serious, non-violent…almost non-criminal
By Richard Krupp, PhD
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 1, 2015
As part of Jerry Brown’s get-out-of-prison-early scheme, some “Second Strikers” caught the high-speed rail to freedom this year.
Of course they were the new class of criminal, the “Non’s”—Non-serious, non-violent…almost “non-criminal.”
Portrayed as unfortunate pizza thieves or drunk drivers; the prison doors were cracked open to let these poor unfortunates who were caught up in a previous mean-spirited time when informed people were not aware of the lack of criminality these people possessed.
Judges, politicians, and media experts were able to correct these wrongs that seemed part of the dark ages. It was a new “enlightened” trend.
Certain that releasing these Second Strike Non’s would not harm but help the communities, the progressive reformers moved onward.
Of course academicians would be able to provide the evidence to support these oddball theories and wiser practices would win out. Unfortunately, it does not appear that all the pieces to the puzzle fit together very well.
Maybe there is a design flaw? Maybe this scheme is not working. What do the trends tell us?
A recent editorial from the usually pro-crime Sacramento Bee lamented the release of Second Strike Non’s. Here are some excerpts:
State, judges should rethink early release of some felons
As reported by The Sacramento Bee’s Darrell Smith last week, nearly 1,100 supposedly nonviolent inmates who had been convicted of at least one prior serious felony were approved for early release in the first nine months of the year by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Under a procedure in place since January, prison authorities give Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, like prosecutors in all counties, 30-day notices about pending releases. She can write letters opposing the release but can’t make her case in person, or appeal.
Clearly frustrated, Schubert has begun posting on her website letters her deputies have written opposing the releases. Other prosecutors should follow her lead, and the judges should rethink the November 2014 edict that may end up endangering the public with its zeal.
Consider, for example, Willie C. Harris, in prison for seven drunken driving convictions. In a letter to prison officials, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Robin B. Shakely warned that “there is little doubt that once Harris is free, he will pick up a bottle and drink and drive, yet again.”
True to form, Harris, having been released May 9, was rearrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on June 5.
Altogether, the state has released 17 felons back to Sacramento County under this particular program. Five, including Harris, have been rearrested. Dozens more are scheduled to be released.
The inmates are classified as “nonviolent second strikers.” What the rest of us might consider a nonviolent crime probably wouldn’t jibe with the law’s view of violence.
One woman listed on Schubert’s website, for example, had stabbed two people and was beating a man when police arrested her, according to the letter prepared by one of Schubert’s deputies.
All the inmates covered by the judges’ order will be released at some point. But based on Schubert’s sampling, the longer many of these second strikers remain locked up, the safer the rest of us will be. (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/qxp94zj.)
As these get out of prison early schemes continue to fall apart, the scrutiny of the affected public increases. Unfortunately the number of victims increase and the financial costs pile up as well. We just can’t seem to move on.
The authorities who are driving the car off the road of sound reasoning are going to continue until the wheels fly off. Some of you may not see the end of this nightmare, but the end is coming.
By Richard Krupp, PhD
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
December 1, 2015
As part of Jerry Brown’s get-out-of-prison-early scheme, some “Second Strikers” caught the high-speed rail to freedom this year.
Of course they were the new class of criminal, the “Non’s”—Non-serious, non-violent…almost “non-criminal.”
Portrayed as unfortunate pizza thieves or drunk drivers; the prison doors were cracked open to let these poor unfortunates who were caught up in a previous mean-spirited time when informed people were not aware of the lack of criminality these people possessed.
Judges, politicians, and media experts were able to correct these wrongs that seemed part of the dark ages. It was a new “enlightened” trend.
Certain that releasing these Second Strike Non’s would not harm but help the communities, the progressive reformers moved onward.
Of course academicians would be able to provide the evidence to support these oddball theories and wiser practices would win out. Unfortunately, it does not appear that all the pieces to the puzzle fit together very well.
Maybe there is a design flaw? Maybe this scheme is not working. What do the trends tell us?
A recent editorial from the usually pro-crime Sacramento Bee lamented the release of Second Strike Non’s. Here are some excerpts:
State, judges should rethink early release of some felons
As reported by The Sacramento Bee’s Darrell Smith last week, nearly 1,100 supposedly nonviolent inmates who had been convicted of at least one prior serious felony were approved for early release in the first nine months of the year by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Under a procedure in place since January, prison authorities give Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, like prosecutors in all counties, 30-day notices about pending releases. She can write letters opposing the release but can’t make her case in person, or appeal.
Clearly frustrated, Schubert has begun posting on her website letters her deputies have written opposing the releases. Other prosecutors should follow her lead, and the judges should rethink the November 2014 edict that may end up endangering the public with its zeal.
