In ancient times, they used to kill the messenger of bad news, hoping that the bad news would go away. Looks like they’re still doing it.
While this may not have been the brightest thing this soon-to-be ex-teacher ever did, you’ve got to admire how she told parents in easily understand words that their little darlings were assholes.
‘THE TRUTH HURTS’, SAYS U.S. TEACHER SUSPENDED AS SHE DEFENDS COMMENTS CALLING STUDENTS ‘RAT-LIKE AND LAZY WHINERS’
Mail Online
February 15, 2011
A teacher who was suspended for calling her pupils 'rat-like' and 'lazy whiners' in a blog has hit back at school officials and the entire school system, saying parents and school governors 'don't want to hear the truth.'
Natalie Munroe, 30, was suspended from Central Bucks High School East in Philadelphia last week after comments on her blog listed several blunt alternative descriptions for student's term report cards.
In a reply to the controversy, Mrs Monroe said how, 'the fact remains that every year... students are coming in less willing to work, to think, to cooperate.'
Writing on Saturday, Mrs Monroe said: 'The truth hurts sometimes. Maybe instead of getting pissed off at the person pointing out the behavior, people need to examine their behavior and make a change.
'The fact remains that every year, more and more, students are coming in less willing to work, to think, to cooperate. These are the students I was complaining about in my blog.'
The controversial stance has gained support from some of the more than 10,000 new visitors who have read her blog since the posts went public.
Before last week she had only 7 regular visitors to her site.
One poster wrote: 'Its unfortunate that politics play into our education system. Some students are just horrible! Its not your job to raise them, but only to teach them, yet some parents would think otherwise.'
Mrs Munroe, a mother who is expecting her second child, started teaching in 2006.
She has a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's degree in education.
Writing about the shock of discovering parents and teachers had read her comments she said: 'While I never in a million years would have guessed that this many people would ever see my words, and I didn't even intend them to, I stand by what I wrote and I think it's good that people are aware now.'
The blog posts listing the offensive alternate report card suggestions has been taken down.
In it Munroe posted a list of some of the things she would 'like to see added to the canned comment list' for report cards 'as an accurate reflection of what we really want to say to these parents'.
These included:
__'A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities'
__'Lazy'
__'Two words come to mind: brown AND nose'
__'Gimme an A. I. R. H. E. A. D. What's that spell? Your kid!'
__'Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it's time to leave!'
__'Rat-like'
__'Lazy asshole'
In other posts Munroe wrote: 'My students are out of control. They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners.'
'They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire and are just generally annoying.'
Mrs Monroe was suspended with pay after staff were made aware of the blog by distressed parents and students.
'Once the situation was brought to our attention, we immediately reacted,' said Principal Abram Lucabaugh.
Munroe was escorted from the building and a substitute teacher brought in.
District superintendent Robert Laws said Munroe's posts were 'very egregious' and 'certainly could result in termination.'
Speaking to website PhillyBurbs, Mrs Monroe's lawyer Steve Rovner, said the school district has 'no basis for firing her'.
'The school district has its power and authority and protections through the law. They're not just a private employer. They can't hire and fire anyone at will,' he said.
'They do not have an Internet policy. They specifically do not have a no-blogging policy. She did not do anything wrong that would give them cause to fire her.'
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
THE MOST ANTI-ISRAEL NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST
So what else is new? The Obama administration has been disgusted with Israel from the get-go and Friedman continues to be the most anti-Israel columnist of The New York Times.
FRIEDMAN: WHITE HOUSE DISGUSTED WITH ISRAEL
Senior New York Times columnist describes Israeli cabinet as 'out-of-touch, in-bred, unimaginative and cliché-driven'; says Jerusalem unable to adjust to changes in Egypt
Ynet News.com
February 14, 2011
The Israeli cabinet is cliché-driven and Jerusalem used the crisis in Egypt to to score propaganda points to the point where the White House was disgusted with Israeli interlocutors, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote Sunday.
Friedman, who visited Cairo following the recent uprising, described the Israeli government as out-of-touch, in-bred and unimaginative. He expressed concern over Israel’s future due to its inability to adjust to changes in the region as it sided with Mubarak until the very last moment.
Instead of listening to what the democracy youth in Tahrir Square were saying, Friedman says, the Israeli government frantically called the White House telling the president he must not abandon Pharaoh – and "used the opportunity to score propaganda points: 'Look at us! Look at us! We told you so! We are the only stable country in the region, because we are the only democracy.'"
Friedman continues: "Israel’s government seemed oblivious to the irony of its message: 'We are your only reliable ally because we are a democracy and whatever you do don’t abandon Mubarak and open the way there for democracy.'"
He admits that Israel's concerns are valid – "The peace treaty with Egypt has been the cornerstone of Israeli strategy and economic growth for 30 years", but claims the way Jerusalem was handling itself wasn't not helping.
"When young Egyptians looked around the region and asked: Who is with us in this quest and who is not?, the two big countries they knew were against them were Israel and Saudi Arabia. The children of Egypt were having their liberation moment and the children of Israel decided to side with Pharaoh."
Friedman argues that Israel will ultimately have no choice but "to make peace with 80 million Egyptians" when a democracy is established in Cairo.
FRIEDMAN: WHITE HOUSE DISGUSTED WITH ISRAEL
Senior New York Times columnist describes Israeli cabinet as 'out-of-touch, in-bred, unimaginative and cliché-driven'; says Jerusalem unable to adjust to changes in Egypt
Ynet News.com
February 14, 2011
The Israeli cabinet is cliché-driven and Jerusalem used the crisis in Egypt to to score propaganda points to the point where the White House was disgusted with Israeli interlocutors, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote Sunday.
Friedman, who visited Cairo following the recent uprising, described the Israeli government as out-of-touch, in-bred and unimaginative. He expressed concern over Israel’s future due to its inability to adjust to changes in the region as it sided with Mubarak until the very last moment.
Instead of listening to what the democracy youth in Tahrir Square were saying, Friedman says, the Israeli government frantically called the White House telling the president he must not abandon Pharaoh – and "used the opportunity to score propaganda points: 'Look at us! Look at us! We told you so! We are the only stable country in the region, because we are the only democracy.'"
Friedman continues: "Israel’s government seemed oblivious to the irony of its message: 'We are your only reliable ally because we are a democracy and whatever you do don’t abandon Mubarak and open the way there for democracy.'"
He admits that Israel's concerns are valid – "The peace treaty with Egypt has been the cornerstone of Israeli strategy and economic growth for 30 years", but claims the way Jerusalem was handling itself wasn't not helping.
"When young Egyptians looked around the region and asked: Who is with us in this quest and who is not?, the two big countries they knew were against them were Israel and Saudi Arabia. The children of Egypt were having their liberation moment and the children of Israel decided to side with Pharaoh."
Friedman argues that Israel will ultimately have no choice but "to make peace with 80 million Egyptians" when a democracy is established in Cairo.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN SPENDING CUT PROPOSALS A JOKE
Sandy Leeds, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin. Here is his analysis of the Tea Party driven spending cuts proposed by House Republicans:
WOW! $61 BILLION OF CUTS!
By Sandy J. Leeds
Leeds On Finance
February 13, 2011
House Republicans have suggested $61 billion of spending cuts (some Republicans are arguing that this is $100 billion less than President Obama’s budget proposal from last year; others are admitting that this is just $61 billion of cuts). Apparently, the mainstream Republicans increased their suggested cuts due to pressure from the Tea Party Republicans.
You know that the deficit (and the debt) is my big concern. You would think that this would make me happy. Maybe it’s a start. But mostly, I just see this as a joke – and it’s a reminder of the trouble that we’re in. There are two reasons I think this:
1. The Republicans are simply saying “lets cut everything that the Democrats support.” - They want to reduce spending under the Recovery Act – reducing funding for the high-speed rail. They also want to eliminate the offices of the health care czar and the climate czar. They want to target family planning, welfare and funding for NPR. They want to reduce the budgets of the Departments of Education and the EPA. It would also reduce spending on some food programs for children as well as the Head Start program.
This isn’t shared sacrifice. This isn’t going to do anything but further our political division. This reminds me of when I suggested that Jenny and I balance our budget by cutting spending on anything cultural and that we no longer buy bras. Looking back, my guess is that my budget revisions would have been more happily accepted if I had also suggested that we cut my cable sports packages. Instead, I just suggested cutting things that I was never in favor of.
2. Most importantly, these cuts will have virtually no impact on our deficit. -The 2011 deficit is expected to be $1.27 trillion. If we reduce this by $61 billion, our deficit will be $1.21 trillion. (Wow, that makes me feel better.) The bottom line is that if we’re going to fix our problems, we have to fix Social Security and Medicare. Of course, these are difficult political issues and on one side is going to suggest cuts. It will have to be done jointly.
The End of Unemployment! - You have to love politicians. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the proposed spending cuts “a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy. This legislation will mark the largest spending cut in modern history and will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work.” This is truly classic. Republicans think that we can reach full employment through spending cuts and Democrats think we can shrink our deficit by insuring 32 million more people.
WOW! $61 BILLION OF CUTS!
By Sandy J. Leeds
Leeds On Finance
February 13, 2011
House Republicans have suggested $61 billion of spending cuts (some Republicans are arguing that this is $100 billion less than President Obama’s budget proposal from last year; others are admitting that this is just $61 billion of cuts). Apparently, the mainstream Republicans increased their suggested cuts due to pressure from the Tea Party Republicans.
