Rodney Reed, a black serial rapist, is scheduled to be executed on November 20 for the 1996 murder of a white woman
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
November 11, 2019
This past weekend, over a thousand protesters demonstrated near the Texas governor’s mansion demanding that the execution of Rodney Read be stopped and that Reed be freed. The large turnout should come as no surprise since Austin, the Berkeley of Texas, is home to the University of Texas. UT students will turn out en masse to demonstrate for just about any cause at the drop of a hat. Some professors have given students a higher grade for participating in social justice demonstrations.
Reed, who is black, is scheduled to be executed on November 20 for the 1996 rape-murder in Bastrop of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman. Reed has also been accused of sexually assaulting six other women.
The Innocence Project, which is representing Reed has stirred up a social media storm on behalf of the death row inmate. Celebrities, including Oprah, Kim Kardashian and Beyonce, have called for Gov. Greg Abbot to stop the pending execution. A bipartisan group of 42 Texas lawmakers, 16 senators and 26 representatives, have also urged Abbott to stop Reed’s execution.
The Innocence Project claims that Stites was murdered by her fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. It is relying largely on the testimony of a rather unreliable witness, Arthur Snow Jr., a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood, the notorious neo-Nazi prison gang. He claims that Fennell confessed to the murder of Stites during a conversation they had in a prison yard years ago. Snow filed an affidavit with the court in which he said:
“Jimmy said his fiancé had been sleeping around with a black man behind his back. Toward the end of the conversation Jimmy said confidently, 'I had to kill my nigger-loving fiancé.’ My impression was the Jimmy felt safe, even proud, sharing this information with me because I was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. I think Jimmy assumed that his confession would impress me and earn him credibility with the Aryan Brotherhood.”
Fennell received a 10-year prison sentence in 2008 for kidnapping and improper sexual activity with a person in custody while he was a cop in Georgetown, Texas.
Fennell, a Bastrop police officer at the time, was a suspect during the initial murder investigation. But Reed became the primary suspect after he had been arrested for kidnapping, beating and attempting to rape and kill another white woman, 19-year-old Linda Schlueter, near the same route Stites usually took to work, the circumstances of the Schlueter case being similar to those of the Stites case. Reed’s DNA was found on Stites’ body.
The Innocence Project claims Fennell is the murderer, pointing out that Reed was convicted by an all-white jury, the murder weapon was never tested for DNA, that Fennell’s story at the time did not ring true, and that forensic experts have admitted to errors in their testimony, all of which has been reviewed during a number of appeals.
Dr. Michael Baden, a prominent pathologist, testified that Stites had not been raped and had been killed before midnight, a time that pointed to Fennell as the killer. Baden’s testimony is no longer credible because he has long been a pricey whore for defense attorneys. In each and every case he has testified for the defense, Baden has refuted the findings of the government’s pathologist.
Robert Phillips, Fennell's attorney, said deceitful witnesses for Reed are suddenly coming out of the woodwork. “Each one of these stories is laughably lacking in credibility,” he said. “There's no evidence that's worthy of presenting even to a grand jury that Jimmy Fennell was somehow involved.”
Texas deputy assistant attorney general Lisa Tanner, who was the lead prosecutor in the Reed murder trial, says “A large amount of credible evidence, including irrefutable DNA evidence, the testimony of witnesses, and the pattern Rodney Reed followed in committing his other sexual assaults, show beyond a reasonable doubt that he raped and murdered Stacey Stites.” Turner also points out that more than 20 judges have reviewed the case over the past 20 years “and found no reversible error and no credible evidence that someone other than Mr. Reed might have been disposed toward committing this heinous crime.”
The Texas District & County Attorneys Association posted a tweet which said. "Not sure how Reed's supporters have turned him into the most popular serial rapist since Michael Jackson. But perhaps that's a good reminder why we don't rely on social media campaigns to determine guilt/innocence or punishment." After a social media shitstorm of criticism, the association deleted the tweet and issued an apology.
In my opinion, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association did not owe anyone an apology because the association was spot on. I suspect that most of those who cried foul were Michael Jackson fans rather than Reed supporters.
Six women, including Linda Schlueter, have accused Reed of sexually assaulting them. Schlueter, who survived Reed’s attempt to murder her, says “Rodney Reed is not innocent at all and all these people that think he's innocent, I'm so sorry, they're so blinded.”
Reed, the serial rapist, claims he and Stites carried on a consensual affair. That seems rather farfetched to me. During the 1980s and 1990s, I conducted numerous field trips for my students to the federal prison in Bastrop. During the 1990s, Bastrop was not the same as it is today. Now Bastrop is a suburb of Austin. When I took my students there, the small town was inhabited largely by rednecks, a situation hardly conducive to an affair between a white woman and a black man.
Will Gov. Abbot withstand the 42 Texas lawmakers who have called on him to stop Reeds execution? Will the Supreme Court, which is sure to get another last-minute appeal, stop the execution?
I do know this – none of the prosecutors of Reed want to see an innocent man put to death … and neither do I! My money is on Reed’s guilt. Oprah, Kim Kardashian, Beyonce. Arthur Snow Jr., Dr. Michael Baden and the Innocence Project have not convinced me that Reed might possibly be innocent. Send the bastard straight to Hell on November 20.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
HOROWITZ REPORT AGAIN...STILL...WHATEVER
by Bob Walsh
The talking heads on the magic box are again / still speculating that the Horowitz report into allegations of abuse of the FISA court process will becoming out in the next one or two weeks.
They are, however, offering a bit more specificity than similar assertions by the talking heads over the last month or so.
They are asserting that the report will flat-out state that the G hid exculpatory evidence. They are also asserting that several people, presumably Sally Yates and James Comey seeing as they signed the FISA warrant applications, committed fraud on the court. They are also asserting that criminal referrals will be made. (Remember that Horowitz is the Inspector General for the Attorney General's Office and does not function as an actual prosecutor himself.)
Again, as before, hope clouds reason. I think these basic assertions are true. I therefore hope that some of these slimeballs will in face have their hides nailed to the barn door. These feelings no doubt color my reasoning. There is no doubt in my mind that the "Administrative State" or "Deep State" depending on how you characterize the bureaucratic power structure in DC has acted in a manner calculated to remove a duly elected president from power and nullify a legal election. (Which does not necessarily mean that Trump isn't an asshole.)
Assuming I am right Trump will come out looking mostly like a persecuted good guy and Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler and the other anti-Trump psychopaths will come out looking like fools. That does not mean their power will be completely diminished. Their constituents are equally deluded and will continue to support them and elect them no matter what. I can't say that I don't care, but I can say that if Trump can hang in four more years and appoint a couple of more Supreme Court judges and a few dozen more assorted federal court judges I won't worry about it so much. If that happens the Republic will maybe-probably be more or less safe for my lifetime.
The talking heads on the magic box are again / still speculating that the Horowitz report into allegations of abuse of the FISA court process will becoming out in the next one or two weeks.
They are, however, offering a bit more specificity than similar assertions by the talking heads over the last month or so.
They are asserting that the report will flat-out state that the G hid exculpatory evidence. They are also asserting that several people, presumably Sally Yates and James Comey seeing as they signed the FISA warrant applications, committed fraud on the court. They are also asserting that criminal referrals will be made. (Remember that Horowitz is the Inspector General for the Attorney General's Office and does not function as an actual prosecutor himself.)
Again, as before, hope clouds reason. I think these basic assertions are true. I therefore hope that some of these slimeballs will in face have their hides nailed to the barn door. These feelings no doubt color my reasoning. There is no doubt in my mind that the "Administrative State" or "Deep State" depending on how you characterize the bureaucratic power structure in DC has acted in a manner calculated to remove a duly elected president from power and nullify a legal election. (Which does not necessarily mean that Trump isn't an asshole.)
Assuming I am right Trump will come out looking mostly like a persecuted good guy and Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler and the other anti-Trump psychopaths will come out looking like fools. That does not mean their power will be completely diminished. Their constituents are equally deluded and will continue to support them and elect them no matter what. I can't say that I don't care, but I can say that if Trump can hang in four more years and appoint a couple of more Supreme Court judges and a few dozen more assorted federal court judges I won't worry about it so much. If that happens the Republic will maybe-probably be more or less safe for my lifetime.
NEW S.F. DISTRICT ATTORNEY SHOULD BE A LOT OF LAUGHS.
by Bob Walsh
Chesa Boudin won the election to be the new San Francisco District Attorney. He will be sworn in on January 1.
He used to be a public defender. His parents were members of the weather underground. His mom did 22 years for the murder of two cops and a security guard. His father is still in prison for the same crimes. He was raised by Bill Ayers. This formative items from his past should tell you much about him.
He intends to prosecute ICE agents and Cops whenever possible. He intends to work as hard as possible against "mass incarceration" of non-whites.
I strongly suspect that San Francisco is going to become even MORE of a third-world shit hole (albeit a third-world shit hole with nice weather and scenery) than it is know where pretty much any crime except child rape and murder is tolerated, and even murder is pretty much OK as long as you murder law enforcement officers. If the perp is an illegal alien, even child rape is OK as long as it is culturally appropriate in whatever the hell country the perp came from.
Chesa Boudin won the election to be the new San Francisco District Attorney. He will be sworn in on January 1.
He used to be a public defender. His parents were members of the weather underground. His mom did 22 years for the murder of two cops and a security guard. His father is still in prison for the same crimes. He was raised by Bill Ayers. This formative items from his past should tell you much about him.
He intends to prosecute ICE agents and Cops whenever possible. He intends to work as hard as possible against "mass incarceration" of non-whites.
I strongly suspect that San Francisco is going to become even MORE of a third-world shit hole (albeit a third-world shit hole with nice weather and scenery) than it is know where pretty much any crime except child rape and murder is tolerated, and even murder is pretty much OK as long as you murder law enforcement officers. If the perp is an illegal alien, even child rape is OK as long as it is culturally appropriate in whatever the hell country the perp came from.
ASSHOLE U C BERKELEY PROFESSOR
by Bob Walsh
OK, the term is somewhat redundant. I didn't quite get the dude's name, it was something like Jackson Kiernon. He is a grad student and sometimes adjunct professor at U. C. Berkeley. He recently wrote a tweet, which the chickenshit has since taken down, saying that people who live in rural areas are basically dumb shit bastards because they live in rural areas. He thinks the rural-agrarian lifestyle is essentially a myth and that cities NEED the support so that people who do not live in cities should move to cities and get their shit together. I guess we can get robots to run the farms.
I am an urbanite. I am comfortable with concrete under my feet and with real doctors and real hospitals nearby, for a number of personal and practical reasons. I do not, however, knock those who do not feel as I feel.
And I oppose arrogant dickheads on general principles.
OK, the term is somewhat redundant. I didn't quite get the dude's name, it was something like Jackson Kiernon. He is a grad student and sometimes adjunct professor at U. C. Berkeley. He recently wrote a tweet, which the chickenshit has since taken down, saying that people who live in rural areas are basically dumb shit bastards because they live in rural areas. He thinks the rural-agrarian lifestyle is essentially a myth and that cities NEED the support so that people who do not live in cities should move to cities and get their shit together. I guess we can get robots to run the farms.
I am an urbanite. I am comfortable with concrete under my feet and with real doctors and real hospitals nearby, for a number of personal and practical reasons. I do not, however, knock those who do not feel as I feel.
And I oppose arrogant dickheads on general principles.
UVA A BUNCH OF PUSSIES
by Bob Walsh
The University of Virginia refused to allow the firing on a 21-gun salute on campus on Veterans Day, allegedly for fear it would scare their students and staff. What a bunch of scared shitless politically correct chickenshit bastards.
The University of Virginia refused to allow the firing on a 21-gun salute on campus on Veterans Day, allegedly for fear it would scare their students and staff. What a bunch of scared shitless politically correct chickenshit bastards.
DACA AND SCOTUS
by Bob Walsh
As you read this it is possible that the United State Supreme Court will be doing oral hearings on President Trump's actions to shitcan DACA.
As far as I know everybody who knows anything about the law (including Barak Obama, who enacted it by administrative action) says it is illegal. I therefore find it difficult to find fault with Trump for wanting to dump it. It should be noted that Trump specifically ASKED congress to regularize the program thru legislation and promised to sign the legislation if they would pass it to his desk. It has not happened.
So, will SCOTUS go with the warm-and-fuzzy, or will they actually follow the law? I am betting on answer #2, but I am also hoping on answer #2 so my bet may not be worth much.
As you read this it is possible that the United State Supreme Court will be doing oral hearings on President Trump's actions to shitcan DACA.
As far as I know everybody who knows anything about the law (including Barak Obama, who enacted it by administrative action) says it is illegal. I therefore find it difficult to find fault with Trump for wanting to dump it. It should be noted that Trump specifically ASKED congress to regularize the program thru legislation and promised to sign the legislation if they would pass it to his desk. It has not happened.
So, will SCOTUS go with the warm-and-fuzzy, or will they actually follow the law? I am betting on answer #2, but I am also hoping on answer #2 so my bet may not be worth much.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Bob Walsh
In 1799 the first known scientific record of a meteor shower was made. (Lots of records of comet sightings. Meteor showers, not so much.)
In 1864. during the Unpleasantness Between The States, Union General W. T. Sherman began the destruction of the cit of Atlanta, GA during his infamous march to the see. (They rebuilt the city. More or less.)
In 1927 Leon Trotsky was kicked out of the Communist Party and Joseph Stalin took over running the Soviet Union.
In 1954 Ellis Island was closed down as an immigration intake center. The very first person to have been processed in there was a young Irish girl named Rose Kelly. I have no idea who the last person was.
In 1799 the first known scientific record of a meteor shower was made. (Lots of records of comet sightings. Meteor showers, not so much.)
In 1864. during the Unpleasantness Between The States, Union General W. T. Sherman began the destruction of the cit of Atlanta, GA during his infamous march to the see. (They rebuilt the city. More or less.)
In 1927 Leon Trotsky was kicked out of the Communist Party and Joseph Stalin took over running the Soviet Union.
In 1954 Ellis Island was closed down as an immigration intake center. The very first person to have been processed in there was a young Irish girl named Rose Kelly. I have no idea who the last person was.
F Y I
by Bob Walsh
It was 79 degrees in Stockton yesterday. Just thought you might like to know, all you poor bastards back east.
EDITOR'S NOTE: And us poor bastards don't have to put up with wildfires while waiting for the next big one (earthquake).
It was 79 degrees in Stockton yesterday. Just thought you might like to know, all you poor bastards back east.
EDITOR'S NOTE: And us poor bastards don't have to put up with wildfires while waiting for the next big one (earthquake).
KANSAS CONSIDERING "MASS" RELEASE OF STATE PRISONERS
by Bob Walsh
The Secretary of the Kansas DOC has communicated to Governor Laura Kelly that it may be time to consider mass commutation of sentences within the department. The department is currently almost 100 prisoners over its capacity of 9,924. Last month they transferred 120 prisoners to a private prison operation in Arizona. The prison operator, CoreCivic, is said to have a dubious performance history.
The state is looking at releases for non-violent prisoners who have come close to maxing out their sentences. The ACLU thinks this is a wonderful idea.
Traditionally Kansas governors are not wild about executive freebies to prisoners. Two most recent past governors only issued three pardons between them in their entire terms in office.
The Secretary of the Kansas DOC has communicated to Governor Laura Kelly that it may be time to consider mass commutation of sentences within the department. The department is currently almost 100 prisoners over its capacity of 9,924. Last month they transferred 120 prisoners to a private prison operation in Arizona. The prison operator, CoreCivic, is said to have a dubious performance history.
The state is looking at releases for non-violent prisoners who have come close to maxing out their sentences. The ACLU thinks this is a wonderful idea.
Traditionally Kansas governors are not wild about executive freebies to prisoners. Two most recent past governors only issued three pardons between them in their entire terms in office.
ORANGUTAN DECLARED TO BE PERSON
by Bob Walsh
OK, it didn't happen in the US, but that's about all I can say for it.
Sandra, 33, has been at the center of a court case in Argentina for four years. She lived for 20 years at the zoo in Buenos Aires. She was declared to be a person by Judge Elena Liberatori and granted basic rights. Trouble is, there was no place in Argentina that could house her under these legal restrictions.
So, Sandra was relocated temporarily to Kansas for an international quarantine, then moved to an ape sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida. The judge asked them to take her, as they are the only accredited sanctuary for great apes in this hemisphere. She will be hanging out with 21 other orangutans and 31 champanzees, all rescued from substandard living situations.
Interestingly enough in the U.S. she is legally considered property and not a person. I wonder how she feels about that? Maybe AOC will intervene on her behalf so she can register to vote.
EDITOR'S NOTE: During the eight years I volunteered at the primate section of the Houston Zoo, I found our Orangutans to be smarter than many Americans. And if Sandra were to cast a vote, she wouldn't be so stupid as to vote for either Hillary or Trump in the last election or to vote for the Democratic candidate in the next election.
OK, it didn't happen in the US, but that's about all I can say for it.
Sandra, 33, has been at the center of a court case in Argentina for four years. She lived for 20 years at the zoo in Buenos Aires. She was declared to be a person by Judge Elena Liberatori and granted basic rights. Trouble is, there was no place in Argentina that could house her under these legal restrictions.
So, Sandra was relocated temporarily to Kansas for an international quarantine, then moved to an ape sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida. The judge asked them to take her, as they are the only accredited sanctuary for great apes in this hemisphere. She will be hanging out with 21 other orangutans and 31 champanzees, all rescued from substandard living situations.
Interestingly enough in the U.S. she is legally considered property and not a person. I wonder how she feels about that? Maybe AOC will intervene on her behalf so she can register to vote.
EDITOR'S NOTE: During the eight years I volunteered at the primate section of the Houston Zoo, I found our Orangutans to be smarter than many Americans. And if Sandra were to cast a vote, she wouldn't be so stupid as to vote for either Hillary or Trump in the last election or to vote for the Democratic candidate in the next election.
WHEN I STUDIED FOR MY DEGREES AT UNT, THE TERM ‘NIGGER’ WAS COMMONLY USED, BUT TODAY IT IS STRICTLY VERBOTEN
Texas university attorney resigns one day after she used the n-word as an example of 'protected free speech' during a panel, sparking outrage among students
The Daily Mail
November 11, 2019
Caitlin Sewell, the assistant general counsel for the University of North Texas, resigned from her post on Friday.
It was less than 24 hours after she used the n-word during free speech event called 'When Hate Comes to Campus'. She used the offensive slur as an example of protected free speech.
However, her use of the word sparked outrage among audience members.
The university announced her resignation in a statement to students saying: 'This language is never condoned in our community'.
EDITOR’S NOTE: UNT, like most American institutions of higher education, punishes those who use the – God forbit – word even when it is only used to explain protected speech. Ironically, her speech was not protected.
The Daily Mail
November 11, 2019
Caitlin Sewell, the assistant general counsel for the University of North Texas, resigned from her post on Friday.
It was less than 24 hours after she used the n-word during free speech event called 'When Hate Comes to Campus'. She used the offensive slur as an example of protected free speech.
