by Karen Townsend
Big Jolly Politics
October 29, 2017
Sometimes I read something so stupid that I have a hard believing that someone in America really believes what he is saying. Case in point – the outrage over Texans owner Bob McNair’s comment on a conference call with other NFL team owners. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
McNair is a well-known Houston zillionaire and philanthropist. He owns the Houston Texans football team. He is an older white man and for that he must be punished. This is where we are in today’s world. McNair used an expression that each and every one of us has heard come out of the mouths of our parents or grandparents. He said, of the mess that the NFL finds itself in over players taking a knee instead of standing for the National Anthem, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.” First, some of the Texans threatened to walk out of practice, then McNair apologized. Twice.
“McNair released a second statement Saturday afternoon and insisted he wasn’t referring to the players with his “very regretful comment.” Instead he says he was “referring to the relationship between the league office and team owners and how they have been making significant strategic decisions affecting our league without adequate input from ownership over the past few years.”
He then apologized to NFL players saying: “I am truly sorry to the players for how this has impacted them and the perception that it has created of me which could not be further from the truth. Our focus going forward, personally and as an organization, will be towards making meaningful progress regarding the social issues that mean so much to our players and our community.”
As you may imagine, apologies are not good enough any more. The 79 year old owner is presumed racist and that will not be easy to overcome in our hyper-sensitive environment. I’ve heard reasoning that because a large percentage of players are African-American, this comment must be directed at those players – that McNair isn’t sensitive to the life experiences of black men. I get it. There are a lot of black men and women in prison. There are also a lot of other demographics, too, including white Americans.
So, then I read Sunday that the Texans were going to do a big protest against McNair before the game in Seattle. Left tackle Duane Brown led a call for the protest and successfully encouraged all but four players to take a knee before the game. I find it interesting that it happened at an away game, not in Houston. I have to think the response from the ticket holders would have been a bit different at home. I watched just enough of the broadcast to see that happen and listen to the announcers give me their hot takes on it and then I changed the channel. Yes, I only watched because I am writing this.
Here’s the thing – I say, the more protests, the better. I’m a political person and I like discourse. I encourage all people to get involved and make use of their God-given rights, within our Constitution. What better way is there to honor the sacrifices of those who came before us? I have lots of veterans in my family, both living and deceased, who fought for my right to speak up.
Here’s the flip side of that – I utilize my right to protest with my feet and my pocketbook. Or, in this case, my remote control. I no longer support the NFL. When President Trump tweeted that players should be fired for not standing for the National Anthem and then the gesture escalated as the players reacted to that tweet, then I said, “I’m out.” A handful of players taking a knee doesn’t sway me one way or the other. This all began last season with a now unemployed social justice warrior disguised as a football player. Barack Obama was the president, if you remember. A couple of his teammates did the same and that was that. Now it’s just all about being anti-Trump or, now, anti-McNair.
I love politics. I love football. I hate politics taking over football. I watch sports to escape the current events of the day. I love competition. It’s a game, it’s not rocket science and it will not cure disease. It is grown men making lots of money playing a game for a living. Taking advantage of that high profile life to divide and not unite – the current cry from those doing the exact opposite – is wrong. I have stopped watching professional football and it makes me sad.
Thank God for the Houston Astros. I am a “bandwagon” fan as I watch the World Series. I was once a baseball fan, back in the day, but lost interest as the greats of my day retired. With this current Astros team, though, I have found renewed zest in watching them play. What a joyful team! These guys are young and talented and eager to win. It has been heartwarming to see the Astros and their opponents stand and sing the National Anthem, as is the custom. It is particularly wonderful to see all the players who are immigrants to America participate.
Go Astros. And, thank you.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I broke out in uncontrollable laughter when I read his second apology in which he insisted he was referring to the relationship between the league office and team owners and not to the players when he made his ‘inmates’ remark. One thing is as sure as death and taxes – McNair was referring to the players!
As for the Astros, there has been only one player in Major League Baseball that has taken a knee during the anthem and that was Oakland’s black catcher.
EDITOR’S UPDATE: Here is the latest. That paragon of virtue, Jesse Jackson, believes McNair is a racist with a plantation mentality.
Jackson also made the absurd assertion that the kneeling players were not disrespectful of our flag, but were praying for social justice.
As a protest against their boss, almost all of McNair’s black players ‘prayed’ during the anthem before the start of the Texan’s game with the Seattle Seahawks.
Yep, the in mates are running the prison.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Here is some good news – Texans offensive tackle Duane Brown has been dumped by McNair’s management team in a trade to the Seahawks. Brown led the player revolt against McNair in Seattle. Now he can only hope that Seahawks owner Paul Allen is not an insensitive slave-owner boss like he thought McNair was.
Damn good riddance!
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
CARTEL BUSINESS AS USUAL IN BAJA CALIFORNIA
Narcomantas, dismembered bodies, and ex-policemen killed in Baja California Sur
Zeta (translated for Borderland Beat)
October 29, 2017
After the announcement that the armed forces were taking control of public security in La Paz and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, true carnage has been unleashed in the streets.
In the last hours human remains of a person have been found scattered in four points of the capital, as well as four executed, two of them former municipal police.
On Friday, October 27, three executions took place. One in the Aguajitos neighborhood, another at kilometer 7.5 of the Cabo San Lucas - San José del Cabo highway, and the last one in El Zacatal. The last of which was identified as an officer of the Los Cabos Municipal Police recently dismissed for failing the control and trust exams.
Meanwhile, since that Friday night signs were placed denouncing military personnel who had arrested men who are now missing. The message was signed by relatives of the alleged victims.
Another former agent was killed on Saturday, October 28 on Forjadores and Don Guillermo Streets in the Pablo L. Martinez neighborhood.
In the early hours of Saturday, at 5:00 am, a leg was found inside a black bag. The remains were located on Altamirano street between Puebla and Nayarit, a neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo in the municipality of La Paz.
At the same time, an arm was found in Josefa Ortiz de DomÃnguez and Veracruz streets, the reverse side on the highway to the Los Planes kilometer, while other human remains were thrown into El Zacatal de La Paz.
On Sunday morning, foul smells gave alert to another human limb in the Civilizadores neighborhood.
This Sunday morning [October 29], a narcomanta was found in the vicinity of the Jardines del Recuerdo cemetery. In the text presumed leaders of the plaza in the state are threatened.
Authorities have deployed operations in different parts of Los Cabos and La Paz, including helicopters maintaining constant coverage in some neighborhoods.
Zeta (translated for Borderland Beat)
October 29, 2017
After the announcement that the armed forces were taking control of public security in La Paz and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, true carnage has been unleashed in the streets.
In the last hours human remains of a person have been found scattered in four points of the capital, as well as four executed, two of them former municipal police.
On Friday, October 27, three executions took place. One in the Aguajitos neighborhood, another at kilometer 7.5 of the Cabo San Lucas - San José del Cabo highway, and the last one in El Zacatal. The last of which was identified as an officer of the Los Cabos Municipal Police recently dismissed for failing the control and trust exams.
Meanwhile, since that Friday night signs were placed denouncing military personnel who had arrested men who are now missing. The message was signed by relatives of the alleged victims.
Another former agent was killed on Saturday, October 28 on Forjadores and Don Guillermo Streets in the Pablo L. Martinez neighborhood.
In the early hours of Saturday, at 5:00 am, a leg was found inside a black bag. The remains were located on Altamirano street between Puebla and Nayarit, a neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo in the municipality of La Paz.
At the same time, an arm was found in Josefa Ortiz de DomÃnguez and Veracruz streets, the reverse side on the highway to the Los Planes kilometer, while other human remains were thrown into El Zacatal de La Paz.
On Sunday morning, foul smells gave alert to another human limb in the Civilizadores neighborhood.
This Sunday morning [October 29], a narcomanta was found in the vicinity of the Jardines del Recuerdo cemetery. In the text presumed leaders of the plaza in the state are threatened.
Authorities have deployed operations in different parts of Los Cabos and La Paz, including helicopters maintaining constant coverage in some neighborhoods.
PHOTOS OF THE HYENA OF AUSCHWITZ TO BE AUCTIONED
Irma Grese was a sadistic nymphomaniac who slept with SS guards, participated in selecting prisoners for the gas chamber as well as exacting horrific punishment beatings
By Jaya Narain and and Richard Spillett
Daily Mail
October 30, 2017
She has gone down in history as one of the most evil and sadistic women of World War II.
Known as the Hyena of Auschwitz, Irma Grese, was one of the most feared guards at the infamous concentration camp.
A sadistic nymphomaniac who slept with SS guards, she participated in selecting prisoners for the gas chamber as well as exacting horrific punishment beatings.
Pictures of her and other other female camp guards who presided over the mass extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews at Nazi death camps have now emerged in an archive which is going up for sale.
These vicious enforcers were rounded up when concentration camp Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British army in 1945.
Three female guards were later executed for selecting hundreds of prisoners for the gas chamber and beating and murdering dozens of others.
Another woman who struck terror was Hilde Lohbauer, a mother-of-two, who was a prisoner herself but worked as a Kapo supervising forced labour.
She would target the sickest and weakest prisoners and would set savage dogs on them to tear them apart.
Another sadist and ruthless overseer feared by inmates at Bergen-Belsen was Irene Haschke who would viciously abuse female prisoners.
Grese was hanged for war crimes in 1945 while Lohbauer and Haschke both received 10 year jail sentences
All three women are among an archive of historic material compiled by British lawyer, Leo Genn, who worked as assistant prosecutor at the Belsen Trial in Luneburg in 1945 - a precursor to the Nuremberg Trials.
The archive will be sold by Toovey's auction house on October 31, when it is expected to fetch between £4,000-£6,000.
Genn later became a successful stage and film actor but kept his archive of photos and signed prisoner statements.
Seven decades the valuable historic photos and statements taken from war criminals at Bergen-Belsen is to go up for sale at the auction.
Nicholas Toovey of Toovey's auction house in Washington, Sussex, said: 'A large part of the value and its importance, is the connection with Leo Genn, the famous theatre and film actor with his role as an assistant prosecutor at the trial for Belsen.
'It includes personal items, such as his identity tags and his army-issue canvas bag, but more importantly his copies of signed witness statements and his notes made during the trial.
'The archive includes witness statements from internees of the camp and from those controlling it, revealing the horrors that went on behind closed doors, of which the world was then unaware.'
As well as the female camp guards the archive contains photos and signatures Belsen camp commandant, Josef Kramer, and Fritz Klein, a Nazi doctor who helped select prisoners for the gas chambers.
Kramer and Klein were among 11 Nazis - including three women - who were executed in December 1945 after a British military tribunal. A further nine women and two men were jailed for up to 15 years.
Genn, a lieutenant colonel, was assigned to investigate the crimes uncovered at Bergen-Belsen.
He was sent to Germany with a handful of investigators to obtain evidence from thousands of malnourished and typhus-suffering survivors of the camp.
The evidence of systematic genocide he helped uncover led to trial and execution of hundreds of Nazis after their trials at Nuremberg.
After the war he became a famous film actor was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Quo Vadis in 1951.
He appeared in several other films including Personal Affair opposite Gene Tierney in 1953 and John Huston's Moby Dick in 1956 and The Longest Day in 1962.
He was also an accomplished theatre actor and later in life he was a governor of London's The Mermaid Theatre. He died in 1978.
The archive will be sold by Toovey's auction house on October 31, when it is expected to fetch between £4,000-£6,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Why would anyone pay more than £1 for the photo of a Nazi concentration camp guard? But a rare photo of Josef Mengele, the notorious Auschwitz doctor, might bring in a bushel of euros.
By Jaya Narain and and Richard Spillett
Daily Mail
October 30, 2017
She has gone down in history as one of the most evil and sadistic women of World War II.
Known as the Hyena of Auschwitz, Irma Grese, was one of the most feared guards at the infamous concentration camp.
A sadistic nymphomaniac who slept with SS guards, she participated in selecting prisoners for the gas chamber as well as exacting horrific punishment beatings.
Pictures of her and other other female camp guards who presided over the mass extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews at Nazi death camps have now emerged in an archive which is going up for sale.
These vicious enforcers were rounded up when concentration camp Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British army in 1945.
Three female guards were later executed for selecting hundreds of prisoners for the gas chamber and beating and murdering dozens of others.
Another woman who struck terror was Hilde Lohbauer, a mother-of-two, who was a prisoner herself but worked as a Kapo supervising forced labour.
She would target the sickest and weakest prisoners and would set savage dogs on them to tear them apart.
Another sadist and ruthless overseer feared by inmates at Bergen-Belsen was Irene Haschke who would viciously abuse female prisoners.
Grese was hanged for war crimes in 1945 while Lohbauer and Haschke both received 10 year jail sentences
All three women are among an archive of historic material compiled by British lawyer, Leo Genn, who worked as assistant prosecutor at the Belsen Trial in Luneburg in 1945 - a precursor to the Nuremberg Trials.
The archive will be sold by Toovey's auction house on October 31, when it is expected to fetch between £4,000-£6,000.
Genn later became a successful stage and film actor but kept his archive of photos and signed prisoner statements.
Seven decades the valuable historic photos and statements taken from war criminals at Bergen-Belsen is to go up for sale at the auction.
Nicholas Toovey of Toovey's auction house in Washington, Sussex, said: 'A large part of the value and its importance, is the connection with Leo Genn, the famous theatre and film actor with his role as an assistant prosecutor at the trial for Belsen.
'It includes personal items, such as his identity tags and his army-issue canvas bag, but more importantly his copies of signed witness statements and his notes made during the trial.
'The archive includes witness statements from internees of the camp and from those controlling it, revealing the horrors that went on behind closed doors, of which the world was then unaware.'
As well as the female camp guards the archive contains photos and signatures Belsen camp commandant, Josef Kramer, and Fritz Klein, a Nazi doctor who helped select prisoners for the gas chambers.
Kramer and Klein were among 11 Nazis - including three women - who were executed in December 1945 after a British military tribunal. A further nine women and two men were jailed for up to 15 years.
Genn, a lieutenant colonel, was assigned to investigate the crimes uncovered at Bergen-Belsen.
He was sent to Germany with a handful of investigators to obtain evidence from thousands of malnourished and typhus-suffering survivors of the camp.
The evidence of systematic genocide he helped uncover led to trial and execution of hundreds of Nazis after their trials at Nuremberg.
After the war he became a famous film actor was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Quo Vadis in 1951.
He appeared in several other films including Personal Affair opposite Gene Tierney in 1953 and John Huston's Moby Dick in 1956 and The Longest Day in 1962.
He was also an accomplished theatre actor and later in life he was a governor of London's The Mermaid Theatre. He died in 1978.
The archive will be sold by Toovey's auction house on October 31, when it is expected to fetch between £4,000-£6,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Why would anyone pay more than £1 for the photo of a Nazi concentration camp guard? But a rare photo of Josef Mengele, the notorious Auschwitz doctor, might bring in a bushel of euros.
Monday, October 30, 2017
HOUNDS AND HARES
by Bob Walsh
So, in politics is it better to be the hound or the hare? Donald Trump is finding out. He decided, for whatever reason, to back away from his pursuit of the criminal enterprise known as the Clinton Crime Family Foundation. That has not stopped the pursuit of Trump.
The Deep State anti-Trump psychopaths, the pro-Hillary I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE LOST HE MUST HAVE CHEATED crazies and 90% of the media hate Trump's guts. They are out to nail him by any means, fair or foul, for any cause, real or imagined.