You know that the deficit (and the debt) is my big concern. You would think that this would make me happy. Maybe it’s a start. But mostly, I just see this as a joke – and it’s a reminder of the trouble that we’re in. There are two reasons I think this:
1. The Republicans are simply saying “lets cut everything that the Democrats support.” - They want to reduce spending under the Recovery Act – reducing funding for the high-speed rail. They also want to eliminate the offices of the health care czar and the climate czar. They want to target family planning, welfare and funding for NPR. They want to reduce the budgets of the Departments of Education and the EPA. It would also reduce spending on some food programs for children as well as the Head Start program.
This isn’t shared sacrifice. This isn’t going to do anything but further our political division. This reminds me of when I suggested that Jenny and I balance our budget by cutting spending on anything cultural and that we no longer buy bras. Looking back, my guess is that my budget revisions would have been more happily accepted if I had also suggested that we cut my cable sports packages. Instead, I just suggested cutting things that I was never in favor of.
2. Most importantly, these cuts will have virtually no impact on our deficit. -The 2011 deficit is expected to be $1.27 trillion. If we reduce this by $61 billion, our deficit will be $1.21 trillion. (Wow, that makes me feel better.) The bottom line is that if we’re going to fix our problems, we have to fix Social Security and Medicare. Of course, these are difficult political issues and on one side is going to suggest cuts. It will have to be done jointly.
The End of Unemployment! - You have to love politicians. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the proposed spending cuts “a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy. This legislation will mark the largest spending cut in modern history and will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work.” This is truly classic. Republicans think that we can reach full employment through spending cuts and Democrats think we can shrink our deficit by insuring 32 million more people.
JUST A NORMAL WEEKEND NIGHT AT THE CANTINA
When the cops arrived, the joint was nearly empty. Hmmm, could it be that the cantina had been full of illegals? And these kind of brawls are not all that uncommon – it’s just that no one usually calls for the cops.
LARGE FIGHT BREAKS OUT AT NORTH HOLLYWOOD NIGHTCLUB
KTLA News
February 12, 2011
NORTH HOLLYWOOD (KTLA) -- Over 80 people were involved in a bar fight that left at least two people injured, police say.
Police received a call early Saturday morning of several fights erupting at Hacienda Corona on Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. According to Sgt. Morrison of LAPD's North Hollywood Station, a person was hit over the head with a beer bottle and when the security guard tried to intervene several other fights broke out.
When police arrived they found no evidence of a shooting and the club, which had about 200 in attendance, was already emptied with beer bottles smashed on the floor.
At least one person was arrested for an assault with a deadly weapon. One person was injured and was self-transported in unknown condition.
Police are still investigating the motive of the massive brawl.
LARGE FIGHT BREAKS OUT AT NORTH HOLLYWOOD NIGHTCLUB
KTLA News
February 12, 2011
NORTH HOLLYWOOD (KTLA) -- Over 80 people were involved in a bar fight that left at least two people injured, police say.
Police received a call early Saturday morning of several fights erupting at Hacienda Corona on Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. According to Sgt. Morrison of LAPD's North Hollywood Station, a person was hit over the head with a beer bottle and when the security guard tried to intervene several other fights broke out.
When police arrived they found no evidence of a shooting and the club, which had about 200 in attendance, was already emptied with beer bottles smashed on the floor.
At least one person was arrested for an assault with a deadly weapon. One person was injured and was self-transported in unknown condition.
Police are still investigating the motive of the massive brawl.
TEXAS DICTIONARY OF CALIFORNIA-SPEAK
CALIFORNIA-SPEAK
TEXAS-SPEAK
Medical Marijuana User
Pot Head
Police Brutality
Routine Arrest
Diverse or Lifestyle Choice
Sinful and Perverted
Arsenal of Weapons
Gun Collection
Delicate Wetlands
Swamp
Undocumented Worker
Illegal Alien
Cruelty-Free Materials
Synthetic Fiber
Assault and Battery
Attitude Adjustment
Heavily Armed
Well-protected
Narrow-minded
Righteous
Taxes or Your Fair Share
Coerced Theft
Commonsense Gun Control
Gun Confiscation Plot
Illegal Hazardous Explosives
Fireworks or Stump Removal
Nonviable Tissue Mass
Unborn Baby
Equal Access to Opportunity
Socialism
Multicultural Community
High Crime Area
Fairness or Social Progress
Marxism
Upper Class or "The Rich"
Self-Employed
Progressive, Change
Big Government Scheme
Homeless or Disadvantaged
Bums or Welfare Leeches
Sniper Rifle
Scoped Deer Rifle
Investment For the Future
Higher Taxes
Healthcare Reform
Socialized Medicine
Extremist, Judgmental, or Hater
Conservative
Truants
Homeschoolers
Victim or Oppressed
Criminal or Lazy Good-For-Nothing
High Capacity Ammo Magazine
Standard Capacity Ammo Magazine
Religious Zealot
Church-going
Reintroduced Wolves
Sheep and Elk Killers
Fair Trade Coffee
Overpriced Yuppie Coffee
Exploiters or "The Rich"
Employed or Land Owner
The Gun Lobby
NRA Members
Assault Weapon
Semi-Auto (Grandpa's M1 Carbine)
Fiscal Stimulus
New Taxes and Higher Taxes
Same Sex Marriage
Legalized Perversion
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting
Chinese Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs
TEXAS-SPEAK
Medical Marijuana User
Pot Head
Police Brutality
Routine Arrest
Diverse or Lifestyle Choice
Sinful and Perverted
Arsenal of Weapons
Gun Collection
Delicate Wetlands
Swamp
Undocumented Worker
Illegal Alien
Cruelty-Free Materials
Synthetic Fiber
Assault and Battery
Attitude Adjustment
Heavily Armed
Well-protected
Narrow-minded
Righteous
Taxes or Your Fair Share
Coerced Theft
Commonsense Gun Control
Gun Confiscation Plot
Illegal Hazardous Explosives
Fireworks or Stump Removal
Nonviable Tissue Mass
Unborn Baby
Equal Access to Opportunity
Socialism
Multicultural Community
High Crime Area
Fairness or Social Progress
Marxism
Upper Class or "The Rich"
Self-Employed
Progressive, Change
Big Government Scheme
Homeless or Disadvantaged
Bums or Welfare Leeches
Sniper Rifle
Scoped Deer Rifle
Investment For the Future
Higher Taxes
Healthcare Reform
Socialized Medicine
Extremist, Judgmental, or Hater
Conservative
Truants
Homeschoolers
Victim or Oppressed
Criminal or Lazy Good-For-Nothing
High Capacity Ammo Magazine
Standard Capacity Ammo Magazine
Religious Zealot
Church-going
Reintroduced Wolves
Sheep and Elk Killers
Fair Trade Coffee
Overpriced Yuppie Coffee
Exploiters or "The Rich"
Employed or Land Owner
The Gun Lobby
NRA Members
Assault Weapon
Semi-Auto (Grandpa's M1 Carbine)
Fiscal Stimulus
New Taxes and Higher Taxes
Same Sex Marriage
Legalized Perversion
Mandated Eco-Friendly Lighting
Chinese Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs
Monday, February 14, 2011
OUR VERY OWN TOOTHY-GRINNING JOSEPH GOEBBELS
Whether the lawsuit succeeds or not, it exposes Jimmy Carter as a toothy-grinning liar.
THE PROTOCOLS ACCORDING TO JIMMY CARTER
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
politicalmavens.com
February 14, 2011
YES!
Someone has finally tried to do something to stop our lunatic former president from doing any further harm.
A class action suit was recently filed in New York against former President Jimmy Carter and publishers Simon & Schuster for publishing a book they knew contained all sorts of anti-Semitic lies and distortions and tried to pass it off as history.
The American people elected this delusional nutcase president unaware that he is deeply anti-Semitic – a mostly incurable congenital condition he hid from us in order to get Jews and others to vote for him back in the day.
There were hints during his unfortunate term in the White House that things were amiss with ol’ Jimmy – his attack by a ferocious, giant swimming bunny, for one – but he appeared to be a mostly harmless if ineffectual southern bumpkin.
But then, free from the burden of having to pretend to represent the entire country, in recent years the man abandoned all pretense of neutrality and let his true anti-Semitic colors bleed through.
He basically retooled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, packaged it in recent historical context, dipped it in the sugar of modern sensibilities, lent it an air of legitimacy with his former U.S. president status and then loosed it upon the world.
He’s basically our very own toothy-grinning Joseph Goebbels.
Well, now, Carter’s being sued for his screed, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” for disseminating ”false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised.”
Captioned Unterberg et al. v. Jimmy Carter et.al (11 cv 0720), the suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
The plaintiffs, according to reports, “are members of the reading public who purchased Carter’s book expecting they were buying an accurate and factual record of historic events concerning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs,” only to find a slickly produced tract of lies.
The lawsuit contends that Carter, who bills himself as a Middle-East expert, and his publisher, “intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalize on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public,” according to reports.
The complaint alleges the defendants’ anti-Semitic/anti-Israel lies and distortions violate New York consumer protection laws, one in particular, which makes it illegal to engage in deceptive acts in the course of conducting business.
“While acknowledging Carter’s rights to publish his personal views, the plaintiffs assert that the defendants violated the law” by marketing the book as historically factual “and, thus, harmed those who purchased the book,” reports note.
This is the first time a former president and a publishing house have been sued for intentionally presenting disinformation and propaganda to the reading public by promoting a book full of lies as factual, reports said.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers in Alabama and Israel, reports say.
“The complaint notes that after the book’s publication some of Carter’s closest aides, including distinguished public officials and scholars personally involved in the events described, condemned the book as untruthful,” and that ”despite being presented with irrefutable proof that many of the representations in the book are false, the defendants have refused to make any corrections.”
