by Bob Walsh
OK, not really, but allegedly many of the members of congress feel like it is. It seems that there is a special, close-in, parking lot at Reagan International reserved only for members of congress, justices of the Supreme Court and a few other special people. That lot is going away on July 1 and they will have to park with the peasants.
They still get to park for free by showing their congressional ID on the way out. (There may be a point in that, they do have to travel a lot on more-or-less official business) so they won't suffer too much. As far as having to park with the peasants, fuck them. A little walking will do them some good.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
KILLING THE SECOND AMENDMENT THRU "REASONABLE REGULATION" ..... THAT SHOULD READ 'UNREASONABLE'
by Bob Walsh
Back we go to Chicago. Nobody has guns but cops and criminals. Back when, SCOTUS issued the Heller decision which told places like D.C. and Chicago that they could not outright ban handguns and could not make a blanket refusal of carry permits. In Chicago now it is at least theoretically possible to get a carry permit. You need, among other things, evidence of training. Trouble is, there is not a single commercial firing range in all of Chicago.
The local ordinance which governs such things prohibits the placement of a range near residential areas, schools, etc. These restrictions are so broad that there is only in theory 2% of the real estate in Chicago that could legally be used to set up a commercial firing range. So there are in fact none.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has found this restriction to be unreasonably burdensome. Chicago is, however, slow-dragging a change in the ordinance. So far very successfully. (It should be noted there are 11 law enforcement firing ranges in the city.)
Chicago lawyers were able to find only two instances of thefts from gun ranges in the entire U. S. in the last seven years. They also asserted the ranges were health and safety hazards, but made no such claims about law enforcement ranges. They also claimed that such ranges would be "crime magnets" but were unable to show any proof of such a claim. Commercial ranges in nearby cities have no such problems.
The power structure in Chicago (left-wing Democrat) is very slowly being dragged into compliance with the U.S. Constitution. It is about fucking time.
Back we go to Chicago. Nobody has guns but cops and criminals. Back when, SCOTUS issued the Heller decision which told places like D.C. and Chicago that they could not outright ban handguns and could not make a blanket refusal of carry permits. In Chicago now it is at least theoretically possible to get a carry permit. You need, among other things, evidence of training. Trouble is, there is not a single commercial firing range in all of Chicago.
The local ordinance which governs such things prohibits the placement of a range near residential areas, schools, etc. These restrictions are so broad that there is only in theory 2% of the real estate in Chicago that could legally be used to set up a commercial firing range. So there are in fact none.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has found this restriction to be unreasonably burdensome. Chicago is, however, slow-dragging a change in the ordinance. So far very successfully. (It should be noted there are 11 law enforcement firing ranges in the city.)
Chicago lawyers were able to find only two instances of thefts from gun ranges in the entire U. S. in the last seven years. They also asserted the ranges were health and safety hazards, but made no such claims about law enforcement ranges. They also claimed that such ranges would be "crime magnets" but were unable to show any proof of such a claim. Commercial ranges in nearby cities have no such problems.
The power structure in Chicago (left-wing Democrat) is very slowly being dragged into compliance with the U.S. Constitution. It is about fucking time.
LIARS, CHEATS AND SNEAKY BASTARDS
by Bob Walsh
The University of California is a constitutional body within the state. They have a HUGE amount of autonomy on what they do with their funds, and they regularly poor-mouth to get more money from the state and to extract more money from students. Do they really need it?
The California State Auditor released a very interesting report on Tuesday that asserts that the U.C. system has managed to hide about $175 million off the books in order to make it's poor-mouthing more believable. The auditor, Elaine Howle, also states flat-out that the president of the university attempted to interfere with the audit process. The President, Janet Napolitano, says that she did not interfere with the audit and that the stash is in actuality much smaller than the auditor claims it to be.
It also seems likely that the President's office diddled with surveys from individual campuses before they made their way to the auditor. Napolitano claims that they "reviewed" the data to ensure the auditor got "accurate information."
Can you spell Lying Sack Of Shit?
The University of California is a constitutional body within the state. They have a HUGE amount of autonomy on what they do with their funds, and they regularly poor-mouth to get more money from the state and to extract more money from students. Do they really need it?
The California State Auditor released a very interesting report on Tuesday that asserts that the U.C. system has managed to hide about $175 million off the books in order to make it's poor-mouthing more believable. The auditor, Elaine Howle, also states flat-out that the president of the university attempted to interfere with the audit process. The President, Janet Napolitano, says that she did not interfere with the audit and that the stash is in actuality much smaller than the auditor claims it to be.
It also seems likely that the President's office diddled with surveys from individual campuses before they made their way to the auditor. Napolitano claims that they "reviewed" the data to ensure the auditor got "accurate information."
Can you spell Lying Sack Of Shit?
THE GREAT (OR AT LEAST LARGE) TRAIN ROBBERY
by Bob Walsh
There was an interesting train robbery in the crime-ridden and gang-infested shit-hole that is Oakland, CA on Saturday night.
At about 9:30 p.m. a group of about 50 juveniles jumped the fare gates, mobbed an incoming train at the Coliseum station, and robbed a number of passengers, thumping a few of them in the process. The program went on for about five minutes. No weapons were in obvious sight. Most of the robberies were of cell phones, though at least one purse and one duffle bag were also taken. At the time of the attack there were BART police officers on robbery suppression patrol in the back parking lot. By the time they got the word and got there the mob had left the scene and blended into the local area.
BART has refused to release surveillance footage due to the fact that the suspects are all believed to be juveniles. A significant number of the train cameras are known to be dummies though there were working cameras on some of the train cars. Also, if I remember correctly, all of the platforms have cameras.
There was an interesting train robbery in the crime-ridden and gang-infested shit-hole that is Oakland, CA on Saturday night.
At about 9:30 p.m. a group of about 50 juveniles jumped the fare gates, mobbed an incoming train at the Coliseum station, and robbed a number of passengers, thumping a few of them in the process. The program went on for about five minutes. No weapons were in obvious sight. Most of the robberies were of cell phones, though at least one purse and one duffle bag were also taken. At the time of the attack there were BART police officers on robbery suppression patrol in the back parking lot. By the time they got the word and got there the mob had left the scene and blended into the local area.
BART has refused to release surveillance footage due to the fact that the suspects are all believed to be juveniles. A significant number of the train cameras are known to be dummies though there were working cameras on some of the train cars. Also, if I remember correctly, all of the platforms have cameras.
BETTER 40 YEARS LATE THAN NEVER
Man admits to murdering 16-year-old Utah girl in 1977
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune
April 24, 2017
After waiting four decades to learn who raped and killed Sharon Lecia Schollmeyer in her Salt Lake City apartment, her loved ones wanted a quick resolution after DNA recently linked the former building manager to the crime.
They got it.
On Monday, Patrick Michael McCabe, of Bell, Fla., who was charged in the case in March, pleaded guilty in Utah's 3rd District Court to murder and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies. Under a deal with prosecutors, a charge of aggravated sexual assault was dropped.
The plea agreement also spares the 59-year-old McCabe the possibility of a death sentence by allowing him to enter a guilty plea to murder in the second degree, rather than murder in the first degree, a capital offense. He faces consecutive prison terms of five years to life when he is sentenced June 12 by Judge Paul Parker.
Prosecutor Matthew Janzen told the judge that Schollmeyer's family members supported ending the case with a plea deal; defense attorney Michael Sikora said his client wanted to resolve the matter quickly.
Outside court, Sally Kadleck, mother of the 16-year-old victim, who was an emancipated minor living alone in an Avenues apartment, said it was terrible not knowing for years who killed her daughter. She is grateful that police connected McCabe to the slaying.
"I'm just glad they found him," Kadleck said.
Her son, Charles Schollmeyer, and daughter, Brigett Love, said that they are thankful the case is nearing a close without lengthy court proceedings and that they are relieved McCabe agreed to plead guilty.
"He doesn't want to make us suffer any longer than we already have," Love said.
