How the murderous Central American street gang MS-13 has built up a terrifying criminal stronghold in suburban Long Island
Associated Press
April 28, 2017
Late at night on Long Island, when helicopters thrum overhead and spotlights beam down onto lawns, many people here know exactly what's going on.
'You just think, '"Oh, God, whose child is it now?"' said Stephanie Spezia, a longtime resident of Brentwood, New York, a suburb in the heart of Long Island that is caught in the grip of a violent street gang with Central American ties, MS-13.
With MS-13 blamed for a trail of 11 corpses of mostly young people found since the start of the school year in Brentwood and Central Islip, the nation's focus has turned on how the Central American street gang built such a presence here.
The bloodshed in the two blue-collar towns has gotten the attention of President Donald Trump, who says the killings are the result of lax immigration policies that let too many criminal 'scum' slip through.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech Friday not far from a park where the bodies of four young men were found this month bearing MS-13's hallmarks: repeated slashes from a blade that left the victims nearly unrecognizable.
The government's goal, he said, was 'to demolish' MS-13.
Until that happens, though, some parents say they are afraid to let their children go to school. Teens say any perceived slight to a gang member, especially a refusal to join, can mean death.
After one high school warned parents not to let their kids wear anything 'gang-affiliated,' gang members started deciding on a daily basis what colors were off-limits, leaving students to guess what not to wear.
'Kids are losing their childhoods,' said Jennifer Suarez, whose 15-year-old niece was beaten and hacked to death in the street last year. 'You can see the stress on their faces as they get ready. It's like, you know, they're suiting up for battle.'
So how does a street gang with ties to Central America gain such an aggressive foothold in the suburbs of Long Island?
MS-13, or the Mara Salvatrucha, is believed by federal prosecutors to have thousands of members across the U.S., primarily immigrants from Central America. It has a stronghold in Los Angeles, where it emerged in the 1980s as a neighborhood street gang.
But its true rise began after members were deported back to El Salvador in the 1990s. There, the gang thrived and spread to Honduras.
MS-13 and rival groups there now control entire towns, rape girls and young women, massacre students, bus drivers and merchants who refuse to pay extortion, and kill competitors or youths who simply refuse to join.
That violence has prompted a migration of people trying to escape, especially children, who have streamed north because of a U.S. policy allowing people under 18 who arrive without parents to stay in the country temporarily with relatives or friends.
Since the fall of 2013, the U.S. has placed 165,000 unaccompanied minors. Long Island has been a frequent landing spot. Suffolk County, which includes Brentwood and Central Islip, has gotten 4,500. Neighboring Nassau County has received 3,800.
In a recent roundup of 13 suspected MS-13 gang members accused of murder and other charges, seven had entered as unaccompanied minors.
'There's no question that MS-13 is recruiting these unaccompanied children,' said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini. The youngsters 'don't have an established social network, at least many of them don't, and MS-13 is providing that network.'
'They're also using coercion,' Sini said. 'They say, 'If you don't join the gang, we will kill you.''
All told, nearly 200 suspected MS-13 members have been rounded up since September. Among the tactics Sini has employed have been stepped-up patrols, renewed cooperation with an FBI task force and helicopter sweeps of wooded areas where gang members have been known to gather.
Trump has promised to eradicate the gang in the U.S. through strict enforcement of immigration law.
'We are putting MS-13 in jail and getting them the hell out of our country,' he told The Associated Press this week.
'They are a bad group, and somebody said they are as bad as al-Qaeda, which is a hell of a reference. ... We are out in Long Island cleaning out the MS-13 scum.'
The tough talk has made some residents fearful of law enforcement as well of the gang. They say it's not about immigration politics but about making a community safer.
Residents of Brentwood and Central Islip, with a combined population of about 100,000, say the area of modest ranch homes, warehouses and strip malls has always been a diverse, welcoming place for immigrants trying to make better lives for their children.
Some longtime residents say law enforcement bears some of the responsibility for the gang's rise because it ignored the burgeoning problem for years.
Parents say 4,200-student Brentwood High School lacks the means to help young people who are often left alone after school because their parents work long hours. There are few social workers and guidance counselors, they say, and not enough security guards or cameras.
'They can't walk the halls without fear,' said Evelyn Rodriguez, the mother of 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas, who was found beaten to death last fall. Rodriguez said her daughter had been bullied for two years.
In the months leading up to her death, Kayla was involved in a series of disputes with members and associates of the MS-13, prosecutors said. Rodriguez said her daughter stood her ground and ended up dead.
Kayla and her lifelong friend Nisa Mickens, 15, were walking on a street near their homes when men with baseball bats and a machete jumped out and attacked them.
Nisa was found dead on a residential tree-lined street a day before her 16th birthday. After a day of searching, Kayla was discovered in a wooded backyard nearby. She lived a block away.
'People, they missed the opportunity to know a really great person,' said Nisa's father, Rob Mickens, who is running for the school board to help push for change. 'They would have loved to know her.'
Bertha Ullaguari said she noticed her 18-year-old son, Jorge Tigre, going from a good student on track to graduate from Bellport High to someone who was too afraid to go to school.
Then she got two truancy letters. When she pressed her son, he refused to tell her what was going on.
'Some bad things happened there,' Ullaguari said, her voice trembling. She had heard he had his tires slashed. There were rumors of gangs.
And then, about two weeks ago while she was driving with her daughter, they got a mysterious call. A girl on the line said Jorge was dead along with three others in a park 20 miles from his home.
'We nearly killed ourselves from the shock,' said Ullaguari, who is an Ecuadorean immigrant.
Jorge's body and the three others were found cut, their torsos exposed and hands bound, just steps from a playground.
'It could happen to anybody's child, anywhere,' Evelyn Rodriguez said. 'We all need to be aware of this, and we need stand together. Because I don't want it to be your child.'
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Saturday, April 29, 2017
100 DAYS IN OFFICE BUT NO MARCHING ORDERS FOR THE EMBASSY IN TEL AVIV
Trump’s pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem appears to be another broken promise
During his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump promised Jewish groups that he would move America’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem,” trumpeted Trump.
And just before his inauguration, when asked by a correspondent for Israel Hayom if he remembered his promise to move the embassy, Trump replied: “Of course I remember what I told you about Jerusalem. Of course I didn't forget. And you know I'm not a person who breaks promises.”
Trump already has Congressional approval to move the embassy, an act of great importance to Israel. Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995 which declared that (1) Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected; (2) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and (3) the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.
The State Department opposes moving the embassy because it would infuriate the oil-rich Arabs. And the Palestinian Arabs have vowed an “explosion” should Trump fulfill his promise.
Even though, like Trump, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem, they acquiesced to the State Department's opposition.
President Trump could already have issued an executive order to move the embassy. The State Department would not have to wait for a new building to be constructed because the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem can serve as our embassy until construction of the new building has been completed.
100 days in office but no marching orders for the embassy in Tel Aviv. Where is that executive order? Trump has gone from an unambiguous pledge to “we are thinking about it” to apparently forgetting about it.
Trump’s pledge appears to be another broken promise. And that broken promise will not cost him many votes because Jews make up only two percent of America’s population and 80 percent of them vote Democrat, no matter what.
During his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump promised Jewish groups that he would move America’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem,” trumpeted Trump.
And just before his inauguration, when asked by a correspondent for Israel Hayom if he remembered his promise to move the embassy, Trump replied: “Of course I remember what I told you about Jerusalem. Of course I didn't forget. And you know I'm not a person who breaks promises.”
Trump already has Congressional approval to move the embassy, an act of great importance to Israel. Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995 which declared that (1) Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected; (2) Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and (3) the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.
The State Department opposes moving the embassy because it would infuriate the oil-rich Arabs. And the Palestinian Arabs have vowed an “explosion” should Trump fulfill his promise.
Even though, like Trump, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem, they acquiesced to the State Department's opposition.
President Trump could already have issued an executive order to move the embassy. The State Department would not have to wait for a new building to be constructed because the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem can serve as our embassy until construction of the new building has been completed.
100 days in office but no marching orders for the embassy in Tel Aviv. Where is that executive order? Trump has gone from an unambiguous pledge to “we are thinking about it” to apparently forgetting about it.
Trump’s pledge appears to be another broken promise. And that broken promise will not cost him many votes because Jews make up only two percent of America’s population and 80 percent of them vote Democrat, no matter what.
A WARNING FOR THOSE WHO FAVOR DECRIMINALIZING OR LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
Pot, including medical marijuana, has become a leading factor in highway crash fatalities in those states where medical marijuana and recreational pot are legal
By Howie Katz
Bib Jolly Politics
April 28, 2017
A report released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility shows that more drivers are being killed under the influence of drugs in highway crashes than under the influence of alcohol.
In 2015, testing of the drivers killed in crashes revealed that 43 percent were under the influence of drugs, both legal and illegal, while 37 percent were under the influence of alcohol.
Marijuana was involved in more than 1/3rd of the drug-related crashes.
The increase in marijuana-related traffic fatalities is most notable in those states where recreational pot and/or medical marijuana have been legalized. “In Colorado,” according to the GHSA report, “marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 48 percent after the state legalized recreational use of the drug.”
According to the Austin American-Statesman, “More than a dozen bills are pending in the Texas Legislature this session, aimed at lifting prohibitions on Texans who want to use marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.”
Those who favor legalizing marijuana claim that it is an innocuous substance. That is a lie! Pot advocates also claim that the illegal market in marijuana will disappear once the drug is legalized. That is not true either!
In Colorado and Washington, states that have legalized marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels are still doing a thriving business. Because there are high taxes added to the price of cannabis in legal pot shops, many stoners are getting their pot on street corners where they can buy the weed for far less. And that is also where juveniles can get their pot.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vowed to enforce the federal laws on marijuana which prohibit the manufacture, distribution and possession of the drug, particularly in those states that have legalized pot. Unless Congress changes the laws, the DEA could bring about an end to the legalization of marijuana.
Marijuana is not innocuous nor will its legalization kill the black market in pot.
The GHSA report should be a warning for those who favor decriminalizing or legalizing pot. I hope the majority of Texas legislators have the good sense not to mess with the state’s current laws on marijuana.
By Howie Katz
Bib Jolly Politics
April 28, 2017
A report released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility shows that more drivers are being killed under the influence of drugs in highway crashes than under the influence of alcohol.
In 2015, testing of the drivers killed in crashes revealed that 43 percent were under the influence of drugs, both legal and illegal, while 37 percent were under the influence of alcohol.
Marijuana was involved in more than 1/3rd of the drug-related crashes.
The increase in marijuana-related traffic fatalities is most notable in those states where recreational pot and/or medical marijuana have been legalized. “In Colorado,” according to the GHSA report, “marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 48 percent after the state legalized recreational use of the drug.”
According to the Austin American-Statesman, “More than a dozen bills are pending in the Texas Legislature this session, aimed at lifting prohibitions on Texans who want to use marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.”
Those who favor legalizing marijuana claim that it is an innocuous substance. That is a lie! Pot advocates also claim that the illegal market in marijuana will disappear once the drug is legalized. That is not true either!
In Colorado and Washington, states that have legalized marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels are still doing a thriving business. Because there are high taxes added to the price of cannabis in legal pot shops, many stoners are getting their pot on street corners where they can buy the weed for far less. And that is also where juveniles can get their pot.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vowed to enforce the federal laws on marijuana which prohibit the manufacture, distribution and possession of the drug, particularly in those states that have legalized pot. Unless Congress changes the laws, the DEA could bring about an end to the legalization of marijuana.
Marijuana is not innocuous nor will its legalization kill the black market in pot.
The GHSA report should be a warning for those who favor decriminalizing or legalizing pot. I hope the majority of Texas legislators have the good sense not to mess with the state’s current laws on marijuana.
WE ARE WHO WE ARE BECAUSE WE CHEAT
Since one third of scientists confessed to engaging in questionable research practices, might one not think the conclusions reached that pot is not harmful were predetermined by researches wanting a pro-pot outcome?
I have always questioned the studies which purport to show that pot is a beneficial substance, not a harmful one. Of course one could also say that studies showing pot to be harmful are bogus. It all boils down to what you want to believe about pot. But I’ll eat my beloved John Deere cap if those studies showing pot is not harmful were not conducted by pot smokers determined to justify their use of marijuana.
The following excerpt fron "Why We Cheat" by Ferric C. Fang and Arturo Casadevall, was sent to me by my former sheriff’s department colleague and old friend Jerry Doyle:
Not all people cheat, but it is "astoundingly common," and people are much more inclined to cheat if others around them are cheating:
"Although it is comforting to think that most people are essentially honest, cheating -- defined as acting dishonestly to gain an advantage -- is actually astoundingly common. In a 1997 survey, management professor Donald McCabe of Rutgers University and Linda Klebe Treviño, a professor of organizational behavior at the Pennsylvania State University, revealed that about three fourths of 1,800 students at nine state universities admitted to cheating on tests or written assignments. In 2005 sociologist Brian Martinson of the HealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington, Minn., and his colleagues reported that one third of scientists confessed to engaging in questionable research practices during the previous three years. ...