However, her use of the word sparked outrage among audience members.
The university announced her resignation in a statement to students saying: 'This language is never condoned in our community'.
EDITOR’S NOTE: UNT, like most American institutions of higher education, punishes those who use the – God forbit – word even when it is only used to explain protected speech. Ironically, her speech was not protected.
THE ASSASSINS DID SPARE THE LIVES OF SOME OF THE MORMON CHILDREN
Hero boy, 13, reveals how Mexican cartel spared his life after Mormon massacre that killed his mom and eight other family members and describes his fear walking 13 miles for help to save his surviving siblings
Daily Mail
November 11, 2019
Devin Langford, 13, was in a car with his mother Dawna and siblings when the gunmen sprayed bullets on his family in the Mexican state of Sonora last week. Nine people, including his mom Dawna and brothers Trevor and Rogan died in the massacre, which FBI sources say was a 'targeted assassination' but for which no motive has yet been given.
On Monday, Devin revealed that after the gunmen stopped shooting, they got him and some of the others who survived out of their cars and told them to lie on the ground before driving off. He then walked 13 miles to find help for his wounded siblings, Kylie, Xander, Cody and Brixton. The entire way, he said he thought he was being followed by cartel members.
The boy and his father, along with the rest of their surviving family, have now fled Mexico for the US.
Daily Mail
November 11, 2019
Devin Langford, 13, was in a car with his mother Dawna and siblings when the gunmen sprayed bullets on his family in the Mexican state of Sonora last week. Nine people, including his mom Dawna and brothers Trevor and Rogan died in the massacre, which FBI sources say was a 'targeted assassination' but for which no motive has yet been given.
On Monday, Devin revealed that after the gunmen stopped shooting, they got him and some of the others who survived out of their cars and told them to lie on the ground before driving off. He then walked 13 miles to find help for his wounded siblings, Kylie, Xander, Cody and Brixton. The entire way, he said he thought he was being followed by cartel members.
The boy and his father, along with the rest of their surviving family, have now fled Mexico for the US.
A WEE BIT OD DISSENTION AMONG DEMOCRATS
Tulsi Gabbard lawyers accuse Hillary Clinton of 'defamation' for Russian asset claim
By Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
November 11, 2019
Lawyers representing Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have sent a letter to Hillary Clinton demanding she publicly apologize and retract a “fabricated” statement suggesting that Ms. Gabbard is a “Russian asset.”
“Congresswoman Gabbard is not a Russian asset and is not being groomed by Russia,” the letter said. “Besides your statement, no law enforcement or intelligence agencies have claimed, much less presented any evidence, that Congresswoman Gabbard is a Russian asset. This fabricated story is so facially improbable that it is actionable as defamation.”
Ms. Clinton made headlines in October after she seemingly insinuated during a podcast interview that Ms. Gabbard was being “groomed” by the Russians to eventually run as a third-party candidate.
“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” the former secretary of state said, adding that she thinks Ms. Gabbard is an “asset” and “favorite” of the Russians.
Ms. Gabbard has forcefully pushed back against the claim, defending her service in Congress and the Hawaii Army National Guard and calling Ms. Clinton the “embodiment of corruption” that has “sickened” the Democratic Party for decades.
Ms. Clinton later tried to clarify her statement to say she was taking about Republicans, not Russians, but Ms. Gabbard isn’t buying it. In their letter, Ms. Gabbard’s lawyers demanded that Ms. Clinton hold a press conference to publicly apologize and retract her allegations, and they want her to post the retraction on her Twitter account and distribute it to all the major news outlets. They also demanded that Mrs. Clinton state that she “supports and admires” Ms. Gabbard’s work.
Ms. Clinton has not commented on the letter.
By Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
November 11, 2019
Lawyers representing Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have sent a letter to Hillary Clinton demanding she publicly apologize and retract a “fabricated” statement suggesting that Ms. Gabbard is a “Russian asset.”
“Congresswoman Gabbard is not a Russian asset and is not being groomed by Russia,” the letter said. “Besides your statement, no law enforcement or intelligence agencies have claimed, much less presented any evidence, that Congresswoman Gabbard is a Russian asset. This fabricated story is so facially improbable that it is actionable as defamation.”
Ms. Clinton made headlines in October after she seemingly insinuated during a podcast interview that Ms. Gabbard was being “groomed” by the Russians to eventually run as a third-party candidate.
“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” the former secretary of state said, adding that she thinks Ms. Gabbard is an “asset” and “favorite” of the Russians.
Ms. Gabbard has forcefully pushed back against the claim, defending her service in Congress and the Hawaii Army National Guard and calling Ms. Clinton the “embodiment of corruption” that has “sickened” the Democratic Party for decades.
Ms. Clinton later tried to clarify her statement to say she was taking about Republicans, not Russians, but Ms. Gabbard isn’t buying it. In their letter, Ms. Gabbard’s lawyers demanded that Ms. Clinton hold a press conference to publicly apologize and retract her allegations, and they want her to post the retraction on her Twitter account and distribute it to all the major news outlets. They also demanded that Mrs. Clinton state that she “supports and admires” Ms. Gabbard’s work.
Ms. Clinton has not commented on the letter.
2010 PORSCHE BOXSTER PROVED IT COULD FLY
Porsche launches into New Jersey building's second floor leaving 2 dead, police say
By Stephen Sorace
Fox News
November 10, 2019
Two people were killed in New Jersey early Sunday when a Porsche launched into the air and smashed into the second story of a commercial building, investigators said.
The sports car, a 2010 Porsche Boxster convertible, was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when the driver lost control, hit a center median and struck an embankment that sent it smashing through the building, Toms River Police spokeswoman Jillian Messina told Fox News.
The victims were later identified as 22-year-old Braden DeMartin of Toms River and his passenger, 23-year-old Daniel Foley, also of Toms River, the department said in a news release. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash unfolded around 6:30 a.m., Sgt. Vincent Pedalino told NJ.com. He said the building, which housed a real estate office and several other businesses, was unoccupied at the time.
Skid marks could be seen stretching across four lanes of traffic in the direction of the building, the outlet reported.
The Porsche appeared to bore a gaping hole in the brick building, according to pictures that local news outlets posted online. First responders cordoned off the area as they investigated how the vehicle went airborne.
Toms River Building Inspector John Gerrity subsequently deemed the building unsafe, the department said. It was unclear how long it would be before people were allowed to enter.
It was unclear exactly how fast the Porsche was going and what caused the driver to lose control. Police said the crash remained under investigation.
Toms River is about 50 miles north of Atlantic City.
By Stephen Sorace
Fox News
November 10, 2019
Two people were killed in New Jersey early Sunday when a Porsche launched into the air and smashed into the second story of a commercial building, investigators said.
The sports car, a 2010 Porsche Boxster convertible, was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when the driver lost control, hit a center median and struck an embankment that sent it smashing through the building, Toms River Police spokeswoman Jillian Messina told Fox News.
The victims were later identified as 22-year-old Braden DeMartin of Toms River and his passenger, 23-year-old Daniel Foley, also of Toms River, the department said in a news release. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash unfolded around 6:30 a.m., Sgt. Vincent Pedalino told NJ.com. He said the building, which housed a real estate office and several other businesses, was unoccupied at the time.
Skid marks could be seen stretching across four lanes of traffic in the direction of the building, the outlet reported.
The Porsche appeared to bore a gaping hole in the brick building, according to pictures that local news outlets posted online. First responders cordoned off the area as they investigated how the vehicle went airborne.
Toms River Building Inspector John Gerrity subsequently deemed the building unsafe, the department said. It was unclear how long it would be before people were allowed to enter.
It was unclear exactly how fast the Porsche was going and what caused the driver to lose control. Police said the crash remained under investigation.
Toms River is about 50 miles north of Atlantic City.
BABY TRUMP STABBER RECEIVING MONEY FROM TRUMP SUPPORTERS FOR HIS LEGAL FFES
People raise thousands for man who allegedly stabbed 'Baby Trump' balloon in Alabama
By Aris Folley
The Hill
November 10, 2019
Supporters of Hoyt Hutchinson, an Alabama man who has gained widespread attention after he was charged in connection with the knifing of a “Baby Trump” balloon used to protest the president’s recent appearance in Alabama, have raised thousands of dollars to help him pay legal fees.
A GoFundMe created Saturday that asks for donations to help Hutchinson “pay legal fees and restitutions” for the balloon has so far raised more than $30,000. The goal for that fundraising page was initially set at $6,000.
Another GoFundMe that aimed to “FREE HOYT” shortly after his arrest raised more than $12,000 during the same period.
Hutchinson captured headlines Saturday after he was arrested and charged with felony first degree criminal mischief for allegedly stabbing a “Baby Trump” balloon that was being used by demonstrators in Tuscaloosa to protest Trump’s appearance at a college football game.
According to AL.com, a group of protesters had inflated the balloon for a demonstration at Monnish Park, which is located near the Alabama-LSU football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium that Trump was attending. The balloon was reportedly stabbed shortly before the game started.
The Tuscaloosa Police Department told AL.com in a statement that “officers observed Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, age 32 of Tuscaloosa, AL, cut into the ‘Baby Trump’ balloon, and then attempted to flee the area.”
“Officers apprehended the suspect and took him into custody on a charge of Criminal Mischief First Degree. Hoyt was transported to Tuscaloosa County Jail where he was held on a $2,500 bond,” the department added.
Hutchinson has since reportedly been released on bond.
Hutchinson, who had reportedly made a Facebook Live video prior to the incident Saturday that detailed his plans to pop the balloon, said in another video after his release that he would “do it again given the opportunity.”
He also reportedly said that after paying his legal fees and replacing the balloon with the money raised on GoFundMe he plans to donate the remaining funds to the Republican Party.
By Aris Folley
The Hill
November 10, 2019
Supporters of Hoyt Hutchinson, an Alabama man who has gained widespread attention after he was charged in connection with the knifing of a “Baby Trump” balloon used to protest the president’s recent appearance in Alabama, have raised thousands of dollars to help him pay legal fees.
A GoFundMe created Saturday that asks for donations to help Hutchinson “pay legal fees and restitutions” for the balloon has so far raised more than $30,000. The goal for that fundraising page was initially set at $6,000.
Another GoFundMe that aimed to “FREE HOYT” shortly after his arrest raised more than $12,000 during the same period.
Hutchinson captured headlines Saturday after he was arrested and charged with felony first degree criminal mischief for allegedly stabbing a “Baby Trump” balloon that was being used by demonstrators in Tuscaloosa to protest Trump’s appearance at a college football game.
According to AL.com, a group of protesters had inflated the balloon for a demonstration at Monnish Park, which is located near the Alabama-LSU football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium that Trump was attending. The balloon was reportedly stabbed shortly before the game started.
The Tuscaloosa Police Department told AL.com in a statement that “officers observed Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, age 32 of Tuscaloosa, AL, cut into the ‘Baby Trump’ balloon, and then attempted to flee the area.”
“Officers apprehended the suspect and took him into custody on a charge of Criminal Mischief First Degree. Hoyt was transported to Tuscaloosa County Jail where he was held on a $2,500 bond,” the department added.
Hutchinson has since reportedly been released on bond.
Hutchinson, who had reportedly made a Facebook Live video prior to the incident Saturday that detailed his plans to pop the balloon, said in another video after his release that he would “do it again given the opportunity.”
He also reportedly said that after paying his legal fees and replacing the balloon with the money raised on GoFundMe he plans to donate the remaining funds to the Republican Party.
Monday, November 11, 2019
A SALUTE TO VETERANS
by Trey Rusk
For Veterans Day, Roy Benavidez recited a poem that will make you wonder if somebody is peeling onions in your vicinity. Roy was a Medal of Honor recipient who was born in Lindenau, Texas, and raised mostly in El Campo. His life story is the stuff of heroic legend. The poem:
"Hello, remember me? Some people call me 'Old Glory,' others call me the Star Spangled Banner. But, whatever they call me, I'm your flag... the flag of the United States of America. Something has been bothering me, so, I thought I'd talk it over with you because it's about me and you. Not too long ago, people were lining up on both sides of the street to see a parade go by, and, naturally, I was leading that parade. Proudly waving in the breeze. And when your daddy saw me coming, he would immediately remove his hat and place it over his left shoulder... so his right hand would be over his heart. And you, you standing there... right next to your dad. You didn't have a hat, and your little sister, not to be outdone was standing right next to you. Both of you had your right hand over your heart.
What has happened now? I don't feel as proud as I used to... I'm still the same ole flag. I see children playing around, shouting. They don't seem to know or care who I am, what I stand for. I saw an elderly gentleman who took his hat off, but when he saw others with theirs on, he turned around and slowly walked away.
Hey, I'm still the same ole flag. A few stars have been added since those parades long ago. A lot of blood has been shed. Is it a sin to be patriotic anymore? Have you forgotten who I am? What I stand for? And where I've been? Anzio, Guadalcanal, Korea, Vietnam. Take a good look one of these days... at the memorial honor roll... of all the names that never came back. They gave their lives for this great nation to be free. Under God. When you salute me, you salute each and every one of them. Well, it won't be long now, and I'll be coming down the street leading the parade and proudly waving in the breeze. So, when you see me coming, stand up straight and salute. And I'll salute you... by waving back. And then I'll know, that you remember."
For Veterans Day, Roy Benavidez recited a poem that will make you wonder if somebody is peeling onions in your vicinity. Roy was a Medal of Honor recipient who was born in Lindenau, Texas, and raised mostly in El Campo. His life story is the stuff of heroic legend. The poem:
"Hello, remember me? Some people call me 'Old Glory,' others call me the Star Spangled Banner. But, whatever they call me, I'm your flag... the flag of the United States of America. Something has been bothering me, so, I thought I'd talk it over with you because it's about me and you. Not too long ago, people were lining up on both sides of the street to see a parade go by, and, naturally, I was leading that parade. Proudly waving in the breeze. And when your daddy saw me coming, he would immediately remove his hat and place it over his left shoulder... so his right hand would be over his heart. And you, you standing there... right next to your dad. You didn't have a hat, and your little sister, not to be outdone was standing right next to you. Both of you had your right hand over your heart.
What has happened now? I don't feel as proud as I used to... I'm still the same ole flag. I see children playing around, shouting. They don't seem to know or care who I am, what I stand for. I saw an elderly gentleman who took his hat off, but when he saw others with theirs on, he turned around and slowly walked away.
Hey, I'm still the same ole flag. A few stars have been added since those parades long ago. A lot of blood has been shed. Is it a sin to be patriotic anymore? Have you forgotten who I am? What I stand for? And where I've been? Anzio, Guadalcanal, Korea, Vietnam. Take a good look one of these days... at the memorial honor roll... of all the names that never came back. They gave their lives for this great nation to be free. Under God. When you salute me, you salute each and every one of them. Well, it won't be long now, and I'll be coming down the street leading the parade and proudly waving in the breeze. So, when you see me coming, stand up straight and salute. And I'll salute you... by waving back. And then I'll know, that you remember."
‘AHAH, I’VE GOT HIM NOW’
An elated Adam Schiff declares Trump to be charged with murder
The Unconventional Gazette
November 11, 2019
Rep. Adam Schitt (oops, typo), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, admitted that the Democrats may have a problem proving the alleged quid pro quo in Trump’s telephone call to the Ukrainian president.
“Damn it, I thought we had Trump with the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Schiff said, “but Mueller messed it all up. And now I’m getting conflicting testimony and reports on the quid pro quo charges. Furthermore, some legal experts tell me that what we are accusing Trump of is not an impeachable offense. This forces me to pull out my ace.”
Schitt (typo) seemed elated when he said, “Ahah, I’ve got him now. I am going to charge the president with murder,” he continued. “Trump cannot deny he ordered the murder of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Hah, he’s even bragging about al-Baghdadi’s death.”
‘Little Adam Schitt’ as Trump calls him told reporters that Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib had advised him that Trump ordering the murder of al-Baghdadi was no different from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordering the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and that both should be ousted for abusing their positions of power.
The outspoken Trump hater believes there is irrefutable evidence that the president ordered the killing of al-Baghdadi by the US Army’s Delta Force and that “murder is definitely an impeachable offense. Oh yes, I’ve got him now, ha ha.”
And so it goes with the ringmaster of the Dump Trump Circus in the House.
The Unconventional Gazette
November 11, 2019
Rep. Adam Schitt (oops, typo), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, admitted that the Democrats may have a problem proving the alleged quid pro quo in Trump’s telephone call to the Ukrainian president.
“Damn it, I thought we had Trump with the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Schiff said, “but Mueller messed it all up. And now I’m getting conflicting testimony and reports on the quid pro quo charges. Furthermore, some legal experts tell me that what we are accusing Trump of is not an impeachable offense. This forces me to pull out my ace.”
Schitt (typo) seemed elated when he said, “Ahah, I’ve got him now. I am going to charge the president with murder,” he continued. “Trump cannot deny he ordered the murder of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Hah, he’s even bragging about al-Baghdadi’s death.”
‘Little Adam Schitt’ as Trump calls him told reporters that Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib had advised him that Trump ordering the murder of al-Baghdadi was no different from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordering the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and that both should be ousted for abusing their positions of power.
The outspoken Trump hater believes there is irrefutable evidence that the president ordered the killing of al-Baghdadi by the US Army’s Delta Force and that “murder is definitely an impeachable offense. Oh yes, I’ve got him now, ha ha.”
And so it goes with the ringmaster of the Dump Trump Circus in the House.
INTERESTING TAKE ON LIFE SENTENCE
by Bob Walsh
Benjamin Schreier is a guest of the people of Iowa. He is doing life for beating a man to death 22 years ago. Back in 2015 he was taken to an off-grounds hospital for an unspecified medical problem. His heart stopped five times and he had to be resuscitated.
He is now asserting that these momentary deaths fulfill his life sentence and he should be released.
A district judge found no merit in his argument, stating that the fact that he filed the appeal shows that he is clearly alive.
An appeals court affirmed that decision on Wednesday, stating "Schreiber is either alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is dead, in which case this appeal is moot."
Benjamin Schreier is a guest of the people of Iowa. He is doing life for beating a man to death 22 years ago. Back in 2015 he was taken to an off-grounds hospital for an unspecified medical problem. His heart stopped five times and he had to be resuscitated.
He is now asserting that these momentary deaths fulfill his life sentence and he should be released.
A district judge found no merit in his argument, stating that the fact that he filed the appeal shows that he is clearly alive.
An appeals court affirmed that decision on Wednesday, stating "Schreiber is either alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is dead, in which case this appeal is moot."
I GUESS THEY CHANGED THEIR MIND ABOUT THE PICTURE
by Bob Walsh
Victoria Schafer, 44, was a professional photographer. She was hired to do some senior class photos near Old Man's Cave at the Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio a tad over two months ago.
While this was going on two 16-year old boys, who have not been officially named because they are juveniles, moved a 75 pound log 40 feet from a pile of logs and pushed it off a cliff, apparently deliberately. It fell from the cliff it was pushed over and hit and killed the photographer.