Consider, for example, Willie C. Harris, in prison for seven drunken driving convictions. In a letter to prison officials, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Robin B. Shakely warned that “there is little doubt that once Harris is free, he will pick up a bottle and drink and drive, yet again.”
True to form, Harris, having been released May 9, was rearrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on June 5.
Altogether, the state has released 17 felons back to Sacramento County under this particular program. Five, including Harris, have been rearrested. Dozens more are scheduled to be released.
The inmates are classified as “nonviolent second strikers.” What the rest of us might consider a nonviolent crime probably wouldn’t jibe with the law’s view of violence.
One woman listed on Schubert’s website, for example, had stabbed two people and was beating a man when police arrested her, according to the letter prepared by one of Schubert’s deputies.
All the inmates covered by the judges’ order will be released at some point. But based on Schubert’s sampling, the longer many of these second strikers remain locked up, the safer the rest of us will be. (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/qxp94zj.)
As these get out of prison early schemes continue to fall apart, the scrutiny of the affected public increases. Unfortunately the number of victims increase and the financial costs pile up as well. We just can’t seem to move on.
The authorities who are driving the car off the road of sound reasoning are going to continue until the wheels fly off. Some of you may not see the end of this nightmare, but the end is coming.
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
THRE INMATES LOSE THEIR HEADS IN GUATEMALAN PRISON
17 inmates were killed in a brawl during a prison soccer game, including three who were decapitated
Guatemala’s Granja Penal Canada prison was designed to house 600 inmates, but now holds 3,100.
Sunday was visiting day and inmates were participating in a friendly soccer game when a brawl broke out. Shots were fired, sending women visitors and their children running for their lives. The prison was surrounded by 2,000 cops and dozens of Guatemalan soldiers. When the smoke had cleared and order had been restored, 17 inmates had died, including three who were decapitated.
The brawl was believed to have been between street gang members and inmates who did not belong to the gang.
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are no longer pleasant places to live. Street gangs, the most powerful of which are 'Mara Salvatrucha' and 'Barrio 18,' are constantly involved in turf battles for the control of drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes. In order to prevent gang turf wars from spilling over into prisons, authorities have placed each gang in separate prisons.
The turf wars have led many residents of those countries to flee and attempt to cross into the United States illegally. Some of the young illegals have then formed branches of the Latin American street gangs here in this country.
Bob Walsh thinks the homicide rate is high in his hometown of Stockton. He should live in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras. According to the Daily Mail, this year through September, there have been 4,281 homicides in Guatemala and 4,942 in El Salvador. Honduras for the first six months of 2015 reported 2,628 murders.
Count your blessings, Bob.
Guatemala’s Granja Penal Canada prison was designed to house 600 inmates, but now holds 3,100.
Sunday was visiting day and inmates were participating in a friendly soccer game when a brawl broke out. Shots were fired, sending women visitors and their children running for their lives. The prison was surrounded by 2,000 cops and dozens of Guatemalan soldiers. When the smoke had cleared and order had been restored, 17 inmates had died, including three who were decapitated.
The brawl was believed to have been between street gang members and inmates who did not belong to the gang.
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are no longer pleasant places to live. Street gangs, the most powerful of which are 'Mara Salvatrucha' and 'Barrio 18,' are constantly involved in turf battles for the control of drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes. In order to prevent gang turf wars from spilling over into prisons, authorities have placed each gang in separate prisons.
The turf wars have led many residents of those countries to flee and attempt to cross into the United States illegally. Some of the young illegals have then formed branches of the Latin American street gangs here in this country.
Bob Walsh thinks the homicide rate is high in his hometown of Stockton. He should live in Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras. According to the Daily Mail, this year through September, there have been 4,281 homicides in Guatemala and 4,942 in El Salvador. Honduras for the first six months of 2015 reported 2,628 murders.
Count your blessings, Bob.
BLACK FRIDAY THIS YEAR WAS RATHER TAME COMPARED TO 2012
Although this year’s Black Friday death toll has yet to be announced, it is not expected to reach anywhere near the record set in 2012. Here is The Onion’s report on the 2912 debacle:
42 MILLION DEAD IN BLOODIEST BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND ON RECORD
The Onion
November 26, 2012
NEW YORK—According to emergency personnel, early estimates indicate that more than 42 million Americans were killed this past weekend in what is now believed to be the bloodiest Black Friday shopping event in history.