Schollmeyer's body was found Dec. 5, 1977, by Kadleck after she was let into the apartment by McCabe, the then-20-year-old building manager at 125 E. 1st Ave., according to court documents. The documents say the victim was found naked in a bathtub that was filled with 6 inches of water, blindfolded with a scarf and gagged with a halter top.
The plea agreement says McCabe, who did light maintenance at the complex in exchange for rent, had used a key to get inside Schollmeyer's apartment and commit his crime. He found the victim sleeping in her bed and raped her, then took her to the bathroom and strangled her, according to the agreement.
Last December, a national database matched DNA found on the halter top used to gag Schollmeyer to McCabe, who was in the system because of a 1999 sex offense involving a minor, court records say.
During an interview on March 1 with Salt Lake City Police Department investigators who had traveled to Florida, McCabe — who said he left Utah in February 1978 and, except for one overnight visit, never returned — allegedly confessed to raping and killing Schollmeyer. He was arrested and extradited to Utah, where he was booked into the Salt Lake County jail and held in lieu of cash-only bail of $2 million.
When asked in court by Parker what was in his mind when he entered the apartment, McCabe, who was seated in a wheelchair during Monday's hearing, replied, "To rape Ms. Schollmeyer."
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune
April 24, 2017
After waiting four decades to learn who raped and killed Sharon Lecia Schollmeyer in her Salt Lake City apartment, her loved ones wanted a quick resolution after DNA recently linked the former building manager to the crime.
They got it.
On Monday, Patrick Michael McCabe, of Bell, Fla., who was charged in the case in March, pleaded guilty in Utah's 3rd District Court to murder and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies. Under a deal with prosecutors, a charge of aggravated sexual assault was dropped.
The plea agreement also spares the 59-year-old McCabe the possibility of a death sentence by allowing him to enter a guilty plea to murder in the second degree, rather than murder in the first degree, a capital offense. He faces consecutive prison terms of five years to life when he is sentenced June 12 by Judge Paul Parker.
Prosecutor Matthew Janzen told the judge that Schollmeyer's family members supported ending the case with a plea deal; defense attorney Michael Sikora said his client wanted to resolve the matter quickly.
Outside court, Sally Kadleck, mother of the 16-year-old victim, who was an emancipated minor living alone in an Avenues apartment, said it was terrible not knowing for years who killed her daughter. She is grateful that police connected McCabe to the slaying.
"I'm just glad they found him," Kadleck said.
Her son, Charles Schollmeyer, and daughter, Brigett Love, said that they are thankful the case is nearing a close without lengthy court proceedings and that they are relieved McCabe agreed to plead guilty.
"He doesn't want to make us suffer any longer than we already have," Love said.
Schollmeyer's body was found Dec. 5, 1977, by Kadleck after she was let into the apartment by McCabe, the then-20-year-old building manager at 125 E. 1st Ave., according to court documents. The documents say the victim was found naked in a bathtub that was filled with 6 inches of water, blindfolded with a scarf and gagged with a halter top.
The plea agreement says McCabe, who did light maintenance at the complex in exchange for rent, had used a key to get inside Schollmeyer's apartment and commit his crime. He found the victim sleeping in her bed and raped her, then took her to the bathroom and strangled her, according to the agreement.
Last December, a national database matched DNA found on the halter top used to gag Schollmeyer to McCabe, who was in the system because of a 1999 sex offense involving a minor, court records say.
During an interview on March 1 with Salt Lake City Police Department investigators who had traveled to Florida, McCabe — who said he left Utah in February 1978 and, except for one overnight visit, never returned — allegedly confessed to raping and killing Schollmeyer. He was arrested and extradited to Utah, where he was booked into the Salt Lake County jail and held in lieu of cash-only bail of $2 million.
When asked in court by Parker what was in his mind when he entered the apartment, McCabe, who was seated in a wheelchair during Monday's hearing, replied, "To rape Ms. Schollmeyer."
PISTOL PACKING MO MOMMA WINS SHOOTOUT WITH ARMED ROBBER
Store clerk wounded, robbery suspect killed in south St. Louis shooting
By Katie Kormann
KTVI
April 24, 2017
ST. LOUIS, MO -- A shooting outside of a convenience store early Monday in the Carondelet neighborhood of south St. Louis has left a man dead and female wounded. Police were called to the scene at the 7-Eleven store at the corner of Bates Street and Virginia Avenue around 3:45am.
According to St. Louis police, a man walked up to a store clerk who was outside on a smoke break and announced a robbery. The 35-year-old clerk had a gun and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The clerk was wounded in the leg. The suspect sustained gunshot wounds to his chest, arm, and thigh.
Both were rushed to the hospital. The robbery suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital. The clerk was being treated for her wounds and was listed as stable.
Both the victim’s and the suspect’s guns were recovered at the scene. Evidence markers could be seen in the parking lot outside the front door. Detectives were also looking at a car parked across the street from the store. The car was later towed from the scene.
A corporate representative for 7-Eleven said the store is open for business.
By Katie Kormann
KTVI
April 24, 2017
ST. LOUIS, MO -- A shooting outside of a convenience store early Monday in the Carondelet neighborhood of south St. Louis has left a man dead and female wounded. Police were called to the scene at the 7-Eleven store at the corner of Bates Street and Virginia Avenue around 3:45am.
According to St. Louis police, a man walked up to a store clerk who was outside on a smoke break and announced a robbery. The 35-year-old clerk had a gun and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The clerk was wounded in the leg. The suspect sustained gunshot wounds to his chest, arm, and thigh.
Both were rushed to the hospital. The robbery suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital. The clerk was being treated for her wounds and was listed as stable.
Both the victim’s and the suspect’s guns were recovered at the scene. Evidence markers could be seen in the parking lot outside the front door. Detectives were also looking at a car parked across the street from the store. The car was later towed from the scene.
A corporate representative for 7-Eleven said the store is open for business.
SOTOMAYOR SAYS TAKING THE WORD OF A COP OVER THAT OF A CITIZEN IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Supreme Court Denies Unarmed Houston Man's Appeal in Police Shooting
BY Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
April 25, 2017
Did Ricardo Salazar-Limon reach for his waistband, or did he not reach for his waistband?
That's the central fact in the lawsuit Salazar-Limon filed against the City of Houston after a Houston police officer shot him in the back during a DWI stop. He was unarmed. Salazar-Limon, now partially paralyzed because of the gunshot wound, appealed the case after a federal court sided with the Houston police officer, awarding the city a summary judgment. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand, rejecting his plea for a final appeal.
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor decried the majority opinion as a mistake, saying that her colleagues erred in letting a summary judgment stand that "accepts the word of one party over the word of another," giving the police officer the benefit of the doubt without allowing a jury to weigh both sides of the story. Courts can't issue summary judgments, Sotomayor noted, when there are genuine disputes over the facts — especially one used to justify the shooting of an unarmed man.
"The question whether the officer used excessive force in shooting Salazar-Limon thus turns in large part on which man is telling the truth," Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, in which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred. "Our legal system entrusts this decision to a jury sitting as finder of fact, not a judge reviewing a paper record."
On the night of October 29, 2010, the police officer, Chris Thompson, attempted to handcuff Salazar-Limon while they were standing outside his patrol car. But Salazar-Limon resisted, broke free and walked back toward his truck. Here's where the stories differ: Thompson claimed Salazar-Limon, who ignored Thompson's order to stop walking, reached for his waistband and began to turn around, leading Thompson to believe he had a gun. Salazar-Limon, on the other hand, claimed that Thompson fired "immediately" or "within seconds" after telling him to stop, pulling the trigger before he even had a chance to turn his body.
But because he did not specifically say "I did not reach for my waistband" during his deposition, the lower federal courts held that he didn't offer evidence that Thompson's account wasn't true — despite Salazar-Limon's different description of what happened. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the concurring opinion, said this was sufficient enough for the federal court to issue summary judgment and Fifth Circuit to uphold it.