"Humans are surprisingly quick to cheat when the circumstances are conducive. In 2008 behavioral economist Dan Ariely of Duke University and his colleagues described what happened when they asked college students to solve math puzzles for cash rewards. When the researchers changed the experimental conditions such that the students assumed the examiner could not detect cheating, the average self-reported test score rose significantly. The researchers determined that the scores were not inflated by a few students who cheated a lot but rather by many students cheating a little. ...
"If cheaters used a simple cost-benefit calculation, one might predict that people would cheat as much as possible, not just a little bit. Yet in Ariely's study, students on average reported six correct answers when they got only four right, even though they could have raised their scores to a maximum of 20. In addition, no simple relation exists between the magnitude of the reward and the likelihood of cheating. When Ariely's team increased the cash reward, the amount of cheating actually declined. Ariely suggests that the students felt guilty when they cheated more or received larger amounts of cash through dishonest behavior. ... Another possibility is that the students thought they would be less likely to attract attention if they cheated only a little. ...
"In 2011 Ariely and behavioral economist Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School reported that people who score higher on psychological tests of creativity are more apt to engage in dishonesty -- a connection that is perhaps not surprising considering that creativity and tactical deception are both products of the neocortex. ... They submit that creative individuals are better at self-deception: they come up with more inventive rationalizations for cheating as a way of making themselves feel better about doing it. As Proust observed in Remembrance of Things Past, 'It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.' Or as George told Jerry on Seinfeld 75 years later, 'It's not a lie if you believe it.' Ironically, the creativity and intelligence that we regard as distinctly human might have arisen alongside our ability to deceive. We are who we are because we cheat. ...
"Unchecked dishonesty can promote the perception that one must cheat to remain competitive, ... and [certain] observations have led Ariely to refer to cheating as 'infectious.' ... Social contagion may help explain the high prevalence of cheating in relatively small groups of people. For example, 125 Harvard students were recently under investigation for cheating on the final examination in an introductory government course. (More than half these students were told to withdraw from school for up to a year as punishment.) It is statistically unlikely that nearly half the 279 students in that class are sociopaths given the low prevalence of sociopathy -- about 3 percent in males and 1 percent in females. A more plausible explanation is contagion. The widespread bending of the rules probably led students to conclude that collaborating with other students was okay. (The class was called 'Introduction to Congress,' so perhaps the students were simply identifying too much with the material.)"
I have always questioned the studies which purport to show that pot is a beneficial substance, not a harmful one. Of course one could also say that studies showing pot to be harmful are bogus. It all boils down to what you want to believe about pot. But I’ll eat my beloved John Deere cap if those studies showing pot is not harmful were not conducted by pot smokers determined to justify their use of marijuana.
The following excerpt fron "Why We Cheat" by Ferric C. Fang and Arturo Casadevall, was sent to me by my former sheriff’s department colleague and old friend Jerry Doyle:
Not all people cheat, but it is "astoundingly common," and people are much more inclined to cheat if others around them are cheating:
"Although it is comforting to think that most people are essentially honest, cheating -- defined as acting dishonestly to gain an advantage -- is actually astoundingly common. In a 1997 survey, management professor Donald McCabe of Rutgers University and Linda Klebe Treviño, a professor of organizational behavior at the Pennsylvania State University, revealed that about three fourths of 1,800 students at nine state universities admitted to cheating on tests or written assignments. In 2005 sociologist Brian Martinson of the HealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington, Minn., and his colleagues reported that one third of scientists confessed to engaging in questionable research practices during the previous three years. ...
"Humans are surprisingly quick to cheat when the circumstances are conducive. In 2008 behavioral economist Dan Ariely of Duke University and his colleagues described what happened when they asked college students to solve math puzzles for cash rewards. When the researchers changed the experimental conditions such that the students assumed the examiner could not detect cheating, the average self-reported test score rose significantly. The researchers determined that the scores were not inflated by a few students who cheated a lot but rather by many students cheating a little. ...
"If cheaters used a simple cost-benefit calculation, one might predict that people would cheat as much as possible, not just a little bit. Yet in Ariely's study, students on average reported six correct answers when they got only four right, even though they could have raised their scores to a maximum of 20. In addition, no simple relation exists between the magnitude of the reward and the likelihood of cheating. When Ariely's team increased the cash reward, the amount of cheating actually declined. Ariely suggests that the students felt guilty when they cheated more or received larger amounts of cash through dishonest behavior. ... Another possibility is that the students thought they would be less likely to attract attention if they cheated only a little. ...
"In 2011 Ariely and behavioral economist Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School reported that people who score higher on psychological tests of creativity are more apt to engage in dishonesty -- a connection that is perhaps not surprising considering that creativity and tactical deception are both products of the neocortex. ... They submit that creative individuals are better at self-deception: they come up with more inventive rationalizations for cheating as a way of making themselves feel better about doing it. As Proust observed in Remembrance of Things Past, 'It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.' Or as George told Jerry on Seinfeld 75 years later, 'It's not a lie if you believe it.' Ironically, the creativity and intelligence that we regard as distinctly human might have arisen alongside our ability to deceive. We are who we are because we cheat. ...
"Unchecked dishonesty can promote the perception that one must cheat to remain competitive, ... and [certain] observations have led Ariely to refer to cheating as 'infectious.' ... Social contagion may help explain the high prevalence of cheating in relatively small groups of people. For example, 125 Harvard students were recently under investigation for cheating on the final examination in an introductory government course. (More than half these students were told to withdraw from school for up to a year as punishment.) It is statistically unlikely that nearly half the 279 students in that class are sociopaths given the low prevalence of sociopathy -- about 3 percent in males and 1 percent in females. A more plausible explanation is contagion. The widespread bending of the rules probably led students to conclude that collaborating with other students was okay. (The class was called 'Introduction to Congress,' so perhaps the students were simply identifying too much with the material.)"
THE POWER OF WATER
A woman goes to the doctor, worried about her husband’s temper.
The doctor asks, “What’s the problem?”
The woman says: “Doctor, I don’t know what to do. Every day my husband seems to lose his temper for no reason. It scares me.”
The doctor says: “I have a cure for that. When it seems that your husband is getting angry, just take a glass of water and start swishing it in your mouth. Just swish and swish, but don’t swallow it until he either leaves the room or calms down.”
Two weeks later, the woman comes back to the doctor looking fresh and reborn.
The woman says: “Doctor that was a brilliant solution! Every time my husband started losing it, I swished with water. I swished and swished, and he calmed right down. How does a glass of water do that?”
The doctor says: “The water itself does nothing. It’s keeping your mouth shut that does it.”
The doctor asks, “What’s the problem?”
The woman says: “Doctor, I don’t know what to do. Every day my husband seems to lose his temper for no reason. It scares me.”
The doctor says: “I have a cure for that. When it seems that your husband is getting angry, just take a glass of water and start swishing it in your mouth. Just swish and swish, but don’t swallow it until he either leaves the room or calms down.”
Two weeks later, the woman comes back to the doctor looking fresh and reborn.
The woman says: “Doctor that was a brilliant solution! Every time my husband started losing it, I swished with water. I swished and swished, and he calmed right down. How does a glass of water do that?”
The doctor says: “The water itself does nothing. It’s keeping your mouth shut that does it.”
Friday, April 28, 2017
THE WEEK KIM HIT ROCK BOTTOM AND FINALLY MADE ME REALIZE I NO LONGER WISH TO KEEP UP WITH HER OR ANY OF THE GREEDY, CYNICAL KARDASHIAN CLAN
Kim Kardashian’s now selling nudity, drugs, booze and high-risk sex to the youth of the world and making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
April 27, 2017
I’m done with Kim Kardashian.
And her ghastly family.
Done. Done. DONE.
I just can’t stomach the sight or thought of any of these talentless, publicity-crazed, unctuously self-absorbed, vacuous wastrels for a single moment longer.
Not Kim, not Kendall, not Kylie, not Kourtney, not Kris, not Caitlyn – not ANY of them.
This feeling of utter, skin-crawling anathema towards all things Kardashian and Jenner has been creeping up inside my intestines for a while but it crystallized itself today in a blazing eruption of irritation and contempt.
In the words of Peter Finch’s news anchor character Howard Beale in the movie Network: ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’
What tipped me over the edge? Kim’s pathetic new interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the world’s most simpering chat show host and chief celebrity sycophant.
Here was a true meeting of galactic level insincerity.
It was Kim’s first TV appearance since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris last year, and she milked it like an over-eager farmhand in a field full of udder-bloated cows.
The tears rolled as Kim told an equally choked up Ellen: ‘I know it sounds crazy but I know this was meant to happen to me. I feel like I am such a different person. I feel like things happen in life to teach you things.’
Ellen handed over some tissues, her caring, sharing face belying what she was really thinking, which was ‘KERCHING! You keep crying baby, this is ratings gold!’
Kim announced she no longer wears jewellery, or posts photos of her cars, because she doesn’t want to draw attention to her wealth.
‘I was definitely materialistic before,’ she explained, in between her wailing sobs. ‘I’m so glad that my kids get this me, that this is who is raising my kids. I just don’t care about that stuff any more. I really don’t.’
For a second, I nearly believed her.
It would take a heart of stone not to see a mother weep as she talked about such a terrible experience and how it had reshaped her entire life.
But then I remembered it was Kim Kardashian we’re dealing with, so I went to her Twitter account to check how her new life of anti-materialism was going.
Her most recent three tweets all direct her 51 million followers to her ‘Kimoji’ merchandise website.
The No1 item, which is currently ‘SOLD OUT’, is her Ass Tray at $35.
That’s a cartoon image of her large naked bottom inside an ashtray.
Among other items for purchase is her Butt Pool Float at $98 that also features Kim’s naked bottom shaped like a swimming pool float.
Ms Kardashian is very proud of her bottom.
So much so that she’s spent the past week deliberately flaunting it for the paparazzi on a beach holiday with her female friends.
It’s been a deliberate marketing ploy to sell her bottom-related merchandise.
The only problem is that the real thing, as we have now seen, bares no relation to the perfectly proportioned, super-smooth, cellulite-free vision of glory she sells to the world via her Kimoji wares or the heavily-airbrushed photos she posts and flogs to magazines.
In other words, as with all things Kardashian these days, it’s one gigantic con trick. A façade aided and abetted by the world’s women’s magazine industry that wants us all to buy into the fakery and compel its readers to aspire to completely bogus body images with myriad expensive potions, creams and surgeries.
Other Kimoji merchandise includes hats and T-shirts with pro-drugs message like ‘Never Not High’ and ‘Lit Tie Dye rolling paper’.
Oh, and a peach heart emoji that says ‘PNP’. That’s a slang term used mainly by gay men on sex apps like Grindr to denote ‘Party’n’Play’. It means they are interested in having high-risk, often unprotected sex with strangers while taking drugs like methamphetamine and GHB.
On the hit reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim is always careful to maintain an abstemious image – no drugs and very little alcohol.
But it would seem that once she’s hooked her young fans into THAT image of nice, decent purity, she then urges them on her social media sites to spend big money on stuff actively promoting a very different lifestyle.
It’s hugely profitable, and hugely cynical.
For a while, I enjoyed the Kardashian ride; I interviewed Kim and her sister Kourtney for CNN in 2011 and they seemed nice girls who worked hard and were doing no real harm to anyone. Their overly pious critics seemed to miss the point - which was that there wasn’t really any point to them. They were just having fun.
As a result, I’d defend them vigorously against those who said they represented everything repellent about the fickle, artless world of Z-list reality television.
Then it all started to turn a bit darker and my sympathies went south too.
Nice girl Kim married bad boy rapper Kanye West and began posting profanely captioned nude photos of herself flipping the bird. By doing so, she crossed a line from harmless fun to something altogether more crass and unpleasant.
Particularly when she claimed it was being done as part of some kind of stand for ‘feminism and liberating empowerment for women’.
What absurd, disingenuous horseshit!
I’m not a prude and I couldn’t care less what people like Kim Kardashian want to expose of themselves in private, if they do so legally.
But when you have literally tens of millions of young female followers hanging on your every social media post, you surely have a great duty of care to send them the right messages?
For the world’s young girls to think the only way to get on in life as a woman is to strip naked in public and flip the bird is not just wrong, it’s dangerous.
Nor should they be encouraged to spend large amounts of money on accessories promoting the joy of drugs, when so many of them are still at school.
Kim Kardashian wants us to think she’s turned over a new leaf, that she’s renounced her old materialistic ways. That, as a mother of two young children herself, she has learned how to behave in a responsible fashion.
But she hasn’t.
The truth is that she’s now using her massive global platform to actively corrupt our kids.
And she doesn’t hesitate to aggressively exploit her own children as often as possible to further promote her brand through sites like Instagram, whilst pretending to prioritise their safety and interests.
The rest of her family have all followed suit, willingly, greedily complicit in the same ruthlessly commercial game.
I don’t find the Kardashian machine funny or harmless any more.
It’s grown ugly; very, very ugly.
Kim Kardashian’s now selling nudity, drugs, booze and high-risk sex to the youth of the world and making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.
Do we really want someone like her to be the role model our young daughters look up to and want to emulate?
I don’t.
No, as I said at the start of this column, I’m done with Kim Kardashian and her ghastly family.
I want them gone from public life, expunged from the airwaves, thrown off the newsstands, and extinguished from the celebrity ether.
They’ve become a pitiful parody of stinking, sobbing hypocrisy that should no longer be encouraged or tolerated in civilised society.