The lawyers in the case say that, if nothing else, the suit will expose the lies and distortions in Carter’s book and “prove that his hatred of Israel has led him to commit this fraud on the public,” the Israeli lawyer said.
The American lawyer went even further.
“It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Center which bears his name,” he reportedly said.
This is great.
It’s almost, but not quite, worth going out and buying a copy of Carter’s hopelessly slanted piece of fiction just so I can be included in the lawsuit.
THE PROTOCOLS ACCORDING TO JIMMY CARTER
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
politicalmavens.com
February 14, 2011
YES!
Someone has finally tried to do something to stop our lunatic former president from doing any further harm.
A class action suit was recently filed in New York against former President Jimmy Carter and publishers Simon & Schuster for publishing a book they knew contained all sorts of anti-Semitic lies and distortions and tried to pass it off as history.
The American people elected this delusional nutcase president unaware that he is deeply anti-Semitic – a mostly incurable congenital condition he hid from us in order to get Jews and others to vote for him back in the day.
There were hints during his unfortunate term in the White House that things were amiss with ol’ Jimmy – his attack by a ferocious, giant swimming bunny, for one – but he appeared to be a mostly harmless if ineffectual southern bumpkin.
But then, free from the burden of having to pretend to represent the entire country, in recent years the man abandoned all pretense of neutrality and let his true anti-Semitic colors bleed through.
He basically retooled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, packaged it in recent historical context, dipped it in the sugar of modern sensibilities, lent it an air of legitimacy with his former U.S. president status and then loosed it upon the world.
He’s basically our very own toothy-grinning Joseph Goebbels.
Well, now, Carter’s being sued for his screed, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” for disseminating ”false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised.”
Captioned Unterberg et al. v. Jimmy Carter et.al (11 cv 0720), the suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
The plaintiffs, according to reports, “are members of the reading public who purchased Carter’s book expecting they were buying an accurate and factual record of historic events concerning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs,” only to find a slickly produced tract of lies.
The lawsuit contends that Carter, who bills himself as a Middle-East expert, and his publisher, “intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalize on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public,” according to reports.
The complaint alleges the defendants’ anti-Semitic/anti-Israel lies and distortions violate New York consumer protection laws, one in particular, which makes it illegal to engage in deceptive acts in the course of conducting business.
“While acknowledging Carter’s rights to publish his personal views, the plaintiffs assert that the defendants violated the law” by marketing the book as historically factual “and, thus, harmed those who purchased the book,” reports note.
This is the first time a former president and a publishing house have been sued for intentionally presenting disinformation and propaganda to the reading public by promoting a book full of lies as factual, reports said.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers in Alabama and Israel, reports say.
“The complaint notes that after the book’s publication some of Carter’s closest aides, including distinguished public officials and scholars personally involved in the events described, condemned the book as untruthful,” and that ”despite being presented with irrefutable proof that many of the representations in the book are false, the defendants have refused to make any corrections.”
The lawyers in the case say that, if nothing else, the suit will expose the lies and distortions in Carter’s book and “prove that his hatred of Israel has led him to commit this fraud on the public,” the Israeli lawyer said.
The American lawyer went even further.
“It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Center which bears his name,” he reportedly said.
This is great.
It’s almost, but not quite, worth going out and buying a copy of Carter’s hopelessly slanted piece of fiction just so I can be included in the lawsuit.
A MOTHER GIVES HER DAUGHTER'S KILLER A FITTING SENDOFF
Last Friday, Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 2001murder in Washington, D.C. of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old government intern. The killing garnered worldwide attention because, at the time of her death, former California congressman Gary Condit was having an extramarital affair with Levy. For a time, Condit was considered a prime suspect in Chandra’s murder.
At the sentencing hearing, Susan Levy, Chandra’s mother, read a 16-minute long victim impact statement during which she said, “You, Mr. Guandique, you are lower than a cockroach.”
When she finished her statement, Susan Levy turned to Guandique, pointed at the killer and said, “Finally, FUCK YOU! That is it.”
And that was, no doubt about it, a most fitting sendoff.
At the sentencing hearing, Susan Levy, Chandra’s mother, read a 16-minute long victim impact statement during which she said, “You, Mr. Guandique, you are lower than a cockroach.”
When she finished her statement, Susan Levy turned to Guandique, pointed at the killer and said, “Finally, FUCK YOU! That is it.”
And that was, no doubt about it, a most fitting sendoff.
GUN CONTROL ADV OCATES LOSE OUT IN SWITZERLAND
That’s probably why they have a very low crime rate in Switzerland. There’s no NRA there – it’s just that the Swiss have always been smart.
SWISS TO KEEP ARMY-ISSUED WEAPONS AT HOME
The Straits Times
February 13, 2011
GENEVA - A MAJORITY of cantons have voted in favor of holding fast to Switzerland's long-standing tradition of letting citizens keep army-issued weapons at home, results showed on Sunday.
With the vote, the country widely rejected an initiative brought by a coalition of non-governmental groups, religious authorities and center-left parties which sought to have weapons kept in armories instead.
Less than two hours after polls closed, 18 out of 26 cantons had already returned final results, with 14 firmly rejecting of the initiative.
For any initiative to pass, the twin support of a majority of citizens and of cantons is required. -- AFP
SWISS TO KEEP ARMY-ISSUED WEAPONS AT HOME
The Straits Times
February 13, 2011
GENEVA - A MAJORITY of cantons have voted in favor of holding fast to Switzerland's long-standing tradition of letting citizens keep army-issued weapons at home, results showed on Sunday.
With the vote, the country widely rejected an initiative brought by a coalition of non-governmental groups, religious authorities and center-left parties which sought to have weapons kept in armories instead.
Less than two hours after polls closed, 18 out of 26 cantons had already returned final results, with 14 firmly rejecting of the initiative.
For any initiative to pass, the twin support of a majority of citizens and of cantons is required. -- AFP
NOW THAT WAS SERIOUSLY STUPID
Calling him a Moron is an insult to Morons.
$500? He should have offered at least $5,000 and used Craig’s List instead of Facebook.
MORON TRIES TO HIRE KILLER ON FACEBOOK
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
February 13, 2011
Corey Christian Adams, 19, was in a pickle. He was facing a rape charge in Westchester County, Pa. So, he decided the best thing to do was have his accuser murdered. As he didn’t personally know any murderers, he put an ad on his Facebook page offering $500 for someone to kill his 20-year old accuser.
The young woman informed the cops of the Facebook posting. They arrested the idiot. The copped a plea, and will do 11 to 22 years. I don’t know about dangerous, but he is obviously too stupid to be allowed to walk around in public without direct supervision.
$500? He should have offered at least $5,000 and used Craig’s List instead of Facebook.
MORON TRIES TO HIRE KILLER ON FACEBOOK
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
February 13, 2011
Corey Christian Adams, 19, was in a pickle. He was facing a rape charge in Westchester County, Pa. So, he decided the best thing to do was have his accuser murdered. As he didn’t personally know any murderers, he put an ad on his Facebook page offering $500 for someone to kill his 20-year old accuser.
The young woman informed the cops of the Facebook posting. They arrested the idiot. The copped a plea, and will do 11 to 22 years. I don’t know about dangerous, but he is obviously too stupid to be allowed to walk around in public without direct supervision.
REDNECKS ARE GOOD AT SENSITIVE STUFF
Three Rednecks - Cooter, Pete and K.C. - were working on a cell phone tower. As they start their descent Cooter slips, falls off the tower and is killed instantly.
As the ambulance takes the body away, Pete says, "Well, shucks, someone should go and tell his wife."
K.C. says, "OK, I'm pretty good at that sensitive stuff, I'll do it."
Two hours later, he comes back carrying a case of Budweiser.
Pete says, "Where did you get that beer, K.C.?"
"Cooter's wife gave it to me," K.C. replies.
"That's unbelievable, you told the lady her husband was dead and she gave you beer?"
“Well, not exactly," K.C. says. "When she answered the door, I said to her, "You must be Cooter's widow."
She said, "You must be mistaken, I'm not a widow.".... then I said, "I'll bet you a case of Budweiser you are."
As the ambulance takes the body away, Pete says, "Well, shucks, someone should go and tell his wife."
K.C. says, "OK, I'm pretty good at that sensitive stuff, I'll do it."
Two hours later, he comes back carrying a case of Budweiser.
Pete says, "Where did you get that beer, K.C.?"
"Cooter's wife gave it to me," K.C. replies.
"That's unbelievable, you told the lady her husband was dead and she gave you beer?"
“Well, not exactly," K.C. says. "When she answered the door, I said to her, "You must be Cooter's widow."
She said, "You must be mistaken, I'm not a widow.".... then I said, "I'll bet you a case of Budweiser you are."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
WHO GETS STUCK WITH ALL THOSE BUDGET CUTS?
This nation, its states and cities are finding themselves awash in a sea of debt and budget shortfalls. Deep budget cuts calling for a reduction in essential services and the elimination of some, are sprouting up at all levels of government. Most of the proposed cuts will come at the expense of the poor and elderly.
Moonbeam – Gov. Jerry Brown – wants to transfer California’s state parole system to the state’s counties. Gov. Rick Perry is calling on the Texas legislature to enact deep spending cuts in education, child health care and Medicaid. The Tea Party wants to reduce the size of the government, slash federal spending and cut taxes. Many cities are reducing the size of their police forces and some are even doing away with the police altogether.
This begs the question: Who gets stuck with all those budget cuts?