In her dissent, Sotomayor calls attention to how easily her own court can agree to grant police officers who shoot people qualified immunity in cases in which lower courts improperly ruled in favor of the victim; yet when it's the victim appealing the officer's authority to shoot him, "we rarely intervene." Sotomayor called attention to growing number of police narratives in which unarmed men "allegedly reach for empty waistbands when facing armed officers." Here's what she said in closing:
"Only Thompson and Salazar-Limon know what happened on that overpass on October 29, 2010. It is possible that Salazar-Limon did something that Thompson reasonably found threatening; it is also possible that Thompson shot an unarmed man in the back without justification. What is clear is that our legal system does not entrust the resolution of this dispute to a judge faced with competing affidavits. The evenhanded administration of justice does not permit such a shortcut."
BY Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
April 25, 2017
Did Ricardo Salazar-Limon reach for his waistband, or did he not reach for his waistband?
That's the central fact in the lawsuit Salazar-Limon filed against the City of Houston after a Houston police officer shot him in the back during a DWI stop. He was unarmed. Salazar-Limon, now partially paralyzed because of the gunshot wound, appealed the case after a federal court sided with the Houston police officer, awarding the city a summary judgment. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand, rejecting his plea for a final appeal.
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor decried the majority opinion as a mistake, saying that her colleagues erred in letting a summary judgment stand that "accepts the word of one party over the word of another," giving the police officer the benefit of the doubt without allowing a jury to weigh both sides of the story. Courts can't issue summary judgments, Sotomayor noted, when there are genuine disputes over the facts — especially one used to justify the shooting of an unarmed man.
"The question whether the officer used excessive force in shooting Salazar-Limon thus turns in large part on which man is telling the truth," Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, in which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred. "Our legal system entrusts this decision to a jury sitting as finder of fact, not a judge reviewing a paper record."
On the night of October 29, 2010, the police officer, Chris Thompson, attempted to handcuff Salazar-Limon while they were standing outside his patrol car. But Salazar-Limon resisted, broke free and walked back toward his truck. Here's where the stories differ: Thompson claimed Salazar-Limon, who ignored Thompson's order to stop walking, reached for his waistband and began to turn around, leading Thompson to believe he had a gun. Salazar-Limon, on the other hand, claimed that Thompson fired "immediately" or "within seconds" after telling him to stop, pulling the trigger before he even had a chance to turn his body.
But because he did not specifically say "I did not reach for my waistband" during his deposition, the lower federal courts held that he didn't offer evidence that Thompson's account wasn't true — despite Salazar-Limon's different description of what happened. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the concurring opinion, said this was sufficient enough for the federal court to issue summary judgment and Fifth Circuit to uphold it.
In her dissent, Sotomayor calls attention to how easily her own court can agree to grant police officers who shoot people qualified immunity in cases in which lower courts improperly ruled in favor of the victim; yet when it's the victim appealing the officer's authority to shoot him, "we rarely intervene." Sotomayor called attention to growing number of police narratives in which unarmed men "allegedly reach for empty waistbands when facing armed officers." Here's what she said in closing:
"Only Thompson and Salazar-Limon know what happened on that overpass on October 29, 2010. It is possible that Salazar-Limon did something that Thompson reasonably found threatening; it is also possible that Thompson shot an unarmed man in the back without justification. What is clear is that our legal system does not entrust the resolution of this dispute to a judge faced with competing affidavits. The evenhanded administration of justice does not permit such a shortcut."
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE HARD TO CLEAN UP
by Bob Walsh
If the story being told is true, an inmate died last year in the Milwaukee County Jail of dehydration. He was (apparently) mentally ill and (allegedly) the water had been turned off in his cell for a week.
A jury is considering whether there is probable cause to charge one or more jail officials with abuse of the prisoner. (I admit I don't understand the procedure on this. Must be a local or state thing.)
Allegedly the prisoner, Terrill Thomas, was having some sort of "mental health crisis." He was being fed allegedly inedible "neutraloaf" meals and had the water in his cell shut off. It is unclear if he was provided drinking water or not. If he did in fact die of dehydration one would think not. Prisoners often have their water turned off if they flood their cells and are fed "neutaloaf" if they throw food, refuse to return their trays and utensils after eating or otherwise act like assholes.
In any event it is difficult to understand how the prisoner was not removed, forcibly if need be, and put in medical housing at some point along the line. As noted, I strongly suspect that someone is going to have his tit in a wringer over this one. Mere indeptitude isn't going to cover it.
If the story being told is true, an inmate died last year in the Milwaukee County Jail of dehydration. He was (apparently) mentally ill and (allegedly) the water had been turned off in his cell for a week.
A jury is considering whether there is probable cause to charge one or more jail officials with abuse of the prisoner. (I admit I don't understand the procedure on this. Must be a local or state thing.)
Allegedly the prisoner, Terrill Thomas, was having some sort of "mental health crisis." He was being fed allegedly inedible "neutraloaf" meals and had the water in his cell shut off. It is unclear if he was provided drinking water or not. If he did in fact die of dehydration one would think not. Prisoners often have their water turned off if they flood their cells and are fed "neutaloaf" if they throw food, refuse to return their trays and utensils after eating or otherwise act like assholes.
In any event it is difficult to understand how the prisoner was not removed, forcibly if need be, and put in medical housing at some point along the line. As noted, I strongly suspect that someone is going to have his tit in a wringer over this one. Mere indeptitude isn't going to cover it.
ASSHOLE SUING FOR DAMAGES BASED ON HIS ASSHOLEISHNESS
by Bob Walsh
Jermaine Padilla is an asshole. He is a guest of the state and probably has legitimate mental health issues. He is still an asshole.
There are rules when you are in prison. Those rules are necessary for the safe, efficient running of the prison. They protect both the staff and the prisoners.
Back in 2012 staff wanted Padilla to come out of his cell. He didn't want to. So he was "extracted." Cell extractions have been videotaped for YEARS. The staff asks nicely pretty please will you come you. Then, eventually, a suit comes down and asks pretty please, come out of your cell. If you don't they go in and get you. It isn't pretty. The prisoner often plays up to the camera which he KNOWS is there and screams like a mashed cat.
Padilla's lawyer is suing the formerly great state of CA and is asking for punitive damages as well as compensatory damages, alleging that the state is liable for "malice and oppression" committed by the evil "prison guards" who extracted Padilla from his cell.
Padilla was, at the time, housed in the mental health crisis unit in the state prison at Corcoran. He had stopped taking his meds, and smeared himself with his own shit. At that time the mental health professionals determined it was necessary to get Padilla out of the cell. He refused. So they blasted the crap out of him with a shitload of pepper spray, then went in after him and strapped him down to a gurney. He was kept restrained for some time (like a day and a half). He was NOT transferred to DMH (Dept. of Mental Health), perhaps in part because of the onerous paperwork required, even though the department guidelines seem to indicate it should have been done.
The bottom line is that dealing with nutters is difficult. Dealing with dangerous nutters is difficult and dangerous. I would humbly suggest that Padilla's lawyer and the federal judging looking at this, as well as the jury, should come down to the mental health unit (IN UNIFORM AND NOT IN STREET CLOTHES) and check out the situation and how it really works.
Was Padilla mistreated? Damned if I know. I do know that dealing with nutters is far from as easy as the lawyers and the courts pretend it should be.
Jermaine Padilla is an asshole. He is a guest of the state and probably has legitimate mental health issues. He is still an asshole.
There are rules when you are in prison. Those rules are necessary for the safe, efficient running of the prison. They protect both the staff and the prisoners.
Back in 2012 staff wanted Padilla to come out of his cell. He didn't want to. So he was "extracted." Cell extractions have been videotaped for YEARS. The staff asks nicely pretty please will you come you. Then, eventually, a suit comes down and asks pretty please, come out of your cell. If you don't they go in and get you. It isn't pretty. The prisoner often plays up to the camera which he KNOWS is there and screams like a mashed cat.
Padilla's lawyer is suing the formerly great state of CA and is asking for punitive damages as well as compensatory damages, alleging that the state is liable for "malice and oppression" committed by the evil "prison guards" who extracted Padilla from his cell.