The Extra-Special Prosecutor is (allegedly) about to release an indictment of a major player on Trump's side.
If I were Trump my inclination would to be to have a strong word with the AG and ORDER him to establish a special public integrity investigation unit to look SPECIFICALLY into what can generally be called the Clinton bribery and shake-down operation of the Secretary of State's office. Throw in the IRS scandal and the DOJ-Clinton-Lynch connection. I would direct him to interview Rudy Giuliani for the job. I would ensure that it is staffed by people who are NOT pro-Clinton shills and whores. I would then let the investigation lead wherever it leads. If it find no foul, that's fine. If it finds problems, nail somebody's skin to the front door. Maybe several somebodys.
They are going to hate him and try to destroy him no matter how conciliatory he attempts to be. Might as well do some good while he's fighting for his life.
So, in politics is it better to be the hound or the hare? Donald Trump is finding out. He decided, for whatever reason, to back away from his pursuit of the criminal enterprise known as the Clinton Crime Family Foundation. That has not stopped the pursuit of Trump.
The Deep State anti-Trump psychopaths, the pro-Hillary I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE LOST HE MUST HAVE CHEATED crazies and 90% of the media hate Trump's guts. They are out to nail him by any means, fair or foul, for any cause, real or imagined.
The Extra-Special Prosecutor is (allegedly) about to release an indictment of a major player on Trump's side.
If I were Trump my inclination would to be to have a strong word with the AG and ORDER him to establish a special public integrity investigation unit to look SPECIFICALLY into what can generally be called the Clinton bribery and shake-down operation of the Secretary of State's office. Throw in the IRS scandal and the DOJ-Clinton-Lynch connection. I would direct him to interview Rudy Giuliani for the job. I would ensure that it is staffed by people who are NOT pro-Clinton shills and whores. I would then let the investigation lead wherever it leads. If it find no foul, that's fine. If it finds problems, nail somebody's skin to the front door. Maybe several somebodys.
They are going to hate him and try to destroy him no matter how conciliatory he attempts to be. Might as well do some good while he's fighting for his life.
177 BUSTED, BUT MANY COMMITTED NO CRIMES
Twin Peaks biker's attorney says email proves DA Reyna under investigation by the FBI
By Kristin Hoppa
Waco Tribune-Herald
October 23, 2017
A Twin Peaks shootout defense attorney claims a 2013 email from an FBI agent to local authorities proves McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna lied when he claimed last week he is not now, nor has ever been, under federal investigation.
Waco attorney Robert Callahan, who is representing biker William Chance Aikin, of Talco, released an email from FBI agent Dan Brust to Waco police detective Sherry Kingrey and two other local investigators sent in February 2013. In the email, Brust asks all three investigators about unspecified information regarding “the potential corruption,” and possible information confidential informants may have.
“It makes it clear that there was an investigation into public corruption by the FBI in 2013,” Callahan stated in an email. “One of the recipients of this email, former Waco PD officer Sherry Kingrey, has agreed to speak to the press and confirm that she is aware of the investigation against Reyna and that this email is addressing that investigation.”
Kingrey, who retired from Waco Police Department in March, verified that she had visited with Brust about information she had received, but declined via text message to elaborate on the information Monday. She said she forwarded “unverified information” to federal authorities.
The email release comes after Dallas attorney Clint Broden filed a motion Friday in the case of his client, Matthew Clendennen, of Hewitt, alleging Reyna is under federal investigation for selective prosecution for political gain. Callahan said Reyna’s office should not be prosecuting criminal trials if his office is under federal investigation.
Federal authorities on Friday would neither confirm nor deny if Reyna is the subject of a federal investigation.
Last week, Broden claimed he obtained “very credible information” indicating Reyna has been and continues to be under federal investigation.
In response to Broden’s claims, Reyna made a public online social media post Saturday afternoon, saying the federal investigation allegations are “ridiculous and untruthful.” He declined to make a statement to the Tribune-Herald last week and Monday. First Assistant District Attorney Michael Jarrett also declined to comment.
“Mr. Broden’s most recent ridiculous and untruthful allegation regarding a make-believe federal investigation, is proof that this saying is true,” Reyna said, in part, on the social media post. “It’s unfortunate that the same whisper campaign, carried out by the same individuals during my last re-election bid in 2014, has found a new ‘mouthpiece’ in Mr. Broden two weeks before his client is set for trial.
“The claim that I am aware of some federal investigation or that prosecutors in this office have been interviewed by the FBI is patently, 100 percent false.”
Callahan said Reyna’s statement to local media and Facebook post prompted him to release the email from Brust. He said the information verified that federal authorities were speaking with officials about Reyna’s alleged misconduct.
In connection to the alleged FBI probe into Reyna’s potential corruption, Broden issued subpoenas and “subpoenas duces tecum,” requiring a person named in the subpoena to produce certain books, papers, or other tangible things for the court. The subpoenas were issued for a Thursday hearing in Clendennen’s case, but the state has filed a motion for a continuance until after the trial of Jacob Carrizal is finished. Carrizal, the first biker to be prosecuted in the Twin Peaks shootout, is currently on trial in 54th State District Court. Reyna, Jarrett and Assistant District Attorney Amanda Dillon are prosecuting Carrizal.
Broden requested all documents, including emails, notes or any document produced in preparation with meetings with federal authorities in relation to any ongoing criminal investigation into Reyna. Those subpoenas included assistant district attorneys Jarrett, Dillon, Joseph Layman, former first assistant Greg Davis, Reyna’s former administrative assistant Julissa West, FBI agent Fred Rhea, Brust, and Kingrey.
Broden’s request for materials from Jarrett also included “any and all documents reflecting the purchase or maintenance of a ‘covert’ mobile telephone for the purpose of communicating with federal prosecutors and/or FBI investigators in relation to the federal criminal investigation regarding McLennan County District Attorney Abelino Reyna.”
Callahan said he will file similar motions to disqualify Reyna and assistant district attorneys. Broden’s motion also stated that assistant district attorneys have visited with federal investigators.
“I am going to be seeking the same type of relief,” Callahan said. “The district attorney’s office has no business prosecuting these cases.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Waco and McLennan County could become bankrupt after the dust settles from all the lawsuits filed against them.
By Kristin Hoppa
Waco Tribune-Herald
October 23, 2017
A Twin Peaks shootout defense attorney claims a 2013 email from an FBI agent to local authorities proves McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna lied when he claimed last week he is not now, nor has ever been, under federal investigation.
Waco attorney Robert Callahan, who is representing biker William Chance Aikin, of Talco, released an email from FBI agent Dan Brust to Waco police detective Sherry Kingrey and two other local investigators sent in February 2013. In the email, Brust asks all three investigators about unspecified information regarding “the potential corruption,” and possible information confidential informants may have.
“It makes it clear that there was an investigation into public corruption by the FBI in 2013,” Callahan stated in an email. “One of the recipients of this email, former Waco PD officer Sherry Kingrey, has agreed to speak to the press and confirm that she is aware of the investigation against Reyna and that this email is addressing that investigation.”
Kingrey, who retired from Waco Police Department in March, verified that she had visited with Brust about information she had received, but declined via text message to elaborate on the information Monday. She said she forwarded “unverified information” to federal authorities.
The email release comes after Dallas attorney Clint Broden filed a motion Friday in the case of his client, Matthew Clendennen, of Hewitt, alleging Reyna is under federal investigation for selective prosecution for political gain. Callahan said Reyna’s office should not be prosecuting criminal trials if his office is under federal investigation.
Federal authorities on Friday would neither confirm nor deny if Reyna is the subject of a federal investigation.
Last week, Broden claimed he obtained “very credible information” indicating Reyna has been and continues to be under federal investigation.
In response to Broden’s claims, Reyna made a public online social media post Saturday afternoon, saying the federal investigation allegations are “ridiculous and untruthful.” He declined to make a statement to the Tribune-Herald last week and Monday. First Assistant District Attorney Michael Jarrett also declined to comment.
“Mr. Broden’s most recent ridiculous and untruthful allegation regarding a make-believe federal investigation, is proof that this saying is true,” Reyna said, in part, on the social media post. “It’s unfortunate that the same whisper campaign, carried out by the same individuals during my last re-election bid in 2014, has found a new ‘mouthpiece’ in Mr. Broden two weeks before his client is set for trial.
“The claim that I am aware of some federal investigation or that prosecutors in this office have been interviewed by the FBI is patently, 100 percent false.”
Callahan said Reyna’s statement to local media and Facebook post prompted him to release the email from Brust. He said the information verified that federal authorities were speaking with officials about Reyna’s alleged misconduct.
In connection to the alleged FBI probe into Reyna’s potential corruption, Broden issued subpoenas and “subpoenas duces tecum,” requiring a person named in the subpoena to produce certain books, papers, or other tangible things for the court. The subpoenas were issued for a Thursday hearing in Clendennen’s case, but the state has filed a motion for a continuance until after the trial of Jacob Carrizal is finished. Carrizal, the first biker to be prosecuted in the Twin Peaks shootout, is currently on trial in 54th State District Court. Reyna, Jarrett and Assistant District Attorney Amanda Dillon are prosecuting Carrizal.
Broden requested all documents, including emails, notes or any document produced in preparation with meetings with federal authorities in relation to any ongoing criminal investigation into Reyna. Those subpoenas included assistant district attorneys Jarrett, Dillon, Joseph Layman, former first assistant Greg Davis, Reyna’s former administrative assistant Julissa West, FBI agent Fred Rhea, Brust, and Kingrey.
Broden’s request for materials from Jarrett also included “any and all documents reflecting the purchase or maintenance of a ‘covert’ mobile telephone for the purpose of communicating with federal prosecutors and/or FBI investigators in relation to the federal criminal investigation regarding McLennan County District Attorney Abelino Reyna.”
Callahan said he will file similar motions to disqualify Reyna and assistant district attorneys. Broden’s motion also stated that assistant district attorneys have visited with federal investigators.
“I am going to be seeking the same type of relief,” Callahan said. “The district attorney’s office has no business prosecuting these cases.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Waco and McLennan County could become bankrupt after the dust settles from all the lawsuits filed against them.
POLICE WARNING SHOTS OK … OR NOT
Should cops be able to fire warning shots in tense situations? Even police sharply disagree
By Kevin Johnson
USA Today
October 25, 2017
WASHINGTON— A new policy endorsing the use of warning shots by police to de-escalate potentially deadly confrontations is driving a rift among some law enforcement leaders who believe the practice only heightens risk and should be abandoned.
The controversial issue broke into the open during a weekend gathering of the nation’s police chiefs in Philadelphia where some officials called for removing the provision allowing for warning shots contained in the National Consensus Policy on Use of Force.
The policy paper was approved earlier this month by a coalition of police groups, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the largest society of top law enforcement officials in the country.
"I'll be real candid, I think it's a stupid idea," said James Varrone, assistant police chief in Wilmington, N.C., who first raised the matter Sunday at a law enforcement town hall event staged to coincide with the IACP conference. "I thought the idea of warning shots and the dangers posed by such a policy went away decades ago or longer than I have been in law enforcement – and that's been 31 years.''
Varrone's assessment was effectively endorsed by hundreds of law enforcement colleagues who, when asked whether they supported such a policy, sat silent during the discussion sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum, a D.C.-based law enforcement think tank.
"We have had enough people killed or injured as bystanders over the years by errant gunfire without endorsing a strategy like this for police," said Darrel Stephens, the outgoing executive director of the Major City Chiefs Association, which represents the 59 largest police departments in the United States.
Stephens said his group declined to "sign off" on the policy earlier this year, largely because of the provision allowing for warning shots.
"Our position is: where do the bullets go? It's as simple as that," Stephens said. "Warning shots only put other people at risk and (the strategy) may only invite return gunfire from the source of the problem you are trying to stop."
Terrence Cunningham, the IACP's deputy executive director, acknowledged the charged nature of the provision but believed it should be included "for the most extreme situations."
"We strongly discourage it," Cunningham said, "but if you absolutely found yourself in a position where it could serve to de-escalate a situation then we should leave it to the determination of the officer on the street."
Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, another of 11 law enforcement groups that collaborated on the policy, said the policy was promulgated during the course of the past year as law enforcement has sought ways to avoid fatal encounters in the communities they serve following a series of tragedies that sparked unrest in places like Ferguson, Mo., Cleveland, Baltimore and New York.
"We believe in exhausting all possibilities when trying to reduce tensions," Pasco said. "It (warning shots) is only included as a suggestion, anyway. We were responding to the growing drumbeat about the use of force around the country."
Pasco acknowledged that warning shots may not be feasible in many cases, but he believes there are instances when officers could benefit from such an option.
"When you have someone coming at you with a knife from 20 feet away, that could be a time when you use something like that," he said. "If it gets to five feet, then you are probably going to have to shoot him."
Of the criticisms raised by other police groups regarding the policy, Pasco said: "You could nit-pick any kind of document like this. This is a statement of best practices."
The policy is not binding on any law enforcement agency, as departments adopt their own guidelines on the use of deadly force. But some officials said the warning-shot option could dangerously cloud officers' responses to the most difficult question they face on the job: when to shoot?
For that reason and for the safety of third parties, Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said warning shots--as an option for officers--have been banned by most department for decades.
"There has never been any real discussion at all in terms of change," Wexler said. "It's been an established policy for the better part of 40 years that warning shots are prohibited."
Stephen Davis, deputy police commissioner for the New York Police Department, said extreme density in cities like New York are strong arguments against such a policy.
"When you fire a shot, that bullet has to come down somewhere," Davis said. "The downside of policy like this greatly outweighs any benefit, especially in New York."
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, my agency in California, had a strict policy back in the 50s and 60s that no warning shots can be fired. The no warning shot policy was initiated by Sheriff Joe Rice, a former FBI agent. He was concerned that what goes up must come down … somewhere!
I believe that often when an officer claims he fired a warning shot, he actually intended to shoot a suspect dead, but missed and was too embarrassed to admit he couldn’t hit the side of a barn.
By Kevin Johnson
USA Today
October 25, 2017
WASHINGTON— A new policy endorsing the use of warning shots by police to de-escalate potentially deadly confrontations is driving a rift among some law enforcement leaders who believe the practice only heightens risk and should be abandoned.
The controversial issue broke into the open during a weekend gathering of the nation’s police chiefs in Philadelphia where some officials called for removing the provision allowing for warning shots contained in the National Consensus Policy on Use of Force.
The policy paper was approved earlier this month by a coalition of police groups, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the largest society of top law enforcement officials in the country.
"I'll be real candid, I think it's a stupid idea," said James Varrone, assistant police chief in Wilmington, N.C., who first raised the matter Sunday at a law enforcement town hall event staged to coincide with the IACP conference. "I thought the idea of warning shots and the dangers posed by such a policy went away decades ago or longer than I have been in law enforcement – and that's been 31 years.''
Varrone's assessment was effectively endorsed by hundreds of law enforcement colleagues who, when asked whether they supported such a policy, sat silent during the discussion sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum, a D.C.-based law enforcement think tank.
"We have had enough people killed or injured as bystanders over the years by errant gunfire without endorsing a strategy like this for police," said Darrel Stephens, the outgoing executive director of the Major City Chiefs Association, which represents the 59 largest police departments in the United States.