The two little bastards were originally charged with reckless homicide but the charges have been upgrade to murder. They are being charged as adults. They are still in custody as they have not been able to make the $100,000 bail.
Victoria Schafer, 44, was a professional photographer. She was hired to do some senior class photos near Old Man's Cave at the Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio a tad over two months ago.
While this was going on two 16-year old boys, who have not been officially named because they are juveniles, moved a 75 pound log 40 feet from a pile of logs and pushed it off a cliff, apparently deliberately. It fell from the cliff it was pushed over and hit and killed the photographer.
The two little bastards were originally charged with reckless homicide but the charges have been upgrade to murder. They are being charged as adults. They are still in custody as they have not been able to make the $100,000 bail.
SCHIFF WILL NOT ALLOW REPUBLICANS TO CALL HUNTER BIDEN AND THE WHISTLEBLOWER AS WITNESSES
The Republicans submitted a list of witnesses to Adam Schiff, including Hunter Biden and the whistleblower, who they want to call for the impeachment hearings
The impeachment hearings are starting this week. The Republicans submitted a list of witnesses to Adam Schiff, including Hunter Biden and the whistleblower, who they want to call for the hearings.
Schitt (oops, typo) quickly rejected their request. Here is what he wrote to the Republicans:
“The impeachment inquiry, moreover, has gathered an ever-growing body of evidence -- from witnesses and documents, including the President's own words in his July 25 call record -- that not only confirms, but far exceeds, the initial information in the whistleblower's complaint. The whistleblower's testimony is therefore redundant and unnecessary. In light of the President’s threats, the individual’s appearance before us would only place their personal safety at grave risk. The committee also will not facilitate efforts by President Trump and his allies in Congress to threaten, intimidate and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm.”
As for Hunter Biden, he wrote:
“This inquiry is not and will not serve as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the President pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit.”
In my opinion, the Republicans are right in wanting the testimony of the whistleblower and Hunter Biden. The whistleblower started all this shit and it centers around the president wanting Biden investigated for corruption. It remains to be seen if the Biden investigation is a sham investigation. I seriously doubt the President will get a fair hearing since Little Adam Schitt is an ardent Trump hater.
The impeachment hearings are starting this week. The Republicans submitted a list of witnesses to Adam Schiff, including Hunter Biden and the whistleblower, who they want to call for the hearings.
Schitt (oops, typo) quickly rejected their request. Here is what he wrote to the Republicans:
“The impeachment inquiry, moreover, has gathered an ever-growing body of evidence -- from witnesses and documents, including the President's own words in his July 25 call record -- that not only confirms, but far exceeds, the initial information in the whistleblower's complaint. The whistleblower's testimony is therefore redundant and unnecessary. In light of the President’s threats, the individual’s appearance before us would only place their personal safety at grave risk. The committee also will not facilitate efforts by President Trump and his allies in Congress to threaten, intimidate and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm.”
As for Hunter Biden, he wrote:
“This inquiry is not and will not serve as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the President pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit.”
In my opinion, the Republicans are right in wanting the testimony of the whistleblower and Hunter Biden. The whistleblower started all this shit and it centers around the president wanting Biden investigated for corruption. It remains to be seen if the Biden investigation is a sham investigation. I seriously doubt the President will get a fair hearing since Little Adam Schitt is an ardent Trump hater.
TRUMP COLLAPSES AFTER BEING STABBED BY SUPPORTER ….. BABY TRUMP BALLOON THAT IS
‘Baby Trump’ balloon stabbed by Trump supporter outside LSU-Alabama game
By Kenneth Garger
New York Post
November 10, 2019
A man was charged with knifing and deflating the “Baby Trump” balloon that was stationed near the University of Alabama football game in protest of President Trump’s Saturday visit.
Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, 32, allegedly cut an 8-foot-long gash into the back of the giant inflatable, which depicts a bright orange Trump donning a diaper and clutching a cell phone.
“It is rare to get that kind of anger,” said Robert Kennedy, who was watching over the balloon in a nearby park as a volunteer “baby sitter.”
Hutchinson, who lives in Tuscaloosa, where the game was played, fled the crime scene after his alleged attack. He was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief.
Kennedy said it’s the first time he’s witnessed an attack on “Baby Trump.”
The Trump balloon made its debut last summer during Trump’s trip to the United Kingdom.
Since then, replicas of the inflatable have followed Trump across the globe.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Was Trump’s visit to Alabama an ill omen for the home team? LSU eliminated Alabama from the college football playoffs.
By Kenneth Garger
New York Post
November 10, 2019
A man was charged with knifing and deflating the “Baby Trump” balloon that was stationed near the University of Alabama football game in protest of President Trump’s Saturday visit.
Hoyt Deau Hutchinson, 32, allegedly cut an 8-foot-long gash into the back of the giant inflatable, which depicts a bright orange Trump donning a diaper and clutching a cell phone.
“It is rare to get that kind of anger,” said Robert Kennedy, who was watching over the balloon in a nearby park as a volunteer “baby sitter.”
Hutchinson, who lives in Tuscaloosa, where the game was played, fled the crime scene after his alleged attack. He was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief.
Kennedy said it’s the first time he’s witnessed an attack on “Baby Trump.”
The Trump balloon made its debut last summer during Trump’s trip to the United Kingdom.
Since then, replicas of the inflatable have followed Trump across the globe.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Was Trump’s visit to Alabama an ill omen for the home team? LSU eliminated Alabama from the college football playoffs.
BILL MAHER DOES NOT SEE A BIG-CITY JEW EXCITING THE VOTE IN ALABAMA OR A LOT OF THE COUNTRY
Judge Judy tells Bill Maher that Michael Bloomberg is the only one who can unite 'fractured American family'
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn
Fox News
November 9, 2019
"Judge Judy" Sheindlin made the case for a Michael Bloomberg presidency Friday night during her debut appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," arguing that the billionaire former mayor of New York City -- who has filed to run in Alabama's Democratic primary -- is the "only" candidate who can bring civility back to the country.
"We have a fractured American family," Sheindlin began, adding she believed that while there are people like Maher who despise President Trump, there are also others who "adore" the president. She went on to blast lawmakers on Capitol Hill for their lack of legislating.
"The parties have become so angry with each other that nothing is happening," Sheindlin, a 77-year-old retired family court judge, whose popular TV show has been airing for nearly 25 years, observed. "The American public is paying for a very expensive system -- an executive, a judicial branch of government, and Congress -- and we're not getting anything done.
"Bridges aren't getting built, roads aren't getting fixed, infrastructure isn't getting done," she continued, "because everybody's so busy hating each other."
"And you think Michael Bloomberg is the answer?" Maher responded.
"He's the only answer and I'm going to tell you why," Sheindlin said. "First of all, if you think about it, Michael Bloomberg is the only person running who has over a decade of executive experience running the largest city in the United States."
Maher quickly pushed back.
"This is not what people care about," Maher snapped, referring to Bloomberg's political experience. "Look at who won last time."
"I don't see a big-city Jew exciting the vote in Alabama or a lot of the country," Maher elaborated. "The election is going to be decided in six states and they're not named New York. ... We're talking about Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Florida."
"You know what they're going to say? That Elizabeth Warren is doing great in the Democratic primary because she is talking about the wealth gap." On the other hand, Maher added, Bloomberg is "a very rich guy, he's got a lot of buddies on Wall Street.
"I mean, they're going to say he's not the answer and not the fundamental change we need. He doesn't exactly reek fundamental change in people who don't like Trump are pissed and they want it."
"To define Mike Bloomberg as a billionaire is an injustice," Judge Judy countered, defending Bloomberg. "Mike Bloomberg was the mayor of the city of New York for 12 years and a self-made guy."
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn
Fox News
November 9, 2019
"Judge Judy" Sheindlin made the case for a Michael Bloomberg presidency Friday night during her debut appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher," arguing that the billionaire former mayor of New York City -- who has filed to run in Alabama's Democratic primary -- is the "only" candidate who can bring civility back to the country.
"We have a fractured American family," Sheindlin began, adding she believed that while there are people like Maher who despise President Trump, there are also others who "adore" the president. She went on to blast lawmakers on Capitol Hill for their lack of legislating.
"The parties have become so angry with each other that nothing is happening," Sheindlin, a 77-year-old retired family court judge, whose popular TV show has been airing for nearly 25 years, observed. "The American public is paying for a very expensive system -- an executive, a judicial branch of government, and Congress -- and we're not getting anything done.
"Bridges aren't getting built, roads aren't getting fixed, infrastructure isn't getting done," she continued, "because everybody's so busy hating each other."
"And you think Michael Bloomberg is the answer?" Maher responded.
"He's the only answer and I'm going to tell you why," Sheindlin said. "First of all, if you think about it, Michael Bloomberg is the only person running who has over a decade of executive experience running the largest city in the United States."
Maher quickly pushed back.
"This is not what people care about," Maher snapped, referring to Bloomberg's political experience. "Look at who won last time."
"I don't see a big-city Jew exciting the vote in Alabama or a lot of the country," Maher elaborated. "The election is going to be decided in six states and they're not named New York. ... We're talking about Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Florida."
"You know what they're going to say? That Elizabeth Warren is doing great in the Democratic primary because she is talking about the wealth gap." On the other hand, Maher added, Bloomberg is "a very rich guy, he's got a lot of buddies on Wall Street.
"I mean, they're going to say he's not the answer and not the fundamental change we need. He doesn't exactly reek fundamental change in people who don't like Trump are pissed and they want it."
"To define Mike Bloomberg as a billionaire is an injustice," Judge Judy countered, defending Bloomberg. "Mike Bloomberg was the mayor of the city of New York for 12 years and a self-made guy."
OMAR’S ANTI-SEMITIC DOG WHISTLE
Ilhan Omar is accused of anti-Semitism after she posts tweet implying billionaire businessman Leon Cooperman is only supporting Michael Bloomberg's presidential run because he is Jewish
Daily Mail
November 10, 2019
Rep. Ilhan Omar has come under fire and been accused of anti-Semitism after sharing a tweet implying that American billionaire investor Leon Cooperman is backing Mike Bloomberg for President simply because he is Jewish.
The Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota was slammed for her tweet shared Saturday where she tweeted a news post saying Cooperman announcement that he'd support fellow billionaire Bloomberg in his race for the presidency.
She shared the tweet saying: 'I wonder why' with a thinking face emoji.
Both men are billionaires and Jewish. However, the tweet reignited accusations of anti-Semitism.
'I suppose you think it's all about the Benjamins,' Michael Dickson, the executive director of Stand With Us, a group that fights anti-Semitism, said in response. 'We get your insinuation. True to form.'
'Omar very carefully making an anti-Semitic tweet with just enough vagueness to claim that ackshually [sic] she meant it was about the benjamins and not about religion. But everyone knows what she meant, which is why she continues to do it,' Twitter user Josh Jordan wrote.
Daily Mail
November 10, 2019
Rep. Ilhan Omar has come under fire and been accused of anti-Semitism after sharing a tweet implying that American billionaire investor Leon Cooperman is backing Mike Bloomberg for President simply because he is Jewish.
The Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota was slammed for her tweet shared Saturday where she tweeted a news post saying Cooperman announcement that he'd support fellow billionaire Bloomberg in his race for the presidency.
She shared the tweet saying: 'I wonder why' with a thinking face emoji.
Both men are billionaires and Jewish. However, the tweet reignited accusations of anti-Semitism.
'I suppose you think it's all about the Benjamins,' Michael Dickson, the executive director of Stand With Us, a group that fights anti-Semitism, said in response. 'We get your insinuation. True to form.'
'Omar very carefully making an anti-Semitic tweet with just enough vagueness to claim that ackshually [sic] she meant it was about the benjamins and not about religion. But everyone knows what she meant, which is why she continues to do it,' Twitter user Josh Jordan wrote.
HOW ISRAEL HELPED THE US KILL ISIS CHIEF AL-BAGHDADI
No surprise that Israel played a role in taking out the ISIS leader, but you might be surprised how
Israel Today
November 10, 2019
You just knew Israel had to be involved at some level in the recent elimination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by US special forces in Syria.
But Israel’s contribution might not be what most folks expected.
Remember that Delta Force dog made famous for chasing al-Baghdadi down a tunnel before the ISIS chief killed himself with an explosive suicide vest?
The dog’s name is Conan, and he was repeatedly praised and even invited to the White House to receive a medal from President Donald Trump. Conan was injured during the raid by exposed live electric wires in the tunnel through which al-Baghdadi tried to escape.
It turns out that Conan was equipped with, and possibly protected from more serious injury by, a special harness and body armor developed by the Israeli firm T9 Design.
T9 was presenting its wares last week at the 8th International Conference on Unmanned Systems (UVID) near Tel Aviv.
Along with advanced “tactical textile solutions” used by human soldiers, T9 also produces the K9 Ballistic Harness that was worn by Conan and many other service dogs in the US and other foreign militaries.
Netanel, a company spokesman manning the T9 booth at the conference, told Israel Hayom that “our harness has gotten a lot of attention thanks to that Delta Force dog who caught al-Baghdadi.”
He explained that in addition to protecting the dogs from gunshots and stabbing, the harness can also be modified by request to carry a wide array of technology and supplementary equipment.
Israel Today
November 10, 2019
You just knew Israel had to be involved at some level in the recent elimination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by US special forces in Syria.
But Israel’s contribution might not be what most folks expected.
Remember that Delta Force dog made famous for chasing al-Baghdadi down a tunnel before the ISIS chief killed himself with an explosive suicide vest?
The dog’s name is Conan, and he was repeatedly praised and even invited to the White House to receive a medal from President Donald Trump. Conan was injured during the raid by exposed live electric wires in the tunnel through which al-Baghdadi tried to escape.
It turns out that Conan was equipped with, and possibly protected from more serious injury by, a special harness and body armor developed by the Israeli firm T9 Design.
T9 was presenting its wares last week at the 8th International Conference on Unmanned Systems (UVID) near Tel Aviv.
Along with advanced “tactical textile solutions” used by human soldiers, T9 also produces the K9 Ballistic Harness that was worn by Conan and many other service dogs in the US and other foreign militaries.
Netanel, a company spokesman manning the T9 booth at the conference, told Israel Hayom that “our harness has gotten a lot of attention thanks to that Delta Force dog who caught al-Baghdadi.”
He explained that in addition to protecting the dogs from gunshots and stabbing, the harness can also be modified by request to carry a wide array of technology and supplementary equipment.
Sunday, November 10, 2019
KIM KARDASHIAN AND BEYONCE AMONG CELEBRITIES CALLING ON TEXAS GOVERNOR TO STOP EXECUTION
42 Texas Lawmakers Join Forces To Urge Governor to Halt Rodney Reed’s Execution
By Carla Herreria
HuffPost
November 8, 2019
At least 42 state lawmakers, including Democrats and Republicans, have formed a unified front urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the execution of death row inmate Rodney Reed.
Sixteen state senators sent a letter to Abbott and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles chair David Gutiérrez on Friday, asking the officials to investigate new evidence that purportedly proves Reed’s case for innocence.
“Killing Rodney Reed without certainty about his guilt may exacerbate that issue and erode public trust — not only in capital punishment, but in Texas justice itself,” the letter said.
At least 26 state representatives sent an identical letter to Abbott on Tuesday.
Reed, who has been imprisoned for more than two decades, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 20.
Reed, who is Black, was convicted of sexual assault and murder in the death of 20-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman, in Bastrop, Texas, in 1996. Reed was 29 at the time.
Investigators found DNA from Reed’s semen on Stites’ body, though Reed maintains that he was in a consensual sexual relationship with her at the time.
The Innocence Project, a legal advocacy group that focuses on wrongly convicted inmates, said they have uncovered new evidence in Reed’s case that casts “grave doubt concerning his guilt” and are fighting for his sentence to be commuted.
Reed’s case was thrust into the spotlight last month after celebrities, including Kim Kardashian West, Beyoncé and Meek Mill, began lobbying in his defense.
One online petition for Reed had collected 2.3 million signatures as of Friday night.
The Innocence Project, which serves as Reed’s legal representation, said it had uncovered evidence that suggests Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, is responsible for her death.
Fennell was a police officer at the time of her murder and was a “prime suspect” in her case, according to the legal advocacy group. Fennell had also pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman he had in his custody in 2007 and served 10 years in prison.
In Reed’s commutation request, his attorneys said that a former Aryan Brotherhood crime syndicate leader who had spent time with Fennell in prison had come forward, claiming Fennell told him that Stites was cheating on him with a black man and admitted to her murder.
Fennell allegedly told the fellow inmate that he had to kill his “nigger loving fiancée,” according to the court documents. He was released from prison in 2018.
Innocence Project attorneys have also demanded that the murder weapon, a belt owned by Stites, be DNA-tested, which didn’t happen during the investigation.
Robert Phillips, the attorney who represented Fennell in his assault case, told The Washington Post that any indication his client was Stites’ killer is “laughably untrue.”
In an interview from prison with NBC News, Reed maintained his innocence and said he regrets initially telling investigators that he didn’t know Stites.
“It was the worst mistake I ever could have made,” he said. “I denied everything. I did not want to be incriminated, implicated or anything in relation to her death.”
Abbott’s office didn’t immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t see how Gov. Abbott can ignore a bipartisan bunch of 42 state lawmakers.
By Carla Herreria
HuffPost
November 8, 2019
At least 42 state lawmakers, including Democrats and Republicans, have formed a unified front urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the execution of death row inmate Rodney Reed.
Sixteen state senators sent a letter to Abbott and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles chair David Gutiérrez on Friday, asking the officials to investigate new evidence that purportedly proves Reed’s case for innocence.
“Killing Rodney Reed without certainty about his guilt may exacerbate that issue and erode public trust — not only in capital punishment, but in Texas justice itself,” the letter said.
At least 26 state representatives sent an identical letter to Abbott on Tuesday.
Reed, who has been imprisoned for more than two decades, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 20.
Reed, who is Black, was convicted of sexual assault and murder in the death of 20-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman, in Bastrop, Texas, in 1996. Reed was 29 at the time.
Investigators found DNA from Reed’s semen on Stites’ body, though Reed maintains that he was in a consensual sexual relationship with her at the time.
The Innocence Project, a legal advocacy group that focuses on wrongly convicted inmates, said they have uncovered new evidence in Reed’s case that casts “grave doubt concerning his guilt” and are fighting for his sentence to be commuted.
Reed’s case was thrust into the spotlight last month after celebrities, including Kim Kardashian West, Beyoncé and Meek Mill, began lobbying in his defense.
One online petition for Reed had collected 2.3 million signatures as of Friday night.
The Innocence Project, which serves as Reed’s legal representation, said it had uncovered evidence that suggests Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, is responsible for her death.
Fennell was a police officer at the time of her murder and was a “prime suspect” in her case, according to the legal advocacy group. Fennell had also pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman he had in his custody in 2007 and served 10 years in prison.
In Reed’s commutation request, his attorneys said that a former Aryan Brotherhood crime syndicate leader who had spent time with Fennell in prison had come forward, claiming Fennell told him that Stites was cheating on him with a black man and admitted to her murder.