Padilla was, at the time, housed in the mental health crisis unit in the state prison at Corcoran. He had stopped taking his meds, and smeared himself with his own shit. At that time the mental health professionals determined it was necessary to get Padilla out of the cell. He refused. So they blasted the crap out of him with a shitload of pepper spray, then went in after him and strapped him down to a gurney. He was kept restrained for some time (like a day and a half). He was NOT transferred to DMH (Dept. of Mental Health), perhaps in part because of the onerous paperwork required, even though the department guidelines seem to indicate it should have been done.
The bottom line is that dealing with nutters is difficult. Dealing with dangerous nutters is difficult and dangerous. I would humbly suggest that Padilla's lawyer and the federal judging looking at this, as well as the jury, should come down to the mental health unit (IN UNIFORM AND NOT IN STREET CLOTHES) and check out the situation and how it really works.
Was Padilla mistreated? Damned if I know. I do know that dealing with nutters is far from as easy as the lawyers and the courts pretend it should be.
INTERESTING GRAPHIC
by Bob Walsh
I saw a brief bit on the TV news Monday morning about the city of New Orleans taking down their confederate war memorials. It was done at night. The area was fenced off farther than one would think necessary for spectator safety, especially as there were none that I could tell. Also, the workmen were wearing masks, body armor and military helmets. One might almost think they were expecting violent objection to the work.
I saw a brief bit on the TV news Monday morning about the city of New Orleans taking down their confederate war memorials. It was done at night. The area was fenced off farther than one would think necessary for spectator safety, especially as there were none that I could tell. Also, the workmen were wearing masks, body armor and military helmets. One might almost think they were expecting violent objection to the work.
FITBIT GIVES WIFE KILLER MORE THAN BIT OF A FIT
Slain woman's Fitbit data cited in murder case against husband
CRIMESIDER
April 24, 2017
ELLINGTON, Conn. -- A 40-year-old Connecticut man is facing charges that he killed his wife in 2015, and police are reportedly citing data from the slain woman’s Fitbit in the case against him.
Richard Dabate was arrested this month and charged with murder, tampering with evidence and making a false statement in the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Connie Dabate on Dec. 23, 2015.
Authorities say Dabate told them a masked man had entered their Ellington home, shot his wife and tied him up before he burned the intruder with a torch. Investigators say he was found with an arm and leg zip-tied to a folding chair, and he had superficial knife wounds, according to the Hartford Courant.
But Connecticut State Police say data from Connie Dabate’s Fitbit, along with information from social media, cellphones, computers and the home’s alarm system, contradict Richard Dabate’s statements to police, the paper reports.
Police say there were no signs of a struggle in the home, nothing was stolen and a police dog only picked up Richard Dabate’s scent, reports the Courant, citing an arrest warrant. The warrant says Dabate had a pregnant girlfriend at the time of his wife’s killing and that he told his girlfriend he was getting a divorce.
Dabate allegedly told investigators his wife was unable to have another child, so the couple did some “untraditional things.” He said all three planned to co-parent the child, reports CBS affiliate WFSB. The couple had two children.
Police also say Dabate changed his story, put in a claim for his wife’s $475,000 life insurance policy and withdrew nearly $93,000 from an investment account in his wife’s name.
Dabate was released on bail last week. A judge ordered him to turn in his passport.
Dabate is due in court April 28. His lawyer told the Hartford Courant that his client maintains his innocence and had offered to turn himself in after an arrest warrant was issued.
CRIMESIDER
April 24, 2017
ELLINGTON, Conn. -- A 40-year-old Connecticut man is facing charges that he killed his wife in 2015, and police are reportedly citing data from the slain woman’s Fitbit in the case against him.
Richard Dabate was arrested this month and charged with murder, tampering with evidence and making a false statement in the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Connie Dabate on Dec. 23, 2015.
Authorities say Dabate told them a masked man had entered their Ellington home, shot his wife and tied him up before he burned the intruder with a torch. Investigators say he was found with an arm and leg zip-tied to a folding chair, and he had superficial knife wounds, according to the Hartford Courant.
But Connecticut State Police say data from Connie Dabate’s Fitbit, along with information from social media, cellphones, computers and the home’s alarm system, contradict Richard Dabate’s statements to police, the paper reports.
Police say there were no signs of a struggle in the home, nothing was stolen and a police dog only picked up Richard Dabate’s scent, reports the Courant, citing an arrest warrant. The warrant says Dabate had a pregnant girlfriend at the time of his wife’s killing and that he told his girlfriend he was getting a divorce.
Dabate allegedly told investigators his wife was unable to have another child, so the couple did some “untraditional things.” He said all three planned to co-parent the child, reports CBS affiliate WFSB. The couple had two children.
Police also say Dabate changed his story, put in a claim for his wife’s $475,000 life insurance policy and withdrew nearly $93,000 from an investment account in his wife’s name.
Dabate was released on bail last week. A judge ordered him to turn in his passport.
Dabate is due in court April 28. His lawyer told the Hartford Courant that his client maintains his innocence and had offered to turn himself in after an arrest warrant was issued.
ISRAEL WILL DESTROY IRAN IF IT TRIES TO DESTROY THE JEWISH STATE
Netanyahu threatens to 'destroy' anyone who threatens Israel and 'directs a hatred of Jews' towards them in Holocaust Remembrance Day speech
By Rod Ardehall
Daily Mail
April 24, 2017
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to destroy enemies of the Jewish state.
In a speech marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, the former special forces soldier turned politician warned: 'Those who threaten to destroy us risk being destroyed themselves.'
At the Yom Hashoah ceremony in Yad Vashem, Mr Netanyahu said: 'Iran and the Islamic state want to destroy us, and a hatred for Jews is being directed towards the Jewish state today.
'From being defenceless people, we have become a state with a defensive capacity that is among the strongest in the world,' he added.
Netanyahu said the lesson of the Holocaust is that 'we must be able to defend ourselves by ourselves against all threats and any enemy.'
Adding this lesson guides him 'every morning and every evening.'
At the event, six Holocaust survivors lit torches in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Israel will come to a standstill today as sirens wail for two minutes in the morning.
Pedestrians typically stop in their tracks, and cars and buses halt on the streets while drivers and passengers step out of their vehicles to stand with their heads bowed
Radio stations and television channels on Sunday were broadcasting programmes about the genocide.
More than 213,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today, many of them below the poverty line, according to survivors' groups.
By Rod Ardehall
Daily Mail
April 24, 2017
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to destroy enemies of the Jewish state.
In a speech marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, the former special forces soldier turned politician warned: 'Those who threaten to destroy us risk being destroyed themselves.'
At the Yom Hashoah ceremony in Yad Vashem, Mr Netanyahu said: 'Iran and the Islamic state want to destroy us, and a hatred for Jews is being directed towards the Jewish state today.
'From being defenceless people, we have become a state with a defensive capacity that is among the strongest in the world,' he added.
Netanyahu said the lesson of the Holocaust is that 'we must be able to defend ourselves by ourselves against all threats and any enemy.'
Adding this lesson guides him 'every morning and every evening.'
At the event, six Holocaust survivors lit torches in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Israel will come to a standstill today as sirens wail for two minutes in the morning.
Pedestrians typically stop in their tracks, and cars and buses halt on the streets while drivers and passengers step out of their vehicles to stand with their heads bowed
Radio stations and television channels on Sunday were broadcasting programmes about the genocide.
More than 213,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today, many of them below the poverty line, according to survivors' groups.
CALIFORNIA MURDER VICTIM FAMILIES AND VOTERS BE DAMNED
California moves - slowly - toward resuming executions
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
April 23, 2017
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California has long been what one expert calls a "symbolic death penalty state," one of 12 that has capital punishment on the books but has not executed anyone in more than a decade.
Prodded by voters and lawsuits, the nation's most populous state may now be easing back toward allowing executions, though observers are split on how quickly they will resume, if at all.
Corrections officials expect to meet a Wednesday deadline to submit revised lethal injection rules to state regulators, trying again with technical changes after the first attempt was rejected in December.