Moonbeam’s loony parole proposal will be a disaster for the counties of California and a serious threat to public safety. The counties, already on t he verge of bankruptcy, can ill afford to add the financial burden of a parole system. They would have to enact substantial tax increases to do that.
Gov. Perry’s axe wielding will force the cities, counties and school districts of Texas to pick up the slack. That will require a substantial increase in local property taxes because the local entities cannot just abandon its schoolchildren and destitute citizens.
If the Tea Party succeeds in achieving its aims, many government programs will be reduced and some will be eliminated. That means the financially strapped states will have to pick up the slack for those programs. More tax increases for the locals.
Whenever cities reduce the size of their police force they put the public’s safety at risk. When they eliminate their police altogether, the slack has to be taken up by the county sheriff departments. It’s either county tax increases or putting the public's safety at risk.
So, who gets stuck with all those budget cuts? It’s us, the local taxpayers. And we’re getting exactly what we deserve because we wanted our federal and state legislators to spend us into this mess and now we’re demanding that they ‘slash and burn’ the government programs we wanted in the first place.
Moonbeam – Gov. Jerry Brown – wants to transfer California’s state parole system to the state’s counties. Gov. Rick Perry is calling on the Texas legislature to enact deep spending cuts in education, child health care and Medicaid. The Tea Party wants to reduce the size of the government, slash federal spending and cut taxes. Many cities are reducing the size of their police forces and some are even doing away with the police altogether.
This begs the question: Who gets stuck with all those budget cuts?
Moonbeam’s loony parole proposal will be a disaster for the counties of California and a serious threat to public safety. The counties, already on t he verge of bankruptcy, can ill afford to add the financial burden of a parole system. They would have to enact substantial tax increases to do that.
Gov. Perry’s axe wielding will force the cities, counties and school districts of Texas to pick up the slack. That will require a substantial increase in local property taxes because the local entities cannot just abandon its schoolchildren and destitute citizens.
If the Tea Party succeeds in achieving its aims, many government programs will be reduced and some will be eliminated. That means the financially strapped states will have to pick up the slack for those programs. More tax increases for the locals.
Whenever cities reduce the size of their police force they put the public’s safety at risk. When they eliminate their police altogether, the slack has to be taken up by the county sheriff departments. It’s either county tax increases or putting the public's safety at risk.
So, who gets stuck with all those budget cuts? It’s us, the local taxpayers. And we’re getting exactly what we deserve because we wanted our federal and state legislators to spend us into this mess and now we’re demanding that they ‘slash and burn’ the government programs we wanted in the first place.
16-YEAR-OLD LED MEXICAN CARJACKING GANG
Edgar Jimenez Lugo, the 14-year-old drug cartel hitman known as ‘El Ponchis’, has now been formerly charged in the killings of four men whose headless bodies were found in August dangling from a highway bridge in central Mexico. Apparently, Mexico’s teenage criminals operate at a level of sophistication rarely matched by our juvenile lawbreakers. Only America’s teenage drug dealers can match the Mexican teenagers’ degree of sophistication.
GANG OF TEENAGE CARJACKERS APPREHENDED
Source: Diario De Juarez
Borderland Beat
February 12, 2011
A gang of eight carjackers; six teenagers and two adults were apprehended by elements of the federal branch of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) on Friday. The eight defendants had recently formed a gang of "carjackers" dedicated to carjacking cars and trucks near the Zaragoza port of entry located on the east side of Cd. Juárez. They would carjack their victims using physical violence and would often display their 9mm firearms.
The group used a nearby motel RÃo, located on M. J. Clouthier Ave. in the southeastern part of the city as their operations hub. The gang of carjackers was led by a 16 year old male. Among the arrested were also two suspects a 15 and an 18 year old who claimed to be US citizens residing in El Paso, Texas.
In their declarations the carjackers said that they had been carjacking cars and trucks throughout the city mainly between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and no later then 2:30 p.m. for about a month. The gang of teenage carjackers had rented four rooms at the motel and used it to temporarily store the stolen vehicles.
On Thursday personnel of federal police agency or PolicÃa Federal (PF), tried to stop a blue 2006 Chevrolet light truck type HHR with Texas license plates with two teenage suspects inside. The driver of the vehicle led the police in a high speed chase back to the motel RÃo. There the federal police agents (PF) found six other vehicles and six other suspects the youngest was a 14 year old teenage girl.
None of the suspects were currently attending school and or were employed. Their only source of income was the illicit commission from the sale of the “carjacked” vehicles. In a brief interview with two of the suspects, the presumed leader of the band offered details of the way they operated. Jorge age 16, confirmed that his gang carjacked various cars and trucks under order by a still to identified criminal who paid them between 5 and 6 thousand pesos each or roughly 400 to 485.00 US dollars. They would later distributed the money between all eight, with each making between 200 and 400 US dollars a week.
Both suspects spoke with a degree of coldness and even less remorse. The leader of the gang described how they would drive around until they spotted the type of car that had been ordered, which were typically a newer truck, especially 4 x 4 with four passenger doors. They would follow the vehicle until they could carjack them at a stop light. They would also keep some of the stolen vehicles to continue working their carjackings. The rest of the vehicles were sold and presumed to have been sent to neighboring junk yards, where they were stripped and their car parts sold off.
The vehicles also found in their possession and had been reported stolen within the last month were a white 2005 Nissan 300ZX, a 2007 Nissan Murano 2007 without plates, a black 2005 Nissan Maxima, a 1998 gray Honda Accord with plates of Texas, a gray 2009 Ford Focus and the blue 2006 Chevrolet HHR.
All the arrested were put at the disposal of the General Office of the State's Public Prosecutor Office (FGE), where an agent of the Public Ministry had opened up an investigation file charges against the adults suspects.
In the case of the teenage suspects, they could be remanded by the state authority, a judge from the office of Justice for Adolescent Violators, who would be responsible for determining their guilt or innocence. The established maximum sentence for juvenile offenders that commit serious crimes is a 15 year sentence.
GANG OF TEENAGE CARJACKERS APPREHENDED
Source: Diario De Juarez
Borderland Beat
February 12, 2011
A gang of eight carjackers; six teenagers and two adults were apprehended by elements of the federal branch of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) on Friday. The eight defendants had recently formed a gang of "carjackers" dedicated to carjacking cars and trucks near the Zaragoza port of entry located on the east side of Cd. Juárez. They would carjack their victims using physical violence and would often display their 9mm firearms.
The group used a nearby motel RÃo, located on M. J. Clouthier Ave. in the southeastern part of the city as their operations hub. The gang of carjackers was led by a 16 year old male. Among the arrested were also two suspects a 15 and an 18 year old who claimed to be US citizens residing in El Paso, Texas.
In their declarations the carjackers said that they had been carjacking cars and trucks throughout the city mainly between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and no later then 2:30 p.m. for about a month. The gang of teenage carjackers had rented four rooms at the motel and used it to temporarily store the stolen vehicles.
On Thursday personnel of federal police agency or PolicÃa Federal (PF), tried to stop a blue 2006 Chevrolet light truck type HHR with Texas license plates with two teenage suspects inside. The driver of the vehicle led the police in a high speed chase back to the motel RÃo. There the federal police agents (PF) found six other vehicles and six other suspects the youngest was a 14 year old teenage girl.
None of the suspects were currently attending school and or were employed. Their only source of income was the illicit commission from the sale of the “carjacked” vehicles. In a brief interview with two of the suspects, the presumed leader of the band offered details of the way they operated. Jorge age 16, confirmed that his gang carjacked various cars and trucks under order by a still to identified criminal who paid them between 5 and 6 thousand pesos each or roughly 400 to 485.00 US dollars. They would later distributed the money between all eight, with each making between 200 and 400 US dollars a week.
Both suspects spoke with a degree of coldness and even less remorse. The leader of the gang described how they would drive around until they spotted the type of car that had been ordered, which were typically a newer truck, especially 4 x 4 with four passenger doors. They would follow the vehicle until they could carjack them at a stop light. They would also keep some of the stolen vehicles to continue working their carjackings. The rest of the vehicles were sold and presumed to have been sent to neighboring junk yards, where they were stripped and their car parts sold off.
The vehicles also found in their possession and had been reported stolen within the last month were a white 2005 Nissan 300ZX, a 2007 Nissan Murano 2007 without plates, a black 2005 Nissan Maxima, a 1998 gray Honda Accord with plates of Texas, a gray 2009 Ford Focus and the blue 2006 Chevrolet HHR.
All the arrested were put at the disposal of the General Office of the State's Public Prosecutor Office (FGE), where an agent of the Public Ministry had opened up an investigation file charges against the adults suspects.
In the case of the teenage suspects, they could be remanded by the state authority, a judge from the office of Justice for Adolescent Violators, who would be responsible for determining their guilt or innocence. The established maximum sentence for juvenile offenders that commit serious crimes is a 15 year sentence.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
BUSTED FOR CHILD PORN WHILE IN CHARGE OF STUDENT CONDUCT
Let’s see if I’ve got this right. His child porn pictures and videos were of boys. He was the head football coach in 2008 and 2009. That would put new meaning into whenever he sent a player out on the field with a pat on the ass.
L.A. SCHOOL’S ‘DEAN OF DISCIPLINE’ ARRESTED ON CHILD PORN CHARGES
Torrance Daily Breeze
February 10, 2011
A Los Angeles high school athletic director and dean of discipline was arrested on suspicion of distributing child pornography after pictures and videos were found at his home, police said today.
Bradley Ratcliff, 53, who worked at West Adams Preparatory High School in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles, was arrested Feb. 2 at his home, where a search turned up "numerous child pornography images and videos containing male victims," police said.