Stephens said his group declined to "sign off" on the policy earlier this year, largely because of the provision allowing for warning shots.
"Our position is: where do the bullets go? It's as simple as that," Stephens said. "Warning shots only put other people at risk and (the strategy) may only invite return gunfire from the source of the problem you are trying to stop."
Terrence Cunningham, the IACP's deputy executive director, acknowledged the charged nature of the provision but believed it should be included "for the most extreme situations."
"We strongly discourage it," Cunningham said, "but if you absolutely found yourself in a position where it could serve to de-escalate a situation then we should leave it to the determination of the officer on the street."
Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, another of 11 law enforcement groups that collaborated on the policy, said the policy was promulgated during the course of the past year as law enforcement has sought ways to avoid fatal encounters in the communities they serve following a series of tragedies that sparked unrest in places like Ferguson, Mo., Cleveland, Baltimore and New York.
"We believe in exhausting all possibilities when trying to reduce tensions," Pasco said. "It (warning shots) is only included as a suggestion, anyway. We were responding to the growing drumbeat about the use of force around the country."
Pasco acknowledged that warning shots may not be feasible in many cases, but he believes there are instances when officers could benefit from such an option.
"When you have someone coming at you with a knife from 20 feet away, that could be a time when you use something like that," he said. "If it gets to five feet, then you are probably going to have to shoot him."
Of the criticisms raised by other police groups regarding the policy, Pasco said: "You could nit-pick any kind of document like this. This is a statement of best practices."
The policy is not binding on any law enforcement agency, as departments adopt their own guidelines on the use of deadly force. But some officials said the warning-shot option could dangerously cloud officers' responses to the most difficult question they face on the job: when to shoot?
For that reason and for the safety of third parties, Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said warning shots--as an option for officers--have been banned by most department for decades.
"There has never been any real discussion at all in terms of change," Wexler said. "It's been an established policy for the better part of 40 years that warning shots are prohibited."
Stephen Davis, deputy police commissioner for the New York Police Department, said extreme density in cities like New York are strong arguments against such a policy.
"When you fire a shot, that bullet has to come down somewhere," Davis said. "The downside of policy like this greatly outweighs any benefit, especially in New York."
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, my agency in California, had a strict policy back in the 50s and 60s that no warning shots can be fired. The no warning shot policy was initiated by Sheriff Joe Rice, a former FBI agent. He was concerned that what goes up must come down … somewhere!
I believe that often when an officer claims he fired a warning shot, he actually intended to shoot a suspect dead, but missed and was too embarrassed to admit he couldn’t hit the side of a barn.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
OWNER OF NFL TEXANS IS A DOLLAR SHORT AND A DAY LATE … ACTUALLY A YEAR LATE
During a meeting of the NFL team owners, Bob McNair said we can’t “have the inmates running the prison,” but they already are
BarkGrowlBite
October 29, 2017
During the meeting where NFL team owners considered ordering the players to stand during the National Anthem, Texan’s owner Bob McNair remarked that the NFL can’t “have the inmates running the prison.”
Sorry Bob, but you’re a dollar short and a day late. Actually you’re a year late because the inmates are already running the prison and have been in charge ever since Colin Kaepernick sat out the anthem last season.
Here’s the proof they’re running the’prison’: Your own players that you are paying forced you to apologize by walking out of practice sessions. And the NFL team owners did not have the guts to order their player st stand during the playing of the National Anthem.
Of course McNair was only figuratively speaking. Anyone with half a brain knows McNair does not consider NFL players as prison inmates. But that did not stop a shitstorm of social media attacks by NFL players, wives of players and players from other leagues. There were many calls for McNair to be forced out of the NFL.
Had McNair used the more commonly used phrase about the ‘inmates running the asylum,’ which would have been more appropriate for the NFL, he would still have been battered by a shitsorm of accusations that he thinks NFL players are crazies.
Bob, you do not owe anyone an apology for the ‘inmates’ remark you made. Figuratively speaking, you were exactly right. But you do owe an apology for your failure a year ago to demand that Roger Goodell throw Colin Kaepernick out of the league.
BarkGrowlBite
October 29, 2017
During the meeting where NFL team owners considered ordering the players to stand during the National Anthem, Texan’s owner Bob McNair remarked that the NFL can’t “have the inmates running the prison.”
Sorry Bob, but you’re a dollar short and a day late. Actually you’re a year late because the inmates are already running the prison and have been in charge ever since Colin Kaepernick sat out the anthem last season.
Here’s the proof they’re running the’prison’: Your own players that you are paying forced you to apologize by walking out of practice sessions. And the NFL team owners did not have the guts to order their player st stand during the playing of the National Anthem.
Of course McNair was only figuratively speaking. Anyone with half a brain knows McNair does not consider NFL players as prison inmates. But that did not stop a shitstorm of social media attacks by NFL players, wives of players and players from other leagues. There were many calls for McNair to be forced out of the NFL.
Had McNair used the more commonly used phrase about the ‘inmates running the asylum,’ which would have been more appropriate for the NFL, he would still have been battered by a shitsorm of accusations that he thinks NFL players are crazies.
Bob, you do not owe anyone an apology for the ‘inmates’ remark you made. Figuratively speaking, you were exactly right. But you do owe an apology for your failure a year ago to demand that Roger Goodell throw Colin Kaepernick out of the league.
WHAT DO THE FAMILIES OF FALLEN HEROES REALLY NEED TO KNOW?
There is a clamor now demanding the families of the four soldiers killed in Niger be told exactly how and why they died
BarkGrowlBite
October 29, 2017
On October 4, an American Special Operations task force accompanying Nigerien troops was ambushed by some ISIS-affiliated fighters. Four American soldiers were killed and two were wounded. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was not recovered until two days later and was found a mile from where the ambush occurred.
Now Congress wants to know why the task force was there and who, if anyone, screws up. Early reports say the fallen heroes were victims of faulty intelligence. I believe this is political posturing by members of Congress, but they do have the right to know. But what about the families of the fallen heroes, what do they really need to know?
There is a big clamor going around now demanding that the families be told exactly what happened and who screwed up. I believe it has been media generated.
Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democratic congresswoman in the mold of Houston’s loud-mouthed Sheila Jackson Lee, happened to be with the widow of Sgt. Johnson when President Trump made a condolence call. Ever ready to trounce on Trump, she claimed that the president told Mrs. Johnson, that her husband “knew what he signed up for … but I guess it still hurt.”
Wilson bellowed that he president was insensitive to Mrs. Jonson with that remark and she was so mad that she wanted to take the phone and cuss Trump out. Insensitive? What’s insensitive here is Wilson politicizing the tragic death of an American hero.
This is not the America of my generation. During WW2 there were thousands of GIs who died because someone fouled up royally. Some military experts claim the bloody invasions of some small atolls in the Pacific were unnecessary.
During the Korean War thousands of American troops died because of a colossal error in judgement by presidential-ambitious Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He ordered our troops to advance to the Yalu rRver because he was sure the Chinese would not come to North Korea’s aid. He was dead wrong and so were thousands of American soldiers.
During the Vietnam War, U.S. commanders ordered a frontal infantry assault on Hill 937 which became known as Hamburger Hill because of the way our troops were ground up by entrenched North Vietnamese troops. When our brave soldiers finally took the hill, they were ordered to return to their base, leaving Hamburger hill to be reoccupied by the North Vietnamese.
The families of WW2 soldiers who died in combat were not told the details of their deaths. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country. The Korean War gold star families were not told their loved ones died because of the presidential ambitions of the commanding general. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country. The families of those killed on Hamburger Hill were not told they died needlessly fighting for some obscure hill in South Vietnam. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country.
President Trump was right when he told Mrs. Johnson that her husband knew what he signed up for. That was not insensitive, that was telling her that her husband was a hero who knew he might be killed when he joined up. Only a scumbag like Frederica Wilson can turn a fine gesture into a media-aided political firestorm.
And Mrs. Johnson is complaining loudly that they refused to open the casket so she could view her husband’s body. Perhaps a little history lesson might help Mrs. Johnson. Many WW2 gold star families never had the opportunity to bury their loved ones in American soil. Thousands of fallen American heroes are buried in American cemeteries in France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the Philippines.
So what do the families of our fallen heroes really need to know about their tragic deaths. Not why their loved one was where he was and not that he died because someone fouled up. Just like in WW2, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, all they need be told is that their loved one died a hero in whatever place he died in defense of his country.
Somebitch, what this country hasn’t come to. Those who disrespect our flag and country by refusing to stand for the National Anthem are praised for therewith taking a stand against social injustice. Smart phone videos and the media keep the country focused on the occasional police shooting of blacks instead of focusing on daily black brutality which kills far, far more blacks than police brutality. The country is literally going to pot. And every breath our president takes is excoriated by liberals with the aid of an eager anti-Trump media. Sadly, this is not the America of my generation.
(A shorter version of this was published in the October 28 edition of Big Jolly Politics.)
Here is an outstanding comment in BJP by one Jeff Larson:
In a war, lots of things can happen. The bigger the war, the more likely it is that someone will die due to someone else’s mistake. It happens because people are only human.
In the Cold War, many soldiers died under circumstances that could not be revealed to anyone who did not have a clearance and a need to know. Declassifying that information could in some cases conceivably provide the Soviet Union with a causus belli, and that wouldn’t have served anyone, including the next of kin of the deceased.
Certainly some similar missions continue today, although we would hope on a much, much smaller scale and with much less frequency. Generally people who perish on such missions “know what they signed up for”, not only in the sense of enlisting in the first place, but in applying for and completing a grueling selection process for progressively more elite units, and by acquiring ever more sensitive security clearances. Generally, the people who die in this service are not “cannon fodder”, but the “tip of the spear”, people who are extraordinarily skilled, fit, and qualified, and who knowingly take extreme risks in service to their country.
However, let us be clear, the nation is not at war. To those who would counter that technically we are at war, I would say that the two AUMFs that were issued over 15 years ago have in any honest sense expired, and should be rescinded immediately. It seems extremely unlikely that anyone could be serving under any rational interpretation of those AUMFs in Niger. And no, just because some outfit calls itself “Al Qaeda in Sub-Saharan Africa”, that doesn’t mean that it has any plausible connection with the Al Qaeda that killed thousands of Americans in 2001. That organization has effectively been destroyed; those who cling to their twisted beliefs have as much culpability for what happened on 9/11 as the American Nazi Party does for the Holocaust. Condemn them? Yes. Treat them, militarily and legally as the terrorists that they are? Sure. But we should not pretend that we are legally “at war” with them, because if we follow the Constitution, we are not.
And with that in mind, it is completely appropriate that the US goverment be as transparent as possible with not only the families of the deceased, but with the rest of the American public as well. It may be that the reason our servicemen are in Niger is rightly and properly a state secret, one whose disclosure would do harm to America. If so, we should quickly admit that they were on a “classified mission”, draw the veil of secrecy over the matter, and make a full disclosure to Congress in a closed-door session. But if this is not a matter that must be kept secret for reasons of national security, then it is the public’s right to know, and whatever is known about it MUST be disclosed. As citizens responsible for governing ourselves, we cannot maintain our security by blindly trusting our incumbents to wage war in the dark. We must understand our own strengths and weaknesses in order to evaluate policies and candidates for office. Do you think it appropriate that Carter’s aborted rescue of the Iran hostages would be kept a secret indefinitely? How about Iran-Contra? The Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down)? At some point, the public MUST know what’s going on. Neither it, nor the families of our fallen servicemen, need to know every detail of every miscue, no matter how small. But whether or not we have hundreds of soldiers in a particular country? That needs to be disclosed, and it seems obvious that it was not disclosed to many Congressmen.
The rantings of a Florida Democrat are unimportant here. Regardless of what she demands, we need to do the right thing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff, that’s an outstanding and well thought out comment.
You are right, the ISIS-affiliated and ISIS-inspired insurgencies we are helping the governments of Central Africa, Yemen and the Philippines fight are not the al-Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11. But if these insurgencies succeed, much of Africa and Asia will be in the hands of Islamists, and that will be a security threat to the United States.
As for the families of the four heroic soldiers who gave their lives in defense of this country, they don’t need to know every detail of their tragic deaths. Mrs. Johnson doesn’t need to know why it took two days for her husband’s body to be recovered and why it was found a mile from where the ambush occurred. All those details are important to the military but will not bring back the lives of their loved ones.
BarkGrowlBite
October 29, 2017
On October 4, an American Special Operations task force accompanying Nigerien troops was ambushed by some ISIS-affiliated fighters. Four American soldiers were killed and two were wounded. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was not recovered until two days later and was found a mile from where the ambush occurred.
Now Congress wants to know why the task force was there and who, if anyone, screws up. Early reports say the fallen heroes were victims of faulty intelligence. I believe this is political posturing by members of Congress, but they do have the right to know. But what about the families of the fallen heroes, what do they really need to know?
There is a big clamor going around now demanding that the families be told exactly what happened and who screwed up. I believe it has been media generated.
Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democratic congresswoman in the mold of Houston’s loud-mouthed Sheila Jackson Lee, happened to be with the widow of Sgt. Johnson when President Trump made a condolence call. Ever ready to trounce on Trump, she claimed that the president told Mrs. Johnson, that her husband “knew what he signed up for … but I guess it still hurt.”
Wilson bellowed that he president was insensitive to Mrs. Jonson with that remark and she was so mad that she wanted to take the phone and cuss Trump out. Insensitive? What’s insensitive here is Wilson politicizing the tragic death of an American hero.
This is not the America of my generation. During WW2 there were thousands of GIs who died because someone fouled up royally. Some military experts claim the bloody invasions of some small atolls in the Pacific were unnecessary.
During the Korean War thousands of American troops died because of a colossal error in judgement by presidential-ambitious Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He ordered our troops to advance to the Yalu rRver because he was sure the Chinese would not come to North Korea’s aid. He was dead wrong and so were thousands of American soldiers.
During the Vietnam War, U.S. commanders ordered a frontal infantry assault on Hill 937 which became known as Hamburger Hill because of the way our troops were ground up by entrenched North Vietnamese troops. When our brave soldiers finally took the hill, they were ordered to return to their base, leaving Hamburger hill to be reoccupied by the North Vietnamese.
The families of WW2 soldiers who died in combat were not told the details of their deaths. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country. The Korean War gold star families were not told their loved ones died because of the presidential ambitions of the commanding general. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country. The families of those killed on Hamburger Hill were not told they died needlessly fighting for some obscure hill in South Vietnam. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country.
President Trump was right when he told Mrs. Johnson that her husband knew what he signed up for. That was not insensitive, that was telling her that her husband was a hero who knew he might be killed when he joined up. Only a scumbag like Frederica Wilson can turn a fine gesture into a media-aided political firestorm.
And Mrs. Johnson is complaining loudly that they refused to open the casket so she could view her husband’s body. Perhaps a little history lesson might help Mrs. Johnson. Many WW2 gold star families never had the opportunity to bury their loved ones in American soil. Thousands of fallen American heroes are buried in American cemeteries in France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the Philippines.
So what do the families of our fallen heroes really need to know about their tragic deaths. Not why their loved one was where he was and not that he died because someone fouled up. Just like in WW2, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, all they need be told is that their loved one died a hero in whatever place he died in defense of his country.