It’s time to boot Kim Kardashian and her gigantic, surgically enhanced backside into the same obscurity from which she once crawled thanks to that infamous sex tape.
And I want you to join me in this campaign.
Again, back to the gloriously relevant words of Howard Beale:
‘You gotta say, “I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!” So get up out of your chairs, go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
I no longer want to keep up with the Kardashians.
Period.
Nor should you.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry Piers, but you’re a day late and a dollar short. You should have seen the Kardashians and the Jenners for the filthy trash and phonies they are back when they first started their God awful TV reality show.
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
April 27, 2017
I’m done with Kim Kardashian.
And her ghastly family.
Done. Done. DONE.
I just can’t stomach the sight or thought of any of these talentless, publicity-crazed, unctuously self-absorbed, vacuous wastrels for a single moment longer.
Not Kim, not Kendall, not Kylie, not Kourtney, not Kris, not Caitlyn – not ANY of them.
This feeling of utter, skin-crawling anathema towards all things Kardashian and Jenner has been creeping up inside my intestines for a while but it crystallized itself today in a blazing eruption of irritation and contempt.
In the words of Peter Finch’s news anchor character Howard Beale in the movie Network: ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’
What tipped me over the edge? Kim’s pathetic new interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the world’s most simpering chat show host and chief celebrity sycophant.
Here was a true meeting of galactic level insincerity.
It was Kim’s first TV appearance since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris last year, and she milked it like an over-eager farmhand in a field full of udder-bloated cows.
The tears rolled as Kim told an equally choked up Ellen: ‘I know it sounds crazy but I know this was meant to happen to me. I feel like I am such a different person. I feel like things happen in life to teach you things.’
Ellen handed over some tissues, her caring, sharing face belying what she was really thinking, which was ‘KERCHING! You keep crying baby, this is ratings gold!’
Kim announced she no longer wears jewellery, or posts photos of her cars, because she doesn’t want to draw attention to her wealth.
‘I was definitely materialistic before,’ she explained, in between her wailing sobs. ‘I’m so glad that my kids get this me, that this is who is raising my kids. I just don’t care about that stuff any more. I really don’t.’
For a second, I nearly believed her.
It would take a heart of stone not to see a mother weep as she talked about such a terrible experience and how it had reshaped her entire life.
But then I remembered it was Kim Kardashian we’re dealing with, so I went to her Twitter account to check how her new life of anti-materialism was going.
Her most recent three tweets all direct her 51 million followers to her ‘Kimoji’ merchandise website.
The No1 item, which is currently ‘SOLD OUT’, is her Ass Tray at $35.
That’s a cartoon image of her large naked bottom inside an ashtray.
Among other items for purchase is her Butt Pool Float at $98 that also features Kim’s naked bottom shaped like a swimming pool float.
Ms Kardashian is very proud of her bottom.
So much so that she’s spent the past week deliberately flaunting it for the paparazzi on a beach holiday with her female friends.
It’s been a deliberate marketing ploy to sell her bottom-related merchandise.
The only problem is that the real thing, as we have now seen, bares no relation to the perfectly proportioned, super-smooth, cellulite-free vision of glory she sells to the world via her Kimoji wares or the heavily-airbrushed photos she posts and flogs to magazines.
In other words, as with all things Kardashian these days, it’s one gigantic con trick. A façade aided and abetted by the world’s women’s magazine industry that wants us all to buy into the fakery and compel its readers to aspire to completely bogus body images with myriad expensive potions, creams and surgeries.
Other Kimoji merchandise includes hats and T-shirts with pro-drugs message like ‘Never Not High’ and ‘Lit Tie Dye rolling paper’.
Oh, and a peach heart emoji that says ‘PNP’. That’s a slang term used mainly by gay men on sex apps like Grindr to denote ‘Party’n’Play’. It means they are interested in having high-risk, often unprotected sex with strangers while taking drugs like methamphetamine and GHB.
On the hit reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim is always careful to maintain an abstemious image – no drugs and very little alcohol.
But it would seem that once she’s hooked her young fans into THAT image of nice, decent purity, she then urges them on her social media sites to spend big money on stuff actively promoting a very different lifestyle.
It’s hugely profitable, and hugely cynical.
For a while, I enjoyed the Kardashian ride; I interviewed Kim and her sister Kourtney for CNN in 2011 and they seemed nice girls who worked hard and were doing no real harm to anyone. Their overly pious critics seemed to miss the point - which was that there wasn’t really any point to them. They were just having fun.
As a result, I’d defend them vigorously against those who said they represented everything repellent about the fickle, artless world of Z-list reality television.
Then it all started to turn a bit darker and my sympathies went south too.
Nice girl Kim married bad boy rapper Kanye West and began posting profanely captioned nude photos of herself flipping the bird. By doing so, she crossed a line from harmless fun to something altogether more crass and unpleasant.
Particularly when she claimed it was being done as part of some kind of stand for ‘feminism and liberating empowerment for women’.
What absurd, disingenuous horseshit!
I’m not a prude and I couldn’t care less what people like Kim Kardashian want to expose of themselves in private, if they do so legally.
But when you have literally tens of millions of young female followers hanging on your every social media post, you surely have a great duty of care to send them the right messages?
For the world’s young girls to think the only way to get on in life as a woman is to strip naked in public and flip the bird is not just wrong, it’s dangerous.
Nor should they be encouraged to spend large amounts of money on accessories promoting the joy of drugs, when so many of them are still at school.
Kim Kardashian wants us to think she’s turned over a new leaf, that she’s renounced her old materialistic ways. That, as a mother of two young children herself, she has learned how to behave in a responsible fashion.
But she hasn’t.
The truth is that she’s now using her massive global platform to actively corrupt our kids.
And she doesn’t hesitate to aggressively exploit her own children as often as possible to further promote her brand through sites like Instagram, whilst pretending to prioritise their safety and interests.
The rest of her family have all followed suit, willingly, greedily complicit in the same ruthlessly commercial game.
I don’t find the Kardashian machine funny or harmless any more.
It’s grown ugly; very, very ugly.
Kim Kardashian’s now selling nudity, drugs, booze and high-risk sex to the youth of the world and making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.
Do we really want someone like her to be the role model our young daughters look up to and want to emulate?
I don’t.
No, as I said at the start of this column, I’m done with Kim Kardashian and her ghastly family.
I want them gone from public life, expunged from the airwaves, thrown off the newsstands, and extinguished from the celebrity ether.
They’ve become a pitiful parody of stinking, sobbing hypocrisy that should no longer be encouraged or tolerated in civilised society.
It’s time to boot Kim Kardashian and her gigantic, surgically enhanced backside into the same obscurity from which she once crawled thanks to that infamous sex tape.
And I want you to join me in this campaign.
Again, back to the gloriously relevant words of Howard Beale:
‘You gotta say, “I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!” So get up out of your chairs, go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
I no longer want to keep up with the Kardashians.
Period.
Nor should you.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sorry Piers, but you’re a day late and a dollar short. You should have seen the Kardashians and the Jenners for the filthy trash and phonies they are back when they first started their God awful TV reality show.
IT'S HARD TO GET GOOD HELP ..... IF YOU ARE RUNNING A PRISON
by Bob Walsh
The California prison system has a problem. They are operating under a court order and a special master to vastly improve the medical care of inmates. It is, however, hard to do if no one wants to work for you and if the administrative system is incompetently run.
The State I. G. has just issued a report detailing many problems within the system in general and at New Folsom Prison (technically California State Prison, Sacramento.)
I admit I have trouble understanding it. I know why they have trouble hiring staff at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. It is in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere. You can see the parking lot for hell from Tower 1. New Folsom is in a major metropolitan area, the weather is decent, there is a real, modern infrastructure there like shopping, movies, massage parlors, indian casinos. Everything you need to live a civilized life.
The doctors that do work there complain incessantly of inferior working conditions. Most are actively looking for work elsewhere. Their response to emergencies is lethargic. (Remember Emergency Medical Care is a specialty. Most prison doctors write prescriptions and transport orders. They don't really practice medicine personally.)
CSP Sac is a high security institution. The inmate population are violent, dangerous assholes. It has seven positions on staff for primary care doctors. Three of those positions are vacant. This is one of the prisons that is offering a 15% bonus for medical doctors in addition to the 9% general pay raise coming this year. The current average pay for state prison doctors is about $250,000 per year. This is as a rank-and-file employee who works essentially 8-5 m-f with significant pay for working on call shifts or overtime, for which time-and-a-half is paid. I grant you that isn't a ton of money, but neither is it chump change.
The California prison system has a problem. They are operating under a court order and a special master to vastly improve the medical care of inmates. It is, however, hard to do if no one wants to work for you and if the administrative system is incompetently run.
The State I. G. has just issued a report detailing many problems within the system in general and at New Folsom Prison (technically California State Prison, Sacramento.)
I admit I have trouble understanding it. I know why they have trouble hiring staff at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. It is in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere. You can see the parking lot for hell from Tower 1. New Folsom is in a major metropolitan area, the weather is decent, there is a real, modern infrastructure there like shopping, movies, massage parlors, indian casinos. Everything you need to live a civilized life.
The doctors that do work there complain incessantly of inferior working conditions. Most are actively looking for work elsewhere. Their response to emergencies is lethargic. (Remember Emergency Medical Care is a specialty. Most prison doctors write prescriptions and transport orders. They don't really practice medicine personally.)
CSP Sac is a high security institution. The inmate population are violent, dangerous assholes. It has seven positions on staff for primary care doctors. Three of those positions are vacant. This is one of the prisons that is offering a 15% bonus for medical doctors in addition to the 9% general pay raise coming this year. The current average pay for state prison doctors is about $250,000 per year. This is as a rank-and-file employee who works essentially 8-5 m-f with significant pay for working on call shifts or overtime, for which time-and-a-half is paid. I grant you that isn't a ton of money, but neither is it chump change.
CRIMINAL, STUPID, CRIMINALLY STUPID OR MERELY STUPID CRIMINAL??
by Bob Walsh
From what I gather Florida City, FLA is either a serious crime-ridden shithole, or it is inhabited largely by complete morons.
Martaevious Santiago was 17 on Tuesday. His sister, Tedra King, walked up to him in the family kitchen and gave him a nice hug for his birthday, then turned and walked away. He pulled a (stolen) gun from his pants, aimed at the back of her head and pulled the trigger, splattering her brains all over the kitchen. He then told the cops that it was an accident.
It seems that half of the people in the Washington Park neighborhood where they live is either a shooter or a shootee. Young Mr. Santiago was himself shot in the leg just before Christmas. The circumstances are a little fuzzy. His younger brother, Martwan Santiago, 15, was shot four times last year. (One incident, four bullets.) He is now paralyzed.
Martaevious asserts the gun was given to him by a 14-year old buddy. That friend was arrested by the cops on a warrant not related to this incident.
From what I gather Florida City, FLA is either a serious crime-ridden shithole, or it is inhabited largely by complete morons.
Martaevious Santiago was 17 on Tuesday. His sister, Tedra King, walked up to him in the family kitchen and gave him a nice hug for his birthday, then turned and walked away. He pulled a (stolen) gun from his pants, aimed at the back of her head and pulled the trigger, splattering her brains all over the kitchen. He then told the cops that it was an accident.
It seems that half of the people in the Washington Park neighborhood where they live is either a shooter or a shootee. Young Mr. Santiago was himself shot in the leg just before Christmas. The circumstances are a little fuzzy. His younger brother, Martwan Santiago, 15, was shot four times last year. (One incident, four bullets.) He is now paralyzed.
Martaevious asserts the gun was given to him by a 14-year old buddy. That friend was arrested by the cops on a warrant not related to this incident.
'PRISON GUARD" MURDERED IN N.C.
by Bob Walsh
A female sergeant with the North Caroline Dept. of Corrections was murdered late Wednesday while on the job.
Megan Lee Callahan, 29, was working at the Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor. She has been with the department for 12 years and was promoted to Sergeant about 14 months ago. An unnamed inmate is a specific suspect in the attack, a lifer who has been down since 2004 out of Cumberland County.
A female sergeant with the North Caroline Dept. of Corrections was murdered late Wednesday while on the job.
Megan Lee Callahan, 29, was working at the Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor. She has been with the department for 12 years and was promoted to Sergeant about 14 months ago. An unnamed inmate is a specific suspect in the attack, a lifer who has been down since 2004 out of Cumberland County.
POT, INCLUDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA, LEAVING CARNAGE ON NATION’S HIGHWAYS
Drugged driving eclipses drunken driving in tests of motorists killed in crashes, with more than a 1/3rd of drug-related crashes involving marijuana
By Ashley Halsey III
The Washington Post
April 26, 2017
For the first time, statistics show that drivers killed in crashes are more likely to be on drugs than drunk.
Forty-three percent of drivers tested in fatal crashes in 2015 had used a legal or illegal drug, eclipsing the 37 percent who tested above the legal limit for alcohol, according to a report released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility.
Of the drivers who tested positive for drugs, more than a third had used marijuana and more than 9 percent had taken amphetamines.
“As drunken driving has declined, drugged driving has increased dramatically, and many of today’s impaired drivers are combining two or more substances,” said Ralph S. Blackman, president of the foundation, a nonprofit founded and funded by a group of distillers.