Fennell allegedly told the fellow inmate that he had to kill his “nigger loving fiancée,” according to the court documents. He was released from prison in 2018.
Innocence Project attorneys have also demanded that the murder weapon, a belt owned by Stites, be DNA-tested, which didn’t happen during the investigation.
Robert Phillips, the attorney who represented Fennell in his assault case, told The Washington Post that any indication his client was Stites’ killer is “laughably untrue.”
In an interview from prison with NBC News, Reed maintained his innocence and said he regrets initially telling investigators that he didn’t know Stites.
“It was the worst mistake I ever could have made,” he said. “I denied everything. I did not want to be incriminated, implicated or anything in relation to her death.”
Abbott’s office didn’t immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t see how Gov. Abbott can ignore a bipartisan bunch of 42 state lawmakers.
SOME PROBATION OFFICERS ACTUALLY DO WORK AT THEIR JOB
by Bob Walsh
Probation officers in Sacramento County rolled up two bad guys and got a fair amount of contraband off the streets recently.
David Hansen, 48, and Barton Sloan, 36, were arrested after searches of their residences. Between the two of them 6 pounds of meth, 4 pounds of heroin, 7 guns, a lot of ammo and a few thousand dollars in cash were seized.
One thing I have trouble understand is the newspaper article below specifies that the searches were done with warrants. I thought the whole idea of this supervised probation crap was the ability to do warrantless searches. In any event they were clearly doing something other than phone interviews and putting ankle bracelets on people, so good show.
__________
Two arrested after Sacramento County probation officers find guns, drugs, pipe bomb
By Vincent Moleski
The Sacramento Bee
November 8, 2019
Two men were arrested Thursday after a series of Sacramento County Probation Department searches yielded a handful of guns, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs and a pipe bomb.
In a news release, county officials said probation officers arrived at a home on Hackberry Lane to serve a search warrant to David Hansen, 48, who was on mandatory supervision from a previous drug possession conviction.
Officers searched his vehicle and found two pounds of methamphetamine, a quarter of a pound of heroin and more than $3,900 in cash.
He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession, felony firearm possession and violating the terms of his probation. He remains in custody at the Sacramento County jail, according to Sheriff’s Department records.
Probation officers went on to search two other residences connected with Hansen. Searching a house in Auburn, officers seized six firearms, thousands of bullets, a bulletproof vest, a stolen trailer, heroin, a pipe bomb and $3,200 in cash.
Officers also searched a home in the 5300 block of Manzanita Avenue in Carmichael, yielding large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and a loaded 9 mm handgun.
There, officers arrested Barton Sloan, 36, on suspicion of drug possession and owning a gun while subject to a restraining order. He remains in jail, according to Sheriff’s Department records.
In total, probation officers seized more than six pounds of methamphetamine and four pounds of heroin — worth an estimated $250,000 — and seven guns.
Probation officers in Sacramento County rolled up two bad guys and got a fair amount of contraband off the streets recently.
David Hansen, 48, and Barton Sloan, 36, were arrested after searches of their residences. Between the two of them 6 pounds of meth, 4 pounds of heroin, 7 guns, a lot of ammo and a few thousand dollars in cash were seized.
One thing I have trouble understand is the newspaper article below specifies that the searches were done with warrants. I thought the whole idea of this supervised probation crap was the ability to do warrantless searches. In any event they were clearly doing something other than phone interviews and putting ankle bracelets on people, so good show.
__________
Two arrested after Sacramento County probation officers find guns, drugs, pipe bomb
By Vincent Moleski
The Sacramento Bee
November 8, 2019
Two men were arrested Thursday after a series of Sacramento County Probation Department searches yielded a handful of guns, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs and a pipe bomb.
In a news release, county officials said probation officers arrived at a home on Hackberry Lane to serve a search warrant to David Hansen, 48, who was on mandatory supervision from a previous drug possession conviction.
Officers searched his vehicle and found two pounds of methamphetamine, a quarter of a pound of heroin and more than $3,900 in cash.
He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession, felony firearm possession and violating the terms of his probation. He remains in custody at the Sacramento County jail, according to Sheriff’s Department records.
Probation officers went on to search two other residences connected with Hansen. Searching a house in Auburn, officers seized six firearms, thousands of bullets, a bulletproof vest, a stolen trailer, heroin, a pipe bomb and $3,200 in cash.
Officers also searched a home in the 5300 block of Manzanita Avenue in Carmichael, yielding large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and a loaded 9 mm handgun.
There, officers arrested Barton Sloan, 36, on suspicion of drug possession and owning a gun while subject to a restraining order. He remains in jail, according to Sheriff’s Department records.
In total, probation officers seized more than six pounds of methamphetamine and four pounds of heroin — worth an estimated $250,000 — and seven guns.
VAPING DEATH COMMONALITY MAY BE FOUND
by Bob Walsh
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that they are pretty sure they have come up with the common denominator in most if not all of the vaping deaths that have recently hit.
The suspect seems to be Vitamin E Acetate. It is used as a thickener in some vaping fluids, including a lot of black-market vaping fluid. It has been found in the lungs of at least 29 of the 40 known vaping deaths. Many of them were vaping THC in black market oil. This material makes up as much as 50% of the volume of some of the samples tested. It is the ONLY substance that is common to all of the closely examined vaping deaths.
Over 2,000 people nationwide have had bad outcomes requiring hospitalization after vaping.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that they are pretty sure they have come up with the common denominator in most if not all of the vaping deaths that have recently hit.
The suspect seems to be Vitamin E Acetate. It is used as a thickener in some vaping fluids, including a lot of black-market vaping fluid. It has been found in the lungs of at least 29 of the 40 known vaping deaths. Many of them were vaping THC in black market oil. This material makes up as much as 50% of the volume of some of the samples tested. It is the ONLY substance that is common to all of the closely examined vaping deaths.
Over 2,000 people nationwide have had bad outcomes requiring hospitalization after vaping.
WOW!
Texas husband, 106, and wife, 105, are officially named as the oldest living couple in the world as they prepare to celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary
Daily Mail
November 9, 2019
The announcement comes just one month before John Henderson, 106, and Charlotte, 105, of Travis County, are due to celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary on December 15.
When the couple tied the knot, it was during the Great Depression in 1939. Times have changed a lot since then; but their love has stood the test of time.
And the secret of a long life and happy marriage? 'Live life in moderation and be cordial to your spouse,' John told CNN .
Daily Mail
November 9, 2019
The announcement comes just one month before John Henderson, 106, and Charlotte, 105, of Travis County, are due to celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary on December 15.
When the couple tied the knot, it was during the Great Depression in 1939. Times have changed a lot since then; but their love has stood the test of time.
And the secret of a long life and happy marriage? 'Live life in moderation and be cordial to your spouse,' John told CNN .
GOBBLERS TERRORIZE GEEZERS
Gang of turkeys causes chaos in New Jersey town
By Natalie O'Neill
New York Post
November 8, 2019
It’s gobblers vs. geezers!
A gang of aggressive wild turkeys has been terrorizing senior citizens in New Jersey — busting through windows, pecking at cars, and even attacking the old-timers, according to a startling report Friday.
Elderly residents at Holiday City at Silverton, a 55-and-older community in Toms River, are crying fowl over the 60-strong pack of the sinister squawkers, according to a report by News 12.
“It’s becoming an infestation,” resident Cindy Lijoi told The Post. “I literally couldn’t get out of my front door because the males go to peck at you… I’m afraid of them.”
The old folks say they’ve become sitting ducks — as the bold birds break through windows in order to bite them, rudely block traffic and peck at their vehicles.
One of the feathered freaks was spotted strutting around on top of a roof, and another viciously pecked a kiddie pool until it popped, Lijoi said.
“I try to shoo them away and they look at me like, ‘yeah right,’” she said. “It’s getting crazy— something needs to be done.
But there’s not much animal control officials can do about the gaggle of gutsy gobblers — because they’re not licensed to trap wildlife, according to the report.
The state’s Department of Environmental Protection said that Fish and Game is “aware” of the problem but declined to comment, the agency told the station.
In recent years, New Jersey’s wild turkey population has surged to up to 23,000, officials have said. In total, only about 3,000 of them are hunted annually.
A few years ago, a mailman in Hillsdale — about 90 miles south of Toms River — called cops to report that a menacing pack of turkeys had surrounded his truck, trapping him inside.
By Natalie O'Neill
New York Post
November 8, 2019
It’s gobblers vs. geezers!
A gang of aggressive wild turkeys has been terrorizing senior citizens in New Jersey — busting through windows, pecking at cars, and even attacking the old-timers, according to a startling report Friday.
Elderly residents at Holiday City at Silverton, a 55-and-older community in Toms River, are crying fowl over the 60-strong pack of the sinister squawkers, according to a report by News 12.
“It’s becoming an infestation,” resident Cindy Lijoi told The Post. “I literally couldn’t get out of my front door because the males go to peck at you… I’m afraid of them.”
The old folks say they’ve become sitting ducks — as the bold birds break through windows in order to bite them, rudely block traffic and peck at their vehicles.
One of the feathered freaks was spotted strutting around on top of a roof, and another viciously pecked a kiddie pool until it popped, Lijoi said.
“I try to shoo them away and they look at me like, ‘yeah right,’” she said. “It’s getting crazy— something needs to be done.
But there’s not much animal control officials can do about the gaggle of gutsy gobblers — because they’re not licensed to trap wildlife, according to the report.
The state’s Department of Environmental Protection said that Fish and Game is “aware” of the problem but declined to comment, the agency told the station.
In recent years, New Jersey’s wild turkey population has surged to up to 23,000, officials have said. In total, only about 3,000 of them are hunted annually.
A few years ago, a mailman in Hillsdale — about 90 miles south of Toms River — called cops to report that a menacing pack of turkeys had surrounded his truck, trapping him inside.
SLIMEBALL POLANSKI BELONGS IN A DARK DUNGEON, NOT BASKING IN THE CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHT
Roman Polanski accused of 'extremely violent' rape of French woman in 1975 when she was 18: report
By Julius Young
Fox News
November 9, 2019
Roman Polanski is facing new sexual assault allegations.
The 86-year-old director of "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and other films is being accused of raping a French woman, Valentine Monnier, in 1975 when she was 18 at Polanski's chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, according to The Guardian via Le Parisien.
Fox News does not normally disclose the identities of purported rape victims, but Monnier consented to be identified by Le Parisien when she told the paper her story.
In the latest allegation levied against the Polish-born filmmaker, Monnier, now 62, detailed the alleged assault to the French publication, Le Parisien, saying that it occurred after the two finished a ski run, adding the alleged attack was “extremely violent.”
“I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional, and hardly knew him,” Monnier, a former model who worked in New York, told the local outlet.
“The reaction time is not worth forgetting,” Monnier reportedly told the newspaper (via Deadline). “Rape is a time bomb.”
According to Deadline, Monnier told Le Parisien that following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, she was inclined to tell her story and wrote the Los Angeles Police Department as well as the French first lady, Brigitte Macron.
Polanski’s attorney Hervé Temime told The Guardian on Friday that the Oscar-winning director “firmly denies all accusations of rape”, adding that the allegations “which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities.”
Per Deadline, Monnier claimed that the alleged sexual assault happened after the two finished up on the slopes and had dinner at a restaurant. The former model maintains that she and Polanski headed back to the resort and that she went to a separate room to change.
“Life hadn’t taught me how to be suspicious yet,” Monnier told the French paper.
Monnier then claimed that Polanski called for her and then allegedly threw himself on her, hit her and ripped off her clothing before forcefully trying to get her to swallow a pill. Polanski then allegedly raped Monnier and apologized to her afterward, claimed Monnier.
In the article, Monnier said she told her story to a best friend, then to another individual who eventually became her boyfriend. The French publication reported that both parties corroborated that Monnier voiced to them her encounter with Polanski. Monnier also confided in her husband in 1993, according to Le Parisien.
According to Deadline, Polanski -- whose second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of the Charles Manson "Family" in 1969 -- has not returned to the U.S. since fleeing the country in 1978 after he pleaded guilty to statutory rape. Per the outlet, he left the U.S. before sentencing.
Polanski's attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
By Julius Young
Fox News
November 9, 2019
Roman Polanski is facing new sexual assault allegations.
The 86-year-old director of "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and other films is being accused of raping a French woman, Valentine Monnier, in 1975 when she was 18 at Polanski's chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, according to The Guardian via Le Parisien.
Fox News does not normally disclose the identities of purported rape victims, but Monnier consented to be identified by Le Parisien when she told the paper her story.
In the latest allegation levied against the Polish-born filmmaker, Monnier, now 62, detailed the alleged assault to the French publication, Le Parisien, saying that it occurred after the two finished a ski run, adding the alleged attack was “extremely violent.”
“I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional, and hardly knew him,” Monnier, a former model who worked in New York, told the local outlet.
“The reaction time is not worth forgetting,” Monnier reportedly told the newspaper (via Deadline). “Rape is a time bomb.”
According to Deadline, Monnier told Le Parisien that following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, she was inclined to tell her story and wrote the Los Angeles Police Department as well as the French first lady, Brigitte Macron.
Polanski’s attorney Hervé Temime told The Guardian on Friday that the Oscar-winning director “firmly denies all accusations of rape”, adding that the allegations “which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities.”
Per Deadline, Monnier claimed that the alleged sexual assault happened after the two finished up on the slopes and had dinner at a restaurant. The former model maintains that she and Polanski headed back to the resort and that she went to a separate room to change.
“Life hadn’t taught me how to be suspicious yet,” Monnier told the French paper.
Monnier then claimed that Polanski called for her and then allegedly threw himself on her, hit her and ripped off her clothing before forcefully trying to get her to swallow a pill. Polanski then allegedly raped Monnier and apologized to her afterward, claimed Monnier.
In the article, Monnier said she told her story to a best friend, then to another individual who eventually became her boyfriend. The French publication reported that both parties corroborated that Monnier voiced to them her encounter with Polanski. Monnier also confided in her husband in 1993, according to Le Parisien.
According to Deadline, Polanski -- whose second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of the Charles Manson "Family" in 1969 -- has not returned to the U.S. since fleeing the country in 1978 after he pleaded guilty to statutory rape. Per the outlet, he left the U.S. before sentencing.
Polanski's attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
MEXICAN TEEN KILLED 6 PEOPLE FOR $183 ….. THAT’S ABOUT $30 A HEAD
More Ciudad Juarez: 17-Year Old Admits to Murders for 3500 Pesos
By Yaqui from El Sol
Borderland Beat
November 8, 2019
The young hitman revealed that he has killed six people and said he worked for the organization La Empresa, ie "The Company"; the young man was arrested in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested by the Municipal Public Security Secretariat of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, for carrying a firearm and in his detention, frankly and coldly, he told the officers that he received 3,500 pesos for committing homicides.
The police report indicates that when police were patrolling in the Anahuac neighborhood, they were intercepted by several people who reported that on the streets ahead, a subject aboard a grey Ford Explorer brand truck, who was shooting with a firearm.
Immediately, they began an operation and when locating the vehicle a persecution was carried out on the streets José María Porras and Ingeniero Fortunato Dozal, in the aforementioned colony, where the presumed person stopped the vehicle and then descended from it and start running but being reached immediately.
At the time of securing him, a 9-millimeter firearm was located with a magazine supplied with four useful cartridges, with which he injured himself during the persecution, so he was transferred to an emergency hospital, as a prisoner for crimes against federal law on firearms and explosives.
During the arrest, the detained said he belonged to the criminal group La Empresa , ie "The Company" and said he had participated in at least six homicides in which he was paid the amount of 3,500 pesos for each, the following being:
Two people killed inside a barber shop called "Barbaros" located in the Finca Bonita neighborhood.
A male killed at the crossroads of the Cordillera de Mérida and Sierra Alcaraz streets.
A male killed at the intersection of Heriberto Jara and Pedro de Alba streets, in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood.
A person killed in the Senderos de San Isidro neighborhood.
A male murdered in Colonia Pavorreal and Eighth , in the Granjas de Chapultepec neighborhood.
After reading him his rights rights, the 17-year-old detainee was consigned to the corresponding authority for his alleged responsibility in the commission of the aforementioned crime, and said weapon will also be analyzed by the corresponding authority to determine if they have been used in deaths due to rivalries criminals.
By Yaqui from El Sol
Borderland Beat
November 8, 2019
The young hitman revealed that he has killed six people and said he worked for the organization La Empresa, ie "The Company"; the young man was arrested in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested by the Municipal Public Security Secretariat of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, for carrying a firearm and in his detention, frankly and coldly, he told the officers that he received 3,500 pesos for committing homicides.
The police report indicates that when police were patrolling in the Anahuac neighborhood, they were intercepted by several people who reported that on the streets ahead, a subject aboard a grey Ford Explorer brand truck, who was shooting with a firearm.
Immediately, they began an operation and when locating the vehicle a persecution was carried out on the streets José María Porras and Ingeniero Fortunato Dozal, in the aforementioned colony, where the presumed person stopped the vehicle and then descended from it and start running but being reached immediately.
At the time of securing him, a 9-millimeter firearm was located with a magazine supplied with four useful cartridges, with which he injured himself during the persecution, so he was transferred to an emergency hospital, as a prisoner for crimes against federal law on firearms and explosives.
During the arrest, the detained said he belonged to the criminal group La Empresa , ie "The Company" and said he had participated in at least six homicides in which he was paid the amount of 3,500 pesos for each, the following being:
Two people killed inside a barber shop called "Barbaros" located in the Finca Bonita neighborhood.
A male killed at the crossroads of the Cordillera de Mérida and Sierra Alcaraz streets.
A male killed at the intersection of Heriberto Jara and Pedro de Alba streets, in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood.
A person killed in the Senderos de San Isidro neighborhood.
A male murdered in Colonia Pavorreal and Eighth , in the Granjas de Chapultepec neighborhood.
After reading him his rights rights, the 17-year-old detainee was consigned to the corresponding authority for his alleged responsibility in the commission of the aforementioned crime, and said weapon will also be analyzed by the corresponding authority to determine if they have been used in deaths due to rivalries criminals.
ILHAN OMAR AND RASHIDA TLAIB ARE LIONIZED BY THE PRESS AS VICTIMS OF ISLAMOPHOBIA RATHER THAN HATEMONGERS
Kristallnacht remains relevant 81 years later
by Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS
November 9, 2019
This week Germany marks the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass.” The nationwide Nazi pogrom against that country’s Jewish community took place on Nov. 9-10, 1938, and is chiefly remembered for the destruction of so many Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues – debris filling the streets with shards of glass from shattered windows and doors.
Kristallnacht is often described as the harbinger of the Holocaust that would soon consume the lives of 6 million Jewish men, women and children during the following years at the hands of Germans and their collaborators. But it might more accurately be referred to as the culmination of a process of demonization and marginalization by the Nazi regime that led to a national demonstration of intolerance and violence. Within a few years, the horror of the blood shed by the murderers would eclipse the shock of the Kristallnacht pogrom. But what must be understood about the events of November 1938 is that prior to that event, it was still possible to pretend that Germany was a civilized nation, even if Adolf Hitler and his followers, who took power in January 1933, spoke and acted like barbarians.