Somebitch, what this country hasn’t come to. Those who disrespect our flag and country by refusing to stand for the National Anthem are praised for therewith taking a stand against social injustice. Smart phone videos and the media keep the country focused on the occasional police shooting of blacks instead of focusing on daily black brutality which kills far, far more blacks than police brutality. The country is literally going to pot. And every breath our president takes is excoriated by liberals with the aid of an eager anti-Trump media. Sadly, this is not the America of my generation.
(A shorter version of this was published in the October 28 edition of Big Jolly Politics.)
Here is an outstanding comment in BJP by one Jeff Larson:
In a war, lots of things can happen. The bigger the war, the more likely it is that someone will die due to someone else’s mistake. It happens because people are only human.
In the Cold War, many soldiers died under circumstances that could not be revealed to anyone who did not have a clearance and a need to know. Declassifying that information could in some cases conceivably provide the Soviet Union with a causus belli, and that wouldn’t have served anyone, including the next of kin of the deceased.
Certainly some similar missions continue today, although we would hope on a much, much smaller scale and with much less frequency. Generally people who perish on such missions “know what they signed up for”, not only in the sense of enlisting in the first place, but in applying for and completing a grueling selection process for progressively more elite units, and by acquiring ever more sensitive security clearances. Generally, the people who die in this service are not “cannon fodder”, but the “tip of the spear”, people who are extraordinarily skilled, fit, and qualified, and who knowingly take extreme risks in service to their country.
However, let us be clear, the nation is not at war. To those who would counter that technically we are at war, I would say that the two AUMFs that were issued over 15 years ago have in any honest sense expired, and should be rescinded immediately. It seems extremely unlikely that anyone could be serving under any rational interpretation of those AUMFs in Niger. And no, just because some outfit calls itself “Al Qaeda in Sub-Saharan Africa”, that doesn’t mean that it has any plausible connection with the Al Qaeda that killed thousands of Americans in 2001. That organization has effectively been destroyed; those who cling to their twisted beliefs have as much culpability for what happened on 9/11 as the American Nazi Party does for the Holocaust. Condemn them? Yes. Treat them, militarily and legally as the terrorists that they are? Sure. But we should not pretend that we are legally “at war” with them, because if we follow the Constitution, we are not.
And with that in mind, it is completely appropriate that the US goverment be as transparent as possible with not only the families of the deceased, but with the rest of the American public as well. It may be that the reason our servicemen are in Niger is rightly and properly a state secret, one whose disclosure would do harm to America. If so, we should quickly admit that they were on a “classified mission”, draw the veil of secrecy over the matter, and make a full disclosure to Congress in a closed-door session. But if this is not a matter that must be kept secret for reasons of national security, then it is the public’s right to know, and whatever is known about it MUST be disclosed. As citizens responsible for governing ourselves, we cannot maintain our security by blindly trusting our incumbents to wage war in the dark. We must understand our own strengths and weaknesses in order to evaluate policies and candidates for office. Do you think it appropriate that Carter’s aborted rescue of the Iran hostages would be kept a secret indefinitely? How about Iran-Contra? The Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down)? At some point, the public MUST know what’s going on. Neither it, nor the families of our fallen servicemen, need to know every detail of every miscue, no matter how small. But whether or not we have hundreds of soldiers in a particular country? That needs to be disclosed, and it seems obvious that it was not disclosed to many Congressmen.
The rantings of a Florida Democrat are unimportant here. Regardless of what she demands, we need to do the right thing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff, that’s an outstanding and well thought out comment.
You are right, the ISIS-affiliated and ISIS-inspired insurgencies we are helping the governments of Central Africa, Yemen and the Philippines fight are not the al-Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11. But if these insurgencies succeed, much of Africa and Asia will be in the hands of Islamists, and that will be a security threat to the United States.
As for the families of the four heroic soldiers who gave their lives in defense of this country, they don’t need to know every detail of their tragic deaths. Mrs. Johnson doesn’t need to know why it took two days for her husband’s body to be recovered and why it was found a mile from where the ambush occurred. All those details are important to the military but will not bring back the lives of their loved ones.
FORMER POLICE OFFICER CHRIS AMOS PENS OPEN LETTER TO COLIN KAEPERNICK
Amos says he believes Kaepernick is painting with a "broad brush" when he criticizes police officers
By Bethania Palma
Snopes
September 2, 2016
A retired Norfolk police officer’s Facebook post has gone viral, structured as an open letter to 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Chris Amos was a spokesman for the Norfolk, Virginia, police department and in his letter, which as of 2 September 2016 has been shared almost 32,000 times, he recounted shooting and killing a 19-year-old after he himself was seriously wounded:
An Open Letter to Colin Kaepernick,
Dear Colin guess you have been pretty busy these last few days. For the record I don’t think any more or less of you for not standing for the National Anthem. Honestly, I never thought that much about you, or any professional athlete for that matter, to begin with. I’ve read your statement a few times and want you to know I am one of the reasons you are protesting. You see I am a retired police officer that had the misfortune of having to shoot and kill a 19-year-old African American male. And just like you said, I was the recipient of about $3,000 a month while on leave which was a good thing because I had to support a wife and three children under 7-years-old for about 2 months with that money. Things were pretty tight because I couldn’t work part time. Every police officer I’ve ever known has worked part-time to help make ends meet.
You know Colin the more I think about it the more we seem to have in common. I really pushed myself in rehab to get back on the street, kind of like you do to get back on the field. You probably have had a broken bone or two and some muscle strains and deep bruising that needed a lot of work. I just had to bounce back from a gunshot wound to the chest and thigh. Good thing we both get paid when we are too banged up to “play”, huh? We both also know what it’s like to get blindsided. You by a 280- pound defensive end, ouch! Me, by a couple of rounds fired from a gun about 2 feet away, into my chest and thigh. We also both make our living wearing uniforms, right? You have probably ruined a jersey or two on the field of play. I still have my blood stained shirt that my partner and paramedics literally ripped off my back that cold night in January.
Fortunately, like you I was given a new one. Speaking of paramedics aren’t you glad the second we get hurt trainers and doctors are standing by waiting to rush onto the field to scoop us up. I’m thankful they get to you in seconds. It only took them about 10 minutes to get to me. By the grace of God, the artery in my thigh didn’t rupture or else 10 minutes would have been about 9 minutes too late. We also have both experienced the hate and disgust others have just because of those uniforms we wear. I sure am glad for your sake that the folks who wear my uniform are on hand to escort you and those folks that wear your uniform into stadiums in places like Seattle!
I guess that’s where the similarities end Colin. You entertain for a living, I and almost 800,000 others across this country serve and protect. Are there some bad apples within my profession? Absolutely and they need to be identified and fired or arrested! But you know what, the vast majority do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. Did I mention that seconds before I was shot, an elderly African American gentleman walking down the sidewalk, turned to my partner and I as we rode past and said, “Get them.” Get who you ask? The thugs terrorizing an otherwise good and decent neighborhood, home to dozens of good, decent African American families trying to raise those families in communities not protected by gates and security guards. No these folks and families depend on America’s Law Enforcement Officers.
Colin I have buried 7 friends, killed in the line of duty and three others who have committed suicide. I have attended more funerals than I care to remember of neighboring departments who have lost officers in the line of duty, during my career. Law Enforcement Officers with different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences united by their willingness to answer the call to protect and serve their fellow citizens.
Colin I am sorry for the endorsement deals you may lose and the dip in jersey sales, but please know you will NEVER lose what these men and women and their families have lost. And so whether you stand or sit during the National Anthem means very little to me. As for me and the men and women on whose team I was privileged to serve, we will put on our ballistic vests, badge, and gun, kiss our loved one’s goodbye, for some tragically for the last time, and out into a shift of uncertainty we will go. We will continue to protect and continue to serve and we will be standing at attention Colin, not just for the playing of our National Anthem, but far more importantly for the playing of Taps.
V/R
Chris Amos
In an interview with television station WTKR, Amos said he felt the Kaepernick’s protest painted “broad strokes:” “I hope people will read this and just say you know what are there bad cops, yes there are, are there good cops, yes there are, and the good far, far, far outweigh the bad.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I know this letter is a year old but it’s once again circulating around the internet. Many, myself included, missed it the first time around. That’s why I posted it now.
I think Amos was far too easy on that asshole Kaepernick.
By Bethania Palma
Snopes
September 2, 2016
A retired Norfolk police officer’s Facebook post has gone viral, structured as an open letter to 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Chris Amos was a spokesman for the Norfolk, Virginia, police department and in his letter, which as of 2 September 2016 has been shared almost 32,000 times, he recounted shooting and killing a 19-year-old after he himself was seriously wounded:
An Open Letter to Colin Kaepernick,
Dear Colin guess you have been pretty busy these last few days. For the record I don’t think any more or less of you for not standing for the National Anthem. Honestly, I never thought that much about you, or any professional athlete for that matter, to begin with. I’ve read your statement a few times and want you to know I am one of the reasons you are protesting. You see I am a retired police officer that had the misfortune of having to shoot and kill a 19-year-old African American male. And just like you said, I was the recipient of about $3,000 a month while on leave which was a good thing because I had to support a wife and three children under 7-years-old for about 2 months with that money. Things were pretty tight because I couldn’t work part time. Every police officer I’ve ever known has worked part-time to help make ends meet.
You know Colin the more I think about it the more we seem to have in common. I really pushed myself in rehab to get back on the street, kind of like you do to get back on the field. You probably have had a broken bone or two and some muscle strains and deep bruising that needed a lot of work. I just had to bounce back from a gunshot wound to the chest and thigh. Good thing we both get paid when we are too banged up to “play”, huh? We both also know what it’s like to get blindsided. You by a 280- pound defensive end, ouch! Me, by a couple of rounds fired from a gun about 2 feet away, into my chest and thigh. We also both make our living wearing uniforms, right? You have probably ruined a jersey or two on the field of play. I still have my blood stained shirt that my partner and paramedics literally ripped off my back that cold night in January.
Fortunately, like you I was given a new one. Speaking of paramedics aren’t you glad the second we get hurt trainers and doctors are standing by waiting to rush onto the field to scoop us up. I’m thankful they get to you in seconds. It only took them about 10 minutes to get to me. By the grace of God, the artery in my thigh didn’t rupture or else 10 minutes would have been about 9 minutes too late. We also have both experienced the hate and disgust others have just because of those uniforms we wear. I sure am glad for your sake that the folks who wear my uniform are on hand to escort you and those folks that wear your uniform into stadiums in places like Seattle!
I guess that’s where the similarities end Colin. You entertain for a living, I and almost 800,000 others across this country serve and protect. Are there some bad apples within my profession? Absolutely and they need to be identified and fired or arrested! But you know what, the vast majority do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. Did I mention that seconds before I was shot, an elderly African American gentleman walking down the sidewalk, turned to my partner and I as we rode past and said, “Get them.” Get who you ask? The thugs terrorizing an otherwise good and decent neighborhood, home to dozens of good, decent African American families trying to raise those families in communities not protected by gates and security guards. No these folks and families depend on America’s Law Enforcement Officers.
Colin I have buried 7 friends, killed in the line of duty and three others who have committed suicide. I have attended more funerals than I care to remember of neighboring departments who have lost officers in the line of duty, during my career. Law Enforcement Officers with different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences united by their willingness to answer the call to protect and serve their fellow citizens.
Colin I am sorry for the endorsement deals you may lose and the dip in jersey sales, but please know you will NEVER lose what these men and women and their families have lost. And so whether you stand or sit during the National Anthem means very little to me. As for me and the men and women on whose team I was privileged to serve, we will put on our ballistic vests, badge, and gun, kiss our loved one’s goodbye, for some tragically for the last time, and out into a shift of uncertainty we will go. We will continue to protect and continue to serve and we will be standing at attention Colin, not just for the playing of our National Anthem, but far more importantly for the playing of Taps.
V/R
Chris Amos
In an interview with television station WTKR, Amos said he felt the Kaepernick’s protest painted “broad strokes:” “I hope people will read this and just say you know what are there bad cops, yes there are, are there good cops, yes there are, and the good far, far, far outweigh the bad.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I know this letter is a year old but it’s once again circulating around the internet. Many, myself included, missed it the first time around. That’s why I posted it now.
I think Amos was far too easy on that asshole Kaepernick.
HALLOWEEN RISK
What To Do If Your Car Gets Egged
By Jerry Reynolds
Car Pro
October 25, 2017
If your car is going to get egged, it will probably be Tuesday night. Lots of things can happen on Halloween, but getting your car egged is one of the WORST. It happened to me a few years ago, and I am sure it was random, but the results could have been bad had I not known what to do. Thank goodness I saw it before I left for the day.
As harmless as eggs seem, they can actually wreak havoc on vehicle paint surfaces and cause long-lasting, permanent damage. The yolk that’s now smeared all over your car has to break free somehow, and the impact of the egg hitting your car causes shell fragments to burst over the surface in sequential rings, which cause scratches. Depending on the proximity of the pitcher, these scratches could be buffable or they could pierce the clearcoat, and sometimes even chip away paint to reveal the metal body beneath. Not only are the shells a danger, but the actual yolk and egg white are extremely corrosive to paint surfaces, and can actually eat into the car’s surface if left on too long.
Unfortunately, with eggs, if you snooze, you lose… a layer of paint, that is. If not removed immediately, an egg will cause permanent damage to any and all paints, no matter how well-waxed and/or maintained the vehicle is. So, if you’re waking up to a sunny-side-up quarter panel, the damage will have already been done. What you need to do is clean the surface as much as possible with water.
Use the pressure from a hose to clear off the dried egg so that you don’t rub minuscule bits of eggshell around the surface (which would cause more scratches than you already have to deal with). Once you’ve cleared the surface, take a closer look at the area. If the paint has been etched away — the surface will feel rough — then a repaint is necessary; otherwise, you’ll be left with a permanent scar. Often, the egg will cause the paint to look foggy or faded, which can also only be corrected by repainting the car.
However, if the eggshells caused no damage and you got to the egg in time, an overall wash with soft detergent may do the trick to mask the nasty prank. Also, the color of your car will help; lighter shades — such as silver, white and beige — won’t show as much scarring as black, blue or dark green. So if you have a garage you can put a car in, leave the lighter color out unless there is a huge difference in the value of the cars.
Should this happen to you, shoot all you can off with water and get the car to a professional detailer ASAP. Most dealerships have them if you don’t know anyone else. Egg will eat right through your clearcoat, and ultimately your paint if left alone and exposed to the sun. Also, call your insurance company and let them know in case a problem arises later that could result in a lot of expensive paint repairs.
By Jerry Reynolds
Car Pro
October 25, 2017
If your car is going to get egged, it will probably be Tuesday night. Lots of things can happen on Halloween, but getting your car egged is one of the WORST. It happened to me a few years ago, and I am sure it was random, but the results could have been bad had I not known what to do. Thank goodness I saw it before I left for the day.
As harmless as eggs seem, they can actually wreak havoc on vehicle paint surfaces and cause long-lasting, permanent damage. The yolk that’s now smeared all over your car has to break free somehow, and the impact of the egg hitting your car causes shell fragments to burst over the surface in sequential rings, which cause scratches. Depending on the proximity of the pitcher, these scratches could be buffable or they could pierce the clearcoat, and sometimes even chip away paint to reveal the metal body beneath. Not only are the shells a danger, but the actual yolk and egg white are extremely corrosive to paint surfaces, and can actually eat into the car’s surface if left on too long.