The report is narrowly focused on fatal crashes. It shows that among fatally injured drivers with known test results, 2015 was the first time that drug use was more prevalent than alcohol use.
Beyond that, however, it draws on other studies and statistics that create a complicated portrait of legal and illegal drug use nationwide. Every state bans driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The opioid epidemic — heroin use and the abuse of prescription drugs — is well established. In 2015, more than 33,000 people fatally overdosed on opioids, almost equal to the 35,095 people killed that year in all traffic crashes.
The number of drivers who tested positive for drugs after dying in a crash rose from almost 28 percent in 2005 to 43 percent in 2015, the latest year for which data is available.
Though the dates when each state passed a law vary, that period coincided with more-permissive laws covering the use of marijuana.
Medical use of the drug is now allowed in 29 states and the District of Columbia; 17 states permit its use in some medical circumstances; use has been decriminalized in 21 states; and recreational use is allowed in eight states and the District.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to reinvigorate the war on drugs, reversing an Obama administration policy that reduced prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
Although the liberalization of marijuana laws and increase in drug-use fatalities might lead to an easy conclusion, the report cites European studies that found marijuana use slightly increased the risk of a crash, while opioids, amphetamines and mixing alcohol with drugs greatly increased the risk of a crash.
Counterbalancing that assessment of crash risk is this stark statistic: In Colorado, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 48 percent after the state legalized recreational use of the drug.
“Drugged driving is a complicated issue,” said Jim Hedlund, a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official who wrote the GHSA report. “The more we can synthesize the latest research and share what’s going on around the country to address drug-impaired driving, the better positioned states will be to prevent it.”
Unlike the blood alcohol standard of 0.08, which often can be established at the scene of a crash, testing for drug use is more complex, usually requiring a blood test, and the effect of drug use can vary substantially among users.
Surveys of regular marijuana users in Colorado and Washington state, which also has legalized recreational use, found that almost none of them thought marijuana use impaired their driving, while they believed drinking alcohol did.
The challenge to police in attempting to enforce laws against drug-using drivers is compounded because many officers lack training to identify those under the influence of drugs, and delays in testing may allow the drug to metabolize so the results do not accurately measure the concentration in the driver’s system at the time of the incident.
“As states across the country continue to struggle with drug-impaired driving, it’s critical that we help them understand the current landscape and provide examples of best practices so they can craft the most effective countermeasures,” said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of GHSA.
By Ashley Halsey III
The Washington Post
April 26, 2017
For the first time, statistics show that drivers killed in crashes are more likely to be on drugs than drunk.
Forty-three percent of drivers tested in fatal crashes in 2015 had used a legal or illegal drug, eclipsing the 37 percent who tested above the legal limit for alcohol, according to a report released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility.
Of the drivers who tested positive for drugs, more than a third had used marijuana and more than 9 percent had taken amphetamines.
“As drunken driving has declined, drugged driving has increased dramatically, and many of today’s impaired drivers are combining two or more substances,” said Ralph S. Blackman, president of the foundation, a nonprofit founded and funded by a group of distillers.
The report is narrowly focused on fatal crashes. It shows that among fatally injured drivers with known test results, 2015 was the first time that drug use was more prevalent than alcohol use.
Beyond that, however, it draws on other studies and statistics that create a complicated portrait of legal and illegal drug use nationwide. Every state bans driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The opioid epidemic — heroin use and the abuse of prescription drugs — is well established. In 2015, more than 33,000 people fatally overdosed on opioids, almost equal to the 35,095 people killed that year in all traffic crashes.
The number of drivers who tested positive for drugs after dying in a crash rose from almost 28 percent in 2005 to 43 percent in 2015, the latest year for which data is available.
Though the dates when each state passed a law vary, that period coincided with more-permissive laws covering the use of marijuana.
Medical use of the drug is now allowed in 29 states and the District of Columbia; 17 states permit its use in some medical circumstances; use has been decriminalized in 21 states; and recreational use is allowed in eight states and the District.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised to reinvigorate the war on drugs, reversing an Obama administration policy that reduced prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
Although the liberalization of marijuana laws and increase in drug-use fatalities might lead to an easy conclusion, the report cites European studies that found marijuana use slightly increased the risk of a crash, while opioids, amphetamines and mixing alcohol with drugs greatly increased the risk of a crash.
Counterbalancing that assessment of crash risk is this stark statistic: In Colorado, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 48 percent after the state legalized recreational use of the drug.
“Drugged driving is a complicated issue,” said Jim Hedlund, a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official who wrote the GHSA report. “The more we can synthesize the latest research and share what’s going on around the country to address drug-impaired driving, the better positioned states will be to prevent it.”
Unlike the blood alcohol standard of 0.08, which often can be established at the scene of a crash, testing for drug use is more complex, usually requiring a blood test, and the effect of drug use can vary substantially among users.
Surveys of regular marijuana users in Colorado and Washington state, which also has legalized recreational use, found that almost none of them thought marijuana use impaired their driving, while they believed drinking alcohol did.
The challenge to police in attempting to enforce laws against drug-using drivers is compounded because many officers lack training to identify those under the influence of drugs, and delays in testing may allow the drug to metabolize so the results do not accurately measure the concentration in the driver’s system at the time of the incident.
“As states across the country continue to struggle with drug-impaired driving, it’s critical that we help them understand the current landscape and provide examples of best practices so they can craft the most effective countermeasures,” said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of GHSA.
TEARS AND 13,000 PROTESTERS FAIL TO STOP PASSAGE OF BILL REQUIRING THE FIRING OF TEXAS POLICE CHIEFS AND SHERIFFS WHO ORDER THEIR OFFICERS NOT TO COOPERATE WITH ICE
After 16 Hours of Emotional Debate, House Passes "Anti-Sanctuary Cities" Bill
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
April 27, 2017
On the eve of the vote on Senate Bill 4, otherwise known as the “anti-sanctuary cities bill,” more than 13,000 immigrants flooded House representatives’ offices with petitions, letters and photographs, pleading with lawmakers to vote no. In the morning, dozens gathered in protests inside and outside the state capitol, including Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. And as debate began, House members who themselves were once undocumented immigrants or were children of undocumented immigrants made passionate appeals, charging that SB 4 was an unnecessary, racist bill that would instill fear in Latino communities. Many of them cried.
Nevertheless, around 3 a.m., after more than 16 hours of debate, the bill passed 93-54, along party lines. Governor Greg Abbott will almost certainly sign the legislation, after designating SB 4 an emergency item earlier this session.
The bill allows police officers — including officers on college campuses — to ask about immigration status while arresting or detaining someone for any purpose. The policy requires law enforcement agencies to comply with immigration detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, which ask local entities to hold onto people suspected of being in the country illegally until ICE can pick them up. Should any law enforcement agency adopt a policy that “prohibits enforcement of immigration law,” the sheriff or police chief can be removed from office and charged with a Class A misdemeanor, and the jurisdictions can be fined.
Democrats tried to add various amendments to the bill to shield immigrants from interrogations about their status at places like domestic violence shelters, preschools, homeless shelters and public school extracurricular events for their kids. They also tried to shield children from questioning. None of the amendments passed.
Immigrant groups decried the bills’s passage, while Democrats said it was a “dark day for the Texas Legislature.”
“Today we saw legislators scrambling to turn their anti-immigrant brand of race-based hate into laws that would criminalize families and children, and people of color in Texas," Karla Perez, an undocumented law student from the University of Houston Law Center and state coordinator with United We Dream, said in a statement. "The purpose of this legislation is clear in its attack of immigrant communities."
Public safety was at the heart of the argument for those both for and against the anti-sanctuary cities bill.
Politicians such as Governor Abbott have said the bill is intended to stop undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes, by handing over any undocumented immigrant charged with a crime to ICE. During his state of the state speech, he suggested SB 4 could have stopped Juan Rios from killing two people — but Rios had in fact already been deported three times by then. And Democrats and law enforcement leaders have countered that existing laws already give law enforcement the ability to cooperate with ICE and hand over arrested undocumented immigrants. According to a January 2016 Texas Tribune investigation, Texas jails comply with ICE immigration detainer requests 99 percent of the time (federal law doesn’t require them to comply with the requests).
Police leaders across Texas, meanwhile, including Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, warned that this bill would make communities less safe. Law enforcement officials and those in immigrant communities fear the law will have a chilling effect on undocumented immigrants, causing them to not report crimes or come forward as witnesses for fear that contact with police can lead to ICE detention and deportation.
"Broad mandates for local law enforcement to take a more active role in immigration enforcement will further strain the relationship between local law enforcement and the diverse communities they serve," Acevedo wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “This will lead to less cooperation from members of the community and foster the belief that they cannot seek assistance from police for fear of being subjected to an immigration status investigation."
In a lengthy speech, Representative Rafael Anchia asked members of the House why they were choosing to ignore the opinions of those in law enforcement in favor of political gain. He spoke for about ten minutes, uninterrupted, and retraced the Legislature’s and state’s track record on discriminatory laws or policies targeting Latinos that have been argued in federal courts. Asking lawmakers to understand the context surrounding the Latino community’s massive outcry against SB 4, he noted that that the voter ID law and redistricting bills passed in 2011 have been ruled not just discriminatory, but intentionally discriminatory, six times in federal court. He noted that, despite the fact that Latino kids have made up the majority of public school students since 2011, the Legislature made historic public education cuts that year, and later the State Board of Education attempted to “eliminate our history in textbooks and in the curriculum standards.”
“Then you guys come with this bill. In light of that entire context, how are we supposed to swallow this? How are we supposed to understand this?” he asked. “If it’s being fed to us about a way to keep our community safe, then why are we ignoring all of law enforcement that said this bill is going to make us less safe?
He continued: “If it’s not about ICE detainers, it’s not about [stopping] violent criminals, it’s not about law enforcement, then it feels like it’s about something else. …I don’t know how to synthesize this, how to consume this in any other way: If it’s not about all those other things that people say it’s about, then I ask you, what is it about? When we stood out there today, I saw children crying. I saw mothers trembling. If you have succeeded in anything, members, you have succeeded in terrifying an entire community.”
Representative Ana Hernandez told of once being an undocumented immigrant, and the fear that she and her family experienced even during a simple trip to the grocery store. Representative Victoria Neave, holding a picture of her undocumented father, told how he began his own TV and VCR repair business and ultimately gave her a better life. In the days leading up to the vote on SB 4, she had fasted in protest. She held up letters she received from SB 4 supporters telling her to starve.
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
April 27, 2017
On the eve of the vote on Senate Bill 4, otherwise known as the “anti-sanctuary cities bill,” more than 13,000 immigrants flooded House representatives’ offices with petitions, letters and photographs, pleading with lawmakers to vote no. In the morning, dozens gathered in protests inside and outside the state capitol, including Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. And as debate began, House members who themselves were once undocumented immigrants or were children of undocumented immigrants made passionate appeals, charging that SB 4 was an unnecessary, racist bill that would instill fear in Latino communities. Many of them cried.
Nevertheless, around 3 a.m., after more than 16 hours of debate, the bill passed 93-54, along party lines. Governor Greg Abbott will almost certainly sign the legislation, after designating SB 4 an emergency item earlier this session.
The bill allows police officers — including officers on college campuses — to ask about immigration status while arresting or detaining someone for any purpose. The policy requires law enforcement agencies to comply with immigration detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, which ask local entities to hold onto people suspected of being in the country illegally until ICE can pick them up. Should any law enforcement agency adopt a policy that “prohibits enforcement of immigration law,” the sheriff or police chief can be removed from office and charged with a Class A misdemeanor, and the jurisdictions can be fined.
Democrats tried to add various amendments to the bill to shield immigrants from interrogations about their status at places like domestic violence shelters, preschools, homeless shelters and public school extracurricular events for their kids. They also tried to shield children from questioning. None of the amendments passed.
Immigrant groups decried the bills’s passage, while Democrats said it was a “dark day for the Texas Legislature.”
“Today we saw legislators scrambling to turn their anti-immigrant brand of race-based hate into laws that would criminalize families and children, and people of color in Texas," Karla Perez, an undocumented law student from the University of Houston Law Center and state coordinator with United We Dream, said in a statement. "The purpose of this legislation is clear in its attack of immigrant communities."
Public safety was at the heart of the argument for those both for and against the anti-sanctuary cities bill.
Politicians such as Governor Abbott have said the bill is intended to stop undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes, by handing over any undocumented immigrant charged with a crime to ICE. During his state of the state speech, he suggested SB 4 could have stopped Juan Rios from killing two people — but Rios had in fact already been deported three times by then. And Democrats and law enforcement leaders have countered that existing laws already give law enforcement the ability to cooperate with ICE and hand over arrested undocumented immigrants. According to a January 2016 Texas Tribune investigation, Texas jails comply with ICE immigration detainer requests 99 percent of the time (federal law doesn’t require them to comply with the requests).
Police leaders across Texas, meanwhile, including Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, warned that this bill would make communities less safe. Law enforcement officials and those in immigrant communities fear the law will have a chilling effect on undocumented immigrants, causing them to not report crimes or come forward as witnesses for fear that contact with police can lead to ICE detention and deportation.
"Broad mandates for local law enforcement to take a more active role in immigration enforcement will further strain the relationship between local law enforcement and the diverse communities they serve," Acevedo wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “This will lead to less cooperation from members of the community and foster the belief that they cannot seek assistance from police for fear of being subjected to an immigration status investigation."