In 2019, the significance of this date is not in doubt. What is in question is whether it should serve as a measuring stick for us to evaluate today’s crisis of anti-Semitism. After shootings in synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., and the brazen attack last month on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, as well as a host of other incidents throughout Europe, it’s clear that the rising tide of anti-Semitism that has swept over the globe in recent years is not abating. Violence from the far right aimed at Jews has become a fact of life that shouldn’t be ignored.
Meanwhile, the demonization of Jews and Israel from the left has also become a part of mainstream discourse in Europe. It is also finding a foothold in the United States as BDS advocates have become louder and shockingly prominent in the form of two members of Congress: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who are lionized by the press as victims of Islamophobia rather than hatemongers.
These developments have provoked fears that the cycle of violence and de-legitimization that led to Kristallnacht is being repeated. But while there is an obvious need for a sense of alarm about the uptick in anti-Semitism, the fact that nothing that is happening today is analogous to what was going on in 1938 cannot be emphasized enough.
To state that doesn’t gainsay the fact that Jewish life is under siege in Europe, as even well-meaning government officials have gone so far as to tell German and French Jews not to wear identifying clothing, like kippot, or jewelry, like Star of David necklaces, on the streets so as not to make themselves targets. Nor does it minimize the threat from terrorist groups or anti-Semitic regimes like that of Iran, which still hopes to acquire nuclear weapons and therefore place the one Jewish state on the planet in peril of being annihilated. Fears about Britain being ruled by an anti-Semite like Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are similarly justified.
But the problem in Europe is not that the continent is about to fall into the hands of Nazis. It’s that only several decades after the Holocaust, the world is still awash in anti-Semitism that legitimizes the ongoing war on Israel and Zionism, and might one day engender more hatred and violence elsewhere if left unchecked.
Our problem is not recognizing that anti-Semitism exists, but how to calibrate our response so as to avoid the twin perils of hysteria and complacence.
Kristallnacht wasn’t so much the beginning of Nazi crimes against the Jews – discrimination, arbitrary imprisonment and violence long predated that moment. But it was the point of no return beyond which foreign observers could no longer deceive themselves about the nature of the regime and what it was capable of doing. Before then, even those who were not hostile to Jews – plus some Jews themselves, including those who remained loyal to their German homeland despite the fact that it was painfully clear their love was not requited – could see Hitler’s rise as an aberration, a passing phase that would soon be either defeated or absorbed into less dangerous movements. Until then, Nazi Germany could still be, albeit with difficulty, spoken of as somehow connected to the Germany that was at the heart of European high culture and science, rather than barbarism.
Yet to think clearly about Kristallnacht requires us to be both vigilant and realistic about the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism. You don’t have to believe that a new Auschwitz is possible in the near future to understand that Jew-haters on the right, as well as their strange Islamist bedfellows, would, if they could, repeat the horrors of the past. What they are capable of doing in the present is bad enough in terms of their efforts to demonize Israel and its Jewish supporters without resorting to hyperbole that undermines any effort to raise awareness of the problem.
Nor does one enhance Jewish security by speaking of the threat from white supremacists as having the kind of support that the Nazis possessed from a massive percentage of the Germany electorate. Today’s far-right-wing killers are largely isolated politically and can count on no support from the political establishment in Germany or the United States.
Equally foolish is the attempt to link US President Donald Trump to anti-Jewish violence, ignoring his pro-Israel record and repeated condemnations of white supremacists.
What is required of our Kristallnacht commemorations is a cool-headed willingness to call out hate wherever it occurs and to take whatever action is needed to ensure the safety of our communities. We must also be willing to understand that the Jews are not alone today the way they were in 1938. Nor, thanks to the existence of the State of Israel, are they powerless. Those who forget or misinterpret history so as to bolster foolish alarmism or dangerous complacence are not doing the Jews or the fight against hate any good.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some four years before Kristallnacht, the Nazis forced Karstadt to fire my father because he was Jewish. He had held an executive position with the department store chain’s store in Braunschweig. My father, who was wounded in Poland while in the Kaiser’s army during WW1 and served on the Western Front after he had recovered, had no illusions about which way Germany was headed in its treatment of Jews. That is why we left for the US in 1936.
by Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS
November 9, 2019
This week Germany marks the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass.” The nationwide Nazi pogrom against that country’s Jewish community took place on Nov. 9-10, 1938, and is chiefly remembered for the destruction of so many Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues – debris filling the streets with shards of glass from shattered windows and doors.
Kristallnacht is often described as the harbinger of the Holocaust that would soon consume the lives of 6 million Jewish men, women and children during the following years at the hands of Germans and their collaborators. But it might more accurately be referred to as the culmination of a process of demonization and marginalization by the Nazi regime that led to a national demonstration of intolerance and violence. Within a few years, the horror of the blood shed by the murderers would eclipse the shock of the Kristallnacht pogrom. But what must be understood about the events of November 1938 is that prior to that event, it was still possible to pretend that Germany was a civilized nation, even if Adolf Hitler and his followers, who took power in January 1933, spoke and acted like barbarians.
In 2019, the significance of this date is not in doubt. What is in question is whether it should serve as a measuring stick for us to evaluate today’s crisis of anti-Semitism. After shootings in synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., and the brazen attack last month on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, as well as a host of other incidents throughout Europe, it’s clear that the rising tide of anti-Semitism that has swept over the globe in recent years is not abating. Violence from the far right aimed at Jews has become a fact of life that shouldn’t be ignored.
Meanwhile, the demonization of Jews and Israel from the left has also become a part of mainstream discourse in Europe. It is also finding a foothold in the United States as BDS advocates have become louder and shockingly prominent in the form of two members of Congress: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who are lionized by the press as victims of Islamophobia rather than hatemongers.
These developments have provoked fears that the cycle of violence and de-legitimization that led to Kristallnacht is being repeated. But while there is an obvious need for a sense of alarm about the uptick in anti-Semitism, the fact that nothing that is happening today is analogous to what was going on in 1938 cannot be emphasized enough.
To state that doesn’t gainsay the fact that Jewish life is under siege in Europe, as even well-meaning government officials have gone so far as to tell German and French Jews not to wear identifying clothing, like kippot, or jewelry, like Star of David necklaces, on the streets so as not to make themselves targets. Nor does it minimize the threat from terrorist groups or anti-Semitic regimes like that of Iran, which still hopes to acquire nuclear weapons and therefore place the one Jewish state on the planet in peril of being annihilated. Fears about Britain being ruled by an anti-Semite like Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are similarly justified.
But the problem in Europe is not that the continent is about to fall into the hands of Nazis. It’s that only several decades after the Holocaust, the world is still awash in anti-Semitism that legitimizes the ongoing war on Israel and Zionism, and might one day engender more hatred and violence elsewhere if left unchecked.
Our problem is not recognizing that anti-Semitism exists, but how to calibrate our response so as to avoid the twin perils of hysteria and complacence.
Kristallnacht wasn’t so much the beginning of Nazi crimes against the Jews – discrimination, arbitrary imprisonment and violence long predated that moment. But it was the point of no return beyond which foreign observers could no longer deceive themselves about the nature of the regime and what it was capable of doing. Before then, even those who were not hostile to Jews – plus some Jews themselves, including those who remained loyal to their German homeland despite the fact that it was painfully clear their love was not requited – could see Hitler’s rise as an aberration, a passing phase that would soon be either defeated or absorbed into less dangerous movements. Until then, Nazi Germany could still be, albeit with difficulty, spoken of as somehow connected to the Germany that was at the heart of European high culture and science, rather than barbarism.
Yet to think clearly about Kristallnacht requires us to be both vigilant and realistic about the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism. You don’t have to believe that a new Auschwitz is possible in the near future to understand that Jew-haters on the right, as well as their strange Islamist bedfellows, would, if they could, repeat the horrors of the past. What they are capable of doing in the present is bad enough in terms of their efforts to demonize Israel and its Jewish supporters without resorting to hyperbole that undermines any effort to raise awareness of the problem.
Nor does one enhance Jewish security by speaking of the threat from white supremacists as having the kind of support that the Nazis possessed from a massive percentage of the Germany electorate. Today’s far-right-wing killers are largely isolated politically and can count on no support from the political establishment in Germany or the United States.
Equally foolish is the attempt to link US President Donald Trump to anti-Jewish violence, ignoring his pro-Israel record and repeated condemnations of white supremacists.
What is required of our Kristallnacht commemorations is a cool-headed willingness to call out hate wherever it occurs and to take whatever action is needed to ensure the safety of our communities. We must also be willing to understand that the Jews are not alone today the way they were in 1938. Nor, thanks to the existence of the State of Israel, are they powerless. Those who forget or misinterpret history so as to bolster foolish alarmism or dangerous complacence are not doing the Jews or the fight against hate any good.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some four years before Kristallnacht, the Nazis forced Karstadt to fire my father because he was Jewish. He had held an executive position with the department store chain’s store in Braunschweig. My father, who was wounded in Poland while in the Kaiser’s army during WW1 and served on the Western Front after he had recovered, had no illusions about which way Germany was headed in its treatment of Jews. That is why we left for the US in 1936.
Saturday, November 09, 2019
IF WHAT THE AUTHOR OF ‘A WARNING’ BY ANONYMOUS IS TRUTHFUL, WHICH IS QUESTIONABLE, HE SHOULD HAVE RESIGNED FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND HAD HIS BOOK PUBLISHED UNDER HIS REAL NAME
Anonymous author writes Trump's decision-making is eroding over time. Many top administration figures have pre-written resignation letters ready to submit, according to excerpts of the soon-to-be-published book
By Alex Johnson
NBC News
November 7, 2019
President Donald Trump's behavior can be so erratic that most top administration officials have pre-written resignation letters ready to submit, an anonymous author claiming to be a senior official in the Trump administration says in a book scheduled to be published this month.
To complicate matters, the president's decision-making abilities are getting worse with time, according to excerpts of "A Warning" that were obtained and read Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."
The author, described only as "a senior Trump administration official," is the same person who wrote an op-ed in The New York Times last year headlined, "I am part of the resistance inside the Trump administration." The column said "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
The information is coming from an anonymous source, and NBC News does not know who the writer is nor whether they were in a position to have witnessed what they say transpired.
In the book excerpts, the author describes near-daily "five-alarm fire drill" that leads senior officials to cancel plans and race to the White House to intercept Trump before he can enact his latest "wacky or destructive idea."
"Staff throw up the Bat-Signal, calling a snap meeting or a teleconference. 'He's about to do something,' one warns the group, explaining what the president is about to announce.
"'He can't do this. We'll all look like idiots, and he'll get murdered for it in the press,' another exclaims.
"'Yeah, well, I'm telling you he's going to do it unless someone gets to him fast,' the first warns. 'Can you cancel your afternoon?'"
As Trump's presidency has progressed, his officials have been given increasingly less notice of the president's decisions, says the author, who writes: "He's less inclined to preview his decisions today."
The National Security Council, in particular, found the Trump process to be a difficult adjustment, the author writes.
"If the aim was to educate this new commander in chief, they couldn't submit a fifty-page report entitled something like 'Integrated National Strategy for Indo-Pacific Partnership and Defense,' expect him to read it, and then discuss it,' according to the excerpts.
"That would be like speaking Aramaic to Trump through a pillow; even if he tried very hard to pay attention, which he didn't, he wouldn't be able to understand what the hell he was hearing."
The author writes that even Trump's own family isn't immune to his whims.
"It isn't beneath him to attack his own family members, too. 'Jared, you don't know what you're talking about, okay? I mean seriously. You don't know,'" the book quotes him as saying.
"Seeing this type of behavior was both educating and jarring to the burgeoning Steady State. It was a visceral lesson that we weren't just appointees of the president," according to the excerpts. "We were glorified government babysitters."
In excerpts published separately by The Washington Post, the author likens Trump to "a twelve-year-old in an air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport."
"I've sat and listened in uncomfortable silence as he talks about a woman's appearance or performance," according to the Post's excerpts.
"He comments on makeup. He makes jokes about weight. He critiques clothing. He questions the toughness of women in and around his orbit. He uses words like 'sweetie' and 'honey' to address accomplished professionals. This is precisely the way a boss shouldn't act in the work environment."
NBC News has not seen the excerpts published in the Post nor has it been able to confirm the contents of what the newspaper reported.
Trump has called the writer "gutless" and has questioned whether the person really exists.
By Alex Johnson
NBC News
November 7, 2019
President Donald Trump's behavior can be so erratic that most top administration officials have pre-written resignation letters ready to submit, an anonymous author claiming to be a senior official in the Trump administration says in a book scheduled to be published this month.
To complicate matters, the president's decision-making abilities are getting worse with time, according to excerpts of "A Warning" that were obtained and read Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."
The author, described only as "a senior Trump administration official," is the same person who wrote an op-ed in The New York Times last year headlined, "I am part of the resistance inside the Trump administration." The column said "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."
The information is coming from an anonymous source, and NBC News does not know who the writer is nor whether they were in a position to have witnessed what they say transpired.
In the book excerpts, the author describes near-daily "five-alarm fire drill" that leads senior officials to cancel plans and race to the White House to intercept Trump before he can enact his latest "wacky or destructive idea."
"Staff throw up the Bat-Signal, calling a snap meeting or a teleconference. 'He's about to do something,' one warns the group, explaining what the president is about to announce.
"'He can't do this. We'll all look like idiots, and he'll get murdered for it in the press,' another exclaims.
"'Yeah, well, I'm telling you he's going to do it unless someone gets to him fast,' the first warns. 'Can you cancel your afternoon?'"
As Trump's presidency has progressed, his officials have been given increasingly less notice of the president's decisions, says the author, who writes: "He's less inclined to preview his decisions today."
The National Security Council, in particular, found the Trump process to be a difficult adjustment, the author writes.
"If the aim was to educate this new commander in chief, they couldn't submit a fifty-page report entitled something like 'Integrated National Strategy for Indo-Pacific Partnership and Defense,' expect him to read it, and then discuss it,' according to the excerpts.
"That would be like speaking Aramaic to Trump through a pillow; even if he tried very hard to pay attention, which he didn't, he wouldn't be able to understand what the hell he was hearing."
The author writes that even Trump's own family isn't immune to his whims.
"It isn't beneath him to attack his own family members, too. 'Jared, you don't know what you're talking about, okay? I mean seriously. You don't know,'" the book quotes him as saying.
"Seeing this type of behavior was both educating and jarring to the burgeoning Steady State. It was a visceral lesson that we weren't just appointees of the president," according to the excerpts. "We were glorified government babysitters."
In excerpts published separately by The Washington Post, the author likens Trump to "a twelve-year-old in an air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport."
"I've sat and listened in uncomfortable silence as he talks about a woman's appearance or performance," according to the Post's excerpts.
"He comments on makeup. He makes jokes about weight. He critiques clothing. He questions the toughness of women in and around his orbit. He uses words like 'sweetie' and 'honey' to address accomplished professionals. This is precisely the way a boss shouldn't act in the work environment."
NBC News has not seen the excerpts published in the Post nor has it been able to confirm the contents of what the newspaper reported.
Trump has called the writer "gutless" and has questioned whether the person really exists.
13-YEAR OLD ESCAPED MURDER SUSPECT BACK IN CUSTODY
by Bob Walsh
Jericho W. is back in custody. After escaping from the social services people he went to his grandma's abandoned house and hid out, then went to his mothers place. She turned him in Wednesday night. Probably a smart move on her part. I wonder if he will be prosecuted for the escape as well as the murder beef.
Jericho W. is back in custody. After escaping from the social services people he went to his grandma's abandoned house and hid out, then went to his mothers place. She turned him in Wednesday night. Probably a smart move on her part. I wonder if he will be prosecuted for the escape as well as the murder beef.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Bob Walsh
In 1938 Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) occurred in Nazi Germany. 100 Jews were murdered and thousands injured when attacks were launched on Jewish owned businesses in an effort to force Jews out of Germany.
In 1956 Jean-Paul Sartre, previously an fan of the Soviet Union, denounced Communism as the commie bastards invaded Hungary.
In 1965 the great North East Blackout occurred, plunging most of the N. E. part of the country into darkness. If I remember correctly the whole thing was triggered by one relay failing, leading to a cascade of failures that shut down the whole regional grid.
In 1938 Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) occurred in Nazi Germany. 100 Jews were murdered and thousands injured when attacks were launched on Jewish owned businesses in an effort to force Jews out of Germany.
In 1956 Jean-Paul Sartre, previously an fan of the Soviet Union, denounced Communism as the commie bastards invaded Hungary.
In 1965 the great North East Blackout occurred, plunging most of the N. E. part of the country into darkness. If I remember correctly the whole thing was triggered by one relay failing, leading to a cascade of failures that shut down the whole regional grid.
FEDS JUMPING IN, BLASTING CALIFORNIA SANCTUARY STATUS IN THE PROCESS
by Bob Walsh
El Dorado County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Ishmael was buried this week. He was murdered last week while responding to a call at a marijuana grow. Also this week a federal grand jury indicted four people, at least two of who are illegal aliens, in the deputy's death.
At the same time Sheriff John D'Agostini had a few impolite words to say out our dearly beloved governor, who was too busy at a meeting with PG&E to attend the deputy's funeral. He even used the phrase "illegal alien" to talk about the illegal aliens.
Part of the problem was that county jail officials were unable, under California law, to grant ICE access to the suspects. Eventually the F B I did mange to question them. The actual shooter is believed to be one of the illegal aliens.
The man who owned the land where the grow site was, Christopher Ross, called the cops to report thieves taking his illegal weed. He neglected to mention the alleged thieves worked for him. Ross believed the workers were going to stiff him on $3,000 they still owed him for "rent" for the plot of land and called the cops when he saw them harvesting the crop.
The feds are prosecuting all of those involved, including the undocumented Democrats and the land owner, for various federal charges. The local D A has not decided about a capital murder beef yet.
El Dorado County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Ishmael was buried this week. He was murdered last week while responding to a call at a marijuana grow. Also this week a federal grand jury indicted four people, at least two of who are illegal aliens, in the deputy's death.
At the same time Sheriff John D'Agostini had a few impolite words to say out our dearly beloved governor, who was too busy at a meeting with PG&E to attend the deputy's funeral. He even used the phrase "illegal alien" to talk about the illegal aliens.
Part of the problem was that county jail officials were unable, under California law, to grant ICE access to the suspects. Eventually the F B I did mange to question them. The actual shooter is believed to be one of the illegal aliens.
The man who owned the land where the grow site was, Christopher Ross, called the cops to report thieves taking his illegal weed. He neglected to mention the alleged thieves worked for him. Ross believed the workers were going to stiff him on $3,000 they still owed him for "rent" for the plot of land and called the cops when he saw them harvesting the crop.