"At this time, LAPD investigators do not have any evidence that the images/videos Ratcliff was in possession of are of current or former students," police said.
Ratcliff was placed on administrative leave from the school, which is under the management of the nonprofit MLA Partner Schools, which chooses employees who are then formally hired by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Ratcliff was also the former head varsity football coach for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, police said.
He is free on $20,000 bail, pending a court hearing on Feb. 25, according to the sheriff's department.
L.A. SCHOOL’S ‘DEAN OF DISCIPLINE’ ARRESTED ON CHILD PORN CHARGES
Torrance Daily Breeze
February 10, 2011
A Los Angeles high school athletic director and dean of discipline was arrested on suspicion of distributing child pornography after pictures and videos were found at his home, police said today.
Bradley Ratcliff, 53, who worked at West Adams Preparatory High School in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles, was arrested Feb. 2 at his home, where a search turned up "numerous child pornography images and videos containing male victims," police said.
"At this time, LAPD investigators do not have any evidence that the images/videos Ratcliff was in possession of are of current or former students," police said.
Ratcliff was placed on administrative leave from the school, which is under the management of the nonprofit MLA Partner Schools, which chooses employees who are then formally hired by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Ratcliff was also the former head varsity football coach for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, police said.
He is free on $20,000 bail, pending a court hearing on Feb. 25, according to the sheriff's department.
MULTICULTURALISM SUCKS
The leaders of France, Britain and Germany, and the former leaders of Australia and Spain have all agreed that multiculturalism separates immigrant communities rather than integrate them into a national community.
Instead of promoting assimilation, our leaders continue to play the political correctness game of encouraging multiculturalism, both in our schools and in society. When will our leaders realize that multiculturalism drives us apart rather than bringing us together.
NICOLAS SARKOZY JOINS DAVID CAMERON AND ANGELA MERKEL VIEW THAT MULTICULTURALISM HAS FAILED
Mail Online
February 11, 2011
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has joined David Cameron in condemning multiculturalism as a failure.
Cameron launched a scathing attack earlier this months on 30 years of multiculturalism in Britain warning that it fostered extremism.
His damning verdict came just months after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that multiculturalism in Germany had failed.
Now Sarkozy has joined the growing number of European leaders who have adopted identical views on multiculturalism.
He told the French people: 'We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.'
The president made the declaration in a TV debate last night after being asked if the policy of encouraging the religious and cultural differences of immigrants was not working.
He told viewers: 'My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure.
'Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want a society where communities coexist side by side.
'Our Muslim compatriots must be able to practice their religion, as any citizen can, but we in France do not want people to pray in an ostentatious way in the street.
'If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France.
'The French national community cannot accept a change in its lifestyle, equality between men and women and freedom for little girls to go to school.'
Sarkozy's statement comes after Prime Minister Mr Cameron said last week that public money should not be handed to ethnic groups who did not share British values.
He called for an end to the 'passive tolerance' of divided communities and said members of all faiths must integrate into wider society and accept core values.
His remarks were praised by the leader of the French National Front Marine Le Pen, who said Mr Cameron's views proved that he supported her far right-wing party's ideals.
She said: 'I sense an evolution at European level, even in classic governments. I can only congratulate him.'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australia's former prime minister John Howard and former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar have also said in recent months that multicultural policies had not successfully integrated immigrants.
Instead of promoting assimilation, our leaders continue to play the political correctness game of encouraging multiculturalism, both in our schools and in society. When will our leaders realize that multiculturalism drives us apart rather than bringing us together.
NICOLAS SARKOZY JOINS DAVID CAMERON AND ANGELA MERKEL VIEW THAT MULTICULTURALISM HAS FAILED
Mail Online
February 11, 2011
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has joined David Cameron in condemning multiculturalism as a failure.
Cameron launched a scathing attack earlier this months on 30 years of multiculturalism in Britain warning that it fostered extremism.
His damning verdict came just months after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that multiculturalism in Germany had failed.
Now Sarkozy has joined the growing number of European leaders who have adopted identical views on multiculturalism.
He told the French people: 'We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him.'
The president made the declaration in a TV debate last night after being asked if the policy of encouraging the religious and cultural differences of immigrants was not working.
He told viewers: 'My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure.
'Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want a society where communities coexist side by side.
'Our Muslim compatriots must be able to practice their religion, as any citizen can, but we in France do not want people to pray in an ostentatious way in the street.
'If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France.
'The French national community cannot accept a change in its lifestyle, equality between men and women and freedom for little girls to go to school.'
Sarkozy's statement comes after Prime Minister Mr Cameron said last week that public money should not be handed to ethnic groups who did not share British values.
He called for an end to the 'passive tolerance' of divided communities and said members of all faiths must integrate into wider society and accept core values.
His remarks were praised by the leader of the French National Front Marine Le Pen, who said Mr Cameron's views proved that he supported her far right-wing party's ideals.
She said: 'I sense an evolution at European level, even in classic governments. I can only congratulate him.'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australia's former prime minister John Howard and former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar have also said in recent months that multicultural policies had not successfully integrated immigrants.
NO HAPPY VALENTINE FOR A SINGAPORE COUPLE
Another example that justice in Singapore is not nearly as harsh as we’ve been led to believe. Now in Texas, the aggrieved husband would have just up and shot the bastard.
Hmmm, I wonder how Mr. Fook treated Mrs. Fook after he got through cleaning Mr. Oi’s clock? I’ll bet the Fooks did not fook that night.
HUBBY FINED FOR BEATING UP MAN WHO KISSED WIFE
By Elena Chong
The Straits Times
February 11, 2011
AN ENGINEER who beat up a man for smooching with his wife at a staircase near his flat early one morning was given the maximum fine of $2,500 on Friday.
Desmond Hua Chung Fook, 28, originally accused of causing grievous hurt, pleaded guilty to slapping and punching Mr Darryl Oi Weijian, 24, several times on his face and body, causing him to fall and suffer serious injuries. The incident took place at a staircase of a block of flats in Toa Payoh Central on July 2, 2009.
A district court was told that Hua's wife, Ms Zhang Huiqing, 29, had gone drinking with friends, including Mr Oi - an ex-colleague - at St James Power Station the night before. Mr Oi freelances in the IT industry. When Mr Oi took Ms Zhang home, he suggested a smoke at the staircase landing outside her home. She agreed. Eventually, they became intimate and hugged and kissed each other.
They were spotted by Hua who happened to come out for a smoke. Mr Oi took to his heels on seeing him and Hua chased him. He assaulted the victim on the left cheek. In the midst of the tussle, Mr Oi fell down the flight of steps.
He managed to pick himself up and head for the lift lobby where he was again assaulted by Hua. While tussling with the victim, Hua pushed him, causing him to knock himself against the railings. The victim was comatose when admitted to hospital and lost his memory for 32 days.
Hua could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined for causing hurt on grave and sudden provocation.
Hmmm, I wonder how Mr. Fook treated Mrs. Fook after he got through cleaning Mr. Oi’s clock? I’ll bet the Fooks did not fook that night.
HUBBY FINED FOR BEATING UP MAN WHO KISSED WIFE
By Elena Chong
The Straits Times
February 11, 2011
AN ENGINEER who beat up a man for smooching with his wife at a staircase near his flat early one morning was given the maximum fine of $2,500 on Friday.
Desmond Hua Chung Fook, 28, originally accused of causing grievous hurt, pleaded guilty to slapping and punching Mr Darryl Oi Weijian, 24, several times on his face and body, causing him to fall and suffer serious injuries. The incident took place at a staircase of a block of flats in Toa Payoh Central on July 2, 2009.
A district court was told that Hua's wife, Ms Zhang Huiqing, 29, had gone drinking with friends, including Mr Oi - an ex-colleague - at St James Power Station the night before. Mr Oi freelances in the IT industry. When Mr Oi took Ms Zhang home, he suggested a smoke at the staircase landing outside her home. She agreed. Eventually, they became intimate and hugged and kissed each other.
They were spotted by Hua who happened to come out for a smoke. Mr Oi took to his heels on seeing him and Hua chased him. He assaulted the victim on the left cheek. In the midst of the tussle, Mr Oi fell down the flight of steps.
He managed to pick himself up and head for the lift lobby where he was again assaulted by Hua. While tussling with the victim, Hua pushed him, causing him to knock himself against the railings. The victim was comatose when admitted to hospital and lost his memory for 32 days.
Hua could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined for causing hurt on grave and sudden provocation.
'THE CHICKENS DID IT THEMSELVES' DEFENSE
I’m surprised the judge did not throw these two dirt-bags and their lawyer in jail for contempt of court. If believing that a judge would be so brainless as to buy their outrageous excuses doesn’t constitute contempt of court, nothing ever will.
JUAN & BRUNO GONZALES: IT’S NOT COCKFIGHTING, IT’S ‘SPARRING’
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
February 10, 2011
Note to D-bags who get caught cockfighting: telling the judge your blood-covered chickens were just "sparring" is not a slam-dunk defense.
That's what Angelina County father and son Juan and Bruno Gonzales found out Wednesday when State District Judge Paul White found them guilty of cruelty to livestock animals, according to the Lufkin Daily News.
Proving once and for all that assholishness is hereditary, the duo were arrested last month after an Angelina County Sheriff's Office animal control officer "seized two dead chickens that had been placed in feed sacks, and two injured chickens from the [Gonzales's] home," according to the story.
Officer Melanie Wade also found "two small cases full of equipment used for cockfighting, including vitamins, short knives, and thread."
The men's defense? They claimed that the chickens were only sparring as a way of entertaining friends during a cookout. It was just good old-fashioned fun -- the birds even wore "sparring gloves on their spurs" so they wouldn't get hurt.