In a lengthy speech, Representative Rafael Anchia asked members of the House why they were choosing to ignore the opinions of those in law enforcement in favor of political gain. He spoke for about ten minutes, uninterrupted, and retraced the Legislature’s and state’s track record on discriminatory laws or policies targeting Latinos that have been argued in federal courts. Asking lawmakers to understand the context surrounding the Latino community’s massive outcry against SB 4, he noted that that the voter ID law and redistricting bills passed in 2011 have been ruled not just discriminatory, but intentionally discriminatory, six times in federal court. He noted that, despite the fact that Latino kids have made up the majority of public school students since 2011, the Legislature made historic public education cuts that year, and later the State Board of Education attempted to “eliminate our history in textbooks and in the curriculum standards.”
“Then you guys come with this bill. In light of that entire context, how are we supposed to swallow this? How are we supposed to understand this?” he asked. “If it’s being fed to us about a way to keep our community safe, then why are we ignoring all of law enforcement that said this bill is going to make us less safe?
He continued: “If it’s not about ICE detainers, it’s not about [stopping] violent criminals, it’s not about law enforcement, then it feels like it’s about something else. …I don’t know how to synthesize this, how to consume this in any other way: If it’s not about all those other things that people say it’s about, then I ask you, what is it about? When we stood out there today, I saw children crying. I saw mothers trembling. If you have succeeded in anything, members, you have succeeded in terrifying an entire community.”
Representative Ana Hernandez told of once being an undocumented immigrant, and the fear that she and her family experienced even during a simple trip to the grocery store. Representative Victoria Neave, holding a picture of her undocumented father, told how he began his own TV and VCR repair business and ultimately gave her a better life. In the days leading up to the vote on SB 4, she had fasted in protest. She held up letters she received from SB 4 supporters telling her to starve.
WARNING: KEEP YOUR COTTON-PICKING HANDS OFF YOUR DOG’S ASS!
Animal Breeder Group Opposes Bill Outlawing Animal Rape
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press
April 27, 2017
An animal breeders advocacy group wants changes made to a state House bill criminalizing beastiality, fearing that pet owners who innocently fondle Fido's junk might be thrown in the pen.
That's right: In one of the most tone-deaf, self-sabotaging, and just plain ol' crazy campaigns in recent memory, the Responsible Pet Owners Alliance believes that a bill outlawing animal rape might really be some Orwellian conspiracy targeting dog-show judges and pet owners who want to "cuddle" with their furry friends.
Texas is one of only eight states without beastiality on the books. House Bill 1087 would make it a state jail felony, which carries a penalty range of six months to two years.
But one portion of the bill sent shivers up the spines of the Alliance folk — the bit that would outlaw fondling or touching "the anus or genitals of an animal, including through clothing." Apparently, the Alliance's first reaction to this was, "Wait a minute — sometimes I fondle my dog's anus!"
In an April 25 email from the Alliance's San Antonio Mothership to its dedicated members stated the following:
"It was recently called to our attention that every [American Kennel Club] and [United Kennel Club] dog show judge could be committing a felony in Texas, because they must feel male dogs' genitals to confirm that they are intact. Bathing pets, grooming, clipping and sanitary cleaning around genitals (male and female) are conducted at every dog show and could be considered 'fondling and touching.' Pet owners would be in violation when checking pets for parasites, bathing, grooming or simply cuddling with pets lying across your lap, chest or stomach."
It should be noted that the bill provides exceptions for "generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice."
If you're thinking there might be something more going on here than meets the eye, you'd probably be right. The beastiality bill was initiated by the Alliance's sworn enemy — the Humane Society of the United States, which the Alliance considers to be somewhere between ISIS and that Sham Wow guy on the fundamental extremist spectrum. (We reached out to the Alliance, but have yet to hear back).
The group's site includes a page called "HSUS Unmasked," which doesn't really unmask anything, and they have taken issue with other humane society-backed legislation in the past, including a bill regulating commercial animal breeders. In that case, the Alliance believed that the bill was really the first step in a plot to outlaw "pet ownership."
This seems to be nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to stick a thorn in the side of an organization that the Alliance has a philosophical disagreement with. No one is encroaching on Alliance members' rights to spoon with their dogs, whether it be their own pets, or the four-legged merchandise they breed "responsibly." And no one wants to curtail a member's right to inspect his pet's anus, assuming he can get his head out of his own.
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press
April 27, 2017
An animal breeders advocacy group wants changes made to a state House bill criminalizing beastiality, fearing that pet owners who innocently fondle Fido's junk might be thrown in the pen.
That's right: In one of the most tone-deaf, self-sabotaging, and just plain ol' crazy campaigns in recent memory, the Responsible Pet Owners Alliance believes that a bill outlawing animal rape might really be some Orwellian conspiracy targeting dog-show judges and pet owners who want to "cuddle" with their furry friends.
Texas is one of only eight states without beastiality on the books. House Bill 1087 would make it a state jail felony, which carries a penalty range of six months to two years.
But one portion of the bill sent shivers up the spines of the Alliance folk — the bit that would outlaw fondling or touching "the anus or genitals of an animal, including through clothing." Apparently, the Alliance's first reaction to this was, "Wait a minute — sometimes I fondle my dog's anus!"
In an April 25 email from the Alliance's San Antonio Mothership to its dedicated members stated the following:
"It was recently called to our attention that every [American Kennel Club] and [United Kennel Club] dog show judge could be committing a felony in Texas, because they must feel male dogs' genitals to confirm that they are intact. Bathing pets, grooming, clipping and sanitary cleaning around genitals (male and female) are conducted at every dog show and could be considered 'fondling and touching.' Pet owners would be in violation when checking pets for parasites, bathing, grooming or simply cuddling with pets lying across your lap, chest or stomach."
It should be noted that the bill provides exceptions for "generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice."
If you're thinking there might be something more going on here than meets the eye, you'd probably be right. The beastiality bill was initiated by the Alliance's sworn enemy — the Humane Society of the United States, which the Alliance considers to be somewhere between ISIS and that Sham Wow guy on the fundamental extremist spectrum. (We reached out to the Alliance, but have yet to hear back).
The group's site includes a page called "HSUS Unmasked," which doesn't really unmask anything, and they have taken issue with other humane society-backed legislation in the past, including a bill regulating commercial animal breeders. In that case, the Alliance believed that the bill was really the first step in a plot to outlaw "pet ownership."
This seems to be nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to stick a thorn in the side of an organization that the Alliance has a philosophical disagreement with. No one is encroaching on Alliance members' rights to spoon with their dogs, whether it be their own pets, or the four-legged merchandise they breed "responsibly." And no one wants to curtail a member's right to inspect his pet's anus, assuming he can get his head out of his own.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
NRA FILES SUIT AGAINST PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CALIFORNIA
by Bob Walsh
The National Rifle Association's California Chapter has filed a lawsuit this week against a number of the anti-gun owner laws approved in the People's Republic last year.
Among these laws was what is called the "bullet-button ban." This essentially bans the sale of new semi-automatic rifles that have an easily interchangeable magazine. Also banned were "high-capacity magazines" (in reality standard factory capacity magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds" even if they were legally purchased and legally owned prior to the ban. No compensation is offered for the magazines.
The NRA is planning a series of five lawsuits, each one focused on a specific recently passed piece of anti-gun owner legislation.
The National Rifle Association's California Chapter has filed a lawsuit this week against a number of the anti-gun owner laws approved in the People's Republic last year.
Among these laws was what is called the "bullet-button ban." This essentially bans the sale of new semi-automatic rifles that have an easily interchangeable magazine. Also banned were "high-capacity magazines" (in reality standard factory capacity magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds" even if they were legally purchased and legally owned prior to the ban. No compensation is offered for the magazines.
The NRA is planning a series of five lawsuits, each one focused on a specific recently passed piece of anti-gun owner legislation.
BASIC FLAW IN THE BUSINESS PLAN
by Bob Walsh
There is a basic flaw in official corruption. People have to know that you are accepting payments for favors or you get no income from your "side business." If too many people find out, or if the wrong people find out, it is very likely to bite you in the ass. A case in point.
The feds are currently giving a lot of grief to three retired NYPD cops and a former Brooklyn D.A. as part of an investigation into the NYPD gun licensing division. Essentially these people were accepting payments to approve or expedite gun permits, which are not exactly easy to get in the liberal mecca of New York City.
Two criminal complaints were filed against the four people on Tuesday.
I am sort-of guessing that the problem is both wider and deeper than presented thus far.
There is a basic flaw in official corruption. People have to know that you are accepting payments for favors or you get no income from your "side business." If too many people find out, or if the wrong people find out, it is very likely to bite you in the ass. A case in point.
The feds are currently giving a lot of grief to three retired NYPD cops and a former Brooklyn D.A. as part of an investigation into the NYPD gun licensing division. Essentially these people were accepting payments to approve or expedite gun permits, which are not exactly easy to get in the liberal mecca of New York City.
Two criminal complaints were filed against the four people on Tuesday.
I am sort-of guessing that the problem is both wider and deeper than presented thus far.
TWO ARKANSAS MURDERERS EXECUTED THREE HOURS APART
Arkansas carries out first double execution in US since 2000
By Karma Allen
ABC News
April 25, 2017
Arkansas carried out death sentences for two inmates through lethal injection on Monday evening — the country’s first double execution in nearly 17 years.
Convicted murderers Jack Jones, 52, and Marcel Williams, 46, were executed just hours apart as Arkansas rushes to use its supply of a key lethal injection drug before it expires at the end of the month.
Jones was executed for the rape and murder of a bookkeeper in 1995 and was pronounce dead at 7:20 p.m. local time. Williams was executed about three hours later for the 1994 murder of a young mother.
It’s the first time a state has executed two people on the same day since Texas killed two inmates in August 2000.
Williams’ attorneys briefly stalled his execution after they raised concerns about how the prior execution was carried out.
They claimed Jones “was moving his lips and gulping for air” — which state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge denied. A judge issued a stay, then lifted it about an hour later, and Williams was executed. He was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.
In the emergency filing, Williams’ attorneys claimed that prison officials spent 45 minutes attempting to place an IV line in Jones’ neck before opting to place it elsewhere. The attorneys, according to the filing, argued that Williams, who was obese, could face a “torturous” and “inhumane” death because of his weight.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson initially scheduled four double executions over 11 days in April, but a slew of procedural hurdles forced the state to change course.
Until last week, the state hadn’t conducted an execution since 2005.
The state carried out one execution last week, and it has one planned for Thursday. Four others have been blocked by courts.
Arkansas’ supply of midazolam, one of three drugs used in combination for lethal injections, expires on April 30, and the state said it has no source for additional doses.
By Karma Allen
ABC News
April 25, 2017
Arkansas carried out death sentences for two inmates through lethal injection on Monday evening — the country’s first double execution in nearly 17 years.
Convicted murderers Jack Jones, 52, and Marcel Williams, 46, were executed just hours apart as Arkansas rushes to use its supply of a key lethal injection drug before it expires at the end of the month.
Jones was executed for the rape and murder of a bookkeeper in 1995 and was pronounce dead at 7:20 p.m. local time. Williams was executed about three hours later for the 1994 murder of a young mother.
It’s the first time a state has executed two people on the same day since Texas killed two inmates in August 2000.
Williams’ attorneys briefly stalled his execution after they raised concerns about how the prior execution was carried out.
They claimed Jones “was moving his lips and gulping for air” — which state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge denied. A judge issued a stay, then lifted it about an hour later, and Williams was executed. He was pronounced dead at 10:33 p.m.
In the emergency filing, Williams’ attorneys claimed that prison officials spent 45 minutes attempting to place an IV line in Jones’ neck before opting to place it elsewhere. The attorneys, according to the filing, argued that Williams, who was obese, could face a “torturous” and “inhumane” death because of his weight.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson initially scheduled four double executions over 11 days in April, but a slew of procedural hurdles forced the state to change course.
Until last week, the state hadn’t conducted an execution since 2005.
The state carried out one execution last week, and it has one planned for Thursday. Four others have been blocked by courts.
Arkansas’ supply of midazolam, one of three drugs used in combination for lethal injections, expires on April 30, and the state said it has no source for additional doses.
TEXAS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE WOULD MARK DAY FIVE DALLAS POLICE OFFICERS WERE SHOT DEAD
The legislation would designate July 7 as a day to honor officers in Texas killed in the line of duty
Associated Press
April 26, 2017
AUSTIN, Texas -- The anniversary of five Dallas police officers killed during a downtown shooting would be commemorated as "Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Day" under a bill tentatively approved by the House.
The measure approved Tuesday would designate July 7 as a day to honor officers in Texas killed in the line of duty. Law enforcement groups say nearly 1,900 officers in Texas history have died on the job.
An Army veteran opened fire on Dallas police during a protest march last summer. It marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In all, 12 officers were shot.
The Senate approved a similar measure in March.
Associated Press
April 26, 2017
AUSTIN, Texas -- The anniversary of five Dallas police officers killed during a downtown shooting would be commemorated as "Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Day" under a bill tentatively approved by the House.
The measure approved Tuesday would designate July 7 as a day to honor officers in Texas killed in the line of duty. Law enforcement groups say nearly 1,900 officers in Texas history have died on the job.