The California Supreme Court, meanwhile, is expected to rule by August on challenges to a ballot initiative narrowly approved by voters in November that would speed up executions by reducing the time allowed for appeals.
Still, it is a far cry from the situation in Arkansas, which carried out its first execution since 2005 last week after trying to put eight inmates to death this month in an unprecedented series of double executions. Courts have blocked three of them. Legal rulings have put at least one other in doubt.
California could come close to resuming executions in the next year, said law professor Robert Weisberg, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, though others say too many variables and challenges remain to make a prediction.
California has by far the nation's largest death row with nearly 750 inmates, about double that of No. 2 Florida.
The state's proposed lethal injection regulations are patterned after a single-drug process that already passed muster with the U.S. Supreme Court, Weisberg said.
Corrections officials submitted the regulations only after they were forced to act by a judge's ruling on behalf of crime victims angered at the state's three-year delay. But the regulations replacing California's old three-drug method are likely to be approved at some point, Weisberg said.
Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and an expert on lethal injections, was among those who said recent revisions to the state's proposed regulations still don't cure underlying problems that can lead to botched executions.
For instance, the proposed rules now give executioners 10 minutes to administer each round of lethal drugs. The first batch is supposed to kill, but if that initial dose doesn't work, executioners would administer four more similar doses, each with a 10-minute countdown clock to make sure the process doesn't drag on for hours as critics said was a possibility under the original rules.
If the inmate is still alive after five massive doses, "the San Quentin Warden shall stop the execution and summon medical assistance for the inmate."
The regulations still call for letting the warden at San Quentin State Prison pick from among four powerful barbiturates - amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital or thiopental - depending on which one is available as manufacturers try to limit the use of their drugs for executions. Inmates could also choose to die in the gas chamber.
The Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic, which opposes executions, says amobarbital and secobarbital have never been used in executions. The clinic said problems remain over how the drugs would be obtained and administered.
Officials in several other states with long-delayed executions have said their efforts to carry out the death penalty have been thwarted by a lack of lethal drugs.
Arkansas was rushing to try to execute as many inmates as possible before its supply of the controversial sedative midazolam expires at month's end. Midazolam would not be used under California's regulations.
Denno said California's regulations would still conceal the identities, training and experience of the execution team, crucial information since the deadly drugs must be properly measured, mixed and administered to ensure a painless death.
"It's a complicated process, and everything has to be going right, and it's so easy in a prison context for everything not to go right," she said. She equated it to letting amateurs provide anesthesia for surgery.
Denno and other experts said the new rules eventually will have to pass the scrutiny of U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, who halted executions in the state in early 2006 and ordered prison officials to improve their lethal injection process.
California voters have eased penalties for many crimes in recent years but have repeatedly rejected efforts to end the death penalty. They did so again in November, when 51 percent approved Proposition 66, designed to speed up death penalty cases. Fifty-three percent of voters defeated a competing measure that would have abolished the death penalty.
The state Supreme Court quickly blocked Proposition 66 while it considers challenges.
Appellate lawyer Kirk Jenkins, who studies the court, expects the justices will reject the proposition's five-year deadline for deciding death row appeals because it violates the separation of powers. Death penalty appeals average at least a decade from the time a condemned inmate is assigned a post-trial lawyer to a final decision by the state's high court, he said, and the justices already have a backlog of about 300 capital cases.
"There is no possible way that the court could meet the deadlines in Prop. 66" without putting aside virtually all other decisions, Jenkins said.
The initiative also makes it easier for corrections officials to adopt new lethal injection procedures. But even a complete rejection of Proposition 66 would not derail the executions of inmates whose appeals are exhausted, Weisberg said. Those executions could proceed once the state has an approved lethal injection process.
Experts said the delays may give opponents time to mount another campaign next year asking voters again if they want to abolish the death penalty.
"In California, it's become a symbolic death penalty state," Denno said. "Whether that is going to change or not is unpredictable."
EDITOR’S NOTE: It seems apparent that the judges in California, both state and federal, are opposed to capital punishment and will side with death penalty appellants every chance they get.
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
April 23, 2017
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California has long been what one expert calls a "symbolic death penalty state," one of 12 that has capital punishment on the books but has not executed anyone in more than a decade.
Prodded by voters and lawsuits, the nation's most populous state may now be easing back toward allowing executions, though observers are split on how quickly they will resume, if at all.
Corrections officials expect to meet a Wednesday deadline to submit revised lethal injection rules to state regulators, trying again with technical changes after the first attempt was rejected in December.
The California Supreme Court, meanwhile, is expected to rule by August on challenges to a ballot initiative narrowly approved by voters in November that would speed up executions by reducing the time allowed for appeals.
Still, it is a far cry from the situation in Arkansas, which carried out its first execution since 2005 last week after trying to put eight inmates to death this month in an unprecedented series of double executions. Courts have blocked three of them. Legal rulings have put at least one other in doubt.
California could come close to resuming executions in the next year, said law professor Robert Weisberg, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, though others say too many variables and challenges remain to make a prediction.
California has by far the nation's largest death row with nearly 750 inmates, about double that of No. 2 Florida.
The state's proposed lethal injection regulations are patterned after a single-drug process that already passed muster with the U.S. Supreme Court, Weisberg said.
Corrections officials submitted the regulations only after they were forced to act by a judge's ruling on behalf of crime victims angered at the state's three-year delay. But the regulations replacing California's old three-drug method are likely to be approved at some point, Weisberg said.
Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and an expert on lethal injections, was among those who said recent revisions to the state's proposed regulations still don't cure underlying problems that can lead to botched executions.
For instance, the proposed rules now give executioners 10 minutes to administer each round of lethal drugs. The first batch is supposed to kill, but if that initial dose doesn't work, executioners would administer four more similar doses, each with a 10-minute countdown clock to make sure the process doesn't drag on for hours as critics said was a possibility under the original rules.
If the inmate is still alive after five massive doses, "the San Quentin Warden shall stop the execution and summon medical assistance for the inmate."
The regulations still call for letting the warden at San Quentin State Prison pick from among four powerful barbiturates - amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital or thiopental - depending on which one is available as manufacturers try to limit the use of their drugs for executions. Inmates could also choose to die in the gas chamber.
The Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic, which opposes executions, says amobarbital and secobarbital have never been used in executions. The clinic said problems remain over how the drugs would be obtained and administered.
Officials in several other states with long-delayed executions have said their efforts to carry out the death penalty have been thwarted by a lack of lethal drugs.
Arkansas was rushing to try to execute as many inmates as possible before its supply of the controversial sedative midazolam expires at month's end. Midazolam would not be used under California's regulations.
Denno said California's regulations would still conceal the identities, training and experience of the execution team, crucial information since the deadly drugs must be properly measured, mixed and administered to ensure a painless death.
"It's a complicated process, and everything has to be going right, and it's so easy in a prison context for everything not to go right," she said. She equated it to letting amateurs provide anesthesia for surgery.
Denno and other experts said the new rules eventually will have to pass the scrutiny of U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, who halted executions in the state in early 2006 and ordered prison officials to improve their lethal injection process.
California voters have eased penalties for many crimes in recent years but have repeatedly rejected efforts to end the death penalty. They did so again in November, when 51 percent approved Proposition 66, designed to speed up death penalty cases. Fifty-three percent of voters defeated a competing measure that would have abolished the death penalty.
The state Supreme Court quickly blocked Proposition 66 while it considers challenges.
Appellate lawyer Kirk Jenkins, who studies the court, expects the justices will reject the proposition's five-year deadline for deciding death row appeals because it violates the separation of powers. Death penalty appeals average at least a decade from the time a condemned inmate is assigned a post-trial lawyer to a final decision by the state's high court, he said, and the justices already have a backlog of about 300 capital cases.
"There is no possible way that the court could meet the deadlines in Prop. 66" without putting aside virtually all other decisions, Jenkins said.
The initiative also makes it easier for corrections officials to adopt new lethal injection procedures. But even a complete rejection of Proposition 66 would not derail the executions of inmates whose appeals are exhausted, Weisberg said. Those executions could proceed once the state has an approved lethal injection process.