"We wanted to show people how athletic" the chickens were, Bruno Gonzales testified, explaining that he only allowed the fowl to "go at each other" one time before they were called to their corners.
Employing the evergreen "the chickens did it themselves" defense, Gonzales said the chickens got hurt when they "escaped their pens and tried to fight two other birds through the wire coop."
Heather Ferguson, part of the New Mexico AG's animal cruelty task force (apparently Texas doesn't have its own one of those), called bullshit on the sparring story, testifying that "if they were sparring, you would see bruising to the body. You wouldn't have bloody, dead roosters."
But even if the birds were sparring, it still equaled animal cruelty, Judge White said in his ruling. The men will be sentenced in "approximately six weeks, after a pre-sentence investigation is conducted by a probation officer." The men were released on bond.
We're not sure why a PSI is needed, because we're not sure what mitigating factors there could possibly be for cockfighting. Maybe the probation officer just needs that time to interview the surviving chickens.
JUAN & BRUNO GONZALES: IT’S NOT COCKFIGHTING, IT’S ‘SPARRING’
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
February 10, 2011
Note to D-bags who get caught cockfighting: telling the judge your blood-covered chickens were just "sparring" is not a slam-dunk defense.
That's what Angelina County father and son Juan and Bruno Gonzales found out Wednesday when State District Judge Paul White found them guilty of cruelty to livestock animals, according to the Lufkin Daily News.
Proving once and for all that assholishness is hereditary, the duo were arrested last month after an Angelina County Sheriff's Office animal control officer "seized two dead chickens that had been placed in feed sacks, and two injured chickens from the [Gonzales's] home," according to the story.
Officer Melanie Wade also found "two small cases full of equipment used for cockfighting, including vitamins, short knives, and thread."
The men's defense? They claimed that the chickens were only sparring as a way of entertaining friends during a cookout. It was just good old-fashioned fun -- the birds even wore "sparring gloves on their spurs" so they wouldn't get hurt.
"We wanted to show people how athletic" the chickens were, Bruno Gonzales testified, explaining that he only allowed the fowl to "go at each other" one time before they were called to their corners.
Employing the evergreen "the chickens did it themselves" defense, Gonzales said the chickens got hurt when they "escaped their pens and tried to fight two other birds through the wire coop."
Heather Ferguson, part of the New Mexico AG's animal cruelty task force (apparently Texas doesn't have its own one of those), called bullshit on the sparring story, testifying that "if they were sparring, you would see bruising to the body. You wouldn't have bloody, dead roosters."
But even if the birds were sparring, it still equaled animal cruelty, Judge White said in his ruling. The men will be sentenced in "approximately six weeks, after a pre-sentence investigation is conducted by a probation officer." The men were released on bond.
We're not sure why a PSI is needed, because we're not sure what mitigating factors there could possibly be for cockfighting. Maybe the probation officer just needs that time to interview the surviving chickens.
JOHN'S ADVICE COLUMN
Dear John,
I hope you can help me. The other day, I set off for work, leaving my husband in the house watching TV. My car stalled, and then it broke down about a mile down the road, and I had to walk back to get my husband’s help. When I got home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbor’s daughter!
I am 32, my husband is 34, and the neighbor’s daughter is 19. We have been married for 10 years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted they have been having an affair for the past six months. He won’t go to counseling. I’m afraid I am a wreck and need advice urgently. Can you please help?
Sincerely,
Sheila
Dear Sheila,
A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of those approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors.
I hope this helps,
John
I hope you can help me. The other day, I set off for work, leaving my husband in the house watching TV. My car stalled, and then it broke down about a mile down the road, and I had to walk back to get my husband’s help. When I got home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with the neighbor’s daughter!
I am 32, my husband is 34, and the neighbor’s daughter is 19. We have been married for 10 years. When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted they have been having an affair for the past six months. He won’t go to counseling. I’m afraid I am a wreck and need advice urgently. Can you please help?
Sincerely,
Sheila
Dear Sheila,
A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of those approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors.
I hope this helps,
John
Friday, February 11, 2011
CIVILIAN RULE OR AN AUTHORITARIAN MILITARY REGIME?
Will Egypt end up as a true democracy, which is the hope of the Egyptian people and President Obama, or will it end up as a military dictatorship?
RED ALERT: MUBARAK RESIGNS, MILITARY IS IN CHARGE
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
February 11, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman delivered the following statement Feb. 11: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country. May God help everybody.”
Suleiman’s statement is the clearest indication thus far that the military has carried out a coup led by Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. It is not clear whether Suleiman will remain as the civilian head of the army-led government. Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of ruling the state via a council of army officers. The question now is to what extent the military elite will share power with its civilian counterparts.
At a certain point, the opposition’s euphoria will subside and demands for elections will be voiced. The United States, while supportive of the military containing the unrest, also has a strategic need to see Egypt move toward a more pluralistic system.
Whether the military stays true to its commitment to hold elections on schedule in September remains to be seen. If elections are held, however, the military must have a political vehicle in place to counter opposition forces, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. The fate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) thus lies in question. Without the NDP, the regime will have effectively collapsed and the military could run into greater difficulty in running the country. While the military council will be serving as the provisional government, it will likely want to retain as much of the ruling NDP as possible and incorporate elements of the opposition to manage the transition. Sustaining its hold over power while crafting a democratic government will be the biggest challenge for the military as it tries to avoid regime change while also dealing with a potential constitutional crisis.
RED ALERT: MUBARAK RESIGNS, MILITARY IS IN CHARGE
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
February 11, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman delivered the following statement Feb. 11: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country. May God help everybody.”
Suleiman’s statement is the clearest indication thus far that the military has carried out a coup led by Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. It is not clear whether Suleiman will remain as the civilian head of the army-led government. Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of ruling the state via a council of army officers. The question now is to what extent the military elite will share power with its civilian counterparts.
At a certain point, the opposition’s euphoria will subside and demands for elections will be voiced. The United States, while supportive of the military containing the unrest, also has a strategic need to see Egypt move toward a more pluralistic system.
Whether the military stays true to its commitment to hold elections on schedule in September remains to be seen. If elections are held, however, the military must have a political vehicle in place to counter opposition forces, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. The fate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) thus lies in question. Without the NDP, the regime will have effectively collapsed and the military could run into greater difficulty in running the country. While the military council will be serving as the provisional government, it will likely want to retain as much of the ruling NDP as possible and incorporate elements of the opposition to manage the transition. Sustaining its hold over power while crafting a democratic government will be the biggest challenge for the military as it tries to avoid regime change while also dealing with a potential constitutional crisis.
PRESIDENT CALDERON, THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, ATF AND THE FBI HAVE BEEN DELIBERATELY LYING TO US
Just the other day, as an example of weapons purchased by gun buyers in Texas for Mexico’s drug cartels, the Houston ATF office displayed a tripod-mounted .50-caliber military machine gun that was seized while on its way to Mexico. Acting Deputy Director William Hoover said that Mexican officials are “begging us to stop the flow” of arms to the cartels.
In several previous postings on this blog, I have maintained that Mexico’s President Calderon, the Obama administration, ATF and the FBI have deliberately lied when they claimed that 90 percent of the guns seized from Mexican drug cartels came form gun dealers in the U.S., and particularly from those in Texas.
I believe Calderon lied to shift the blame for Mexico’s gang violence to our country. And I believe the Obama administration, ATF and the FBI perpetrated the 90 percent myth because they were hoping that those lies would cause Congress to pass stronger gun control laws.
Now an analyst at highly regarded STRATFOR Global Intelligence has come out with a comprehensive analysis that puts the lie to those phony claims about where the drug cartels obtain their deadly weapons. Here is the report of that analysis:
MEXICO’S GUN SUPPLY AND THE 90 PERCENT MYTH
By Scott Stewart
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
February 10, 2011
For several years now, STRATFOR has been closely watching developments in Mexico that relate to what we consider the three wars being waged there. Those three wars are the war between the various drug cartels, the war between the government and the cartels and the war being waged against citizens and businesses by criminals.
In addition to watching tactical developments of the cartel wars on the ground and studying the dynamics of the conflict among the various warring factions, we have also been paying close attention to the ways that both the Mexican and U.S. governments have reacted to these developments. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects to watch has been the way in which the Mexican government has tried to deflect responsibility for the cartel wars away from itself and onto the United States. According to the Mexican government, the cartel wars are not a result of corruption in Mexico or of economic and societal dynamics that leave many Mexicans marginalized and desperate to find a way to make a living. Instead, the cartel wars are due to the insatiable American appetite for narcotics and the endless stream of guns that flows from the United States into Mexico and that results in Mexican violence.
Interestingly, the part of this argument pertaining to guns has been adopted by many politicians and government officials in the United States in recent years. It has now become quite common to hear U.S. officials confidently assert that 90 percent of the weapons used by the Mexican drug cartels come from the United States. However, a close examination of the dynamics of the cartel wars in Mexico — and of how the oft-echoed 90 percent number was reached — clearly demonstrates that the number is more political rhetoric than empirical fact.
BY THE NUMBERS
As we discussed in a previous analysis, the 90 percent number was derived from a June 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress on U.S. efforts to combat arms trafficking to Mexico (see external link).
According to the GAO report, some 30,000 firearms were seized from criminals by Mexican authorities in 2008. Of these 30,000 firearms, information pertaining to 7,200 of them (24 percent) was submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for tracing. Of these 7,200 guns, only about 4,000 could be traced by the ATF, and of these 4,000, some 3,480 (87 percent) were shown to have come from the United States.