An Army veteran opened fire on Dallas police during a protest march last summer. It marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In all, 12 officers were shot.
The Senate approved a similar measure in March.
TEXAS SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT SAYS PEEING IN TEACHER’S DRINKING CUP IS ‘POOR DECISION’ BY STUDENT
Moody ISD student accused of urinating in teacher's drinking cup
By Kristin Hoppa
Waco Tribune-Herald
April 25, 2017
A 16-year-old Moody High School student was detained on three felony charges Monday, accused of urinating in a teacher's drinking cup earlier this month, Moody Police Chief Roger Kennedy said.
Moody police opened an investigation April 13 after Moody ISD administrators notified them of a teacher who reported the student had urinated in a teacher's drinking container that day, Kennedy said.
"The juvenile was accused of urinating in a drinking cup that belonged to one of the teachers and she didn't find out about it until after the fact," Kennedy said. "She thinks she (ingested) it but she doesn't know 100 percent, because according to her statement she made the comment that the water fountain always tastes funny."
Moody ISD superintendent Gary Martel said the high school principal collected statements from students and reviewed video footage from hallway cameras after students returned from the Easter holiday. The school disciplined the student April 18 in accordance with the district's student code of conduct, as police continued to investigate, Martel said.
"Two other students told (the teacher) what was going around, and she immediately emptied the cup," Kennedy said. "We did charge him with three different offenses."
Moody ISD Disciplinary Alternative Education Program officials detained the student Monday without incident, and he was taken to a juvenile detention center, Martel said.
Third-degree felony charges of assault on a public servant, harassment of a public servant and obstruction or retaliation will be sent to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
"Unfortunately, students will make poor decisions at times," Martel said in a statement. "These poor choices sometimes occur within our schools. They are considered as a joke, dare or something funny, etc. The district cannot keep all poor decisions from happening on our campuses but we will follow district policy so there are consequences and punitive results for those who choose to make bad decisions at school.
"We will continue focusing on the large majority of our students who are making great choices and being great role models each day.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Poor decision, my ass! This student committed a serious crime and the superintendent should not sugarcoat peeing in the teacher’s cup by labeling it a poor decision.
By Kristin Hoppa
Waco Tribune-Herald
April 25, 2017
A 16-year-old Moody High School student was detained on three felony charges Monday, accused of urinating in a teacher's drinking cup earlier this month, Moody Police Chief Roger Kennedy said.
Moody police opened an investigation April 13 after Moody ISD administrators notified them of a teacher who reported the student had urinated in a teacher's drinking container that day, Kennedy said.
"The juvenile was accused of urinating in a drinking cup that belonged to one of the teachers and she didn't find out about it until after the fact," Kennedy said. "She thinks she (ingested) it but she doesn't know 100 percent, because according to her statement she made the comment that the water fountain always tastes funny."
Moody ISD superintendent Gary Martel said the high school principal collected statements from students and reviewed video footage from hallway cameras after students returned from the Easter holiday. The school disciplined the student April 18 in accordance with the district's student code of conduct, as police continued to investigate, Martel said.
"Two other students told (the teacher) what was going around, and she immediately emptied the cup," Kennedy said. "We did charge him with three different offenses."
Moody ISD Disciplinary Alternative Education Program officials detained the student Monday without incident, and he was taken to a juvenile detention center, Martel said.
Third-degree felony charges of assault on a public servant, harassment of a public servant and obstruction or retaliation will be sent to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.
"Unfortunately, students will make poor decisions at times," Martel said in a statement. "These poor choices sometimes occur within our schools. They are considered as a joke, dare or something funny, etc. The district cannot keep all poor decisions from happening on our campuses but we will follow district policy so there are consequences and punitive results for those who choose to make bad decisions at school.
"We will continue focusing on the large majority of our students who are making great choices and being great role models each day.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Poor decision, my ass! This student committed a serious crime and the superintendent should not sugarcoat peeing in the teacher’s cup by labeling it a poor decision.
TWO LOUISIANA ENGLISH TEACHERS MAKE THREESOME WHOPEE WITH LUCKY STUDENT
Details of illicit encounters, Facebook page revealed as Destrehan teacher sex trial opens
By Michelle Hunter
The Times-Picayune
April 26, 2017
The fast and furious relationship between former Destrehan High School English teacher Shelley Dufresne, 34, and her then-16-year-old male student began with simple flirting, a prosecutor said as her trial began Tuesday (April 25) in Jefferson Parish.
But the relationship quickly advanced to multiple sexual encounters inside her Honda Pilot SUV at locations in St. Charles and Jefferson parishes over the course of a month in late summer of 2014, said Assistant District Attorney Rachel Africk.
The illicit relationship culminated with group sex involving another English teacher, Rachel Respess, 26, at a Kenner apartment, an encounter documented by the teen with a lewd video he later braggingly showed to a locker room full of fellow football players, Africk said.
The video is just one of the details revealed as Dufresne's trial on two counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile got underway in a Jefferson Parish court. Dufresne has pleaded not guilty. She waived a jury trial, and the case is being heard by Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24th Judicial District Court.
Dufresne's arrest on Oct. 1, 2014, the first of three Destrehan teacher sex scandals since, shocked the New Orleans area and made international headlines. During opening statements, Africk told the court the teen victim wasn't forced to have sex with Dufresne.
"He thought, as a 16-year-old boy, that this was his fantasy, and he thought that this was pretty awesome, and he bragged about it," she said. But she said authorities are not in court because of the boy's decisions.
"We're here today because of Ms. Dufresne's decisions," Africk said. "The carnal knowledge statute places the onus on the adult."
Dufresne's defense attorney Kim McElwee attacked what she called an abysmal investigation by the Kenner Police Department. While Dufresne admits having sex with the teen in St. Charles Parish, none of their encounters ever occurred in Jefferson Parish, McElwee said.
Dufresne takes responsibility for her actions but she is not a horrific sex offender, according to McElwee.
"The sex offender laws at one time meant you knew somebody really harmed a child, not somebody almost 17 years old that took part willingly," she said, noting the teen broke criminal laws and has not been punished.
Fake Facebook page: 'Madison Mexicano'
Africk told the court the teen was a student in Dufresne's 11th-grade English class and had been in Respess' class the year before. Though Africk named the boy in court, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune is not identifying him because he is the victim in the case and was a juvenile at the time of the alleged crime.
After the teen was checked out of school one day in August 2014, Dufresne sent him a personal Facebook message.
From there, prosecutors say Dufresne created a fake Facebook profile named "Madison Mexicano," with an image of the cartoon character Speedy Gonzalez as the profile photo. The cover photo for the profile included the phrase, "I love Mexican boys," a reference to the teen, who is Mexican, Africk said.
Dufresne began messaging him from the account Aug. 22, 2014, the first time the two had sex behind a daiquiri shop near a strip mall off Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Kenner, according to Lt. Clint Patterson, lieutenant commander of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office Juvenile Investigations division.
Dufresne and the teen continued to communicate by text message and by Facebook messenger, the prosecutor said.
"Those messages leave very little to the imagination as to what happened between (the teen) and Ms. Dufresne," Africk said.
Dufresne and the teen had sex multiple times, after football practice and after football games, Africk said. They had sex at Dufresne's Montz home and in parking lots and empty lots in Destrehan and Jefferson Parish.
Patterson testified that he recovered condoms used and discarded by the teen in a parking lot behind apartments on Brandon Hall Drive in Destrehan and in a lot near Carriage Lane and Dunleith Drive, also in Destrehan. He also told the court he identified similar condoms at the spot of the alleged one Jefferson Parish encounter, but he did not collect them because they were found outside Kenner police jurisdiction.
Threesome: Sex with two teachers
Rumors about the relationship had spread around the school and seemed to come to a head on the night of Sept. 19, 2014, according to authorities. That's when Dufresne was out for drinks at The Sport Pub and Grill, 3001 Ormond Blvd., Destrehan, following a football game, Africk said.
The teen was also there with other students, including one who questioned the truth of the boy's boasts that he was having sex with a teacher. That led to a fight outside, according to Africk. After leaving the restaurant that night, Dufresne and the teen went to Respess' apartment in Kenner.
"(The teen) and Ms. Dufresne have sex repeatedly, and at some point, Ms. Respess joins in, and they have a threesome," Africk said.
After Respess passed out from drinking, the teen took a lewd video of her, Africk said. Though authorities never recovered the video, investigators interviewed several students who saw the video, she said, calling the teen's actions reprehensible.
Gossip surrounding Dufresne and the student spread afterwards, finally reaching the ears of school officials, who contacted the Sheriff's Office on Sept. 26, 2014, the prosecutor said.
Though also arrested by St. Charles investigators on a charge of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, Africk noted that Dufresne later pleaded guilty to a "reduced charge" of obscenity. However, the judge in the St. Charles case ordered Dufresne to give a factual basis of the case in which she admitted having sex with the teen.
Poor investigation
McElwee, who is defending Dufresne with attorney Jim Williams, said in court the Kenner police department did not properly investigate the allegations of sex in Jefferson Parish. Patterson later testified that Kenner police "cut and pasted" information received from St. Charles investigators for the Kenner arrest warrant obtained for Dufresne. Patterson then conducted most of the investigation.
Kenner police never interviewed the teen nor did they take him around to try and identify the places where he claimed to have had sex with Dufresne in Jefferson Parish, McElwee said. Kenner police also never went to Respess' apartment to collect any evidence.
The prosecution presented wrong dates in the case, according to McElwee. She pointed out that the teen told authorities he first had sex with Dufresne on the night of the Destrehan High School football Jamboree, which according to the school schedule, actually occurred Aug. 29, 2014, not Aug. 22.
St. Charles prosecutors charged Dufresne with having sex with the teen Aug. 22, 2014, in St. Charles.
"Now the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office wants to say, 'No, no, no... she had sex in Jefferson Parish on Aug. 22," McElwee said. "That's just out and out not true."
Dufresne admits having sex with the teen in St. Charles Parish, and McElwee suggested the student used that to threaten his teacher. When he got out of line one day in class and she corrected him, the teen sent Dufresne a photo, McElwee said, presumably an incriminating image.
"At any moment, I can expose this, and you can go to jail, and you'll lose your life as you know it," McElwee said the boy threatened.
The lewd video of Respess was revenge because he'd had a problem in her class the year before, according to McElwee.
"He told the cop he got payback," she said of the teen.
As for the group sex at Respess' apartment Sept. 19, 2014, McElwee said no sex occurred because the teen "couldn't get an erection."
"I do feel a little weird saying that in court," McElwee said. "But he said that in his statement."
McElwee suggested that although he was a juvenile, the teen committed crimes in Jefferson Parish by making the lewd video of Respess without her permission while she was asleep, and by showing it to his football teammates.
"There have absolutely been no consequences for his behavior," she said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When will those hot-to-trot teachers ever learn that when they fuck one of their students, he is sure to brag about it to other students?
By Michelle Hunter
The Times-Picayune
April 26, 2017
The fast and furious relationship between former Destrehan High School English teacher Shelley Dufresne, 34, and her then-16-year-old male student began with simple flirting, a prosecutor said as her trial began Tuesday (April 25) in Jefferson Parish.
But the relationship quickly advanced to multiple sexual encounters inside her Honda Pilot SUV at locations in St. Charles and Jefferson parishes over the course of a month in late summer of 2014, said Assistant District Attorney Rachel Africk.
The illicit relationship culminated with group sex involving another English teacher, Rachel Respess, 26, at a Kenner apartment, an encounter documented by the teen with a lewd video he later braggingly showed to a locker room full of fellow football players, Africk said.
The video is just one of the details revealed as Dufresne's trial on two counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile got underway in a Jefferson Parish court. Dufresne has pleaded not guilty. She waived a jury trial, and the case is being heard by Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24th Judicial District Court.
Dufresne's arrest on Oct. 1, 2014, the first of three Destrehan teacher sex scandals since, shocked the New Orleans area and made international headlines. During opening statements, Africk told the court the teen victim wasn't forced to have sex with Dufresne.
"He thought, as a 16-year-old boy, that this was his fantasy, and he thought that this was pretty awesome, and he bragged about it," she said. But she said authorities are not in court because of the boy's decisions.
"We're here today because of Ms. Dufresne's decisions," Africk said. "The carnal knowledge statute places the onus on the adult."
Dufresne's defense attorney Kim McElwee attacked what she called an abysmal investigation by the Kenner Police Department. While Dufresne admits having sex with the teen in St. Charles Parish, none of their encounters ever occurred in Jefferson Parish, McElwee said.
Dufresne takes responsibility for her actions but she is not a horrific sex offender, according to McElwee.
"The sex offender laws at one time meant you knew somebody really harmed a child, not somebody almost 17 years old that took part willingly," she said, noting the teen broke criminal laws and has not been punished.
Fake Facebook page: 'Madison Mexicano'
Africk told the court the teen was a student in Dufresne's 11th-grade English class and had been in Respess' class the year before. Though Africk named the boy in court, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune is not identifying him because he is the victim in the case and was a juvenile at the time of the alleged crime.
After the teen was checked out of school one day in August 2014, Dufresne sent him a personal Facebook message.
From there, prosecutors say Dufresne created a fake Facebook profile named "Madison Mexicano," with an image of the cartoon character Speedy Gonzalez as the profile photo. The cover photo for the profile included the phrase, "I love Mexican boys," a reference to the teen, who is Mexican, Africk said.