Experts said the delays may give opponents time to mount another campaign next year asking voters again if they want to abolish the death penalty.
"In California, it's become a symbolic death penalty state," Denno said. "Whether that is going to change or not is unpredictable."
EDITOR’S NOTE: It seems apparent that the judges in California, both state and federal, are opposed to capital punishment and will side with death penalty appellants every chance they get.
NOOKIE IN SPACE?
Sex in Space? NASA Says No, but Pornhub Wants to Reach This Final Frontier
By Dianna Wray
Houston Press
April 21, 2017
It's the question everyone longs to know about the final frontier: Have astronauts ever had sex in space?
Officially, NASA denies any such thing and there are no official, confirmed, yes-they-definitely-got-it-on reports about anyone doing it in space. (The idea of space sex is so good, though, that it has inspired at least one hoax. Pierre Kohler, the author of The Last Mission, claimed that NASA had commissioned a study on sexual positions in space back in 2003, complete with special two-person sleeping bags to make getting together a bit easier in low-gravity situations. The claim was debunked, but that hasn't stopped people from continuing to be fascinated with the idea of getting it on in orbit.)
But as we get closer to making the dream of sending astronauts on the very long trip to Mars a reality, it's understandable that people are wondering if a little space love (whether of the personal kind or via a duo) has ever happened or is even that likely.
There's been gossipy excitement over this idea ever since the first woman went to space in 1982, but the odds are good that if it's ever happened the space sex was more about the novelty of nookie in space and less about the actual joy of it. Logistically, it doesn't seem like having sex in space would be that easy or terribly fun.
For one thing, there are tons of physiological changes that happen during spaceflight that could play a part in sex and (if things were really serious with the partner or if it was a really long trip) procreation. When you're in space you experience gravity changes, radiation, vibration, noise, isolation, disrupted circadian rhythms and a whole bunch of stress. All of this can make it difficult to actually get together and do the deed.
There's also the little question of gravity. Gravity helps blood flow rapidly to certain places on the body and without gravity, men may not be able to get erections and women may also not get quite as physically aroused by sex.
So yeah, even if they can do it, so to speak, it's not necessarily a terribly satisfying encounter.
The idea of human sexual activity in the weightlessness or extreme environments of outer space – sex in space – presents difficulties for the performance of most sexual activities because of Newton's third law. According to the law, if the couple remain attached, their movements will counter each other, which means their actions won't change velocity unless they are affected by another, unattached object. There could also be problems from drifting into other objects (which makes sense when you think about it) since if the couple have a combined velocity relative to other objects, collisions could occur.
So far, NASA isn't down with having formal space sex experiments to let us know how any of this is for sure, but Pornhub is definitely interested. The company in 2015 announced it intends to make a space sex film and opened up its efforts to crowd funding. You'd think that would have translated to porn in sex immediately being made, but Pornhub has collected only a fraction of the more than $3 million required to make the movie.
So for now, sex in space is going to have to continue to live where it does best, the popular imagination. Unless, of course, there are any astronauts out there with some fun stories to tell about how exactly they defied the problems of gravity and Newton's third law to get it on. In which case, we all definitely want to hear what they've got to say.
By Dianna Wray
Houston Press
April 21, 2017
It's the question everyone longs to know about the final frontier: Have astronauts ever had sex in space?
Officially, NASA denies any such thing and there are no official, confirmed, yes-they-definitely-got-it-on reports about anyone doing it in space. (The idea of space sex is so good, though, that it has inspired at least one hoax. Pierre Kohler, the author of The Last Mission, claimed that NASA had commissioned a study on sexual positions in space back in 2003, complete with special two-person sleeping bags to make getting together a bit easier in low-gravity situations. The claim was debunked, but that hasn't stopped people from continuing to be fascinated with the idea of getting it on in orbit.)
But as we get closer to making the dream of sending astronauts on the very long trip to Mars a reality, it's understandable that people are wondering if a little space love (whether of the personal kind or via a duo) has ever happened or is even that likely.
There's been gossipy excitement over this idea ever since the first woman went to space in 1982, but the odds are good that if it's ever happened the space sex was more about the novelty of nookie in space and less about the actual joy of it. Logistically, it doesn't seem like having sex in space would be that easy or terribly fun.
For one thing, there are tons of physiological changes that happen during spaceflight that could play a part in sex and (if things were really serious with the partner or if it was a really long trip) procreation. When you're in space you experience gravity changes, radiation, vibration, noise, isolation, disrupted circadian rhythms and a whole bunch of stress. All of this can make it difficult to actually get together and do the deed.
There's also the little question of gravity. Gravity helps blood flow rapidly to certain places on the body and without gravity, men may not be able to get erections and women may also not get quite as physically aroused by sex.
So yeah, even if they can do it, so to speak, it's not necessarily a terribly satisfying encounter.
The idea of human sexual activity in the weightlessness or extreme environments of outer space – sex in space – presents difficulties for the performance of most sexual activities because of Newton's third law. According to the law, if the couple remain attached, their movements will counter each other, which means their actions won't change velocity unless they are affected by another, unattached object. There could also be problems from drifting into other objects (which makes sense when you think about it) since if the couple have a combined velocity relative to other objects, collisions could occur.
So far, NASA isn't down with having formal space sex experiments to let us know how any of this is for sure, but Pornhub is definitely interested. The company in 2015 announced it intends to make a space sex film and opened up its efforts to crowd funding. You'd think that would have translated to porn in sex immediately being made, but Pornhub has collected only a fraction of the more than $3 million required to make the movie.
So for now, sex in space is going to have to continue to live where it does best, the popular imagination. Unless, of course, there are any astronauts out there with some fun stories to tell about how exactly they defied the problems of gravity and Newton's third law to get it on. In which case, we all definitely want to hear what they've got to say.
DONALD TRUMP JR. TAKES SON ON HUNTING TRIP IN NATIONAL ZOO
According to witnesses at the zoo’s Elephant Outpost, Donald Trump Jr. told his son to aim for a calf that had wandered away from its mother in search of a play partner
The Onion
April 19, 2017
WASHINGTON—In what he referred to as an important rite of passage for his 8-year-old son, Donald John III, Donald Trump Jr. took his eldest boy to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park for his first-ever hunting trip, sources said Wednesday.
The daylong excursion, during which father and son could be seen wearing matching khaki fatigues and safari hats, was reportedly an opportunity for Trump Jr. to introduce the young boy to hunting by showing him how to track a wild animal through a zoo exhibit, set up the perfect shot just outside a fenced enclosure, and, if possible, hit the target right between the eyes as it lies sleeping.
“That’s it, D.J.—steady the barrel along the edge of the guardrail, just like that,” Trump Jr. whispered, appearing to swell with pride as Donald John III crouched near an ice cream stand in the zoo’s Cheetah Conservation Station and took aim at a cub playing inside a small enclosure 10 feet below. “Be very quiet or you’ll spook him. Now, whenever you’re ready, just exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger.”
“Great shot, son!” Trump Jr. continued as three valets from the hunting party set down the Trumps’ gear and entered the cheetah habitat to field-dress the carcass. “Let’s keep this spot until the zookeeper comes to feed them. When that happens, they’ll all move out into the open and we’ll be able to get a few more.”
According to sources, Trump Jr. and his son crept quietly along the paved footpaths—staying low and occasionally ducking behind an information kiosk—in the hopes of remaining undetected as they approached their next targets, Wilma and Zora, the two American bison housed by the zoo. Both animals were reportedly lapping water from a trough and caught unaware, allowing the father-son duo to take each of them out with three quick shots to the head, use a bowie knife to cut off the horns for souvenirs, and then continue on their way to the picnic pavilion for hot dogs and sodas.
Arriving at the zoo’s bird sanctuary, the Trumps are said to have switched from big-game rifles to scatterguns, bringing down a dozen flamingos, five whooping cranes, and a pair of North Island brown kiwi as zoo employees and families in the nearby gift shop screamed and ran for cover.