The feds are prosecuting all of those involved, including the undocumented Democrats and the land owner, for various federal charges. The local D A has not decided about a capital murder beef yet.
ANOTHER DEMO JUMPING INTO THE FLAMING DUMPSTER
by Bob Walsh
By the time you read this gazillionaire Michael Bloomberg will probably have jumped into the Democrat presidential race, though only getting his ankles wet in the shallow end of the kiddie pool. He is suppose to be registering his run in Alabama on 11-08, the last day to do so in that state for the upcoming election.
Whether he thinks he is a serious candidate or is trying to make a statement is anybody's guess, maybe even including his. At this stage of the game it helps to have some boots on the ground and even having more money than god will not buy you that instantly.
My guess, for what my guess may be worth to you, is that he is grossed out by the extreme left turn his party is making, is smart enough to realize it will ultimately be self-destructive and he is trying to force the wheel back toward the center of the lane. I would not count on his being successful. He may find he is just another rich old white guy who is not "woke" enough for the vocal lunatic fringe that is now controlling the party.
And the fun just keeps rolling on.
By the time you read this gazillionaire Michael Bloomberg will probably have jumped into the Democrat presidential race, though only getting his ankles wet in the shallow end of the kiddie pool. He is suppose to be registering his run in Alabama on 11-08, the last day to do so in that state for the upcoming election.
Whether he thinks he is a serious candidate or is trying to make a statement is anybody's guess, maybe even including his. At this stage of the game it helps to have some boots on the ground and even having more money than god will not buy you that instantly.
My guess, for what my guess may be worth to you, is that he is grossed out by the extreme left turn his party is making, is smart enough to realize it will ultimately be self-destructive and he is trying to force the wheel back toward the center of the lane. I would not count on his being successful. He may find he is just another rich old white guy who is not "woke" enough for the vocal lunatic fringe that is now controlling the party.
And the fun just keeps rolling on.
DONALD BAILS ON REFORM
A nugget of truth in an otherwise hypocritical Trump tweet tantrum
By Editorial Board
New York Daily News
November 8, 2019
Never missing a chance to slap around his soon-to-be-erstwhile hometown, President Trump this week attacked a bail overhaul that passed last spring.
Tuesday, he tweeted: “So sad to see what is happening in New York where Governor Cuomo [and] Mayor de Blasio are letting out 900 criminals, some hardened [and] bad, onto the sidewalks of our rapidly declining — because of them — city.”
That’s something coming from a president who legitimately touts as a major achievement the First Step Act, which sprung from prison many convicted federal felons. (Ironically, his own Department of Justice now works behind the scenes to block the release of many who should be eligible for commutation.)
Unlike the First Step Act felons, those freed in New York are innocent until proven guilty. Many are incarcerated solely due to an inability to come up with a few thousand dollars bond.
Trump makes one legitimate point. Among those inmates are individuals charged with major drug activity or offenses previously considered violent, including burglary and robbery.
Pre-reform, even though “dangerousness” never officially factored into bail assessment, judges had discretion to make sure they returned for court appearances.
The new law removes that discretion, replacing it with a list of crimes that can and cannot be considered bailable. For them, neither dangerousness nor flight risk can be considered.
That was a bad idea when reforms were rammed through in the budget and it’s still a bad idea, independent of Trump’s fearmongering mischaracterization.
By Editorial Board
New York Daily News
November 8, 2019
Never missing a chance to slap around his soon-to-be-erstwhile hometown, President Trump this week attacked a bail overhaul that passed last spring.
Tuesday, he tweeted: “So sad to see what is happening in New York where Governor Cuomo [and] Mayor de Blasio are letting out 900 criminals, some hardened [and] bad, onto the sidewalks of our rapidly declining — because of them — city.”
That’s something coming from a president who legitimately touts as a major achievement the First Step Act, which sprung from prison many convicted federal felons. (Ironically, his own Department of Justice now works behind the scenes to block the release of many who should be eligible for commutation.)
Unlike the First Step Act felons, those freed in New York are innocent until proven guilty. Many are incarcerated solely due to an inability to come up with a few thousand dollars bond.
Trump makes one legitimate point. Among those inmates are individuals charged with major drug activity or offenses previously considered violent, including burglary and robbery.
Pre-reform, even though “dangerousness” never officially factored into bail assessment, judges had discretion to make sure they returned for court appearances.
The new law removes that discretion, replacing it with a list of crimes that can and cannot be considered bailable. For them, neither dangerousness nor flight risk can be considered.
That was a bad idea when reforms were rammed through in the budget and it’s still a bad idea, independent of Trump’s fearmongering mischaracterization.
GOVERNMENT FACILITY FOR UNACCOMPNIED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILDREN OPERATED LESS THAN A MONTH AND MILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS WENT DOWN THE DRAIN
Multimillion-dollar facility once used to help with border crisis now sits empty
By Robert Arnold
Click2Houston
November 7, 2019
CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas - Off the beaten path, down a gravel road, past the scrub brush and under a big billboard is a multimillion-dollar answer to part of last summer's border crisis.
A sprawling compound just outside the Dimmit County town of Carrizo Springs is a shelter for unaccompanied children caught crossing the border. The shelter was open less than a month and now sits empty, yet taxpayers continue to foot the bill for the facility.
"They've got great dorm rooms," said U.S. Health and Human Services' Mark Weber during an interview with NBC in July, shortly after the facility opened. "(It's) very reminiscent of my college dorm room."
The federal government scrambled to find shelter space for tens of thousands of kids streaming across the border, while facing mounting allegations these children were being forced to stay in cramped and dangerous conditions at Border Patrol detention facilities.
Numbers from Customs and Border Protection for the 2019 fiscal year show more than 80,000 unaccompanied children were either caught crossing the border or deemed inadmissible. HHS officials reported a 57% increase in the number of unaccompanied children referred to the department by June 2019, compared with the same time period the year before.
"They find some stabilization here, at this HHS facility, shelter; care, love, dignity and respect," Weber said during the July interview.
According to records from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, permanent shelters for unaccompanied children were hitting between high 80% and low 90% occupancy rates from November 2018 through June 2019. With those permanent shelters filling up quickly, the federal government was desperate for temporary, influx shelter space.
So HHS found a former "man camp" for oil field workers, called The Studios. A slowdown in the oil boom hit this area two hours south of San Antonio hard, and places like The Studios were desperate for business.
A notice in the federal register shows the government awarded San Antonio-based BCFS an up to $300.8-million contract to run the facility through Jan. 31, with an initial $50 million payment for the first 60 days of operation. The Studios were meant to be the model of how the government could use temporary influx shelters to provide quality care. A news release from HHS boasted the facility would not draw on local resources and was even equipped with on-site EMS and fire services, as well as 24-hour security.
However, the shelter was only open from June 30 through July 25, according to HHS officials. Carrizo Springs was set up to house 1,124 children, but only took in 324 before closing down. So what happened?
"They're trying to make judgments about what they think they'll need, and sometimes the actual experience just turns out to be really different than that," said Mark Greenberg with the Migration Policy Institute.
Greenberg was with HHS for seven years under President Barack Obama. The last three years of his tenure were spent as the acting assistant secretary for families and children. He faced similar problems with housing unaccompanied children, and he said the government is in a tough position of guessing how much shelter space it will need based on the moving-target number of unaccompanied children coming across the border.
"Having said all that, it still is a pretty dramatic misestimate to be in this situation," Greenberg said of Carrizo Springs.
CBP and ORR records show the shelter opened during a time when the number of apprehensions on the border was steadily decreasing, and after the government instituted procedures that nearly cut in half the time children were spending in shelters before being released to sponsors. In an email to KPRC 2, HHS officials wrote it has "no current plans to resume operations" at Carrizo Springs.
"Migration patterns are unpredictable," the email read. "ORR operates a network of approximately 170 facilities/programs in 23 states that are working to unify migrant child with their parent, family member or other suitable sponsor. During an influx, ORR may not have sufficient bed space available within its licensed care provider network to place unaccompanied alien children. In this situation, ORR utilizes Emergency Influx Care Facilities to ensure children are moved out of Border Patrol facilities as expeditiously and safely as possible. It is an invaluable investment when the shelter is needed to prevent children from being backed up in border patrol stations."
During a recent trip to the facility, KPRC 2 saw that much of the equipment brought in to operate the shelter was still on the property. Some of this equipment included large, climate-controlled tents, portable light towers and privacy fencing installed around the perimeter. We also saw the facility was still guarded and the lights were on in many buildings. A man at the front gate told us he was a sheriff's deputy providing security, and confirmed the facility was empty. He declined to answer whether he was working an on-duty or off-duty assignment. Numerous calls to both the Dimmit County judge and the county's sheriff were not returned.
KPRC 2 also inquired how much of the $300 million contract was paid, since the shelter was open less than a month, and how much is it costing to maintain the facility while no children are present. At first, we were told, "cost data was unavailable." In a follow-up email, HHS officials wrote, "operational cost estimates are unknown since the grant cycle has not ended."
"As you are aware, HHS is making critical investments in the facility's infrastructure to ensure it remains available and viable for the placement of UAC if necessary," the email further read. "Without going into specifics, these improvements are designed to help reduce the long-term operational costs of Carrizo Springs, and enhance overall site operations."
When KPRC 2 asked HHS officials to verify reports the department leased the facility for five years, we were told, "You are in the ballpark on the length of the Carrizo Springs lease." KPRC 2 did find a June notice posted on the government's Federal Business Opportunities website that read that ORR was seeking to lease property in Carrizo Springs for a full term of five years, a firm term of three years, with an option term of two one-year renewal lease options. According to Dimmit County property records, the property is owned by Stratton Oilfield Systems, which is based in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Company vice president Shannon Stratton referred all of KPRC 2's questions regarding the length and cost of the lease to HHS. KPRC 2 also tried to speak with officials at BCFS, but was told all questions also had to be answered by HHS officials.
KPRC 2 also reached out to seven congressional leaders, both Texas senators, as well as a state senator and a state representative in that area. The elected officials that did respond to our inquiries said they had no information as to what the long-term plans were for Carrizo Springs.
Only Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who sits on the House Judiciary Subcommittee for Immigration and Border Security, responded that she believes the facility opened too late.
"There was no need to have all these facilities and all this money spent at this time, when the numbers were going down," said Lee.
Lee said she'll now be asking for HHS to provide an up-to-date census on the number of shelters being operated and the population in each shelter, to help determine whether all the money allocated to Carrizo Springs is still needed.
"As far as I'm concerned, return those dollars to the Treasury," said Lee.
Lee also said she does believe it is the government's responsibility to provide a safe environment for unaccompanied children until they can be placed with a sponsor.
By Robert Arnold
Click2Houston
November 7, 2019
CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas - Off the beaten path, down a gravel road, past the scrub brush and under a big billboard is a multimillion-dollar answer to part of last summer's border crisis.
A sprawling compound just outside the Dimmit County town of Carrizo Springs is a shelter for unaccompanied children caught crossing the border. The shelter was open less than a month and now sits empty, yet taxpayers continue to foot the bill for the facility.
"They've got great dorm rooms," said U.S. Health and Human Services' Mark Weber during an interview with NBC in July, shortly after the facility opened. "(It's) very reminiscent of my college dorm room."
The federal government scrambled to find shelter space for tens of thousands of kids streaming across the border, while facing mounting allegations these children were being forced to stay in cramped and dangerous conditions at Border Patrol detention facilities.
Numbers from Customs and Border Protection for the 2019 fiscal year show more than 80,000 unaccompanied children were either caught crossing the border or deemed inadmissible. HHS officials reported a 57% increase in the number of unaccompanied children referred to the department by June 2019, compared with the same time period the year before.
"They find some stabilization here, at this HHS facility, shelter; care, love, dignity and respect," Weber said during the July interview.
According to records from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, permanent shelters for unaccompanied children were hitting between high 80% and low 90% occupancy rates from November 2018 through June 2019. With those permanent shelters filling up quickly, the federal government was desperate for temporary, influx shelter space.
So HHS found a former "man camp" for oil field workers, called The Studios. A slowdown in the oil boom hit this area two hours south of San Antonio hard, and places like The Studios were desperate for business.
A notice in the federal register shows the government awarded San Antonio-based BCFS an up to $300.8-million contract to run the facility through Jan. 31, with an initial $50 million payment for the first 60 days of operation. The Studios were meant to be the model of how the government could use temporary influx shelters to provide quality care. A news release from HHS boasted the facility would not draw on local resources and was even equipped with on-site EMS and fire services, as well as 24-hour security.
However, the shelter was only open from June 30 through July 25, according to HHS officials. Carrizo Springs was set up to house 1,124 children, but only took in 324 before closing down. So what happened?
"They're trying to make judgments about what they think they'll need, and sometimes the actual experience just turns out to be really different than that," said Mark Greenberg with the Migration Policy Institute.
Greenberg was with HHS for seven years under President Barack Obama. The last three years of his tenure were spent as the acting assistant secretary for families and children. He faced similar problems with housing unaccompanied children, and he said the government is in a tough position of guessing how much shelter space it will need based on the moving-target number of unaccompanied children coming across the border.
"Having said all that, it still is a pretty dramatic misestimate to be in this situation," Greenberg said of Carrizo Springs.
CBP and ORR records show the shelter opened during a time when the number of apprehensions on the border was steadily decreasing, and after the government instituted procedures that nearly cut in half the time children were spending in shelters before being released to sponsors. In an email to KPRC 2, HHS officials wrote it has "no current plans to resume operations" at Carrizo Springs.
"Migration patterns are unpredictable," the email read. "ORR operates a network of approximately 170 facilities/programs in 23 states that are working to unify migrant child with their parent, family member or other suitable sponsor. During an influx, ORR may not have sufficient bed space available within its licensed care provider network to place unaccompanied alien children. In this situation, ORR utilizes Emergency Influx Care Facilities to ensure children are moved out of Border Patrol facilities as expeditiously and safely as possible. It is an invaluable investment when the shelter is needed to prevent children from being backed up in border patrol stations."
During a recent trip to the facility, KPRC 2 saw that much of the equipment brought in to operate the shelter was still on the property. Some of this equipment included large, climate-controlled tents, portable light towers and privacy fencing installed around the perimeter. We also saw the facility was still guarded and the lights were on in many buildings. A man at the front gate told us he was a sheriff's deputy providing security, and confirmed the facility was empty. He declined to answer whether he was working an on-duty or off-duty assignment. Numerous calls to both the Dimmit County judge and the county's sheriff were not returned.
KPRC 2 also inquired how much of the $300 million contract was paid, since the shelter was open less than a month, and how much is it costing to maintain the facility while no children are present. At first, we were told, "cost data was unavailable." In a follow-up email, HHS officials wrote, "operational cost estimates are unknown since the grant cycle has not ended."
"As you are aware, HHS is making critical investments in the facility's infrastructure to ensure it remains available and viable for the placement of UAC if necessary," the email further read. "Without going into specifics, these improvements are designed to help reduce the long-term operational costs of Carrizo Springs, and enhance overall site operations."
When KPRC 2 asked HHS officials to verify reports the department leased the facility for five years, we were told, "You are in the ballpark on the length of the Carrizo Springs lease." KPRC 2 did find a June notice posted on the government's Federal Business Opportunities website that read that ORR was seeking to lease property in Carrizo Springs for a full term of five years, a firm term of three years, with an option term of two one-year renewal lease options. According to Dimmit County property records, the property is owned by Stratton Oilfield Systems, which is based in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Company vice president Shannon Stratton referred all of KPRC 2's questions regarding the length and cost of the lease to HHS. KPRC 2 also tried to speak with officials at BCFS, but was told all questions also had to be answered by HHS officials.
KPRC 2 also reached out to seven congressional leaders, both Texas senators, as well as a state senator and a state representative in that area. The elected officials that did respond to our inquiries said they had no information as to what the long-term plans were for Carrizo Springs.
Only Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who sits on the House Judiciary Subcommittee for Immigration and Border Security, responded that she believes the facility opened too late.
"There was no need to have all these facilities and all this money spent at this time, when the numbers were going down," said Lee.
Lee said she'll now be asking for HHS to provide an up-to-date census on the number of shelters being operated and the population in each shelter, to help determine whether all the money allocated to Carrizo Springs is still needed.
"As far as I'm concerned, return those dollars to the Treasury," said Lee.
Lee also said she does believe it is the government's responsibility to provide a safe environment for unaccompanied children until they can be placed with a sponsor.
MCDONALD'S EXTRA LEMON HAD A REAL KICK
South Carolina man, 24, shocked to discover three bags of WEED instead of 'extra lemons' in his sweet tea that he ordered from McDonald's - leaving him 'high as a kite'
Associated Press and Matthew Wright
Daily Mail
November 7, 2019
A South Carolina man who went to McDonald's for a sweet tea says he received a little extra herbal substance on the side.
Parrish Brown went to a McDonald's on Hilton Head Island and asked for a sweet tea with light ice and extra lemon, surprised when employees paused and reiterated the drink order.
Brown now believes 'extra lemon' was code for marijuana, since he found three bags of weed in his cup.
He says he only realized it once he was 'high as a kite.'
'I have never had weed a day in my life, so immediately after I started drinking it, I started to feel weird and it didn't taste like something I recognized,' Brown explained to the Island Packet.
The 24-year-old began freaking out, letting the cannabis get the best of his paranoia.
'Well, I was high and panicking and at work, so I called my dad,' Brown said. 'I didn't want to get in trouble for this.'
Brown alerted the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office on October 27 at approximately 11.30pm to report the incident.
An officer got one whiff of the cup and immediately knew its contents were marijuana.
'And they were like "Oh yes, that's marijuana,' Brown said, adding he was unfamiliar with the effects.
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Bob Bromage says an investigation is ongoing. He didn't specify which McDonald's Brown had gone to.
A representative for McDonald's said the company is 'fully cooperating with law enforcement on the validity of this claim.'
Brown specified that the rest of his order - a 10-piece chicken McNugget and a double cheeseburger - came out normal.
Associated Press and Matthew Wright
Daily Mail
November 7, 2019
A South Carolina man who went to McDonald's for a sweet tea says he received a little extra herbal substance on the side.
Parrish Brown went to a McDonald's on Hilton Head Island and asked for a sweet tea with light ice and extra lemon, surprised when employees paused and reiterated the drink order.
Brown now believes 'extra lemon' was code for marijuana, since he found three bags of weed in his cup.
He says he only realized it once he was 'high as a kite.'
'I have never had weed a day in my life, so immediately after I started drinking it, I started to feel weird and it didn't taste like something I recognized,' Brown explained to the Island Packet.
The 24-year-old began freaking out, letting the cannabis get the best of his paranoia.
'Well, I was high and panicking and at work, so I called my dad,' Brown said. 'I didn't want to get in trouble for this.'
Brown alerted the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office on October 27 at approximately 11.30pm to report the incident.
An officer got one whiff of the cup and immediately knew its contents were marijuana.
'And they were like "Oh yes, that's marijuana,' Brown said, adding he was unfamiliar with the effects.