Dufresne began messaging him from the account Aug. 22, 2014, the first time the two had sex behind a daiquiri shop near a strip mall off Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Kenner, according to Lt. Clint Patterson, lieutenant commander of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office Juvenile Investigations division.
Dufresne and the teen continued to communicate by text message and by Facebook messenger, the prosecutor said.
"Those messages leave very little to the imagination as to what happened between (the teen) and Ms. Dufresne," Africk said.
Dufresne and the teen had sex multiple times, after football practice and after football games, Africk said. They had sex at Dufresne's Montz home and in parking lots and empty lots in Destrehan and Jefferson Parish.
Patterson testified that he recovered condoms used and discarded by the teen in a parking lot behind apartments on Brandon Hall Drive in Destrehan and in a lot near Carriage Lane and Dunleith Drive, also in Destrehan. He also told the court he identified similar condoms at the spot of the alleged one Jefferson Parish encounter, but he did not collect them because they were found outside Kenner police jurisdiction.
Threesome: Sex with two teachers
Rumors about the relationship had spread around the school and seemed to come to a head on the night of Sept. 19, 2014, according to authorities. That's when Dufresne was out for drinks at The Sport Pub and Grill, 3001 Ormond Blvd., Destrehan, following a football game, Africk said.
The teen was also there with other students, including one who questioned the truth of the boy's boasts that he was having sex with a teacher. That led to a fight outside, according to Africk. After leaving the restaurant that night, Dufresne and the teen went to Respess' apartment in Kenner.
"(The teen) and Ms. Dufresne have sex repeatedly, and at some point, Ms. Respess joins in, and they have a threesome," Africk said.
After Respess passed out from drinking, the teen took a lewd video of her, Africk said. Though authorities never recovered the video, investigators interviewed several students who saw the video, she said, calling the teen's actions reprehensible.
Gossip surrounding Dufresne and the student spread afterwards, finally reaching the ears of school officials, who contacted the Sheriff's Office on Sept. 26, 2014, the prosecutor said.
Though also arrested by St. Charles investigators on a charge of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, Africk noted that Dufresne later pleaded guilty to a "reduced charge" of obscenity. However, the judge in the St. Charles case ordered Dufresne to give a factual basis of the case in which she admitted having sex with the teen.
Poor investigation
McElwee, who is defending Dufresne with attorney Jim Williams, said in court the Kenner police department did not properly investigate the allegations of sex in Jefferson Parish. Patterson later testified that Kenner police "cut and pasted" information received from St. Charles investigators for the Kenner arrest warrant obtained for Dufresne. Patterson then conducted most of the investigation.
Kenner police never interviewed the teen nor did they take him around to try and identify the places where he claimed to have had sex with Dufresne in Jefferson Parish, McElwee said. Kenner police also never went to Respess' apartment to collect any evidence.
The prosecution presented wrong dates in the case, according to McElwee. She pointed out that the teen told authorities he first had sex with Dufresne on the night of the Destrehan High School football Jamboree, which according to the school schedule, actually occurred Aug. 29, 2014, not Aug. 22.
St. Charles prosecutors charged Dufresne with having sex with the teen Aug. 22, 2014, in St. Charles.
"Now the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office wants to say, 'No, no, no... she had sex in Jefferson Parish on Aug. 22," McElwee said. "That's just out and out not true."
Dufresne admits having sex with the teen in St. Charles Parish, and McElwee suggested the student used that to threaten his teacher. When he got out of line one day in class and she corrected him, the teen sent Dufresne a photo, McElwee said, presumably an incriminating image.
"At any moment, I can expose this, and you can go to jail, and you'll lose your life as you know it," McElwee said the boy threatened.
The lewd video of Respess was revenge because he'd had a problem in her class the year before, according to McElwee.
"He told the cop he got payback," she said of the teen.
As for the group sex at Respess' apartment Sept. 19, 2014, McElwee said no sex occurred because the teen "couldn't get an erection."
"I do feel a little weird saying that in court," McElwee said. "But he said that in his statement."
McElwee suggested that although he was a juvenile, the teen committed crimes in Jefferson Parish by making the lewd video of Respess without her permission while she was asleep, and by showing it to his football teammates.
"There have absolutely been no consequences for his behavior," she said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When will those hot-to-trot teachers ever learn that when they fuck one of their students, he is sure to brag about it to other students?
WOMAN BACK AS HOUSTON COP AFTER 18-YEAR BREAK
Houston's Oldest 'Rookie' Back on the Force
By Mike Glenn
Houston Chronicle
April 24, 2017
HOUSTON -- It was a bit of a deja vu for Wendy Caldwell when Police Chief Art Acevedo pinned on the badge at her graduation ceremony last month from the Houston Police Academy.
Almost 25 years ago, former Houston police chief Sam Nuchia welcomed her to the force after her first graduation. She worked five years as a police officer before deciding to stay home with her children.
Now, at 53, Caldwell's returns makes her the oldest person ever to graduate from the physically taxing six-month Houston Police Academy.
"Coming back after 18 years, it was, 'This is do or die. I've got one shot at this," the mother of two teenagers said. "It's not easy but I had to do this."
Houston police officials said they are glad Caldwell returned to the force. Caldwell, who originally graduated in July 1993, first served as a night shift patrol officer at the department's Central Division and later with HPD's mounted patrol.
"Her previous experience, knowledge and skill that she brings back to the department are a valuable asset and we're happy that she has chosen to once again join HPD," said Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge.
Caldwell was more determined this time around. She said she was also better prepared mentally for the academy.
"But physically, it was much harder. Not because of my age but because HPD has ramped up its (physical training) program tremendously," she said. "When you're 53 and competing with kids that are 20 and 30 years younger than you, it was pretty challenging."
When you're in your 50s, Caldwell said, it just isn't as easy to recover from an intense police academy workout session. In fact, Caldwell broke a femur bone toward the end of her training during an intense exercise called Red Man where cadets simulate a foot chase followed by a full-on fight with an instructor covered in red protective pads.
"I lived with Ben Gay and ice bags and ibuprofen," she said with a laugh. "Sometimes it was a 'Two Aleve and four Tylenol' day."
Several of her fellow cadets called Caldwell 'mom' during the training. They were protective and encouraging of their more senior counterpart, and could tell she struggled with physical ailments the entire time.
"They saw that I wasn't going to slack off and just skate through the academy," she said.
No regrets
Although learning the department's computer system was a challenge -- in "her day," every report was written by hand -- Caldwell said she had no problems in the academy classrooms or on the driving and shooting ranges.
She hung up her Houston police uniform to stay home with daughter Reagan, now 18, and son Dillon, 17. Her former husband also was a Houston police officer and Caldwell said she didn't want their children to spend so much time in day care.
"It was on my accord and I chose to leave," Caldwell said. "I don't regret it at all."
Caldwell ran a busy household when she left the department with children born a mere 15 months apart. She home schooled them for their first eight years until they moved into the public school system.
"I told people it was harder to be a stay-at-home mom than to be a cop," Caldwell said. "I honestly thought I'd never come back."
She still kept fit in her civilian life. Once her children were in public school, Caldwell developed what she called a "really serious tennis habit," and also played in a softball league with several law enforcement officers as teammates.
'Kind of a catalyst'
After 18 yearsaway, she had made her peace with being a former Houston police officer. Then her marriage fell apart.
"It was a kind of a catalyst," Caldwell said. "What are you going to do that's going to provide you with enough income to support your kids?"
What she went through is not that unusual, said Jill Hickman, who runs a company that, among other things, coaches women returning to the workforce.
"What took her out of the work place is very similar to what is bringing her back," Hickman said of family obligations.
Some women go back to work by choice while others do not have any other option and must earn a paycheck, she said. Women with younger children often decide to stay home because of the high costs of day care.
"They'd have to take three jobs instead of one," Hickman said.
Hickman applauded Caldwell's regular physical activity over the years. She encouraged women in her position to take every opportunity for self-improvement, such as enrolling in online courses if they struggle to leave the house because of small children. It will eventually pay off, she said.
"Where I am today may not be where I am tomorrow," Hickman said.
After her divorce last year, Caldwell began asking some of her law enforcement softball teammates about possibly returning to the Houston Police Department. The cut-off age to enter is 44, but because she had already served, that wasn't an obstacle. A break in service of more than five years, however, means officers have to complete the academy again.
"They were skeptical about whether I could do it. But I was still there week after week, giving it my 100 percent," she said.
Same badge number
Caldwell said her fellow cadets were far more mature than those from 1993. Several were combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and one had joined HPD after a full 20-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. Still another was a former Army captain who had graduated from West Point.
"The hardest part was mentally getting over the fact that I had to do the academy again," Caldwell said. "But if these guys can do this, certainly I can."
Caldwell thought the leg break during the grueling Red Man exercise would have ended her plans to restart a law enforcement career, but luckily, the HPD brass allowed her to graduate with her peers.
She's on desk duty as her leg recovers, but looks forward to returning to the streets. When she left the force the first time, Caldwell asked the department not to assign her old badge number to anyone else.
"When I came back, I got my original badge number back -- 5645," she said.
By Mike Glenn
Houston Chronicle
April 24, 2017
HOUSTON -- It was a bit of a deja vu for Wendy Caldwell when Police Chief Art Acevedo pinned on the badge at her graduation ceremony last month from the Houston Police Academy.
Almost 25 years ago, former Houston police chief Sam Nuchia welcomed her to the force after her first graduation. She worked five years as a police officer before deciding to stay home with her children.
Now, at 53, Caldwell's returns makes her the oldest person ever to graduate from the physically taxing six-month Houston Police Academy.
"Coming back after 18 years, it was, 'This is do or die. I've got one shot at this," the mother of two teenagers said. "It's not easy but I had to do this."
Houston police officials said they are glad Caldwell returned to the force. Caldwell, who originally graduated in July 1993, first served as a night shift patrol officer at the department's Central Division and later with HPD's mounted patrol.
"Her previous experience, knowledge and skill that she brings back to the department are a valuable asset and we're happy that she has chosen to once again join HPD," said Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge.
Caldwell was more determined this time around. She said she was also better prepared mentally for the academy.
"But physically, it was much harder. Not because of my age but because HPD has ramped up its (physical training) program tremendously," she said. "When you're 53 and competing with kids that are 20 and 30 years younger than you, it was pretty challenging."
When you're in your 50s, Caldwell said, it just isn't as easy to recover from an intense police academy workout session. In fact, Caldwell broke a femur bone toward the end of her training during an intense exercise called Red Man where cadets simulate a foot chase followed by a full-on fight with an instructor covered in red protective pads.
"I lived with Ben Gay and ice bags and ibuprofen," she said with a laugh. "Sometimes it was a 'Two Aleve and four Tylenol' day."
Several of her fellow cadets called Caldwell 'mom' during the training. They were protective and encouraging of their more senior counterpart, and could tell she struggled with physical ailments the entire time.
"They saw that I wasn't going to slack off and just skate through the academy," she said.
No regrets
Although learning the department's computer system was a challenge -- in "her day," every report was written by hand -- Caldwell said she had no problems in the academy classrooms or on the driving and shooting ranges.
She hung up her Houston police uniform to stay home with daughter Reagan, now 18, and son Dillon, 17. Her former husband also was a Houston police officer and Caldwell said she didn't want their children to spend so much time in day care.
"It was on my accord and I chose to leave," Caldwell said. "I don't regret it at all."
Caldwell ran a busy household when she left the department with children born a mere 15 months apart. She home schooled them for their first eight years until they moved into the public school system.
"I told people it was harder to be a stay-at-home mom than to be a cop," Caldwell said. "I honestly thought I'd never come back."
She still kept fit in her civilian life. Once her children were in public school, Caldwell developed what she called a "really serious tennis habit," and also played in a softball league with several law enforcement officers as teammates.
'Kind of a catalyst'
After 18 yearsaway, she had made her peace with being a former Houston police officer. Then her marriage fell apart.
"It was a kind of a catalyst," Caldwell said. "What are you going to do that's going to provide you with enough income to support your kids?"
What she went through is not that unusual, said Jill Hickman, who runs a company that, among other things, coaches women returning to the workforce.
"What took her out of the work place is very similar to what is bringing her back," Hickman said of family obligations.
Some women go back to work by choice while others do not have any other option and must earn a paycheck, she said. Women with younger children often decide to stay home because of the high costs of day care.
"They'd have to take three jobs instead of one," Hickman said.
Hickman applauded Caldwell's regular physical activity over the years. She encouraged women in her position to take every opportunity for self-improvement, such as enrolling in online courses if they struggle to leave the house because of small children. It will eventually pay off, she said.
"Where I am today may not be where I am tomorrow," Hickman said.
After her divorce last year, Caldwell began asking some of her law enforcement softball teammates about possibly returning to the Houston Police Department. The cut-off age to enter is 44, but because she had already served, that wasn't an obstacle. A break in service of more than five years, however, means officers have to complete the academy again.
"They were skeptical about whether I could do it. But I was still there week after week, giving it my 100 percent," she said.
Same badge number
Caldwell said her fellow cadets were far more mature than those from 1993. Several were combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and one had joined HPD after a full 20-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. Still another was a former Army captain who had graduated from West Point.