“The key to hunting is biding your time, D.J.—wait until those sea lions are trapped between the tank wall and your line of fire so you can get a clear shot at them before they swim away,” said Trump Jr., peering through the scope of his rifle at the aquatic mammals sunning themselves on a concrete embankment. “Later, when we go inside the Great Ape House, you’re going to be tempted to take a shot right away, but you have to be patient.”
“Eventually an orangutan will come down from its tire swing to grab a piece of fruit,” he added. “When that happens—bam, you nail him!”
Reports confirmed the highlight of the expedition came when Trump Jr. took down the zoo’s giant panda Tian Tian with just two shots, the first bullet shattering the Plexiglas barrier and the second hitting the animal directly in the heart. The Trumps reportedly took the opportunity to pose with their prized trophy, each triumphantly placing a foot on the blood-drenched panda as a hired photographer captured the moment.
The jubilant father and son reportedly ended their day by honing their marksmanship at the Small Mammal House, picking off mongooses one by one as they poked their heads out of their burrows.
“D.J., I was very proud of you out there today,” a misty-eyed Trump Jr. said as he tousled his son’s hair and tenderly wiped a smear of giant anteater blood from the boy’s cheek. “Maybe someday, when you have a son of your own, you’ll take him to the zoo and kill something really great like a white rhino, or, who knows, maybe you’ll take him to an aquarium and bag a dolphin. Even I haven’t done that.”
At press time, having deemed a gazelle carcass too small to make a good wall mount, the Trumps had abandoned the dead animal near a lemonade cart to rot in the sun.
The Onion
April 19, 2017
WASHINGTON—In what he referred to as an important rite of passage for his 8-year-old son, Donald John III, Donald Trump Jr. took his eldest boy to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park for his first-ever hunting trip, sources said Wednesday.
The daylong excursion, during which father and son could be seen wearing matching khaki fatigues and safari hats, was reportedly an opportunity for Trump Jr. to introduce the young boy to hunting by showing him how to track a wild animal through a zoo exhibit, set up the perfect shot just outside a fenced enclosure, and, if possible, hit the target right between the eyes as it lies sleeping.
“That’s it, D.J.—steady the barrel along the edge of the guardrail, just like that,” Trump Jr. whispered, appearing to swell with pride as Donald John III crouched near an ice cream stand in the zoo’s Cheetah Conservation Station and took aim at a cub playing inside a small enclosure 10 feet below. “Be very quiet or you’ll spook him. Now, whenever you’re ready, just exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger.”
“Great shot, son!” Trump Jr. continued as three valets from the hunting party set down the Trumps’ gear and entered the cheetah habitat to field-dress the carcass. “Let’s keep this spot until the zookeeper comes to feed them. When that happens, they’ll all move out into the open and we’ll be able to get a few more.”
According to sources, Trump Jr. and his son crept quietly along the paved footpaths—staying low and occasionally ducking behind an information kiosk—in the hopes of remaining undetected as they approached their next targets, Wilma and Zora, the two American bison housed by the zoo. Both animals were reportedly lapping water from a trough and caught unaware, allowing the father-son duo to take each of them out with three quick shots to the head, use a bowie knife to cut off the horns for souvenirs, and then continue on their way to the picnic pavilion for hot dogs and sodas.
Arriving at the zoo’s bird sanctuary, the Trumps are said to have switched from big-game rifles to scatterguns, bringing down a dozen flamingos, five whooping cranes, and a pair of North Island brown kiwi as zoo employees and families in the nearby gift shop screamed and ran for cover.
“The key to hunting is biding your time, D.J.—wait until those sea lions are trapped between the tank wall and your line of fire so you can get a clear shot at them before they swim away,” said Trump Jr., peering through the scope of his rifle at the aquatic mammals sunning themselves on a concrete embankment. “Later, when we go inside the Great Ape House, you’re going to be tempted to take a shot right away, but you have to be patient.”
“Eventually an orangutan will come down from its tire swing to grab a piece of fruit,” he added. “When that happens—bam, you nail him!”
Reports confirmed the highlight of the expedition came when Trump Jr. took down the zoo’s giant panda Tian Tian with just two shots, the first bullet shattering the Plexiglas barrier and the second hitting the animal directly in the heart. The Trumps reportedly took the opportunity to pose with their prized trophy, each triumphantly placing a foot on the blood-drenched panda as a hired photographer captured the moment.
The jubilant father and son reportedly ended their day by honing their marksmanship at the Small Mammal House, picking off mongooses one by one as they poked their heads out of their burrows.
“D.J., I was very proud of you out there today,” a misty-eyed Trump Jr. said as he tousled his son’s hair and tenderly wiped a smear of giant anteater blood from the boy’s cheek. “Maybe someday, when you have a son of your own, you’ll take him to the zoo and kill something really great like a white rhino, or, who knows, maybe you’ll take him to an aquarium and bag a dolphin. Even I haven’t done that.”
At press time, having deemed a gazelle carcass too small to make a good wall mount, the Trumps had abandoned the dead animal near a lemonade cart to rot in the sun.
Monday, April 24, 2017
SUBSIDIZE THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES?
The Trump administration wants to defund the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Politics
April 23, 2017
Congress has just returned from one of its frequent breaks. The House is faced with passing a budget to avoid a damaging government shutdown. There are several contentious items that the Trump administration is pushing. One is the building of a wall along the Mexican border. Another is the defunding of subsidies for the arts and humanities.
The Trump administration wants to defund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The defunding of NEA and NEH probably would not have been proposed were it not for the “Piss Christ” photograph and the “Tongues of Flame”.
In 1989, contemporary artist Andres Serrano exhibited his "Piss Christ" (Serrano's title) photograph of a crucifix submerged in a jar of Serrano's blood and urine. The exhibit was a deliberate attempt by the artist to offend members of the Christian faith. Serrano had received a $15,000 grant for his exhibit from the NEA.
In 1990, the "Tongues of Flame" exhibit by artist David Wojnarowicz consisted of several offensive depictions of Jesus Christ, including one of Jesus "mainlining" heroin by injecting a hypodermic needle into his arm. Wojnarowicz's exhibit was also funded by the NEA.
I am sure that even someone with half a brain can agree that funding such outrageous and offensive ‘art’ is a terrible waste of the taxpayers’ money. While those creeps Serrano and Wojnarowicz had every right to exhibit their anti-Christian smut, the NEA did not have to dole them the funds to do it. But is that any reason to defund the federal subsidies to the arts and humanities?
As for public broadcasting, conservatives are angry with the far-left slant some of its programs have taken on, and well theyshould be. But those leftie programs constitute only a small part of public broadcasting. For the most part the public radio and TV programs are very informative on a great variety of subjects.
The reasons given for defunding the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting is to help slash the federal deficit. Well and good. But is defunding the three programs really going to cut down on the deficit? Let’s look at the appropriations in the 2016 federal budget:
All appropriations except for the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting: $3.899 trillion
NEA: $148 million. That is 0.003 percent of the total spending.
NEH: $148 million. That is 0.003 percent of the total spending.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting: $445 million. That is 0.01 percent of the total spending.
So there you have it. Cutting the funding for the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting will have absolutely no effect on the federal deficit.
Because those programs do far more good than harm, I’m for continuing to subsidize them.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Politics
April 23, 2017
Congress has just returned from one of its frequent breaks. The House is faced with passing a budget to avoid a damaging government shutdown. There are several contentious items that the Trump administration is pushing. One is the building of a wall along the Mexican border. Another is the defunding of subsidies for the arts and humanities.
The Trump administration wants to defund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The defunding of NEA and NEH probably would not have been proposed were it not for the “Piss Christ” photograph and the “Tongues of Flame”.
In 1989, contemporary artist Andres Serrano exhibited his "Piss Christ" (Serrano's title) photograph of a crucifix submerged in a jar of Serrano's blood and urine. The exhibit was a deliberate attempt by the artist to offend members of the Christian faith. Serrano had received a $15,000 grant for his exhibit from the NEA.