This means that the 87 percent figure relates to the number of weapons submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF that could be successfully traced and not from the total number of weapons seized by Mexican authorities or even from the total number of weapons submitted to the ATF for tracing. In fact, the 3,480 guns positively traced to the United States equals less than 12 percent of the total arms seized in Mexico in 2008 and less than 48 percent of all those submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF for tracing. This means that almost 90 percent of the guns seized in Mexico in 2008 were not traced back to the United States.
The remaining 22,800 firearms seized by Mexican authorities in 2008 were not traced for a variety of reasons. In addition to factors such as bureaucratic barriers and negligence, many of the weapons seized by Mexican authorities either do not bear serial numbers or have had their serial numbers altered or obliterated. It is also important to understand that the Mexican authorities simply don’t bother to submit some classes of weapons to the ATF for tracing. Such weapons include firearms they identify as coming from their own military or police forces, or guns that they can trace back themselves as being sold through the Mexican Defense Department’s Arms and Ammunition Marketing Division (UCAM). Likewise, they do not ask ATF to trace military ordnance from third countries like the South Korean fragmentation grenades commonly used in cartel attacks.
Of course, some or even many of the 22,800 firearms the Mexicans did not submit to ATF for tracing may have originated in the United States. But according to the figures presented by the GAO, there is no evidence to support the assertion that 90 percent of the guns used by the Mexican cartels come from the United States — especially when not even 50 percent of those that were submitted for tracing were ultimately found to be of U.S. origin.
This point leads us to consider the types of weapons being used by the Mexican cartels and where they come from.
TYPES AND SOURCES OF GUNS
To gain an understanding of the dynamics of the gun flow inside Mexico, it helps if one divides the guns seized by Mexican authorities from criminals into three broad categories — which, incidentally, just happen to represent three different sources.
TYPE 1: Guns Legally Available in Mexico
The first category of weapons encountered in Mexico is weapons available legally for sale in Mexico through UCAM. These include handguns smaller than a .357 magnum such as .380 and .38 Special.
A large portion of this first type of guns used by criminals is purchased in Mexico, or stolen from their legitimate owners. While UCAM does have very strict regulations for civilians to purchase guns, criminals will use straw purchasers to obtain firearms from UCAM or obtain them from corrupt officials. Cartel hit men in Mexico commonly use .380 pistols equipped with sound suppressors in their assassinations. In many cases, these pistols are purchased in Mexico, the suppressors are locally manufactured and the guns are adapted to receive the suppressors by Mexican gunsmiths.
It must be noted, though, that because of the cost and hassle of purchasing guns in Mexico, many of the guns in this category are purchased in the United States and smuggled into the country. There are a lot of cheap guns available on the U.S. market, and they can be sold at a premium in Mexico. Indeed, guns in this category, such as .380 pistols and .22-caliber rifles and pistols, are among the guns most commonly traced back to the United States. Still, the numbers do not indicate that 90 percent of guns in this category come from the United States.
Additionally, most of the explosives the cartels have been using in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Mexico over the past year have used commercially available Tovex, so we consider these explosives to fall in this first category. Mexican IEDs are another area where the rhetoric has been interesting to analyze, but we will explore this topic another time.
TYPE 2: Guns Legally Available in the U.S. but Not in Mexico
Many popular handgun calibers, such as 9 mm, .45 and .40, are reserved for the military and police and are not available for sale to civilians in Mexico. These guns, which are legally sold and very popular in the United States, comprise our second category, which also includes .50-caliber rifles, semiautomatic versions of assault rifles like the AK-47 and M16 and the FN Five-Seven pistol.
When we consider this second type of guns, a large number of them encountered in Mexico are likely purchased in the United States. Indeed, the GAO report notes that many of the guns most commonly traced back to the United States fall into this category. There are also many .45-caliber and 9 mm semiautomatic pistols and .357 revolvers obtained from deserters from the Mexican military and police, purchased from corrupt Mexican authorities or even brought in from South America (guns made by manufacturers such as Taurus and Bersa). This category also includes semiautomatic variants of assault rifles and main battle rifles, which are often converted by Mexican gunsmiths to be capable of fully automatic fire.
One can buy these types of weapons on the international arms market, but one pays a premium for such guns and it is cheaper and easier to simply buy them in the United States or South America and smuggle them into Mexico. In fact, there is an entire cottage industry that has developed to smuggle such weapons, and not all the customers are cartel hit men. There are many Mexican citizens who own guns in calibers such as .45, 9 mm, .40 and .44 magnum for self-defense — even though such guns are illegal in Mexico.
TYPE 3: Guns Not Available for Civilian Purchase in Mexico or the U.S.
The third category of weapons encountered in Mexico is military grade ordnance not generally available for sale in the United States or Mexico. This category includes hand grenades, 40 mm grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, automatic assault rifles and main battle rifles and light machine guns.
This third type of weapon is fairly difficult and very expensive to obtain in the United States (especially in the large numbers in which the cartels are employing them). They are also dangerous to obtain in the United States due to heavy law-enforcement scrutiny. Therefore, most of the military ordnance used by the Mexican cartels comes from other sources, such as the international arms market (increasingly from China via the same networks that furnish precursor chemicals for narcotics manufacturing), or from corrupt elements in the Mexican military or even deserters who take their weapons with them. Besides, items such as South Korean fragmentation grenades and RPG-7s, often used by the cartels, simply are not in the U.S. arsenal. This means that very few of the weapons in this category come from the United States.
In recent years the cartels (especially their enforcer groups such as Los Zetas, Gente Nueva and La Linea) have been increasingly using military weaponry instead of sporting arms. A close examination of the arms seized from the enforcer groups and their training camps clearly demonstrates this trend toward military ordnance, including many weapons not readily available in the United States. Some of these seizures have included M60 machine guns and hundreds of 40 mm grenades obtained from the military arsenals of countries like Guatemala.
But Guatemala is not the only source of such weapons. Latin America is awash in weapons that were shipped there over the past several decades to supply the various insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in the region. When these military-grade weapons are combined with the rampant corruption in the region, they quickly find their way into the black arms market. The Mexican cartels have supply-chain contacts that help move narcotics to Mexico from South America and they are able to use this same network to obtain guns from the black market in South and Central America and then smuggle them into Mexico. While there are many weapons in this category that were manufactured in the United States, the overwhelming majority of the U.S.-manufactured weapons of this third type encountered in Mexico — like LAW rockets and M60 machine guns — come into Mexico from third countries and not directly from the United States.
There are also some cases of overlap between classes of weapons. For example, the FN Five-Seven pistol is available for commercial purchase in the United States, but the 5.7x28 armor-piercing ammunition for the pistol favored by the cartels is not — it is a restricted item. However, some of the special operations forces units in the Mexican military are issued the Five-Seven as well as the FN P90 personal defense weapon, which also shoots the 5.7x28 round, and the cartels are obtaining some of these weapons and the armor-piercing ammunition from them and not from the United States. Conversely, we see bulk 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition bought in the United States and smuggled into Mexico, where it is used in fully-automatic AK-47s and M16s purchased elsewhere. As noted above, China has become an increasingly common source for military weapons like grenades and fully automatic assault rifles in recent years.
To really understand Mexico’s gun problem, however, it is necessary to recognize that the same economic law of supply and demand that fuels drug smuggling into the United States also fuels gun smuggling into Mexico. Black-market guns in Mexico can fetch up to 300 percent of their normal purchase price — a profit margin rivaling the narcotics the cartels sell. Even if it were somehow possible to hermetically seal the U.S.-Mexico border and shut off all the guns coming from the United States, the cartels would still be able to obtain weapons elsewhere — just as narcotics would continue to flow into the United States from other places. The United States does provide cheap and easy access to certain types of weapons and ammunition, but as demonstrated by groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, weapons can be easily obtained from other sources via the black arms market — albeit at a higher price.
There has clearly been a long and well-documented history of arms smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border, but it is important to recognize that, while the United States is a significant source of certain classes of weapons and ammunition, it is by no means the source of 90 percent of the weapons used by the Mexican cartels, as is commonly asserted.
In several previous postings on this blog, I have maintained that Mexico’s President Calderon, the Obama administration, ATF and the FBI have deliberately lied when they claimed that 90 percent of the guns seized from Mexican drug cartels came form gun dealers in the U.S., and particularly from those in Texas.
I believe Calderon lied to shift the blame for Mexico’s gang violence to our country. And I believe the Obama administration, ATF and the FBI perpetrated the 90 percent myth because they were hoping that those lies would cause Congress to pass stronger gun control laws.
Now an analyst at highly regarded STRATFOR Global Intelligence has come out with a comprehensive analysis that puts the lie to those phony claims about where the drug cartels obtain their deadly weapons. Here is the report of that analysis:
MEXICO’S GUN SUPPLY AND THE 90 PERCENT MYTH
By Scott Stewart
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
February 10, 2011
For several years now, STRATFOR has been closely watching developments in Mexico that relate to what we consider the three wars being waged there. Those three wars are the war between the various drug cartels, the war between the government and the cartels and the war being waged against citizens and businesses by criminals.
In addition to watching tactical developments of the cartel wars on the ground and studying the dynamics of the conflict among the various warring factions, we have also been paying close attention to the ways that both the Mexican and U.S. governments have reacted to these developments. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects to watch has been the way in which the Mexican government has tried to deflect responsibility for the cartel wars away from itself and onto the United States. According to the Mexican government, the cartel wars are not a result of corruption in Mexico or of economic and societal dynamics that leave many Mexicans marginalized and desperate to find a way to make a living. Instead, the cartel wars are due to the insatiable American appetite for narcotics and the endless stream of guns that flows from the United States into Mexico and that results in Mexican violence.