"The hardest part was mentally getting over the fact that I had to do the academy again," Caldwell said. "But if these guys can do this, certainly I can."
Caldwell thought the leg break during the grueling Red Man exercise would have ended her plans to restart a law enforcement career, but luckily, the HPD brass allowed her to graduate with her peers.
She's on desk duty as her leg recovers, but looks forward to returning to the streets. When she left the force the first time, Caldwell asked the department not to assign her old badge number to anyone else.
"When I came back, I got my original badge number back -- 5645," she said.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE MENTALLY ILL SAYS PROMINENT CANADIAN PSYCHIATRIST
Psychiatry expert: ‘scientifically there is no such thing as transgender’
LifeSiteNews
January 11, 2013
OTTAWA -- A prominent Toronto psychiatrist has severely criticized the assumptions underlying what has been dubbed by critics as the Canadian federal government's "bathroom bill," that is, Bill C-279, a private member’s bill that would afford special protection to so-called "transgender" men and women.
Dr. Joseph Berger has issued a statement saying that from a medical and scientific perspective there is no such thing as a "transgendered" person, and that terms such as “gender expression” and “gender identity" used in the bill are at the very least ambiguous, and are more an emotional appeal than a statement of scientific fact.
Berger, who is a consulting psychiatrist in Toronto and whose list of credentials establishes him as an expert in the field of mental illness, stated that people who identify themselves as "transgendered" are mentally ill or simply unhappy, and pointed out that hormone therapy and surgery are not appropriate treatments for psychosis or unhappiness.
"From a scientific perspective, let me clarify what ‘transgendered’ actually means," Dr. Berger said, adding, "I am speaking now about the scientific perspective – and not any political lobbying position that may be proposed by any group, medical or non-medical."
"‘Transgendered’ are people who claim that they really are or wish to be people of the sex opposite to which they were born, or to which their chromosomal configuration attests," Dr. Berger stated.
"Some times, some of these people have claimed that they are ‘a woman trapped in a man’s body’ or alternatively ‘a man trapped in a woman’s body’."
"The medical treatment of delusions, psychosis or emotional happiness is not surgery," Dr. Berger stated.
"On the other hand," Dr. Berger continued, "if these people are asked to clarify exactly what they believe, that is to say do they truly believe whichever of those above propositions applies to them and they say ‘no’, then they know that such a proposition is not true, but that they ‘feel’ it, then what we are talking about scientifically, is just unhappiness, and that unhappiness is being accompanied by a wish – that leads some people into taking hormones that predominate in the other sex, and even having cosmetic surgery designed to make them ‘appear’ as if they are a person of the opposite sex."
He explained that cosmetic surgery will not change the chromosomes of a human being in that it will not make a man become a woman, capable of menstruating, ovulating, and having children, nor will it make a woman into a man, capable of generating sperm that can unite with an egg or ovum from a woman and fertilize that egg to produce a human child.
Moreover, Dr. Berger stated that the arguments put forward by those advocating for special rights for gender confused people have no scientific value and are subjective and emotional appeals with no objective scientific basis.
"I have read the brief put forward by those advocating special rights, and I find nothing of scientific value in it," Dr. Berger said in his statement. "Words and phrases, such as 'the inner space,' are used that have no objective scientific basis."
"These are the scientific facts," Dr. Berger said. "There seems to me to be no medical or scientific reason to grant any special rights or considerations to people who are unhappy with the sex they were born into, or to people who wish to dress in the clothes of the opposite sex."
"The so-called ‘confusion’ about their sexuality that a teenager or adult has is purely psychological. As a psychiatrist, I see no reason for people who identify themselves in these ways to have any rights or privileges different from everyone else in Canada," he concluded.
REAL Women of Canada asked Dr. Berger for a statement on the issues surrounding Bill C-279 after the organization appeared before the review committee hearings on the bill.
Gwen Landolt of REAL Women told LifeSiteNews that after being initially refused permission to present their perspective on the bill to the review committee, the group was accepted, but found that all other groups and individuals who had been accepted to appear before the committee were supporters of Bill C-279.
"It can scarcely be an impartial review of any bill if only the witnesses supporting the bill are invited to speak to it," Landolt said.
Landolt explained that after passing second reading on June 6, 2012, Bill C-279 went to the Justice and Human Rights Committee for review.
At the review committee hearings, REAL Women of Canada presented a 12 page brief setting out the harms created by the bill, and pointing out that the terms “gender expression” and “gender identity," as written in Bill C-279, were so broad that they could be used to protect pedophilia along with other sexual perversions, if passed into law.
REAL Women provided the committee with evidence that post-operative trans-gendered individuals suffer substantially higher morbidity and mortality than the general population, placing the so-called “sex reassignment” surgery and hormone treatment under continued scrutiny.
They pointed out that a pioneer in such treatment, Dr. Paul McHugh, distinguished professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, stopped the procedures because he found that patients were no better adjusted or satisfied after receiving such treatment.
McHugh wrote in 2004 that “Hopkins was fundamentally cooperating with a mental illness” by catering to the desires of people who wanted surgery to change their biological sex.
“We psychiatrists, I thought, would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia,” he stated, adding that “to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it.”
Landolt noted that the committee hearings ended in confusion over the terminology presented in the bill, and that even the bill's sponsor, NDP MP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca), was not clear as to who is included and who is excluded in these terms.
"The definition for 'gender identity' proposed by Mr. Garrison is a subjective one that he defined as a 'deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth'," Landolt said, adding that "The committee engaged in extensive discussions on the meaning of “gender identity” and “gender expression” without much clarification."
"As a result, instead of a smooth, orderly dispatch of this bill through the Committee orchestrated by Garrison, Conservative MP Shelly Glover (St. Boniface, Manitoba) and Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Delta-Richmond-East, BC), the committee hearings broke down in confusion at the final hearing on December 10th. The result is that the bill will be reported to the House of Commons as originally written without amendments," Landolt stated.
Following this state of confusion over terms at the review committee, REAL Women sought out an expert in order to provide the scientific and medical evidence relating to "transgenderism" and the other terms used in the bill.
Gwen Landolt told LifeSiteNews that REAL Women of Canada will be including Dr. Berger's statement in an information package to be sent to MPs before the bill comes to final vote.
"It is crucial that MPs know that this legislation is harmful, not only to those who think themselves transgendered but also to society, and should not be passed into law," Landolt said. "We must therefore write to our MP’s to request that they speak against this troubling bill."
Dr. Berger is certified as a specialist in Psychiatry by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is an elected Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is also a past Chairman of the Toronto district of the Ontario Medical Association and past President of the Ontario branch of the American Psychiatric Association.
Berger has been an Examiner in Psychiatry for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for twenty five years, has taught as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and is the author of many published papers on different aspects of Diagnosis and Independent Psychiatric Assessments, as well as author of the book “The Independent Medical Examination in Psychiatry” published by Butterworth/Lexis-Nexis.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I just received this article from a good friend. I don't want to ID him because he'll be mislabeled as transphobic. Personally I’ve always maintained that transgenders are sicko psychos!
LifeSiteNews
January 11, 2013
OTTAWA -- A prominent Toronto psychiatrist has severely criticized the assumptions underlying what has been dubbed by critics as the Canadian federal government's "bathroom bill," that is, Bill C-279, a private member’s bill that would afford special protection to so-called "transgender" men and women.
Dr. Joseph Berger has issued a statement saying that from a medical and scientific perspective there is no such thing as a "transgendered" person, and that terms such as “gender expression” and “gender identity" used in the bill are at the very least ambiguous, and are more an emotional appeal than a statement of scientific fact.
Berger, who is a consulting psychiatrist in Toronto and whose list of credentials establishes him as an expert in the field of mental illness, stated that people who identify themselves as "transgendered" are mentally ill or simply unhappy, and pointed out that hormone therapy and surgery are not appropriate treatments for psychosis or unhappiness.
"From a scientific perspective, let me clarify what ‘transgendered’ actually means," Dr. Berger said, adding, "I am speaking now about the scientific perspective – and not any political lobbying position that may be proposed by any group, medical or non-medical."
"‘Transgendered’ are people who claim that they really are or wish to be people of the sex opposite to which they were born, or to which their chromosomal configuration attests," Dr. Berger stated.
"Some times, some of these people have claimed that they are ‘a woman trapped in a man’s body’ or alternatively ‘a man trapped in a woman’s body’."
"The medical treatment of delusions, psychosis or emotional happiness is not surgery," Dr. Berger stated.
"On the other hand," Dr. Berger continued, "if these people are asked to clarify exactly what they believe, that is to say do they truly believe whichever of those above propositions applies to them and they say ‘no’, then they know that such a proposition is not true, but that they ‘feel’ it, then what we are talking about scientifically, is just unhappiness, and that unhappiness is being accompanied by a wish – that leads some people into taking hormones that predominate in the other sex, and even having cosmetic surgery designed to make them ‘appear’ as if they are a person of the opposite sex."
He explained that cosmetic surgery will not change the chromosomes of a human being in that it will not make a man become a woman, capable of menstruating, ovulating, and having children, nor will it make a woman into a man, capable of generating sperm that can unite with an egg or ovum from a woman and fertilize that egg to produce a human child.
Moreover, Dr. Berger stated that the arguments put forward by those advocating for special rights for gender confused people have no scientific value and are subjective and emotional appeals with no objective scientific basis.
"I have read the brief put forward by those advocating special rights, and I find nothing of scientific value in it," Dr. Berger said in his statement. "Words and phrases, such as 'the inner space,' are used that have no objective scientific basis."
"These are the scientific facts," Dr. Berger said. "There seems to me to be no medical or scientific reason to grant any special rights or considerations to people who are unhappy with the sex they were born into, or to people who wish to dress in the clothes of the opposite sex."
"The so-called ‘confusion’ about their sexuality that a teenager or adult has is purely psychological. As a psychiatrist, I see no reason for people who identify themselves in these ways to have any rights or privileges different from everyone else in Canada," he concluded.
REAL Women of Canada asked Dr. Berger for a statement on the issues surrounding Bill C-279 after the organization appeared before the review committee hearings on the bill.
Gwen Landolt of REAL Women told LifeSiteNews that after being initially refused permission to present their perspective on the bill to the review committee, the group was accepted, but found that all other groups and individuals who had been accepted to appear before the committee were supporters of Bill C-279.
"It can scarcely be an impartial review of any bill if only the witnesses supporting the bill are invited to speak to it," Landolt said.
Landolt explained that after passing second reading on June 6, 2012, Bill C-279 went to the Justice and Human Rights Committee for review.
At the review committee hearings, REAL Women of Canada presented a 12 page brief setting out the harms created by the bill, and pointing out that the terms “gender expression” and “gender identity," as written in Bill C-279, were so broad that they could be used to protect pedophilia along with other sexual perversions, if passed into law.
REAL Women provided the committee with evidence that post-operative trans-gendered individuals suffer substantially higher morbidity and mortality than the general population, placing the so-called “sex reassignment” surgery and hormone treatment under continued scrutiny.
They pointed out that a pioneer in such treatment, Dr. Paul McHugh, distinguished professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, stopped the procedures because he found that patients were no better adjusted or satisfied after receiving such treatment.
McHugh wrote in 2004 that “Hopkins was fundamentally cooperating with a mental illness” by catering to the desires of people who wanted surgery to change their biological sex.
“We psychiatrists, I thought, would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia,” he stated, adding that “to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it.”
Landolt noted that the committee hearings ended in confusion over the terminology presented in the bill, and that even the bill's sponsor, NDP MP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca), was not clear as to who is included and who is excluded in these terms.
"The definition for 'gender identity' proposed by Mr. Garrison is a subjective one that he defined as a 'deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth'," Landolt said, adding that "The committee engaged in extensive discussions on the meaning of “gender identity” and “gender expression” without much clarification."
"As a result, instead of a smooth, orderly dispatch of this bill through the Committee orchestrated by Garrison, Conservative MP Shelly Glover (St. Boniface, Manitoba) and Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Delta-Richmond-East, BC), the committee hearings broke down in confusion at the final hearing on December 10th. The result is that the bill will be reported to the House of Commons as originally written without amendments," Landolt stated.
Following this state of confusion over terms at the review committee, REAL Women sought out an expert in order to provide the scientific and medical evidence relating to "transgenderism" and the other terms used in the bill.
Gwen Landolt told LifeSiteNews that REAL Women of Canada will be including Dr. Berger's statement in an information package to be sent to MPs before the bill comes to final vote.
"It is crucial that MPs know that this legislation is harmful, not only to those who think themselves transgendered but also to society, and should not be passed into law," Landolt said. "We must therefore write to our MP’s to request that they speak against this troubling bill."
Dr. Berger is certified as a specialist in Psychiatry by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is an elected Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is also a past Chairman of the Toronto district of the Ontario Medical Association and past President of the Ontario branch of the American Psychiatric Association.
Berger has been an Examiner in Psychiatry for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for twenty five years, has taught as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and is the author of many published papers on different aspects of Diagnosis and Independent Psychiatric Assessments, as well as author of the book “The Independent Medical Examination in Psychiatry” published by Butterworth/Lexis-Nexis.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I just received this article from a good friend. I don't want to ID him because he'll be mislabeled as transphobic. Personally I’ve always maintained that transgenders are sicko psychos!
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