In 1990, the "Tongues of Flame" exhibit by artist David Wojnarowicz consisted of several offensive depictions of Jesus Christ, including one of Jesus "mainlining" heroin by injecting a hypodermic needle into his arm. Wojnarowicz's exhibit was also funded by the NEA.
I am sure that even someone with half a brain can agree that funding such outrageous and offensive ‘art’ is a terrible waste of the taxpayers’ money. While those creeps Serrano and Wojnarowicz had every right to exhibit their anti-Christian smut, the NEA did not have to dole them the funds to do it. But is that any reason to defund the federal subsidies to the arts and humanities?
As for public broadcasting, conservatives are angry with the far-left slant some of its programs have taken on, and well theyshould be. But those leftie programs constitute only a small part of public broadcasting. For the most part the public radio and TV programs are very informative on a great variety of subjects.
The reasons given for defunding the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting is to help slash the federal deficit. Well and good. But is defunding the three programs really going to cut down on the deficit? Let’s look at the appropriations in the 2016 federal budget:
All appropriations except for the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting: $3.899 trillion
NEA: $148 million. That is 0.003 percent of the total spending.
NEH: $148 million. That is 0.003 percent of the total spending.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting: $445 million. That is 0.01 percent of the total spending.
So there you have it. Cutting the funding for the NEA, NEH and public broadcasting will have absolutely no effect on the federal deficit.
Because those programs do far more good than harm, I’m for continuing to subsidize them.
FRENCH ELECTION
by Bob Walsh
Based on exit poling and early results it seems very likely that centrist and pro-E.U. candidate Emmanuel Macron and nativist-populist Marine Le Pen will be in the run off for president in two weeks. Each candidate will likely get between 22% and 25% of the votes when all is said and done.
One should not be willing to write Le Pen off. Like Trump I suspect there will be a large closet Le Pen vote. Many of those who vote for her will not tell you they will do so. It simply isn't "cool" to vote for her. The same could have been said about trump. Right up until the Florida vote started coming in the talking heads were almost uniformly laughing at the idea of a Trump win. I don't think they will be laughing at Le Pen..
It is only 1230 Pacific Coast Time Sunday as I write this. It's isn't a done deal yet. It does, however, look like this is the way it's going.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The final results are in.
Emmanuel Macron received 23.75 percent of the vote.
Marine Le Pen received 21.53 percent.
New polls show Macron will win the runoff with 64 percent of the vote.
Based on exit poling and early results it seems very likely that centrist and pro-E.U. candidate Emmanuel Macron and nativist-populist Marine Le Pen will be in the run off for president in two weeks. Each candidate will likely get between 22% and 25% of the votes when all is said and done.
One should not be willing to write Le Pen off. Like Trump I suspect there will be a large closet Le Pen vote. Many of those who vote for her will not tell you they will do so. It simply isn't "cool" to vote for her. The same could have been said about trump. Right up until the Florida vote started coming in the talking heads were almost uniformly laughing at the idea of a Trump win. I don't think they will be laughing at Le Pen..
It is only 1230 Pacific Coast Time Sunday as I write this. It's isn't a done deal yet. It does, however, look like this is the way it's going.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The final results are in.
Emmanuel Macron received 23.75 percent of the vote.
Marine Le Pen received 21.53 percent.
New polls show Macron will win the runoff with 64 percent of the vote.
HOLY SMOKE!
10 pounds of pot wrongly sent from California to Pennsylvania pastor
Associated Press
April 22, 2017
YEADON, Pa. — Police are trying to determine who shipped 10 pounds of marijuana from California to a pastor in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Yeadon police tell WTXF-TV the drugs arrived Thursday, in bundles stuffed into a plastic bucket inside a cardboard box that was delivered by United Parcel Service.
The package was sent from Sacramento.
But the woman who received it is a church pastor who tells authorities it wasn't meant for her. Police believe someone else might have been instructed to watch for the package, but failed to pick it up.
Police Chief Donald Molineux says the pastor is "very upset and traumatized" and afraid someone might come to her home looking for the drugs.
Police are hoping surveillance video from a drop-off location will identify who shipped the package.
Associated Press
April 22, 2017
YEADON, Pa. — Police are trying to determine who shipped 10 pounds of marijuana from California to a pastor in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Yeadon police tell WTXF-TV the drugs arrived Thursday, in bundles stuffed into a plastic bucket inside a cardboard box that was delivered by United Parcel Service.
The package was sent from Sacramento.
But the woman who received it is a church pastor who tells authorities it wasn't meant for her. Police believe someone else might have been instructed to watch for the package, but failed to pick it up.
Police Chief Donald Molineux says the pastor is "very upset and traumatized" and afraid someone might come to her home looking for the drugs.
Police are hoping surveillance video from a drop-off location will identify who shipped the package.
WHEN THE MARINES KILL CARTEL LEADERS, MEXICANS RIOT
Two Mexican cartel leaders - 'Commandante Toro' and 'Pancho' Carreon are killed in separate shootouts with marines - sparking huge riots
By Associated Press and Jordan Gass-Poore
Daily Mail
April 23, 2017
Two top drug traffickers have been killed in pre-dawn shootouts Saturday with federal forces in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, authorities reported.
The Tamaulipas security spokesman's office said the men were killed in separate confrontations, which left highways littered with burned-out vehicles.
Julian Loisa Salinas, better known as 'Comandante Toro' and also known as Juan Manuel Loisa Salinas, was killed in a clash with marines in Reynosa, a city across the border from McAllen, Texas.
Loisa Salinas reportedly was the Gulf cartel's local leader in Reynosa. Authorities had tried to capture him a number of times, leading to gunbattles with his gang. In early April, two US citizens were reported wounded in one such gunfight.
On Saturday, photos showed burned-out cars, trucks and buses littering streets in Reynosa. State authorities said his supporters had set fires and tried to block roads in an unsuccessful effort to help him escape.
Luis Alberto Rodriguez, the state security spokesman, said there were a total of 32 highway and street blockades, 11 of which were erected using burning vehicles. Such vehicles are usually hijacked from their owners by armed men and then set on fire.
Nine businesses were burned and 18 vacant lots were set on fire.
Also Saturday, the local leader for the rival Zetas cartel in Tamaulipas' capital, Ciudad Victoria, was killed in a similar shootout farther south. He was tentatively identified as Francisco 'Pancho' Carreon.
The two were believed to be behind much of the recent violence in Tamaulipas.
America renewed warnings against unnecessary travel to certain parts of Mexico because of gang violence.
US citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking and robbery in various Mexican states.
By Associated Press and Jordan Gass-Poore
Daily Mail
April 23, 2017
Two top drug traffickers have been killed in pre-dawn shootouts Saturday with federal forces in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, authorities reported.
The Tamaulipas security spokesman's office said the men were killed in separate confrontations, which left highways littered with burned-out vehicles.
Julian Loisa Salinas, better known as 'Comandante Toro' and also known as Juan Manuel Loisa Salinas, was killed in a clash with marines in Reynosa, a city across the border from McAllen, Texas.
Loisa Salinas reportedly was the Gulf cartel's local leader in Reynosa. Authorities had tried to capture him a number of times, leading to gunbattles with his gang. In early April, two US citizens were reported wounded in one such gunfight.
On Saturday, photos showed burned-out cars, trucks and buses littering streets in Reynosa. State authorities said his supporters had set fires and tried to block roads in an unsuccessful effort to help him escape.
Luis Alberto Rodriguez, the state security spokesman, said there were a total of 32 highway and street blockades, 11 of which were erected using burning vehicles. Such vehicles are usually hijacked from their owners by armed men and then set on fire.
Nine businesses were burned and 18 vacant lots were set on fire.
Also Saturday, the local leader for the rival Zetas cartel in Tamaulipas' capital, Ciudad Victoria, was killed in a similar shootout farther south. He was tentatively identified as Francisco 'Pancho' Carreon.
The two were believed to be behind much of the recent violence in Tamaulipas.
America renewed warnings against unnecessary travel to certain parts of Mexico because of gang violence.
US citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking and robbery in various Mexican states.
Sunday, April 23, 2017
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