Unfortunately, with eggs, if you snooze, you lose… a layer of paint, that is. If not removed immediately, an egg will cause permanent damage to any and all paints, no matter how well-waxed and/or maintained the vehicle is. So, if you’re waking up to a sunny-side-up quarter panel, the damage will have already been done. What you need to do is clean the surface as much as possible with water.
Use the pressure from a hose to clear off the dried egg so that you don’t rub minuscule bits of eggshell around the surface (which would cause more scratches than you already have to deal with). Once you’ve cleared the surface, take a closer look at the area. If the paint has been etched away — the surface will feel rough — then a repaint is necessary; otherwise, you’ll be left with a permanent scar. Often, the egg will cause the paint to look foggy or faded, which can also only be corrected by repainting the car.
However, if the eggshells caused no damage and you got to the egg in time, an overall wash with soft detergent may do the trick to mask the nasty prank. Also, the color of your car will help; lighter shades — such as silver, white and beige — won’t show as much scarring as black, blue or dark green. So if you have a garage you can put a car in, leave the lighter color out unless there is a huge difference in the value of the cars.
Should this happen to you, shoot all you can off with water and get the car to a professional detailer ASAP. Most dealerships have them if you don’t know anyone else. Egg will eat right through your clearcoat, and ultimately your paint if left alone and exposed to the sun. Also, call your insurance company and let them know in case a problem arises later that could result in a lot of expensive paint repairs.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
VATICAN ADMITS IT SETTLED SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
German actress Gunte Fuchs alleged Pope Francis raped her in his private chamber
By Wolfgang Grosseschnabel
Der Deutsche Arbeiter
27 October 2017
A shocking accusation has been made by a German actress that Pope Francis raped her last May during a private visit in his chamber.
Here is what Der Deutsche Arbeiter has learned:
Sexpot film actress Gunte Fuchs came forward Thursday to accuse His Holiness Pope Francis of raping her when she accepted his invitation for a private visit on May 17, 2016. Fuchs says she is a practicing Catholic and was thrilled when she receive several emails from the Pope starting last March in which he told her how much he enjoyed watching the films she starred in. Fuchs says that on May 5 she received an email from Pope Francis inviting her for the private visit. He said he would arrange to have the Vatican’s private jet to pick her up. When she asked him what she should wear, Pope Francis told her it would be fine with him if she wore one of her usual low-cut minidresses.
When she arrived at the Vatican, she was escorted by a Swiss Guard to the Pope’s private quarters. Francis greeted her with a long bear-like hug. Then, with her minidress revealing more than she intended, she knelt down and kissed his ring. At that point, Francis grabbed and hugged her again, telling her in German, “Liebling Ich brauche für dich, um mich zu lieben.“ [Darling I need for you to make love to me.]
Despite her repeated shouts of “Nein, nein, nein,” Francis dragged her into an adjoining room which appeared to be his sleeping quarters. Fuchs was amazed at how strong he was for an 81-year-old man. She continued to shout’Nein,nein, nein,” to no avail. He threw her on the bed and unbuttoned his frock until his penis popped out. Thenhe forced her to give him a blow job. Then Francis forced her to get on all fours and fucked her doggie style. She kept to shouting “Nein, nein, nein,” except for a couple of brief moments when she shouted “Ya, ya, ya!”
After a while the Pope was spent and passed out.. Fuchs gathered herself up and left the Pope’s private quarters. A Swiss guard escorted her to some dignitary. She was too shook up to remember his name. He drover her bact the airport for the return flight to Germany on the Vatican’s private jet.
When asked why she waited until now, she explained that she was sure no one would believe her and then her movie career would be kaput. She said two events caused her to come forward. One was Friday’s fiery speech by actress, Rose McGowan, the first of Harvey Weinstein’s victims to come forward, calling on all sexually abused women to come forward. Then Fuchs said she was also encouraged when four women came forward to accuse 93-year-old former president George H. W. Bush of groping them while sitting in his wheelchair.
When asked why anyone should believe her, she replied that she had proof. Pope Francis is not circumcised and he has a big pimple on the head of his penis,” she said. “I think it was the pimple that made me shout ya, ya, ya!”
Guiseppe Fallucci, the chief spokesman for the Vatican, told Der Deutsche Arbeiter that there was absolutely no truth to the Gunte Fuchs accusations. Here is Fallucci’s statement:
“The Holy Father is deeply hurt by the accusation he raped Gunte Fuchs. It is true that he has seen several of her films and that he invited her to the Vatican. But Pope Francis never got to see Miss Fuchs because she was escorted away for being inappropriately dressed. There is absolutely no truth whatsoever of the Pope touching her inappropriately or forcibly abusing her sexually. He never had any contact with her during the month of May or any other month for that matter. We can only conclude this was a cheap publicity stunt.”
However, to put these spurious allegations to rest, our attorneys and those for Miss fuchs have agreed on a substantisl settlement, the terms of which will remain confidential.
The Holy Father forgives Gunte Fuchs for her sins.
Following the release of the Vatican statement, Fuchs announced she was abandoning the Catholic faith and adopting her boyfriend’s faith, Buddhism.
(Guenther Braun translated this story into English.)
By Wolfgang Grosseschnabel
Der Deutsche Arbeiter
27 October 2017
A shocking accusation has been made by a German actress that Pope Francis raped her last May during a private visit in his chamber.
Here is what Der Deutsche Arbeiter has learned:
Sexpot film actress Gunte Fuchs came forward Thursday to accuse His Holiness Pope Francis of raping her when she accepted his invitation for a private visit on May 17, 2016. Fuchs says she is a practicing Catholic and was thrilled when she receive several emails from the Pope starting last March in which he told her how much he enjoyed watching the films she starred in. Fuchs says that on May 5 she received an email from Pope Francis inviting her for the private visit. He said he would arrange to have the Vatican’s private jet to pick her up. When she asked him what she should wear, Pope Francis told her it would be fine with him if she wore one of her usual low-cut minidresses.
When she arrived at the Vatican, she was escorted by a Swiss Guard to the Pope’s private quarters. Francis greeted her with a long bear-like hug. Then, with her minidress revealing more than she intended, she knelt down and kissed his ring. At that point, Francis grabbed and hugged her again, telling her in German, “Liebling Ich brauche für dich, um mich zu lieben.“ [Darling I need for you to make love to me.]
Despite her repeated shouts of “Nein, nein, nein,” Francis dragged her into an adjoining room which appeared to be his sleeping quarters. Fuchs was amazed at how strong he was for an 81-year-old man. She continued to shout’Nein,nein, nein,” to no avail. He threw her on the bed and unbuttoned his frock until his penis popped out. Thenhe forced her to give him a blow job. Then Francis forced her to get on all fours and fucked her doggie style. She kept to shouting “Nein, nein, nein,” except for a couple of brief moments when she shouted “Ya, ya, ya!”
After a while the Pope was spent and passed out.. Fuchs gathered herself up and left the Pope’s private quarters. A Swiss guard escorted her to some dignitary. She was too shook up to remember his name. He drover her bact the airport for the return flight to Germany on the Vatican’s private jet.
When asked why she waited until now, she explained that she was sure no one would believe her and then her movie career would be kaput. She said two events caused her to come forward. One was Friday’s fiery speech by actress, Rose McGowan, the first of Harvey Weinstein’s victims to come forward, calling on all sexually abused women to come forward. Then Fuchs said she was also encouraged when four women came forward to accuse 93-year-old former president George H. W. Bush of groping them while sitting in his wheelchair.
When asked why anyone should believe her, she replied that she had proof. Pope Francis is not circumcised and he has a big pimple on the head of his penis,” she said. “I think it was the pimple that made me shout ya, ya, ya!”
Guiseppe Fallucci, the chief spokesman for the Vatican, told Der Deutsche Arbeiter that there was absolutely no truth to the Gunte Fuchs accusations. Here is Fallucci’s statement:
“The Holy Father is deeply hurt by the accusation he raped Gunte Fuchs. It is true that he has seen several of her films and that he invited her to the Vatican. But Pope Francis never got to see Miss Fuchs because she was escorted away for being inappropriately dressed. There is absolutely no truth whatsoever of the Pope touching her inappropriately or forcibly abusing her sexually. He never had any contact with her during the month of May or any other month for that matter. We can only conclude this was a cheap publicity stunt.”
However, to put these spurious allegations to rest, our attorneys and those for Miss fuchs have agreed on a substantisl settlement, the terms of which will remain confidential.
The Holy Father forgives Gunte Fuchs for her sins.
Following the release of the Vatican statement, Fuchs announced she was abandoning the Catholic faith and adopting her boyfriend’s faith, Buddhism.
(Guenther Braun translated this story into English.)
PEGGING OUT THE STINK-O-METER
by Bob Walsh
The electrical grid in Puerto Rico is pretty much destroyed. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority just signed a $300 million contract to repair and reconstruct the grid. That contract went to Whitefish Energy, a company that has never had a significant government contract before. In fact, before they got this contract the company had only TWO full-time employees. (They have about 300 now on site, almost all sub-contract employees.)
The company asserts it has significant expertise operating in very rough terrain where much equipment will have to be helicoptered in.
I am fully confident the fact that the company is headquartered in the home town of Ryan Zinke, the Interior Secretary, is purely coincidental. as is the fact that Zinke and Andy Techmanski, the CEO of Whitefish, are homeboys of long standing. Zinke's rugrat had a summer job with Whtiefish as a flagger on one of their projects.
There was no formal bidding process for the contract.
No, nothing at all fishy here. Move along. Nothing to see.
The electrical grid in Puerto Rico is pretty much destroyed. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority just signed a $300 million contract to repair and reconstruct the grid. That contract went to Whitefish Energy, a company that has never had a significant government contract before. In fact, before they got this contract the company had only TWO full-time employees. (They have about 300 now on site, almost all sub-contract employees.)
The company asserts it has significant expertise operating in very rough terrain where much equipment will have to be helicoptered in.
I am fully confident the fact that the company is headquartered in the home town of Ryan Zinke, the Interior Secretary, is purely coincidental. as is the fact that Zinke and Andy Techmanski, the CEO of Whitefish, are homeboys of long standing. Zinke's rugrat had a summer job with Whtiefish as a flagger on one of their projects.
There was no formal bidding process for the contract.
No, nothing at all fishy here. Move along. Nothing to see.
PRISONS WILL CONTINUE TO BE UNPLEASANT PLACES UNTIL WE START INCARCERATING A BETTER CLASS OF PEOPLE
by Bob Walsh
Sad but true. My old stomping ground, the Deuel Hotel (Deuel Vocational Institution, a state prison facility near Tracy, CA) is now investigating it's second suspicious inmate death (homicide) in the last three months.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is criminals are, as a group, unpleasant people. Yes, I know there are exceptions but mostly that's true. Much of that unpleasantness is expressed as violence, either reactive or proactive. Pretending otherwise is short sighted, stupid and unhelpful. All of the "treatment, not punishment" and "books, not bars" clowns in the world are not going to change that dynamic.
The prison system needs to deal with the reality they have, not the fantasy that liberals wish they had.
Sad but true. My old stomping ground, the Deuel Hotel (Deuel Vocational Institution, a state prison facility near Tracy, CA) is now investigating it's second suspicious inmate death (homicide) in the last three months.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is criminals are, as a group, unpleasant people. Yes, I know there are exceptions but mostly that's true. Much of that unpleasantness is expressed as violence, either reactive or proactive. Pretending otherwise is short sighted, stupid and unhelpful. All of the "treatment, not punishment" and "books, not bars" clowns in the world are not going to change that dynamic.
The prison system needs to deal with the reality they have, not the fantasy that liberals wish they had.
Friday, October 27, 2017
FOREIGN SPORTS STARS ARE MOR RESPECTFUL OF OUR FLAG ANS COUNTRY THAN MANY NFL PLAYERS
Formula 1 drivers, major league soccer players and National Hockey League players stand at attention when our National Anthem is played even though most are not Americans
BarkGrowlBite
October 27, 2017
Last Sunday the U.S. Grand Prix was held in Austin Texas. During the opening ceremony, all 20 Formula 1 drivers lined up for the playing of our National Anthem. 16 of the drivers were European, one was from Australia, one from Brazil, one from Canada and one from Mexico. Not one of the drivers was from the U.S. Yet all the drivers removed their caps and stood at attention while the Star Spangled Banner was being played.
Major League Soccer players stand at attention during the National Anthem. Many of these soccer players are from countries other than the U.S.
In the National Hockey League only a handful of players are Americans. Most hockey players are from Canada and Europe. Yet when the Star Spangled Banner is played, all of the players stand, including the Russians.
Compare that to many of the black NFL players who refuse to stand during the National Anthem. These overpaid degenerate Americans disrespect our flag and country in protest against what started out as a stand against police brutality.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell all but encouraged this disrespect for the flag under which hundreds of thousands American soldiers and sailors died so that those assholes were able to play football and earn millions of dollars when many of the m couldn’t spell “cat” unless you spotted them the ‘c’ and ’t’.
Compare that to coach John Tortorella of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets who promised that if any of his hockey players fail to stand for the Star Spangled Banner, they would be benched for the whole game.
It’s a sad day and an awful shame when foreign sports stars are more respectful for our flag and country than many NFL players and their supporters.
BarkGrowlBite
October 27, 2017
Last Sunday the U.S. Grand Prix was held in Austin Texas. During the opening ceremony, all 20 Formula 1 drivers lined up for the playing of our National Anthem. 16 of the drivers were European, one was from Australia, one from Brazil, one from Canada and one from Mexico. Not one of the drivers was from the U.S. Yet all the drivers removed their caps and stood at attention while the Star Spangled Banner was being played.
Major League Soccer players stand at attention during the National Anthem. Many of these soccer players are from countries other than the U.S.
In the National Hockey League only a handful of players are Americans. Most hockey players are from Canada and Europe. Yet when the Star Spangled Banner is played, all of the players stand, including the Russians.
Compare that to many of the black NFL players who refuse to stand during the National Anthem. These overpaid degenerate Americans disrespect our flag and country in protest against what started out as a stand against police brutality.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell all but encouraged this disrespect for the flag under which hundreds of thousands American soldiers and sailors died so that those assholes were able to play football and earn millions of dollars when many of the m couldn’t spell “cat” unless you spotted them the ‘c’ and ’t’.
Compare that to coach John Tortorella of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets who promised that if any of his hockey players fail to stand for the Star Spangled Banner, they would be benched for the whole game.
It’s a sad day and an awful shame when foreign sports stars are more respectful for our flag and country than many NFL players and their supporters.
LIMEYS WORKING ON LSR CAR
by Bob Walsh
The Brits have successfully tests a Land Speed Record car that they hope will hit 1,000 MPH in the deserts of South Africa next year.
The car, powered by a Rolls Royce jet engine, made several successful 200 MPH runs as a warm up recently. There are some very interesting engineering issues with a ground vehicle that travels that fast, not the least of which is getting tires that can spin that fast without coming apart. Also brakes that will stop a 5 ton vehicle from that speed are something that need thought, even with a parachute brake.
The current land speed record is slightly over 760 MPH, which is supersonic. In order for the record to count the car must complete two runs, in opposite directs on the same surface, within one hour. The Brits currently hold the record.
The Brits have successfully tests a Land Speed Record car that they hope will hit 1,000 MPH in the deserts of South Africa next year.
The car, powered by a Rolls Royce jet engine, made several successful 200 MPH runs as a warm up recently. There are some very interesting engineering issues with a ground vehicle that travels that fast, not the least of which is getting tires that can spin that fast without coming apart. Also brakes that will stop a 5 ton vehicle from that speed are something that need thought, even with a parachute brake.