Interestingly, the part of this argument pertaining to guns has been adopted by many politicians and government officials in the United States in recent years. It has now become quite common to hear U.S. officials confidently assert that 90 percent of the weapons used by the Mexican drug cartels come from the United States. However, a close examination of the dynamics of the cartel wars in Mexico — and of how the oft-echoed 90 percent number was reached — clearly demonstrates that the number is more political rhetoric than empirical fact.
BY THE NUMBERS
As we discussed in a previous analysis, the 90 percent number was derived from a June 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress on U.S. efforts to combat arms trafficking to Mexico (see external link).
According to the GAO report, some 30,000 firearms were seized from criminals by Mexican authorities in 2008. Of these 30,000 firearms, information pertaining to 7,200 of them (24 percent) was submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for tracing. Of these 7,200 guns, only about 4,000 could be traced by the ATF, and of these 4,000, some 3,480 (87 percent) were shown to have come from the United States.
This means that the 87 percent figure relates to the number of weapons submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF that could be successfully traced and not from the total number of weapons seized by Mexican authorities or even from the total number of weapons submitted to the ATF for tracing. In fact, the 3,480 guns positively traced to the United States equals less than 12 percent of the total arms seized in Mexico in 2008 and less than 48 percent of all those submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF for tracing. This means that almost 90 percent of the guns seized in Mexico in 2008 were not traced back to the United States.
The remaining 22,800 firearms seized by Mexican authorities in 2008 were not traced for a variety of reasons. In addition to factors such as bureaucratic barriers and negligence, many of the weapons seized by Mexican authorities either do not bear serial numbers or have had their serial numbers altered or obliterated. It is also important to understand that the Mexican authorities simply don’t bother to submit some classes of weapons to the ATF for tracing. Such weapons include firearms they identify as coming from their own military or police forces, or guns that they can trace back themselves as being sold through the Mexican Defense Department’s Arms and Ammunition Marketing Division (UCAM). Likewise, they do not ask ATF to trace military ordnance from third countries like the South Korean fragmentation grenades commonly used in cartel attacks.
Of course, some or even many of the 22,800 firearms the Mexicans did not submit to ATF for tracing may have originated in the United States. But according to the figures presented by the GAO, there is no evidence to support the assertion that 90 percent of the guns used by the Mexican cartels come from the United States — especially when not even 50 percent of those that were submitted for tracing were ultimately found to be of U.S. origin.
This point leads us to consider the types of weapons being used by the Mexican cartels and where they come from.
TYPES AND SOURCES OF GUNS
To gain an understanding of the dynamics of the gun flow inside Mexico, it helps if one divides the guns seized by Mexican authorities from criminals into three broad categories — which, incidentally, just happen to represent three different sources.
TYPE 1: Guns Legally Available in Mexico
The first category of weapons encountered in Mexico is weapons available legally for sale in Mexico through UCAM. These include handguns smaller than a .357 magnum such as .380 and .38 Special.
A large portion of this first type of guns used by criminals is purchased in Mexico, or stolen from their legitimate owners. While UCAM does have very strict regulations for civilians to purchase guns, criminals will use straw purchasers to obtain firearms from UCAM or obtain them from corrupt officials. Cartel hit men in Mexico commonly use .380 pistols equipped with sound suppressors in their assassinations. In many cases, these pistols are purchased in Mexico, the suppressors are locally manufactured and the guns are adapted to receive the suppressors by Mexican gunsmiths.
It must be noted, though, that because of the cost and hassle of purchasing guns in Mexico, many of the guns in this category are purchased in the United States and smuggled into the country. There are a lot of cheap guns available on the U.S. market, and they can be sold at a premium in Mexico. Indeed, guns in this category, such as .380 pistols and .22-caliber rifles and pistols, are among the guns most commonly traced back to the United States. Still, the numbers do not indicate that 90 percent of guns in this category come from the United States.
Additionally, most of the explosives the cartels have been using in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Mexico over the past year have used commercially available Tovex, so we consider these explosives to fall in this first category. Mexican IEDs are another area where the rhetoric has been interesting to analyze, but we will explore this topic another time.
TYPE 2: Guns Legally Available in the U.S. but Not in Mexico
Many popular handgun calibers, such as 9 mm, .45 and .40, are reserved for the military and police and are not available for sale to civilians in Mexico. These guns, which are legally sold and very popular in the United States, comprise our second category, which also includes .50-caliber rifles, semiautomatic versions of assault rifles like the AK-47 and M16 and the FN Five-Seven pistol.
When we consider this second type of guns, a large number of them encountered in Mexico are likely purchased in the United States. Indeed, the GAO report notes that many of the guns most commonly traced back to the United States fall into this category. There are also many .45-caliber and 9 mm semiautomatic pistols and .357 revolvers obtained from deserters from the Mexican military and police, purchased from corrupt Mexican authorities or even brought in from South America (guns made by manufacturers such as Taurus and Bersa). This category also includes semiautomatic variants of assault rifles and main battle rifles, which are often converted by Mexican gunsmiths to be capable of fully automatic fire.
One can buy these types of weapons on the international arms market, but one pays a premium for such guns and it is cheaper and easier to simply buy them in the United States or South America and smuggle them into Mexico. In fact, there is an entire cottage industry that has developed to smuggle such weapons, and not all the customers are cartel hit men. There are many Mexican citizens who own guns in calibers such as .45, 9 mm, .40 and .44 magnum for self-defense — even though such guns are illegal in Mexico.
TYPE 3: Guns Not Available for Civilian Purchase in Mexico or the U.S.
The third category of weapons encountered in Mexico is military grade ordnance not generally available for sale in the United States or Mexico. This category includes hand grenades, 40 mm grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, automatic assault rifles and main battle rifles and light machine guns.
This third type of weapon is fairly difficult and very expensive to obtain in the United States (especially in the large numbers in which the cartels are employing them). They are also dangerous to obtain in the United States due to heavy law-enforcement scrutiny. Therefore, most of the military ordnance used by the Mexican cartels comes from other sources, such as the international arms market (increasingly from China via the same networks that furnish precursor chemicals for narcotics manufacturing), or from corrupt elements in the Mexican military or even deserters who take their weapons with them. Besides, items such as South Korean fragmentation grenades and RPG-7s, often used by the cartels, simply are not in the U.S. arsenal. This means that very few of the weapons in this category come from the United States.
In recent years the cartels (especially their enforcer groups such as Los Zetas, Gente Nueva and La Linea) have been increasingly using military weaponry instead of sporting arms. A close examination of the arms seized from the enforcer groups and their training camps clearly demonstrates this trend toward military ordnance, including many weapons not readily available in the United States. Some of these seizures have included M60 machine guns and hundreds of 40 mm grenades obtained from the military arsenals of countries like Guatemala.
But Guatemala is not the only source of such weapons. Latin America is awash in weapons that were shipped there over the past several decades to supply the various insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in the region. When these military-grade weapons are combined with the rampant corruption in the region, they quickly find their way into the black arms market. The Mexican cartels have supply-chain contacts that help move narcotics to Mexico from South America and they are able to use this same network to obtain guns from the black market in South and Central America and then smuggle them into Mexico. While there are many weapons in this category that were manufactured in the United States, the overwhelming majority of the U.S.-manufactured weapons of this third type encountered in Mexico — like LAW rockets and M60 machine guns — come into Mexico from third countries and not directly from the United States.
There are also some cases of overlap between classes of weapons. For example, the FN Five-Seven pistol is available for commercial purchase in the United States, but the 5.7x28 armor-piercing ammunition for the pistol favored by the cartels is not — it is a restricted item. However, some of the special operations forces units in the Mexican military are issued the Five-Seven as well as the FN P90 personal defense weapon, which also shoots the 5.7x28 round, and the cartels are obtaining some of these weapons and the armor-piercing ammunition from them and not from the United States. Conversely, we see bulk 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition bought in the United States and smuggled into Mexico, where it is used in fully-automatic AK-47s and M16s purchased elsewhere. As noted above, China has become an increasingly common source for military weapons like grenades and fully automatic assault rifles in recent years.
To really understand Mexico’s gun problem, however, it is necessary to recognize that the same economic law of supply and demand that fuels drug smuggling into the United States also fuels gun smuggling into Mexico. Black-market guns in Mexico can fetch up to 300 percent of their normal purchase price — a profit margin rivaling the narcotics the cartels sell. Even if it were somehow possible to hermetically seal the U.S.-Mexico border and shut off all the guns coming from the United States, the cartels would still be able to obtain weapons elsewhere — just as narcotics would continue to flow into the United States from other places. The United States does provide cheap and easy access to certain types of weapons and ammunition, but as demonstrated by groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, weapons can be easily obtained from other sources via the black arms market — albeit at a higher price.
There has clearly been a long and well-documented history of arms smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border, but it is important to recognize that, while the United States is a significant source of certain classes of weapons and ammunition, it is by no means the source of 90 percent of the weapons used by the Mexican cartels, as is commonly asserted.
WAS THAT A CURB-SIDE HOOKER IN COURT?
No it wasn’t. That was Li-Lo.
When Lindsay Lohan appeared in court on Wednesday, she wore a sparkling mini-dress. Her attire was more appropriate for a street-walking curb-side hooker than for someone in court to answer a felony theft charge.
When Lindsay Lohan appeared in court on Wednesday, she wore a sparkling mini-dress. Her attire was more appropriate for a street-walking curb-side hooker than for someone in court to answer a felony theft charge.
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