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Bob Bromage says an investigation is ongoing. He didn't specify which McDonald's Brown had gone to.
A representative for McDonald's said the company is 'fully cooperating with law enforcement on the validity of this claim.'
Brown specified that the rest of his order - a 10-piece chicken McNugget and a double cheeseburger - came out normal.
DEFINITELY A DUMB COP
Retired detective, 55, 'shot his 51-year-old wife dead in the head then tried to make it look like a suicide so he could be with his mistress AND keep all of his cop pension'
Daily Mail
November 8, 2019
A retired Massachusetts detective fatally shot his wife in the head and then staged her murder as a suicide - so he could be with his lover and retain his pension, according to prosecutors.
Brian Fanion, formerly with the Westfield Police Department, is charged in the May 2018 killing of his wife Amy Fanion. The 55-year-old former detective is said to have Googled household poisons, gunshot residue and ways to keep a pension amid a divorce in the days leading up to his wife murder.
Fanion's lawyer, Jeffrey Brown, claims that his client never had an affair and that Amy was suffering from anxiety.
Daily Mail
November 8, 2019
A retired Massachusetts detective fatally shot his wife in the head and then staged her murder as a suicide - so he could be with his lover and retain his pension, according to prosecutors.
Brian Fanion, formerly with the Westfield Police Department, is charged in the May 2018 killing of his wife Amy Fanion. The 55-year-old former detective is said to have Googled household poisons, gunshot residue and ways to keep a pension amid a divorce in the days leading up to his wife murder.
Fanion's lawyer, Jeffrey Brown, claims that his client never had an affair and that Amy was suffering from anxiety.
POLICE DE-ESCALATION TECHNIQUES: WE DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT WORKS
Let’s get real: When it comes to dealing with the seriously mentally ill, both sides are failing to face hard facts
By Stephen Eide
New York Daily News
November 1, 2019
The recent spate of police shootings of the mentally ill has increased pressure on Mayor de Blasio to retool Thrive NYC, his beleaguered behavioral health program, and protocols for “emotionally disturbed person” calls.
Mental health is now being debated more vigorously in New York than it has been in many years. Anyone who believes in the need for reform has to find that encouraging.
In a city where the seriously mentally ill make up 17% of the jail population and about 40% of unsheltered homeless people, and an estimated 93,000 aren’t getting the treatment they need, clearly we have a system that merits great scrutiny.
But raising consciousness about an issue doesn’t guarantee authentic reform. The mental health debate, particularly as it pertains to police shootings, has missed a few huge points.
For one thing, hard cases make bad policy, in part because they come in more than one variety.
Saheed Vassell was a 34-year-old Crown Heights resident with bipolar disorder who was shot dead by cops in April 2018. Callers to 911 believed he may have been armed with a gun. Tragically, he turned out only to have been brandishing a small metal pipe.
Advocates who believe that mental-health-related-911 calls merit a mental health, not criminal justice, response, have focused heavily on Vassell’s case.
Their argument, though, applies less in the case of Kwesi Ashun.
Ashun was a 33-year-old man with serious mental illness. In October 2019, while cops were responding to a request for assistance near where he was peddling T-shirts, he assaulted an officer with a metal chair. After a taser failed to stop him, he was fatally shot by police. Subsequent press reports revealed that Ashun had a history of violence that included allegedly slashing a police officer in the face in 2004. The officer he struck with the chair was put in a medically induced coma.
Which incident should New York design its crisis response system around: that of Saheed Vassell, who was harmless, or that of Kwesi Ashun, who plainly was not? Which is more instructive as we think about distributing responsibility over EDP calls between mental health and public safety officials?
The Ashun incident took place only days after the mayor released the results of a NYC Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force convened in the wake of the Vassell shooting. The task force plan called for making more use of mental health professionals in certain precincts with high rates of EDP calls.
It would not have prevented Ashun’s death but it is certainly more reasonable than some of the more radical proposals circulating in the advocacy community. Indeed, upon its release, de Blasio’s plan was criticized by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and others for not going further to minimize the police role in EDP calls (or, to use the new PC term instituted by de Blasio’s plan, “mental health calls”).
Much of the challenge with preventing unnecessary police shootings of the mentally ill lies in the fact that it is difficult to parse, in real-time, the distinction between a serious mental health disturbance and a public safety emergency.
The seriousness of any given EDP call can’t always be assessed at the outset and events can escalate fast. As alluded to earlier, the cops in the Ashun incident weren’t on the scene to respond to a call about him but an entirely separate incident of someone urinating in a nearby nail salon. The state attorney general’s March 2019 special report on the Vassell shooting noted that, of that incident’s two 911 calls fielded by dispatchers, one made no mention of any signs of mental illness. The second dispatcher did code the call as an “EDP,” but only on the basis of being informed by the caller that “[t]here’s a guy walking around the street. He looks like he’s crazy.” Both dispatchers were informed by callers that a gun may have been present.
There’s a neighborhood disturbance that some civilian believes needs immediate police assistance: often, that’s all that a dispatcher is going to be certain about. Calls that indisputably merit the attention of clinicians, instead of cops, are likely to be less-than-serious calls where the risk of violence is low.
The tendency for less-serious psychiatric problems to suck resources away from the more serious, such as untreated schizophrenia, accounts for much of our mental health systems’ current dysfunction.
To be clear, the de Blasio administration is on the right track in exploring some kind of role for mental health providers in how mental health-related 911 calls get handled. “Crisis Intervention Training” for cops is de rigueur in departments nationwide. It has been estimated that about half the U.S. population is covered by some form of CIT. The NYPD was long seen as a laggard in getting going with de-escalation.
But one reality we must face up to in the debate over police de-escalation techniques is we don’t really know what works.
The rate of police shootings of the mentally ill is too high. It’s higher than the rate of shootings of blacks and certainly that of the population as a whole. But these tragedies are still far too rare to offer proof of how policy may be driving the numbers.
The NYPD’s Crisis Intervention Training program began in 2015 and has been rolled out gradually. Since 2015, at least 16 mentally ill individuals have died in confrontations with police. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, not one EDP call resulted in a fatality, according to the NYPD.
Too much has been made of the administration’s slow progress in training the entire NYPD in CIT. The quality of such a program can’t be measured by the number of cops who have gone through the training. Sam Cochran, the former Memphis cop often credited with inventing CIT, has long urged departments to view it as an elite program whose integrity is placed at risk by making the training universal throughout a whole department.
Even the best-regarded programs haven’t been able to reduce shootings to zero. In June 2017, CIT-trained officers in Seattle fatally shot a mentally ill woman named Charleena Lyles who the officers said was coming at them with knives. Five months prior to that incident, a report by the NYPD’s Inspector General had hailed the Seattle program as a national model New York should do more to emulate.
As for Thrive NYC, all of the recent mental-health-related tragedies in New York pose just as many questions for critics of de Blasio as they do for the mayor himself.
For one: What would they have done to prevent Kwesi Ashun’s death?
Amidst all the criticism of Thrive, it has been encouraging to hear so many city politicians call for a greater focus on the seriously mentally ill. This message strikes at the heart of Thrive’s flawed premise that mental health policy should cast as broad of a net as possible since any mild mental disorder runs a risk of metastasizing into violent paranoia.
(In other contexts, administration officials have noted that 10% of all mental health-related 911 calls come from about 275 people and, over one recent five year period, about 400 people with behavioral health problems accounted for more than 10,000 jail admissions and 300,000 total days in jail collectively.)
We’re certainly going to have to focus more if we’re going to get anywhere on mental health reform. But policymaking is not just about who gets what and how much. The more critical question to answer is what’s the most effective use of available resources?
Making more “peers” and clinicians available to try to prevent unnecessary shootings of paranoid people stands to benefit the seriously mentally ill far more than the worried well. But so is funding psychiatric hospital beds and assisted outpatient treatment, known in New York as Kendra’s Law.
Either of those latter two options could have provided the supervision that, in retrospect, no one can seriously deny Kwesi Ashun needed. Vassell’s parents, who have been strenuously critical of the city’s EDP protocol, acknowledged that keeping their son on his meds had been a struggle. According to the state Office of Mental Health, Kendra’s Law has notched a more than 20% increase in program participants’ adherence to medication regimens.
De Blasio announced a review of Kendra’s Law in the wake of the early October killings of four homeless men, allegedly by a mentally ill homeless man named Randy Santos. But expanding access to inpatient psychiatric care remains controversial among city progressives.
However much we may disagree about handling EDP calls, everyone agrees that the only viable long-term solution lies in upstream reforms that provide effective treatment to those now at risk of falling through the cracks. Anyone serious about stopping the next spectacular tragedy must embrace an expansion of modes of supervision for the seriously mentally ill.
Chronic vagueness has been, and remains, the chief affliction of New York’s mental health system. More vagueness cannot be the solution.
By Stephen Eide
New York Daily News
November 1, 2019
The recent spate of police shootings of the mentally ill has increased pressure on Mayor de Blasio to retool Thrive NYC, his beleaguered behavioral health program, and protocols for “emotionally disturbed person” calls.
Mental health is now being debated more vigorously in New York than it has been in many years. Anyone who believes in the need for reform has to find that encouraging.
In a city where the seriously mentally ill make up 17% of the jail population and about 40% of unsheltered homeless people, and an estimated 93,000 aren’t getting the treatment they need, clearly we have a system that merits great scrutiny.
But raising consciousness about an issue doesn’t guarantee authentic reform. The mental health debate, particularly as it pertains to police shootings, has missed a few huge points.
For one thing, hard cases make bad policy, in part because they come in more than one variety.
Saheed Vassell was a 34-year-old Crown Heights resident with bipolar disorder who was shot dead by cops in April 2018. Callers to 911 believed he may have been armed with a gun. Tragically, he turned out only to have been brandishing a small metal pipe.
Advocates who believe that mental-health-related-911 calls merit a mental health, not criminal justice, response, have focused heavily on Vassell’s case.
Their argument, though, applies less in the case of Kwesi Ashun.
Ashun was a 33-year-old man with serious mental illness. In October 2019, while cops were responding to a request for assistance near where he was peddling T-shirts, he assaulted an officer with a metal chair. After a taser failed to stop him, he was fatally shot by police. Subsequent press reports revealed that Ashun had a history of violence that included allegedly slashing a police officer in the face in 2004. The officer he struck with the chair was put in a medically induced coma.
Which incident should New York design its crisis response system around: that of Saheed Vassell, who was harmless, or that of Kwesi Ashun, who plainly was not? Which is more instructive as we think about distributing responsibility over EDP calls between mental health and public safety officials?
The Ashun incident took place only days after the mayor released the results of a NYC Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force convened in the wake of the Vassell shooting. The task force plan called for making more use of mental health professionals in certain precincts with high rates of EDP calls.
It would not have prevented Ashun’s death but it is certainly more reasonable than some of the more radical proposals circulating in the advocacy community. Indeed, upon its release, de Blasio’s plan was criticized by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and others for not going further to minimize the police role in EDP calls (or, to use the new PC term instituted by de Blasio’s plan, “mental health calls”).
Much of the challenge with preventing unnecessary police shootings of the mentally ill lies in the fact that it is difficult to parse, in real-time, the distinction between a serious mental health disturbance and a public safety emergency.
The seriousness of any given EDP call can’t always be assessed at the outset and events can escalate fast. As alluded to earlier, the cops in the Ashun incident weren’t on the scene to respond to a call about him but an entirely separate incident of someone urinating in a nearby nail salon. The state attorney general’s March 2019 special report on the Vassell shooting noted that, of that incident’s two 911 calls fielded by dispatchers, one made no mention of any signs of mental illness. The second dispatcher did code the call as an “EDP,” but only on the basis of being informed by the caller that “[t]here’s a guy walking around the street. He looks like he’s crazy.” Both dispatchers were informed by callers that a gun may have been present.
There’s a neighborhood disturbance that some civilian believes needs immediate police assistance: often, that’s all that a dispatcher is going to be certain about. Calls that indisputably merit the attention of clinicians, instead of cops, are likely to be less-than-serious calls where the risk of violence is low.
The tendency for less-serious psychiatric problems to suck resources away from the more serious, such as untreated schizophrenia, accounts for much of our mental health systems’ current dysfunction.
To be clear, the de Blasio administration is on the right track in exploring some kind of role for mental health providers in how mental health-related 911 calls get handled. “Crisis Intervention Training” for cops is de rigueur in departments nationwide. It has been estimated that about half the U.S. population is covered by some form of CIT. The NYPD was long seen as a laggard in getting going with de-escalation.
But one reality we must face up to in the debate over police de-escalation techniques is we don’t really know what works.
The rate of police shootings of the mentally ill is too high. It’s higher than the rate of shootings of blacks and certainly that of the population as a whole. But these tragedies are still far too rare to offer proof of how policy may be driving the numbers.
The NYPD’s Crisis Intervention Training program began in 2015 and has been rolled out gradually. Since 2015, at least 16 mentally ill individuals have died in confrontations with police. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, not one EDP call resulted in a fatality, according to the NYPD.
Too much has been made of the administration’s slow progress in training the entire NYPD in CIT. The quality of such a program can’t be measured by the number of cops who have gone through the training. Sam Cochran, the former Memphis cop often credited with inventing CIT, has long urged departments to view it as an elite program whose integrity is placed at risk by making the training universal throughout a whole department.
Even the best-regarded programs haven’t been able to reduce shootings to zero. In June 2017, CIT-trained officers in Seattle fatally shot a mentally ill woman named Charleena Lyles who the officers said was coming at them with knives. Five months prior to that incident, a report by the NYPD’s Inspector General had hailed the Seattle program as a national model New York should do more to emulate.
As for Thrive NYC, all of the recent mental-health-related tragedies in New York pose just as many questions for critics of de Blasio as they do for the mayor himself.
For one: What would they have done to prevent Kwesi Ashun’s death?
Amidst all the criticism of Thrive, it has been encouraging to hear so many city politicians call for a greater focus on the seriously mentally ill. This message strikes at the heart of Thrive’s flawed premise that mental health policy should cast as broad of a net as possible since any mild mental disorder runs a risk of metastasizing into violent paranoia.
(In other contexts, administration officials have noted that 10% of all mental health-related 911 calls come from about 275 people and, over one recent five year period, about 400 people with behavioral health problems accounted for more than 10,000 jail admissions and 300,000 total days in jail collectively.)
We’re certainly going to have to focus more if we’re going to get anywhere on mental health reform. But policymaking is not just about who gets what and how much. The more critical question to answer is what’s the most effective use of available resources?
Making more “peers” and clinicians available to try to prevent unnecessary shootings of paranoid people stands to benefit the seriously mentally ill far more than the worried well. But so is funding psychiatric hospital beds and assisted outpatient treatment, known in New York as Kendra’s Law.
Either of those latter two options could have provided the supervision that, in retrospect, no one can seriously deny Kwesi Ashun needed. Vassell’s parents, who have been strenuously critical of the city’s EDP protocol, acknowledged that keeping their son on his meds had been a struggle. According to the state Office of Mental Health, Kendra’s Law has notched a more than 20% increase in program participants’ adherence to medication regimens.
De Blasio announced a review of Kendra’s Law in the wake of the early October killings of four homeless men, allegedly by a mentally ill homeless man named Randy Santos. But expanding access to inpatient psychiatric care remains controversial among city progressives.
However much we may disagree about handling EDP calls, everyone agrees that the only viable long-term solution lies in upstream reforms that provide effective treatment to those now at risk of falling through the cracks. Anyone serious about stopping the next spectacular tragedy must embrace an expansion of modes of supervision for the seriously mentally ill.
Chronic vagueness has been, and remains, the chief affliction of New York’s mental health system. More vagueness cannot be the solution.
Friday, November 08, 2019
‘DEBACLE’
Forensic investigator reveals his findings on the Harding Street raid
By Mario Diaz
Click2Houston
November 6, 2019
HOUSTON - It has been more than six months since forensic investigator Michael Maloney first stepped inside 7815 Harding St.
His mission? Far from simple, as he is working to discover the truth.
Hired by the families of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, Maloney and his team recovered several rounds, months after the deadly botched raid. Maloney told KPRC 2 Investigates in May that, "This was surprising for a scene that was already processed."
Maloney is a decorated forensic investigator with nearly 30 years of experience. During his spring visit, he reconstructed bullet trajectories and carefully examined the inside of the now-infamous home where Houston Police Department narcotics officers carried out the deadly botched raid. After spending four days at the home last spring, Maloney is now talking in his first sit-down interview.
Maloney made his intimate knowledge of his work clear.
"I knew where he spent his final moments as he laid dying and his teeth were still there," Maloney said. "How do you come in and process a scene and leave part of a victim lying on the floor in a puddle of blood?"
KPRC 2 Investigates traveled to Missouri last week to speak with Maloney. It did not take long for him to be blunt with his assessment.
When asked if the narrative he has heard from HPD matches up in any way, in his opinion? Maloney said, “No it doesn't."
One of the biggest discoveries for Maloney was that the round he said killed Nicholas also has the DNA of Tuttle on it.
"I was very surprised when it ended up having a minor contributor of Dennis Tuttle," Maloney said. "I was also very pleased, because it allows us to then position Dennis Tuttle at some point during the dynamic shooting event."
The wound reveals not only where Tuttle was inside the home, but also the view an HPD officer had when he fired the shot, according to Maloney.
"What we have to realize is that this bullet is fired from outside of the house. There's not a view inside of the house," Maloney said. "Rhogena Nichols is shot blind. That means Tuttle was shot, at least by that grazing wound across his forearm, blind, as well. They didn't see him."
At the time of death, Tuttle weighed only 112 pounds, he had his right hand bandaged and his leg in a brace. However, HPD said he was still capable of hitting four trained officers after surprising him with a no-knock warrant. When asked if he has discovered anything that shows Dennis Tuttle fired off a round, Maloney said: "I have not discovered any evidence that he has fired off a round, nor has any evidence been made available to me that would indicate that he fired."
Friendly fire has also been a question asked by many following the shooting. In the hours after former narcotics officer Gerald Goines was charged with two counts of murder, HPD Chief Art Acevedo said, "I stand by our investigation, and I can tell you there is no evidence of friendly fire in this case."
Maloney’s reaction? "It's easy to say there is absolutely no indication of friendly fire but for transparency's sake, when you have such a debacle at the doorway, with shots raining in against the house that aren't being aimed at individuals but are just shooting a structure and everything else, you would think that rather than just state 'There is no evidence,' we would see that evidence."
When asked about his viewpoint regarding the raid being a complete debacle, Maloney said: "I believe I am completely justified in viewing it as a debacle."
Acevedo did not want to sit down with KPRC 2 Investigates for an interview. He said in a text to KPRC 2 Investigates, “The Department is not going to engage in public comment and jeopardize the pending criminal prosecution.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: I've been on many drug raids, including a couple with HPD, and none of them came anywhere near as fucked up as the Harding Street raid.