First responders reporting from retail stores all across the nation said the record-breaking post-Thanksgiving shopping spree carnage began as early as midnight on Friday, when 13 million shoppers were reportedly trampled, pummeled, burned, stabbed, shot, lanced, and brutally beaten to death while attempting to participate in early holiday sales events.
Law enforcement officials said the bloodbath only escalated throughout the weekend as hordes of savage holiday shoppers began murdering customers at Wal-Mart, Sears, and JCPenney locations nationwide, leaving piles of dismembered and mutilated corpses in their wake.
“The level of bloodshed this year was almost beyond imagination—no prior Black Friday could have prepared us for this,” said National Guard commander Frank Grass, talking to reporters in front of the still-smoldering remains of a local Best Buy that was burned to the ground Saturday. “We had fire trucks, police cruisers, and guardsmen stationed at multiple locations, but it was useless. At the moment, hundreds of thousands of American shoppers are still unaccounted for, and we expect $2 billion in damage has been wrought upon our cities. ”
“The stench of death is unbearable,” a tearful Grass added. “Simply unbearable.”
As the weekend of sales drew to a close, ambulances could be seen circling the now empty and completely ravaged shopping complexes as they searched for signs of life, while clean-up crews worked to clear the rubble, overturned cars, and large pools of blood from local Kohl’s and Macy’s parking lots.
The White House issued an official response, stating, “We mourn the deaths of those 42 million American shoppers who tragically lost their lives this Black Friday.”
Survivors of the deadly holiday sales event said that while the weekend began as a chance to “get in on some unbeatable post-Thanksgiving deals,” it quickly escalated into a merciless, no-hold-barred fight to the death.
“At some point in time we all stopped caring about the deals and the holiday shopping and were pretty much just out for blood,” said Dana Marshall, 37, a Target shopper who suffered seven broken ribs and a cracked sternum while fighting two other customers for a discounted Nikon digital camera. “I remember just sitting on top of a woman and smacking her head with a DVD player until her face was completely unrecognizable. I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
The Onion will continue to publish a running list of the Black Friday dead throughout the week.
42 MILLION DEAD IN BLOODIEST BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND ON RECORD
The Onion
November 26, 2012
NEW YORK—According to emergency personnel, early estimates indicate that more than 42 million Americans were killed this past weekend in what is now believed to be the bloodiest Black Friday shopping event in history.
First responders reporting from retail stores all across the nation said the record-breaking post-Thanksgiving shopping spree carnage began as early as midnight on Friday, when 13 million shoppers were reportedly trampled, pummeled, burned, stabbed, shot, lanced, and brutally beaten to death while attempting to participate in early holiday sales events.
Law enforcement officials said the bloodbath only escalated throughout the weekend as hordes of savage holiday shoppers began murdering customers at Wal-Mart, Sears, and JCPenney locations nationwide, leaving piles of dismembered and mutilated corpses in their wake.
“The level of bloodshed this year was almost beyond imagination—no prior Black Friday could have prepared us for this,” said National Guard commander Frank Grass, talking to reporters in front of the still-smoldering remains of a local Best Buy that was burned to the ground Saturday. “We had fire trucks, police cruisers, and guardsmen stationed at multiple locations, but it was useless. At the moment, hundreds of thousands of American shoppers are still unaccounted for, and we expect $2 billion in damage has been wrought upon our cities. ”
“The stench of death is unbearable,” a tearful Grass added. “Simply unbearable.”
As the weekend of sales drew to a close, ambulances could be seen circling the now empty and completely ravaged shopping complexes as they searched for signs of life, while clean-up crews worked to clear the rubble, overturned cars, and large pools of blood from local Kohl’s and Macy’s parking lots.
The White House issued an official response, stating, “We mourn the deaths of those 42 million American shoppers who tragically lost their lives this Black Friday.”
Survivors of the deadly holiday sales event said that while the weekend began as a chance to “get in on some unbeatable post-Thanksgiving deals,” it quickly escalated into a merciless, no-hold-barred fight to the death.
“At some point in time we all stopped caring about the deals and the holiday shopping and were pretty much just out for blood,” said Dana Marshall, 37, a Target shopper who suffered seven broken ribs and a cracked sternum while fighting two other customers for a discounted Nikon digital camera. “I remember just sitting on top of a woman and smacking her head with a DVD player until her face was completely unrecognizable. I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
The Onion will continue to publish a running list of the Black Friday dead throughout the week.
QUENTIN TARANTINO BRANDED A LIAR BY THE NEW YORK POST
LASO has no record of Tarantino ever having been in its jail as claimed by the police-hating filmmaker
Ever since he called police officers murderers during an October 24 anti-police rally in New York, Quentin Tarantino has been trying to justify what he said by telling everyone who will listen that he had been a victim of “police brutality” and “treated like an animal” when he was jailed in Los Angeles back when he was in his 20s.