The current land speed record is slightly over 760 MPH, which is supersonic. In order for the record to count the car must complete two runs, in opposite directs on the same surface, within one hour. The Brits currently hold the record.
SICK OR NOT, THEY ARE STILL GOING TO SCRAG HIS ASS
by Bob Walsh
Alva Campbell, 69, is on death row in Ohio. He has appealed to the federal courts, asserting that he is too ill to execute. His lawyers claim his physical ailments are "equivalent" to mental incompetence, which would under current law bar his execution,. Campbell himself is asserting that recent changes in execution protocol allow him to raise "new" objections to his execution.
A 2-1 decision by the 6th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals told him to pound sand, kick rocks, eat shit and DIE. Especially die. Next month to be more precise.
Alva Campbell, 69, is on death row in Ohio. He has appealed to the federal courts, asserting that he is too ill to execute. His lawyers claim his physical ailments are "equivalent" to mental incompetence, which would under current law bar his execution,. Campbell himself is asserting that recent changes in execution protocol allow him to raise "new" objections to his execution.
A 2-1 decision by the 6th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals told him to pound sand, kick rocks, eat shit and DIE. Especially die. Next month to be more precise.
QUITE A FEAT
82-year-old becomes oldest person to hike entire Appalachian Trail in a year
By Tara Bahrampour
The Washington Post
October 26, 2017
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — There was a moment back in August when Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders considered giving up.
In the middle of the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine, far from help, he was bleeding internally and having heart palpitations — not surprising considering that he was 50 or 60 years older than most of the people he had met on the Appalachian Trail.
Sanders called his wife in Bartlett, Tennessee, and she urged him to keep going. With a go-ahead from his doctors, he did, and on Thursday, Sanders, 82, officially became the oldest person to hike the entire 2,190-mile trail in a year.
He walked much of it alone, but for the last mile, ending at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Sanders was joined by friends, family and hikers — including a pair of dogs — he had met along the trail.
At the end of it, he danced a jig.
“I feel euphoric!” he said. “I keep thinking, is someone going to come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Huh-uh, I hiked it last year … and I was 83’ — but no one has stepped up and said that.”
“Someone said to me, ‘You can’t do it, the only way an old person’s going to be able to hike the Appalachian Trail is if they’ve hiked it before.’ That challenged me.”
Sanders had completed other impressive feats. A couple of years ago, he paddled the length of the Mississippi River. He broke the record for underwater breath-holding in 1959 and was IUSA spearfishing athlete of the year in 1965. But he had never done a hike lasting more than two weeks. For this one, which he started in Georgia in January, he was on the trail for a total of seven months.
He is, incidentally, two years older than the Appalachian Trail, which was officially “connected” in 1937, meaning people could hike it in its entirety between Georgia and Maine. Sanders hiked it in a “flip-flop” sequence, meaning he did a northbound Georgia-to-Harpers Ferry leg, followed by a southbound Maine-to-Harpers Ferry leg.
A naturally gregarious person, Sanders had periods of depression while alone on the trail. He was helped by what he calls “trail angels,” people who recognized him from seeing him on the internet, who called out his trail name — “Grey Beard” — and hiked alongside him for a stretch. (Sanders’ long beard is white, but he named himself after a Cherokee Indian chief he admires.)
“The best comment from one of them was, ‘I want to be like you when I’m your age,’ ” he said. “That kept me going.”
The majority of his fellow hikers were in their 20s. They didn’t have to keep track of blood pressure medication or the two different kinds of eye drops that Sanders needs for glaucoma.
“As older people, we have a great deal more challenges,” he said. Injuries take longer to heal, including the hip he injured in a fall in Kinsman Mountain in New Hampshire that took two months to stop hurting.
During the hike, he wore a GPS tracker so people at home could locate his position. He fell “about 100 times” along the rocky, mountainous trail, but only the Kinsman Mountain fall was serious.
“A few times I played the age card, I admit, and it worked every time. I didn’t hitchhike, I flagged cars down, and I told them my story and they said, ‘Get in.’ ”
Sanders’ personal story includes a 50-year career as a parks and recreation program administrator. He spent his boyhood on a Kentucky tobacco farm, worked as a lifeguard and was a circus acrobat and cotton candy seller.
“He always did acrobatics,” said his sister, Elaine Bush of Nashville, one of several family members celebrating with him in Harpers Ferry; his wife, a daughter and son-in-law, and two grandchildren also came. “He was always in the limelight, because he was unusual and he did unusual things.”
Sanders takes 30-inch steps, so he figures he took 4,625,256 steps for the hike. Along the way, he passed tens of thousands of white rectangular blazes that mark the trail on trees, rocks and posts. When he passed the last one on Thursday, he stopped, took off his cap, and kissed it.
A few yards later, at the conservancy headquarters, he hugged his wife and accepted a glass of sparkling cider. And with all the honesty that 82 years affords a man, he announced his next move.
“I’m done, and I’m tired,” he said. “And I can go home.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I can do that. Oops, I misspelled a word. That should be 'can't'.
By Tara Bahrampour
The Washington Post
October 26, 2017
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — There was a moment back in August when Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders considered giving up.
In the middle of the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine, far from help, he was bleeding internally and having heart palpitations — not surprising considering that he was 50 or 60 years older than most of the people he had met on the Appalachian Trail.
Sanders called his wife in Bartlett, Tennessee, and she urged him to keep going. With a go-ahead from his doctors, he did, and on Thursday, Sanders, 82, officially became the oldest person to hike the entire 2,190-mile trail in a year.
He walked much of it alone, but for the last mile, ending at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Sanders was joined by friends, family and hikers — including a pair of dogs — he had met along the trail.
At the end of it, he danced a jig.
“I feel euphoric!” he said. “I keep thinking, is someone going to come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Huh-uh, I hiked it last year … and I was 83’ — but no one has stepped up and said that.”
“Someone said to me, ‘You can’t do it, the only way an old person’s going to be able to hike the Appalachian Trail is if they’ve hiked it before.’ That challenged me.”
Sanders had completed other impressive feats. A couple of years ago, he paddled the length of the Mississippi River. He broke the record for underwater breath-holding in 1959 and was IUSA spearfishing athlete of the year in 1965. But he had never done a hike lasting more than two weeks. For this one, which he started in Georgia in January, he was on the trail for a total of seven months.
He is, incidentally, two years older than the Appalachian Trail, which was officially “connected” in 1937, meaning people could hike it in its entirety between Georgia and Maine. Sanders hiked it in a “flip-flop” sequence, meaning he did a northbound Georgia-to-Harpers Ferry leg, followed by a southbound Maine-to-Harpers Ferry leg.
A naturally gregarious person, Sanders had periods of depression while alone on the trail. He was helped by what he calls “trail angels,” people who recognized him from seeing him on the internet, who called out his trail name — “Grey Beard” — and hiked alongside him for a stretch. (Sanders’ long beard is white, but he named himself after a Cherokee Indian chief he admires.)
“The best comment from one of them was, ‘I want to be like you when I’m your age,’ ” he said. “That kept me going.”
The majority of his fellow hikers were in their 20s. They didn’t have to keep track of blood pressure medication or the two different kinds of eye drops that Sanders needs for glaucoma.
“As older people, we have a great deal more challenges,” he said. Injuries take longer to heal, including the hip he injured in a fall in Kinsman Mountain in New Hampshire that took two months to stop hurting.
During the hike, he wore a GPS tracker so people at home could locate his position. He fell “about 100 times” along the rocky, mountainous trail, but only the Kinsman Mountain fall was serious.
“A few times I played the age card, I admit, and it worked every time. I didn’t hitchhike, I flagged cars down, and I told them my story and they said, ‘Get in.’ ”
Sanders’ personal story includes a 50-year career as a parks and recreation program administrator. He spent his boyhood on a Kentucky tobacco farm, worked as a lifeguard and was a circus acrobat and cotton candy seller.
“He always did acrobatics,” said his sister, Elaine Bush of Nashville, one of several family members celebrating with him in Harpers Ferry; his wife, a daughter and son-in-law, and two grandchildren also came. “He was always in the limelight, because he was unusual and he did unusual things.”
Sanders takes 30-inch steps, so he figures he took 4,625,256 steps for the hike. Along the way, he passed tens of thousands of white rectangular blazes that mark the trail on trees, rocks and posts. When he passed the last one on Thursday, he stopped, took off his cap, and kissed it.
A few yards later, at the conservancy headquarters, he hugged his wife and accepted a glass of sparkling cider. And with all the honesty that 82 years affords a man, he announced his next move.
“I’m done, and I’m tired,” he said. “And I can go home.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I can do that. Oops, I misspelled a word. That should be 'can't'.
THE STRANGE SHERRI PAPINI DISAPPEARANCE CASE
Keith Papini issues statement on latest details of wife’s case
By Alayna Shulman
Record Searchlight
October 25, 2017
Detectives still can't piece together who abducted Sherri Papini or why, but texts with a man in Detroit, male DNA that didn't come from her husband and a brawl Papini described between her and one of her captors have all been part of the investigation, officials said Wednesday.
Papini, then 34, was found alive on Thanksgiving 2016 after being reported missing by her husband Nov. 2. Sgt. Brian Jackson said Papini told investigators two women abducted her and are the only people she had contact with during the 22 days she was missing.
Jackson said one of the angles detectives have pursued is Papini's alleged relationship with a "male acquaintance from Michigan." Jackson said Papini planned to meet the man days before she disappeared because he was coming to California for business, but investigators later determined he wasn't involved in her disappearance.
Jackson also shed more light on the condition Papini was in when she was found on the side of the road in Yolo County, and what happened while she was gone — including a fight Papini said she had with one of the captors.
Papini told a forensic interviewer that she slammed her younger captor's head into a toilet when she was allowed to leave her captivity room for a shower, Jackson said. He said Papini told the interviewer that she got a cut on the side of her right foot in the fight, but "when she was being processed at the hospital ... no evidence of a cut was seen in the photographs."
Papini told investigators that she otherwise avoided looking the women in the face so that they wouldn't beat her, Jackson said.
Papini also told investigators that right before she was released, the two captors were arguing and then she heard a gunshot, Jackson said. The younger of the women then escorted Papini out of a room, put her in a vehicle and drove along a winding road, eventually dropping her on the side of the road, Jackson said Papini told investigators.
Jackson detailed more of Papini's physical condition when she was found, too.
He said officials found DNA from two people on Papini — that of a man and a woman. Jackson said authorities collected the woman's DNA from Papini's body, while the man's was found on the clothes she wore when found.
He said the male DNA was not that of her husband, Keith Papini.
The DNA also didn't match any known offenders who came up in the FBI's database, Jackson said.
The FBI sketches of the suspects Sherri Papini described also didn't ring any bells for investigators, Jackson said.
"Once the sketches were finalized, detectives and investigators reviewed the sketches and compared the sketches with known witnesses or contacts identified during the investigation to see if the sketches matched any known parties. No matches were made with case file information," Jackson said.
Sherri Papini was found branded on the back of her right shoulder and "appeared battered and bruised," but Jackson said there is no evidence she was sexually assaulted, and she said she wasn't. But the bruises indicated Sherri Papini "had been physically assaulted multiple times over a period of time," Jackson said.
As for the brand, Jackson said the message is still unclear because of "obscure letters."
"The quality of the brand is poor," Jackson said.
Either way, Jackson said investigators won't reveal what they do know about the brand "for the integrity of the investigation."
Jackson also said Sherri Papini's hair was cut to shoulder-length. Officials initially said her hair was cut but did not reveal how much.
He said when she was found, Sherri Papini was wearing a dark gray sweatshirt, light gray sweatpants and had a chain around her waist with her left wrist tethered to it by a zip-tie. Jackson said Sherri Papini also had hose clamps around her ankles, apparently a form of "pain compliance restraints."
Surveillance footage from a church shows Sherri Papini running up to an onramp of Interstate 5 after being dropped off, per a sheriff's press release, but the video was not immediately available.
In a statement released Wednesday evening, Keith Papini said: "We want to express our immense gratitude to all of the many people who have publicly and privately supported us over the last year. Your well-wishes have helped beyond measure. We are hopeful that the release of additional information by law enforcement will expedite the capture of Sherri’s abductors. This has been an extraordinarily difficult time for our entire family. We ask that the media please respect our need for privacy as Sherri continues to heal and we work towards putting our lives back together."
The Papinis have been in "constant contact" with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and FBI, Jackson said, but Sherri Papini "has not been able to provide a complete detailed statement due to poor recollection."
Jackson also noted the unprecedented nature of Sherri Papini's case.
While detectives have checked up on cases involving abductions and human-trafficking that some news outlets have likened to Sherri Papini's disappearance, Jackson said, "There have been no cases discovered that are similar in nature to this investigation concerning the pattern of operations by the suspect(s), treatment of the captured victim and release of the captured victim."
And despite over 600 tips, "none of the received tips have been able to generate a viable lead or information as to who is responsible for Sherri's abduction," Jackson said.
"At this time, there has not been any link connecting information discovered that would allow detectives and investigators to identify suspect(s)," Jackson said.
Sherri Papini's case spawned international attention, yet officials hadn't released any details since a news conference in late November where Sheriff Tom Bosenko described the alleged captors: two Hispanic women, one younger with dark, curly hair, pierced ears and thin eyebrows; and one older with thick eyebrows and straight black and gray hair.
Officials have said Keith Papini passed a lie-detector test they gave to see whether he had anything to do with her disappearance. They say he told them Sherri Papini had gone jogging near her Mountain Gate home before she disappeared, and she later told investigators the women abducted her in a dark SUV.
Investigators showed Sherri Papini pictures of SUVs that were in her neighborhood around the time of her disappearance, but they said she didn't recognize any of them.
The case is still under investigation, and anyone with information is asked to call the Sacramento FBI office at 916-746-7000, or by going to tips.fbi.gov.
By Alayna Shulman
Record Searchlight
October 25, 2017
Detectives still can't piece together who abducted Sherri Papini or why, but texts with a man in Detroit, male DNA that didn't come from her husband and a brawl Papini described between her and one of her captors have all been part of the investigation, officials said Wednesday.
Papini, then 34, was found alive on Thanksgiving 2016 after being reported missing by her husband Nov. 2. Sgt. Brian Jackson said Papini told investigators two women abducted her and are the only people she had contact with during the 22 days she was missing.
Jackson said one of the angles detectives have pursued is Papini's alleged relationship with a "male acquaintance from Michigan." Jackson said Papini planned to meet the man days before she disappeared because he was coming to California for business, but investigators later determined he wasn't involved in her disappearance.
Jackson also shed more light on the condition Papini was in when she was found on the side of the road in Yolo County, and what happened while she was gone — including a fight Papini said she had with one of the captors.
Papini told a forensic interviewer that she slammed her younger captor's head into a toilet when she was allowed to leave her captivity room for a shower, Jackson said. He said Papini told the interviewer that she got a cut on the side of her right foot in the fight, but "when she was being processed at the hospital ... no evidence of a cut was seen in the photographs."
Papini told investigators that she otherwise avoided looking the women in the face so that they wouldn't beat her, Jackson said.