__________
Post-raid HPD reforms don't address faked informant that got 4 officers shot and killed 2 innocent people
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
November 5, 2019
After a no-knock drug raid in Houston this spring killed two innocent people and left four officers shot, HPD Chief Art Acevedo has announced he's creating a special division of the narcotics unit to execute search warrants in drug cases. But as I told the Houston Chronicle:
“His reform is not on point to what caused the problem,” said Scott Henson, policy director with the criminal justice reform nonprofit Just Liberty. “It’s not solving the problem that your investigators are relying on fabricated informants — [it] wasn’t a function of who’s doing the raid, but why you’re doing the raid, and the reliance on this informant, who it turns out didn’t exist. That’s what caused everybody to get shot. It just elides the core issue of what really happened.”
By Mario Diaz
Click2Houston
November 6, 2019
HOUSTON - It has been more than six months since forensic investigator Michael Maloney first stepped inside 7815 Harding St.
His mission? Far from simple, as he is working to discover the truth.
Hired by the families of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, Maloney and his team recovered several rounds, months after the deadly botched raid. Maloney told KPRC 2 Investigates in May that, "This was surprising for a scene that was already processed."
Maloney is a decorated forensic investigator with nearly 30 years of experience. During his spring visit, he reconstructed bullet trajectories and carefully examined the inside of the now-infamous home where Houston Police Department narcotics officers carried out the deadly botched raid. After spending four days at the home last spring, Maloney is now talking in his first sit-down interview.
Maloney made his intimate knowledge of his work clear.
"I knew where he spent his final moments as he laid dying and his teeth were still there," Maloney said. "How do you come in and process a scene and leave part of a victim lying on the floor in a puddle of blood?"
KPRC 2 Investigates traveled to Missouri last week to speak with Maloney. It did not take long for him to be blunt with his assessment.
When asked if the narrative he has heard from HPD matches up in any way, in his opinion? Maloney said, “No it doesn't."
One of the biggest discoveries for Maloney was that the round he said killed Nicholas also has the DNA of Tuttle on it.
"I was very surprised when it ended up having a minor contributor of Dennis Tuttle," Maloney said. "I was also very pleased, because it allows us to then position Dennis Tuttle at some point during the dynamic shooting event."
The wound reveals not only where Tuttle was inside the home, but also the view an HPD officer had when he fired the shot, according to Maloney.
"What we have to realize is that this bullet is fired from outside of the house. There's not a view inside of the house," Maloney said. "Rhogena Nichols is shot blind. That means Tuttle was shot, at least by that grazing wound across his forearm, blind, as well. They didn't see him."
At the time of death, Tuttle weighed only 112 pounds, he had his right hand bandaged and his leg in a brace. However, HPD said he was still capable of hitting four trained officers after surprising him with a no-knock warrant. When asked if he has discovered anything that shows Dennis Tuttle fired off a round, Maloney said: "I have not discovered any evidence that he has fired off a round, nor has any evidence been made available to me that would indicate that he fired."
Friendly fire has also been a question asked by many following the shooting. In the hours after former narcotics officer Gerald Goines was charged with two counts of murder, HPD Chief Art Acevedo said, "I stand by our investigation, and I can tell you there is no evidence of friendly fire in this case."
Maloney’s reaction? "It's easy to say there is absolutely no indication of friendly fire but for transparency's sake, when you have such a debacle at the doorway, with shots raining in against the house that aren't being aimed at individuals but are just shooting a structure and everything else, you would think that rather than just state 'There is no evidence,' we would see that evidence."
When asked about his viewpoint regarding the raid being a complete debacle, Maloney said: "I believe I am completely justified in viewing it as a debacle."
Acevedo did not want to sit down with KPRC 2 Investigates for an interview. He said in a text to KPRC 2 Investigates, “The Department is not going to engage in public comment and jeopardize the pending criminal prosecution.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: I've been on many drug raids, including a couple with HPD, and none of them came anywhere near as fucked up as the Harding Street raid.
__________
Post-raid HPD reforms don't address faked informant that got 4 officers shot and killed 2 innocent people
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
November 5, 2019
After a no-knock drug raid in Houston this spring killed two innocent people and left four officers shot, HPD Chief Art Acevedo has announced he's creating a special division of the narcotics unit to execute search warrants in drug cases. But as I told the Houston Chronicle:
“His reform is not on point to what caused the problem,” said Scott Henson, policy director with the criminal justice reform nonprofit Just Liberty. “It’s not solving the problem that your investigators are relying on fabricated informants — [it] wasn’t a function of who’s doing the raid, but why you’re doing the raid, and the reliance on this informant, who it turns out didn’t exist. That’s what caused everybody to get shot. It just elides the core issue of what really happened.”
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Bob Walsh
The London Gazette was first published, in 1665. It is still published, making it the oldest continuously published journal .
In 1916 Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) became the first woman elected to congress. The government has gone downhill from then.
In 1967 LBJ signed legislation creating the Public Broadcasting System. At the time it was done, it was a valuable thing. Now, with dozens of channels available even in Armpit, Mississippi, I am unsure it is worth the trouble and expense. But I do like the BBC murder mysteries.
The London Gazette was first published, in 1665. It is still published, making it the oldest continuously published journal .
In 1916 Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) became the first woman elected to congress. The government has gone downhill from then.
In 1967 LBJ signed legislation creating the Public Broadcasting System. At the time it was done, it was a valuable thing. Now, with dozens of channels available even in Armpit, Mississippi, I am unsure it is worth the trouble and expense. But I do like the BBC murder mysteries.
MISBEHAVIOR CAN BE BAD FOR YOU
by Bob Walsh
Last week two inmates attacked and began stabbing a third inmate in a day room at California State Prison, Sacramento County (New Folsom Prison) during evening program. The gun officer covering the dayroom where the attack happened fired one round for effect, killing one of the attackers. The attack victim was shipped out for medical treatment.
The Department has thus far not released any names connected with the incident.
Last week two inmates attacked and began stabbing a third inmate in a day room at California State Prison, Sacramento County (New Folsom Prison) during evening program. The gun officer covering the dayroom where the attack happened fired one round for effect, killing one of the attackers. The attack victim was shipped out for medical treatment.
The Department has thus far not released any names connected with the incident.
EXODUS
Let My People Go.....Mostly To Texas, But Also Nevada And Tennessee
by Bob Walsh
Last year not quite 700,000 people. taxpaying middle class and blue collar people mostly, left the formerly great state of California. That is the seventh year in a row that more legal citizens left the state than moved in. They are citing high taxes, liberal bullshit and general stupidity of government as the reasons. They are moving to mostly conservative states with little or no state income tax, and they are taking their wallets with them.
I've driven thru Tennessee, it is very pretty.
It was probably largely offset by native homeless and illegal alien incoming, but they do not tend to pay a lot of taxes and in fact tend to be net consumers of tax dollars rather than net payers.
by Bob Walsh
Last year not quite 700,000 people. taxpaying middle class and blue collar people mostly, left the formerly great state of California. That is the seventh year in a row that more legal citizens left the state than moved in. They are citing high taxes, liberal bullshit and general stupidity of government as the reasons. They are moving to mostly conservative states with little or no state income tax, and they are taking their wallets with them.
I've driven thru Tennessee, it is very pretty.
It was probably largely offset by native homeless and illegal alien incoming, but they do not tend to pay a lot of taxes and in fact tend to be net consumers of tax dollars rather than net payers.
I'M NOT SURE WHY I FIND THIS STORY SO FASCINATING
by Bob Walsh
Regular readers will know that I have expended a fair number of electrons on the college cheating scandal. I am not sure why. Maybe it is just a schadenfreude thing. Maybe I just feel some sort of vague cosmic connection to Lori Laughlin because I like the Hallmark Mystery Movies. Maybe I am just surprised by how stupid rich people can be.
The rumor mill is now saying that Lori Laughlin's daughters, Isabella and Olivia Jade, are pissed because mommy and daddy won't take the plea deal. The problem is, their feelings seem to mostly be triggered by self interest. Not only will a trial have a major effect on them personally it is not impossible that they will be charged as well if mommy and daddy don't fall on their swords.
Two young women who are so vain, self-involved and shallow that they would be happy to send their parents to the slammer to avoid becoming inconvenienced themselves just don't impress me. Its a shame their sponsors have left them. Now maybe they will have to get real jobs, instead of being paid just for being famous.
My sympathy is limited in the extreme. Does that make me insensitive?
Regular readers will know that I have expended a fair number of electrons on the college cheating scandal. I am not sure why. Maybe it is just a schadenfreude thing. Maybe I just feel some sort of vague cosmic connection to Lori Laughlin because I like the Hallmark Mystery Movies. Maybe I am just surprised by how stupid rich people can be.
The rumor mill is now saying that Lori Laughlin's daughters, Isabella and Olivia Jade, are pissed because mommy and daddy won't take the plea deal. The problem is, their feelings seem to mostly be triggered by self interest. Not only will a trial have a major effect on them personally it is not impossible that they will be charged as well if mommy and daddy don't fall on their swords.
Two young women who are so vain, self-involved and shallow that they would be happy to send their parents to the slammer to avoid becoming inconvenienced themselves just don't impress me. Its a shame their sponsors have left them. Now maybe they will have to get real jobs, instead of being paid just for being famous.
My sympathy is limited in the extreme. Does that make me insensitive?
WANTED: MORE WOMEN IN COMBAT
A lack of male fighters and a focus on greater integration means many IDF units are now dominated by women
Israel Today
November 7, 2019
While mixed combat units (with male and female soldiers), such as the Caracal Infantry Battalion in southern Israel, used to be considered an exception, the situation has changed nowadays. The Israeli army has decided to significantly increase the number of women serving as combat soldiers.
One reason for this is simply the need for more combat soldiers. The average number of actual fighters in each IDF infantry platoon is 15 soldiers. Some companies (typically made up of 2-8 platoons) must be merged into others to field enough combatants. Some infantry battalions (made up of 2-6 companies) are lacking dozens of combat soldiers.
This deficiency is partly explained by the reduction in male compulsory military service from three years to two years and eight months. There simply aren’t as many male fighters serving for as long as they did in the past, thus increasing significantly the demand among the infantry companies for female combatants.
In fact, the number of female combatants fielded by the IDF has quadrupled in the last three years. And the army believes that trend will continue, despite the fact that female recruits must volunteer for combat duty, while Israeli males can be drafted into combat units without prior consent. More than that, female recruits must agree to extend their army service from just under two to nearly three years. But even that isn’t stopping them from signing up to fight.
According to the latest statistics, 65 percent of the Border Police are female. That’s an increase of 10 percent compared to previous years. This trend is also reflected in the Home Front Command, where female soldiers now make up 60 percent of the force.
There are still a few corners of the military that are closed to women, but female soldiers can today apply and compete for 90 percent of the positions in the IDF.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dominated by women? Me thinks the Israeli army is in trouble.
Israel Today
November 7, 2019
While mixed combat units (with male and female soldiers), such as the Caracal Infantry Battalion in southern Israel, used to be considered an exception, the situation has changed nowadays. The Israeli army has decided to significantly increase the number of women serving as combat soldiers.
One reason for this is simply the need for more combat soldiers. The average number of actual fighters in each IDF infantry platoon is 15 soldiers. Some companies (typically made up of 2-8 platoons) must be merged into others to field enough combatants. Some infantry battalions (made up of 2-6 companies) are lacking dozens of combat soldiers.
This deficiency is partly explained by the reduction in male compulsory military service from three years to two years and eight months. There simply aren’t as many male fighters serving for as long as they did in the past, thus increasing significantly the demand among the infantry companies for female combatants.
In fact, the number of female combatants fielded by the IDF has quadrupled in the last three years. And the army believes that trend will continue, despite the fact that female recruits must volunteer for combat duty, while Israeli males can be drafted into combat units without prior consent. More than that, female recruits must agree to extend their army service from just under two to nearly three years. But even that isn’t stopping them from signing up to fight.
According to the latest statistics, 65 percent of the Border Police are female. That’s an increase of 10 percent compared to previous years. This trend is also reflected in the Home Front Command, where female soldiers now make up 60 percent of the force.
There are still a few corners of the military that are closed to women, but female soldiers can today apply and compete for 90 percent of the positions in the IDF.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dominated by women? Me thinks the Israeli army is in trouble.
GIGANTIC OOPS ….. GIGANTIC LAWSUIT COMING
Chemistry teacher "froze in pure shock" after botched experiment set teen on fire
CBS News
November 7, 2019
ATLANTA, Georgia – A teacher presenting a flashy demonstration to get her students excited about chemistry made a mistake that caused a fire to burn "out of control" and seriously injure a student, says a report released Wednesday. The high school teacher, Bridgette Blowe, "froze in pure shock" when it grew out of control, spread across the desk and set her student – in the front row – on fire, according to students and staff, CBS Atlanta affiliate WGCL reports.
Staff and students said the student, 16-year-old Malachi McFadden, had his head down and didn't see the flame coming. He suffered third-degree burns on his face, neck and torso and was hospitalized after the botched "burning money demonstration," which happened at Redan High School, just outside Atlanta, on the second day of his junior year, his lawyers said.
On Wednesday, his lawyers released a report by an investigator for the DeKalb County school system that uses witness statements from students and teachers to piece together what happened Aug. 6. They say Blowe didn't provide protective equipment or advise the boy to stand 10 feet away, as mandated, WGCL reported.
Blowe, who is 36, wrote in a statement included in the report that she's successfully done the demonstration – lighting an accelerant-soaked bill on fire – in previous years and for two other classes this year. In this particular class, the flame didn't burn out completely, Blowe wrote, "so I attempted to extinguish the flame with water, but I reached for the alcohol instead, by mistake."
The report dated Oct. 21 says Blowe violated district standards and that Regional Superintendent Sean Tartt recommended Blowe be fired, but Principal Janice Boger recommended she be suspended and receive training on classroom safety.
The school district said Wednesday Blowe is on administrative leave with pay, that no disciplinary action has been taken and the district is "reviewing training and safety protocols for its science labs."
Boger called Blowe a good teacher who "made an awful mistake."
L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for McFadden, said they will likely end up suing for damages to cover his pain and suffering, as well as past and future medical costs, including plastic surgery. "The only thing for them to do is to accept responsibility for it," Stewart said of the school district.
The demonstration Blowe was attempting is popular on the internet and the premise is simple: Soak paper money in a mixture of water and alcohol, light it and amaze your friends when the bill comes through unharmed. But numerous videos also show the experiment going horribly wrong.
Blowe had tried to do the experiment the first day of classes using a mixture of water and alcohol, but it didn't work, according to witness statements. She tried again the next day using a mixture of water and ethanol. After soaking a $5 bill and lighting it, she put it in a bowl and "added more ethanol to make the flame bigger," the investigator concluded. That "caused the flame to become out of control."
Blowe said the glassware was mislabeled, but the report says it was unclear whether she was trying to put the fire out or "trying to make the flames larger so that students could see the flame." The investigator wrote that it was "inconclusive as to whether or not Ms. Blowe's use of water or alcohol was accidental."
Reached by phone Wednesday, Blowe declined to comment.
McFadden told The Associated Press in a September interview that his hands still hurt constantly and he misses playing baritone saxophone in the band along with playing football and basketball. He hopes to return next semester.
He likes math and wants to be an engineer but has never really liked science. He'll have to take chemistry next year to graduate but said he feels nervous about that.
News outlets across the country have reported about students injured in chemistry class demonstrations in recent years, including one at a Manhattan high school that caused burns over about 31% of a student's body in 2014. In July, a jury awarded that student nearly $60 million in damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The problem isn't new, said Ken Roy, chief safety compliance adviser for the National Science Teaching Association. There's no national database that tracks such accidents, but Roy said he has anecdotal knowledge of at least 30 since the late 1990s that have ended up in court after students were seriously injured.
CBS News
November 7, 2019
ATLANTA, Georgia – A teacher presenting a flashy demonstration to get her students excited about chemistry made a mistake that caused a fire to burn "out of control" and seriously injure a student, says a report released Wednesday. The high school teacher, Bridgette Blowe, "froze in pure shock" when it grew out of control, spread across the desk and set her student – in the front row – on fire, according to students and staff, CBS Atlanta affiliate WGCL reports.
Staff and students said the student, 16-year-old Malachi McFadden, had his head down and didn't see the flame coming. He suffered third-degree burns on his face, neck and torso and was hospitalized after the botched "burning money demonstration," which happened at Redan High School, just outside Atlanta, on the second day of his junior year, his lawyers said.
On Wednesday, his lawyers released a report by an investigator for the DeKalb County school system that uses witness statements from students and teachers to piece together what happened Aug. 6. They say Blowe didn't provide protective equipment or advise the boy to stand 10 feet away, as mandated, WGCL reported.
Blowe, who is 36, wrote in a statement included in the report that she's successfully done the demonstration – lighting an accelerant-soaked bill on fire – in previous years and for two other classes this year. In this particular class, the flame didn't burn out completely, Blowe wrote, "so I attempted to extinguish the flame with water, but I reached for the alcohol instead, by mistake."
The report dated Oct. 21 says Blowe violated district standards and that Regional Superintendent Sean Tartt recommended Blowe be fired, but Principal Janice Boger recommended she be suspended and receive training on classroom safety.
The school district said Wednesday Blowe is on administrative leave with pay, that no disciplinary action has been taken and the district is "reviewing training and safety protocols for its science labs."
Boger called Blowe a good teacher who "made an awful mistake."
L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for McFadden, said they will likely end up suing for damages to cover his pain and suffering, as well as past and future medical costs, including plastic surgery. "The only thing for them to do is to accept responsibility for it," Stewart said of the school district.
The demonstration Blowe was attempting is popular on the internet and the premise is simple: Soak paper money in a mixture of water and alcohol, light it and amaze your friends when the bill comes through unharmed. But numerous videos also show the experiment going horribly wrong.
Blowe had tried to do the experiment the first day of classes using a mixture of water and alcohol, but it didn't work, according to witness statements. She tried again the next day using a mixture of water and ethanol. After soaking a $5 bill and lighting it, she put it in a bowl and "added more ethanol to make the flame bigger," the investigator concluded. That "caused the flame to become out of control."
Blowe said the glassware was mislabeled, but the report says it was unclear whether she was trying to put the fire out or "trying to make the flames larger so that students could see the flame." The investigator wrote that it was "inconclusive as to whether or not Ms. Blowe's use of water or alcohol was accidental."
Reached by phone Wednesday, Blowe declined to comment.
McFadden told The Associated Press in a September interview that his hands still hurt constantly and he misses playing baritone saxophone in the band along with playing football and basketball. He hopes to return next semester.
He likes math and wants to be an engineer but has never really liked science. He'll have to take chemistry next year to graduate but said he feels nervous about that.
News outlets across the country have reported about students injured in chemistry class demonstrations in recent years, including one at a Manhattan high school that caused burns over about 31% of a student's body in 2014. In July, a jury awarded that student nearly $60 million in damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The problem isn't new, said Ken Roy, chief safety compliance adviser for the National Science Teaching Association. There's no national database that tracks such accidents, but Roy said he has anecdotal knowledge of at least 30 since the late 1990s that have ended up in court after students were seriously injured.
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