Recently on HBO’s ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ he said:
“Back when I was in my 20s and broke, I was a little scared of the cops, all right? And oftentimes, I had warrants out on me for traffic stuff that I never took care of and everything . . . I’d get stopped, and I’d have to do eight days in county jail.”
Tarantino has long claimed that some of the dialogue in his films, “Pulp Fiction” and “True Romance” was based on his 8-day experience as an inmate in the LA County jail. In “Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool,” a 2000 biography of Tarantino by Jeffrey Dawson, the police-hating liar is quoted as saying:
“I went to jail about three different times just for warrants on me for moving violations . . . They had warrants on me for three years and eventually I got stopped and they sent me to jail.”
The New York Post attempted to verify Tarantino’s claim of having done jail time in LA but found no evidence that he had ever been jailed. According to the Post:
Tarantino’s lone brush with the law, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, is a 2000 charge for driving without a license and failure to appear in court. He paid a fine to avoid jail.
“A check of court records revealed that in August of 2000, he paid a fine of $871, which included court costs, for violation of driving without a license,” [LASO Capt. Christopher] Reed said.
The payment was “in lieu of an eight-day sentence imposed by the court,” the captain added.
Let me repeat what Tarantino told a rabid police-hating crowd in New York’s Washington Square Park on October 24:
“When I see murders, I do not stand by. I have to call a murder a murder, and I have to call a murderer a murderer.”
Tarantino has been backtracking ever since, claiming that his words have been taken out of context and accusing the NYPD union’s Patrick Lynch of slandering him. Here is what he told The View last week:
“I'm not anti-police. I’m not a cop-hater. They’re trying to vilify me as that. As far as I’m concerned, Patrick Lynch, the head of the NYPD union, is slandering me by calling me a cop-hater because they can’t deal with the criticism that I'm giving. I obviously do not believe that all cops are murderers. I didn’t say that, I didn’t imply that. I was talking about these specific cases.”
What a schmuck! While he may not have specifically called all cops murderers, Tarantino certainly implied they were all murderers.
Now that Tarantino has been exposed as a liar, I have this to say about his backtracking: You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken shit!
Ever since he called police officers murderers during an October 24 anti-police rally in New York, Quentin Tarantino has been trying to justify what he said by telling everyone who will listen that he had been a victim of “police brutality” and “treated like an animal” when he was jailed in Los Angeles back when he was in his 20s.
Recently on HBO’s ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ he said:
“Back when I was in my 20s and broke, I was a little scared of the cops, all right? And oftentimes, I had warrants out on me for traffic stuff that I never took care of and everything . . . I’d get stopped, and I’d have to do eight days in county jail.”
Tarantino has long claimed that some of the dialogue in his films, “Pulp Fiction” and “True Romance” was based on his 8-day experience as an inmate in the LA County jail. In “Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool,” a 2000 biography of Tarantino by Jeffrey Dawson, the police-hating liar is quoted as saying:
“I went to jail about three different times just for warrants on me for moving violations . . . They had warrants on me for three years and eventually I got stopped and they sent me to jail.”
The New York Post attempted to verify Tarantino’s claim of having done jail time in LA but found no evidence that he had ever been jailed. According to the Post:
Tarantino’s lone brush with the law, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, is a 2000 charge for driving without a license and failure to appear in court. He paid a fine to avoid jail.
“A check of court records revealed that in August of 2000, he paid a fine of $871, which included court costs, for violation of driving without a license,” [LASO Capt. Christopher] Reed said.
The payment was “in lieu of an eight-day sentence imposed by the court,” the captain added.
Let me repeat what Tarantino told a rabid police-hating crowd in New York’s Washington Square Park on October 24:
“When I see murders, I do not stand by. I have to call a murder a murder, and I have to call a murderer a murderer.”
Tarantino has been backtracking ever since, claiming that his words have been taken out of context and accusing the NYPD union’s Patrick Lynch of slandering him. Here is what he told The View last week:
“I'm not anti-police. I’m not a cop-hater. They’re trying to vilify me as that. As far as I’m concerned, Patrick Lynch, the head of the NYPD union, is slandering me by calling me a cop-hater because they can’t deal with the criticism that I'm giving. I obviously do not believe that all cops are murderers. I didn’t say that, I didn’t imply that. I was talking about these specific cases.”
What a schmuck! While he may not have specifically called all cops murderers, Tarantino certainly implied they were all murderers.
Now that Tarantino has been exposed as a liar, I have this to say about his backtracking: You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken shit!
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