Papini also told investigators that right before she was released, the two captors were arguing and then she heard a gunshot, Jackson said. The younger of the women then escorted Papini out of a room, put her in a vehicle and drove along a winding road, eventually dropping her on the side of the road, Jackson said Papini told investigators.
Jackson detailed more of Papini's physical condition when she was found, too.
He said officials found DNA from two people on Papini — that of a man and a woman. Jackson said authorities collected the woman's DNA from Papini's body, while the man's was found on the clothes she wore when found.
He said the male DNA was not that of her husband, Keith Papini.
The DNA also didn't match any known offenders who came up in the FBI's database, Jackson said.
The FBI sketches of the suspects Sherri Papini described also didn't ring any bells for investigators, Jackson said.
"Once the sketches were finalized, detectives and investigators reviewed the sketches and compared the sketches with known witnesses or contacts identified during the investigation to see if the sketches matched any known parties. No matches were made with case file information," Jackson said.
Sherri Papini was found branded on the back of her right shoulder and "appeared battered and bruised," but Jackson said there is no evidence she was sexually assaulted, and she said she wasn't. But the bruises indicated Sherri Papini "had been physically assaulted multiple times over a period of time," Jackson said.
As for the brand, Jackson said the message is still unclear because of "obscure letters."
"The quality of the brand is poor," Jackson said.
Either way, Jackson said investigators won't reveal what they do know about the brand "for the integrity of the investigation."
Jackson also said Sherri Papini's hair was cut to shoulder-length. Officials initially said her hair was cut but did not reveal how much.
He said when she was found, Sherri Papini was wearing a dark gray sweatshirt, light gray sweatpants and had a chain around her waist with her left wrist tethered to it by a zip-tie. Jackson said Sherri Papini also had hose clamps around her ankles, apparently a form of "pain compliance restraints."
Surveillance footage from a church shows Sherri Papini running up to an onramp of Interstate 5 after being dropped off, per a sheriff's press release, but the video was not immediately available.
In a statement released Wednesday evening, Keith Papini said: "We want to express our immense gratitude to all of the many people who have publicly and privately supported us over the last year. Your well-wishes have helped beyond measure. We are hopeful that the release of additional information by law enforcement will expedite the capture of Sherri’s abductors. This has been an extraordinarily difficult time for our entire family. We ask that the media please respect our need for privacy as Sherri continues to heal and we work towards putting our lives back together."
The Papinis have been in "constant contact" with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and FBI, Jackson said, but Sherri Papini "has not been able to provide a complete detailed statement due to poor recollection."
Jackson also noted the unprecedented nature of Sherri Papini's case.
While detectives have checked up on cases involving abductions and human-trafficking that some news outlets have likened to Sherri Papini's disappearance, Jackson said, "There have been no cases discovered that are similar in nature to this investigation concerning the pattern of operations by the suspect(s), treatment of the captured victim and release of the captured victim."
And despite over 600 tips, "none of the received tips have been able to generate a viable lead or information as to who is responsible for Sherri's abduction," Jackson said.
"At this time, there has not been any link connecting information discovered that would allow detectives and investigators to identify suspect(s)," Jackson said.
Sherri Papini's case spawned international attention, yet officials hadn't released any details since a news conference in late November where Sheriff Tom Bosenko described the alleged captors: two Hispanic women, one younger with dark, curly hair, pierced ears and thin eyebrows; and one older with thick eyebrows and straight black and gray hair.
Officials have said Keith Papini passed a lie-detector test they gave to see whether he had anything to do with her disappearance. They say he told them Sherri Papini had gone jogging near her Mountain Gate home before she disappeared, and she later told investigators the women abducted her in a dark SUV.
Investigators showed Sherri Papini pictures of SUVs that were in her neighborhood around the time of her disappearance, but they said she didn't recognize any of them.
The case is still under investigation, and anyone with information is asked to call the Sacramento FBI office at 916-746-7000, or by going to tips.fbi.gov.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
HYSTERICAL TRUMP -HATING LIBERAL SNOWFLAKES SHOULD SAVE SOME OF THEIR SCREAMING FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2020
Piers Morgan says, “Scream all you like, snowflakes, but if you don’t get your shit together soon, Trump’s going to be your President for another seven years”
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
October 25, 2017
In two weeks it is the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s astonishing US election victory.
To ‘celebrate’, thousands of Trump-hating liberals in cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia are planning a day of protest in which they will go outside, stare upwards and shout their little heads off in rage.
I’m not joking.
The planned event is actually titled on Facebook: ‘Scream helplessly at the sky on the anniversary of the election’.
Organizer Johanna Schulman told Newsweek: ‘This administration has attacked everything about what it means to be an American. Who wouldn’t feel helpless every day?’
Hmmm.
Well, let me try to explain, Johanna, if you haven’t already started preemptively screaming.
There are tens of millions of Americans right now who don’t feel helpless at all. In fact, they’ve never felt happier that they’ve finally got a guy in the White House who THEY believe stands up for THEM.
They don’t share YOUR view of what it means to be an American.
They share Trump’s view, because it’s THEIR view.
That’s why he was elected President, and that’s why I am beginning to think he will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.
For those who think I’ve gone completely mad, here is what I told British GQ magazine in September, 2015, when they asked me: Who will win the US election?
‘I think Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination,’ I answered. ‘The Democrats will only stand a chance of beating him if they ditch Hillary Clinton, who is now a busted flush, and go with Joe Biden, possibly with Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.’
So, putting my Nostradamus hat on again, here are 10 reasons why I think Trump can pull it off again:
1) He’s the most resilient, uncompromising man in America. Love him or loathe him, Trump hasn’t changed or pivoted one iota from the candidate who ran for office. He is both absurdly thin-skinned AND absurdly thick-skinned – incapable of ignoring any slight, however small, but also showing quite extraordinary strength of character in repelling what even Jimmy Carter just called the most frenzied media attack on a serving president in US history. Yes, Trump’s an inveterate bulls**tter, the by-product of life as a shameless salesman, but to date he hasn’t lied us into an illegal war like one of his most recent critics George W. Bush did in Iraq – so political fibbing is all relative.
2) Trump’s enemies are bailing out from the fight like conscientious objectors in the war. Yesterday, two Senators, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake made grandiose media-grabbing attacks on the President, effectively branding him a lying useless goon. Both are standing down, and in (Snow) Flake’s case, he’s only doing so because he knows he’s going to get an absolute drubbing in the next election. This, remember, is a guy so principled that he wrote to a Sandy Hook relative saying he agreed with her about introducing background checks on gun sales, then voted AGAINST it just months later. That was a major reason why his poll numbers collapsed. So spare me the sanctimony now, Senator. You’re a fraud.
3) Hollywood’s liberal elite, Trump’s most vociferous, influential and vicious opponents, have exposed themselves to be a bunch of shocking hypocrites whose high moral and ethical plinth now lies in a pile of ruins.
The Weinstein scandal was just the tip of the unedifying iceberg. Today we learned that Woody Allen, a man who ran off and married one adoptive daughter and was accused of sexually abusing another adoptive daughter when she was just seven, is currently making a movie about a pedophile who preys on a 15-year-old girl. Meanwhile, Trump’s most indignant Hollywood opponents like Meryl Streep continue to celebrate convicted fugitive child rapist Roman Polanski. Middle America is watching all this and thinking: ‘Don’t you lot DARE lecture us about anything ever again.’
4) The Democrats don’t have anyone yet who can run against Trump and actually beat him. Say what you like about the man but he’s proven himself to be a formidably fierce political campaigner who wipes away opponents with the flick of a mocking ‘Low Energy Jeb’ nickname switch. My preferred choice last time, Joe Biden, will be 78 by 2020 – surely, sadly, too old by then to mount a winning challenge? If not Joe, then who? The clock is ticking.
5) Hillary Clinton’s still hanging around like a malodorous failure to remind everyone on a daily basis of the world’s biggest and most shocking political defeat. Her global loser tour, in which she continues to blame everyone but herself, is a vote-destroying disaster for the Democrats. She needs to be pushed out into the political long grass, but who will tell her? Every day Hillary stays in the limelight is another win for Trump. Today, it was shockingly revealed that after all her pontificating about Russia, it was ‘Halo’ Hillary who secretly paid for the dirty Russian dossier on Trump to try to smear him. She’ll collude with the worst of them when it suits her, and voters know it.
6) Trump’s doing very well with the crucial election-deciding issue: the economy. The stock markets keep roaring to record highs (Lest we forget, top liberal economist Paul Krugman told us on election night, when the markets tanked, that they would never recover under Trump!), growth continues around a steady 3%, and unemployment numbers have fallen consistently in the past year. If Trump gets his game-changing tax plan through, and I think eventually he will, then the US economy will likely surge forward just in time for his 2020 campaign. As Reagan and Clinton proved, when an incumbent president runs with a strengthening economy behind him, he’s pretty much unbeatable.
7) His base is rock solid. The polls suggest everyone who voted for Trump last time would do so again. I’ve spent time down in states like Florida and Texas recently and they’re revelling in Trump’s presidency. Everything the screaming liberals loathe about him, from The Wall and travel ban to his ‘Fake News!’ mantra and attack on kneeling NFL players, they love.
8) On the foreign stage, far from being the disaster that Corker and Flake claim, I’d argue that Trump’s proven himself to be rather effective in re-establishing America’s status as the world’s No1 superpower. He slapped Syria dictator Bashar al-Assad round the chops when he tested him with a chemical weapons attack, he’s got ISIS on the run from places like Raqqa exactly as he promised, and he’s stood up to North Korean lunatic Kim Jong-un and told him if he messes with America, he and his country will be vaporized. I very much doubt bellicose self-preservationist Kim will now test that theory. Trump’s visits to places like Saudi Arabia, Poland and France were all huge successes, and I confidently predict now that his trip next week to Japan and China will be too. For all his faults, Trump’s a world-class schmoozer when he needs to be, and a savvy negotiator. By all accounts, most foreign leaders have enjoyed their interactions with him.
9) Trump’s Twitter feed continues to dominate the world’s news agenda.
It remains astonishing that a 70-year-old man is the best social media practitioner on the planet, but he is. Trump uses his tweets to refute damaging stories, promote positive ones, take down enemies and talk up friends. More importantly, he’s been able to by-pass mainstream media to get HIS message out to millions of people, exactly how HE wants to, and in an often brutally frank manner that his supporters thoroughly enjoy. That is Utopia for any politician. By 2020, Trump will have trebled or quadrupled his current social media follower counts, giving him an unprecedented and incredibly powerful platform to fight the next election.
10) Trump’s the incumbent president and historically, 70% of those who run again get re-elected. The stats are on his side.
So scream all your like next week, hysterical Trump-hating liberal snowflakes, but I’d save some of your voice for Wednesday, November 4, 2020.
Because that’s when, as things stand, I predict Donald J. Trump will be re-elected President of the United States.
Altogether now: AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
October 25, 2017
In two weeks it is the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s astonishing US election victory.
To ‘celebrate’, thousands of Trump-hating liberals in cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia are planning a day of protest in which they will go outside, stare upwards and shout their little heads off in rage.
I’m not joking.
The planned event is actually titled on Facebook: ‘Scream helplessly at the sky on the anniversary of the election’.
Organizer Johanna Schulman told Newsweek: ‘This administration has attacked everything about what it means to be an American. Who wouldn’t feel helpless every day?’
Hmmm.
Well, let me try to explain, Johanna, if you haven’t already started preemptively screaming.
There are tens of millions of Americans right now who don’t feel helpless at all. In fact, they’ve never felt happier that they’ve finally got a guy in the White House who THEY believe stands up for THEM.
They don’t share YOUR view of what it means to be an American.
They share Trump’s view, because it’s THEIR view.
That’s why he was elected President, and that’s why I am beginning to think he will be comfortably re-elected in 2020.
For those who think I’ve gone completely mad, here is what I told British GQ magazine in September, 2015, when they asked me: Who will win the US election?
‘I think Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination,’ I answered. ‘The Democrats will only stand a chance of beating him if they ditch Hillary Clinton, who is now a busted flush, and go with Joe Biden, possibly with Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.’
So, putting my Nostradamus hat on again, here are 10 reasons why I think Trump can pull it off again:
1) He’s the most resilient, uncompromising man in America. Love him or loathe him, Trump hasn’t changed or pivoted one iota from the candidate who ran for office. He is both absurdly thin-skinned AND absurdly thick-skinned – incapable of ignoring any slight, however small, but also showing quite extraordinary strength of character in repelling what even Jimmy Carter just called the most frenzied media attack on a serving president in US history. Yes, Trump’s an inveterate bulls**tter, the by-product of life as a shameless salesman, but to date he hasn’t lied us into an illegal war like one of his most recent critics George W. Bush did in Iraq – so political fibbing is all relative.
2) Trump’s enemies are bailing out from the fight like conscientious objectors in the war. Yesterday, two Senators, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake made grandiose media-grabbing attacks on the President, effectively branding him a lying useless goon. Both are standing down, and in (Snow) Flake’s case, he’s only doing so because he knows he’s going to get an absolute drubbing in the next election. This, remember, is a guy so principled that he wrote to a Sandy Hook relative saying he agreed with her about introducing background checks on gun sales, then voted AGAINST it just months later. That was a major reason why his poll numbers collapsed. So spare me the sanctimony now, Senator. You’re a fraud.
3) Hollywood’s liberal elite, Trump’s most vociferous, influential and vicious opponents, have exposed themselves to be a bunch of shocking hypocrites whose high moral and ethical plinth now lies in a pile of ruins.
The Weinstein scandal was just the tip of the unedifying iceberg. Today we learned that Woody Allen, a man who ran off and married one adoptive daughter and was accused of sexually abusing another adoptive daughter when she was just seven, is currently making a movie about a pedophile who preys on a 15-year-old girl. Meanwhile, Trump’s most indignant Hollywood opponents like Meryl Streep continue to celebrate convicted fugitive child rapist Roman Polanski. Middle America is watching all this and thinking: ‘Don’t you lot DARE lecture us about anything ever again.’
4) The Democrats don’t have anyone yet who can run against Trump and actually beat him. Say what you like about the man but he’s proven himself to be a formidably fierce political campaigner who wipes away opponents with the flick of a mocking ‘Low Energy Jeb’ nickname switch. My preferred choice last time, Joe Biden, will be 78 by 2020 – surely, sadly, too old by then to mount a winning challenge? If not Joe, then who? The clock is ticking.
5) Hillary Clinton’s still hanging around like a malodorous failure to remind everyone on a daily basis of the world’s biggest and most shocking political defeat. Her global loser tour, in which she continues to blame everyone but herself, is a vote-destroying disaster for the Democrats. She needs to be pushed out into the political long grass, but who will tell her? Every day Hillary stays in the limelight is another win for Trump. Today, it was shockingly revealed that after all her pontificating about Russia, it was ‘Halo’ Hillary who secretly paid for the dirty Russian dossier on Trump to try to smear him. She’ll collude with the worst of them when it suits her, and voters know it.
6) Trump’s doing very well with the crucial election-deciding issue: the economy. The stock markets keep roaring to record highs (Lest we forget, top liberal economist Paul Krugman told us on election night, when the markets tanked, that they would never recover under Trump!), growth continues around a steady 3%, and unemployment numbers have fallen consistently in the past year. If Trump gets his game-changing tax plan through, and I think eventually he will, then the US economy will likely surge forward just in time for his 2020 campaign. As Reagan and Clinton proved, when an incumbent president runs with a strengthening economy behind him, he’s pretty much unbeatable.
7) His base is rock solid. The polls suggest everyone who voted for Trump last time would do so again. I’ve spent time down in states like Florida and Texas recently and they’re revelling in Trump’s presidency. Everything the screaming liberals loathe about him, from The Wall and travel ban to his ‘Fake News!’ mantra and attack on kneeling NFL players, they love.
8) On the foreign stage, far from being the disaster that Corker and Flake claim, I’d argue that Trump’s proven himself to be rather effective in re-establishing America’s status as the world’s No1 superpower. He slapped Syria dictator Bashar al-Assad round the chops when he tested him with a chemical weapons attack, he’s got ISIS on the run from places like Raqqa exactly as he promised, and he’s stood up to North Korean lunatic Kim Jong-un and told him if he messes with America, he and his country will be vaporized. I very much doubt bellicose self-preservationist Kim will now test that theory. Trump’s visits to places like Saudi Arabia, Poland and France were all huge successes, and I confidently predict now that his trip next week to Japan and China will be too. For all his faults, Trump’s a world-class schmoozer when he needs to be, and a savvy negotiator. By all accounts, most foreign leaders have enjoyed their interactions with him.
9) Trump’s Twitter feed continues to dominate the world’s news agenda.
It remains astonishing that a 70-year-old man is the best social media practitioner on the planet, but he is. Trump uses his tweets to refute damaging stories, promote positive ones, take down enemies and talk up friends. More importantly, he’s been able to by-pass mainstream media to get HIS message out to millions of people, exactly how HE wants to, and in an often brutally frank manner that his supporters thoroughly enjoy. That is Utopia for any politician. By 2020, Trump will have trebled or quadrupled his current social media follower counts, giving him an unprecedented and incredibly powerful platform to fight the next election.
10) Trump’s the incumbent president and historically, 70% of those who run again get re-elected. The stats are on his side.
So scream all your like next week, hysterical Trump-hating liberal snowflakes, but I’d save some of your voice for Wednesday, November 4, 2020.
Because that’s when, as things stand, I predict Donald J. Trump will be re-elected President of the United States.
Altogether now: AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IF THERE ARE ANY BOMBS LEFT AFTER TRUMP PULVERIZES NORTH KOREA, HAVE OUR B-52S DROP THEM ON TIJUANA
'Sex brokers' in Tijuana connect men looking to exploit very young children, FBI says
By Kristina Davis
Los Angeles Times
October 23, 2017
“It’s William from tonight. Precious was weird and fun. I’m already thinking about coming down next Thursday. Please send me pics of 3 or four of the youngest ones so I can choose.”
FBI investigators say William Dixon Adelman, a 51-year-old Studio City man, sent the request to a Tijuana sex broker on July 3, 2015 — the same day border crossing records show he was returning to the U.S. from Mexico.
“Thin, pretty … Like a precious but smaller,” the request continued. “You have a safe apartment? Hotel people would freak out no?”
The broker responded that he had a “good” place in mind, but reservations were needed: “in this place you can take the girls realy (sic) young 9,10,11.”
The emails, being used to prosecute Adelman on charges of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sex following his arrest this month, offer a glimpse into a niche of Tijuana’s sex tourism industry — men seeking to exploit young children.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Rothrock in San Diego said the agency has investigated three to four cases in the last six months of Americans traveling with intent to have sex with minors. At least two of the recent cases, including Adelman’s, stem from a Tijuana man accused of setting up sexual encounters between U.S. citizens and young children. A third case involves the Philippines.
He said the cases are the beginning results of a renewed effort to tackle child trafficking in Mexico with help from Mexican law enforcement.
“All law enforcement partners are trying to get a handle on this information and assess how big an issue this is,” said Rothrock, who supervises the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. He declined to discuss details of the cases, including if any child victims have been identified or rescued.
Prostitution has long been tolerated in Tijuana’s La Zona Norte, where customers — many of them Americans — easily find commercial sex on the street or in established brothels. Young children are offered more covertly, authorities say.
“It’s as easy as going on the internet and the dark web to get what you want,” said Marisa Ugarte, a former Tijuana social worker and founder of Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, a National City, Calif.-based service organization for victims of sex trafficking.
Many of the children are brought up from other areas of Mexico, Ugarte said. Some are orphans, unaccompanied minor immigrants or sold by their parents. Some are kidnapped, she said.
Child sex trafficking has long been known to be a problem in Tijuana, but there is no official data suggesting just how prolific it is.
The Tijuana investigations began in December, when a U.S. citizen reported the broker to the FBI. The FBI found the unnamed broker, interviewed him and was granted access to his email and Facebook communications with several clients.
(The broker denied actually providing access to children, but admitted to communicating with several people about setting up such transactions, according to court records. The man did admit to providing clients access to adults for sex.)
The communications indicate Adelman and another man, Kenneth Bigler, 52, of Walnut, separately traveled to Tijuana several times over the past few years, either engaging in sex with young children or intending to do so, according to complaints filed in San Diego federal court. U.S.-Mexico border crossing records correspond with their messages, investigators said.
Both have pleaded not guilty. Adelman’s lawyer declined to discuss his case and Bigler’s did not respond to a request for comment.
In responding to Adelman’s request for a “smaller” girl, on July 8, 2015, the broker responded he ad just returned from Sinaloa with two beautiful girls, “brand new,” according to the communications.
Later, the messages began to refer to girls as “cars” with “mileage,” according to investigators.
Sept. 15, 2015: “hey will when aree u gonna be here_i got new girl,” the broker said.
“Girl?” Adelman responded, according to the complaint. “I’m looking for a car. About 10-11 years, low miles.”
On Adelman’s Facebook account, investigators found numerous pictures of prepubescent girls in various states of undress, as well as communications with more than 10 girls reportedly between the ages of 11 and 17, the complaint states. Once he learned they were under 18, authorities said, he would ask to continue talking on the messaging app Whatsapp, which is encrypted and a popular way to avoid law enforcement scrutiny, the complaint states.
Adelman’s last trip to Mexico was in April. He was arrested Oct. 4, according to the criminal complaint.
Bigler’s alleged communications with the broker were especially demanding, according to messages that began in November 2013, separate court records show.
The messages state the broker took Bigler around to scope out children, although it is not clear if the kids were potential victims or used as examples of girls and boys he was interested in.
He asked the broker to “try to get an 8 or 9” and referred to “the one in blue that was in front of the ladies underwear place” and “the one by the video game machine,” according to the complaint.
Bigler also warned that if the broker couldn’t help him out, “I’ll find someone else that can,” the complaint says.
In October 2014, the complaint says, Bigler requested a smaller and younger girl than he’d had sex with the other night, hoping for a 10-year-old but “NO MORE” than 12.
Later, the broker sent pictures of prepubescent girls to choose from. One photo, of a girl in an orange tank top, had the caption “Soi una sexy Hermosa” — “Im a sexy beauty” — with a pink heart next to it. In another, three girls in school uniforms appear to be standing in a bathroom.
“On my way,” a message from Bigler said, according to court records. “I like the one picture that has the little pink heart on it. Need to see her whole body before I make a decision though.”
In other emails in March 2015, Bigler allegedly bragged about buying sex from 10- and 12-year-olds during a trip to Thailand for $30 to $40, the complaint says. Records show Bigler flew from Los Angeles to Taiwan on March 1, 2015, and returned 12 days later, according to investigators.
The complaint states he then began asking for a girl or boy who had never had sexual contact before.
“Steel the (girl) if you have to. (Boy) also. Want them both tomorrow night,” read a September 2015 message.
Broker replied: “cause I got a (girl) brand new recently stolen only (8 years old) and a (boy) (10 years old).”
Bigler last crossed into Mexico in April, according to the complaint. He was arrested Aug. 14.
The men are being charged under the PROTECT Act, signed by former President George W. Bush in 2003, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to travel across state or foreign lines with the intent to have sex with minors. The crime comes with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
One of the first men convicted under the law in 2004, John W. Seljan of Garden Grove, was 85 when he was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport preparing to leave for the Philippines. In his suitcase was pornography featuring him with children and 100 pounds of chocolate.
Ugarte said the U.S. government should be prosecuting more travelers under the PROTECT Act.
“Until you start arresting the buyers, it’s going to continue,” she said.
The issue got national attention last year when a former Ohio seminary student was arrested after getting off a plane in San Diego to travel to Tijuana to rape infant and toddler girls.
Joel Alexander Wright, 23, studying to become a Roman Catholic priest, posted an online ad saying he wanted to adopt infants in Mexico, and then told the man who answered that he really wanted them for sex. The man eventually reported the conversations to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and a U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agent went undercover to build a case against Wright with help of the informant.
Wright pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a minor and was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 16 years in prison.
“That’s one of a million,” Ugarte said of Wright.
By Kristina Davis
Los Angeles Times
October 23, 2017
“It’s William from tonight. Precious was weird and fun. I’m already thinking about coming down next Thursday. Please send me pics of 3 or four of the youngest ones so I can choose.”
FBI investigators say William Dixon Adelman, a 51-year-old Studio City man, sent the request to a Tijuana sex broker on July 3, 2015 — the same day border crossing records show he was returning to the U.S. from Mexico.
“Thin, pretty … Like a precious but smaller,” the request continued. “You have a safe apartment? Hotel people would freak out no?”
The broker responded that he had a “good” place in mind, but reservations were needed: “in this place you can take the girls realy (sic) young 9,10,11.”
The emails, being used to prosecute Adelman on charges of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sex following his arrest this month, offer a glimpse into a niche of Tijuana’s sex tourism industry — men seeking to exploit young children.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Rothrock in San Diego said the agency has investigated three to four cases in the last six months of Americans traveling with intent to have sex with minors. At least two of the recent cases, including Adelman’s, stem from a Tijuana man accused of setting up sexual encounters between U.S. citizens and young children. A third case involves the Philippines.
He said the cases are the beginning results of a renewed effort to tackle child trafficking in Mexico with help from Mexican law enforcement.
“All law enforcement partners are trying to get a handle on this information and assess how big an issue this is,” said Rothrock, who supervises the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. He declined to discuss details of the cases, including if any child victims have been identified or rescued.
Prostitution has long been tolerated in Tijuana’s La Zona Norte, where customers — many of them Americans — easily find commercial sex on the street or in established brothels. Young children are offered more covertly, authorities say.
“It’s as easy as going on the internet and the dark web to get what you want,” said Marisa Ugarte, a former Tijuana social worker and founder of Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, a National City, Calif.-based service organization for victims of sex trafficking.
Many of the children are brought up from other areas of Mexico, Ugarte said. Some are orphans, unaccompanied minor immigrants or sold by their parents. Some are kidnapped, she said.
Child sex trafficking has long been known to be a problem in Tijuana, but there is no official data suggesting just how prolific it is.
The Tijuana investigations began in December, when a U.S. citizen reported the broker to the FBI. The FBI found the unnamed broker, interviewed him and was granted access to his email and Facebook communications with several clients.
(The broker denied actually providing access to children, but admitted to communicating with several people about setting up such transactions, according to court records. The man did admit to providing clients access to adults for sex.)
The communications indicate Adelman and another man, Kenneth Bigler, 52, of Walnut, separately traveled to Tijuana several times over the past few years, either engaging in sex with young children or intending to do so, according to complaints filed in San Diego federal court. U.S.-Mexico border crossing records correspond with their messages, investigators said.
Both have pleaded not guilty. Adelman’s lawyer declined to discuss his case and Bigler’s did not respond to a request for comment.
In responding to Adelman’s request for a “smaller” girl, on July 8, 2015, the broker responded he ad just returned from Sinaloa with two beautiful girls, “brand new,” according to the communications.
Later, the messages began to refer to girls as “cars” with “mileage,” according to investigators.
Sept. 15, 2015: “hey will when aree u gonna be here_i got new girl,” the broker said.
“Girl?” Adelman responded, according to the complaint. “I’m looking for a car. About 10-11 years, low miles.”
On Adelman’s Facebook account, investigators found numerous pictures of prepubescent girls in various states of undress, as well as communications with more than 10 girls reportedly between the ages of 11 and 17, the complaint states. Once he learned they were under 18, authorities said, he would ask to continue talking on the messaging app Whatsapp, which is encrypted and a popular way to avoid law enforcement scrutiny, the complaint states.
Adelman’s last trip to Mexico was in April. He was arrested Oct. 4, according to the criminal complaint.
Bigler’s alleged communications with the broker were especially demanding, according to messages that began in November 2013, separate court records show.
The messages state the broker took Bigler around to scope out children, although it is not clear if the kids were potential victims or used as examples of girls and boys he was interested in.
He asked the broker to “try to get an 8 or 9” and referred to “the one in blue that was in front of the ladies underwear place” and “the one by the video game machine,” according to the complaint.
Bigler also warned that if the broker couldn’t help him out, “I’ll find someone else that can,” the complaint says.
In October 2014, the complaint says, Bigler requested a smaller and younger girl than he’d had sex with the other night, hoping for a 10-year-old but “NO MORE” than 12.
Later, the broker sent pictures of prepubescent girls to choose from. One photo, of a girl in an orange tank top, had the caption “Soi una sexy Hermosa” — “Im a sexy beauty” — with a pink heart next to it. In another, three girls in school uniforms appear to be standing in a bathroom.
“On my way,” a message from Bigler said, according to court records. “I like the one picture that has the little pink heart on it. Need to see her whole body before I make a decision though.”
In other emails in March 2015, Bigler allegedly bragged about buying sex from 10- and 12-year-olds during a trip to Thailand for $30 to $40, the complaint says. Records show Bigler flew from Los Angeles to Taiwan on March 1, 2015, and returned 12 days later, according to investigators.
The complaint states he then began asking for a girl or boy who had never had sexual contact before.
“Steel the (girl) if you have to. (Boy) also. Want them both tomorrow night,” read a September 2015 message.
Broker replied: “cause I got a (girl) brand new recently stolen only (8 years old) and a (boy) (10 years old).”
Bigler last crossed into Mexico in April, according to the complaint. He was arrested Aug. 14.
The men are being charged under the PROTECT Act, signed by former President George W. Bush in 2003, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to travel across state or foreign lines with the intent to have sex with minors. The crime comes with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
One of the first men convicted under the law in 2004, John W. Seljan of Garden Grove, was 85 when he was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport preparing to leave for the Philippines. In his suitcase was pornography featuring him with children and 100 pounds of chocolate.
Ugarte said the U.S. government should be prosecuting more travelers under the PROTECT Act.
“Until you start arresting the buyers, it’s going to continue,” she said.
The issue got national attention last year when a former Ohio seminary student was arrested after getting off a plane in San Diego to travel to Tijuana to rape infant and toddler girls.
Joel Alexander Wright, 23, studying to become a Roman Catholic priest, posted an online ad saying he wanted to adopt infants in Mexico, and then told the man who answered that he really wanted them for sex. The man eventually reported the conversations to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and a U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agent went undercover to build a case against Wright with help of the informant.
Wright pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a minor and was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 16 years in prison.
“That’s one of a million,” Ugarte said of Wright.
BLACK DAHLIA MURDER IN 1947 FINALLY SOLVED?
EXCLUSIVE: Notorious cold case of the Black Dahlia where aspiring starlet was cut in half, gruesomely mutilated and had 'Joker smile' carved into her face is finally solved as killer is 'revealed' despite 'cover-up by LAPD'
By Caroline Howe
Daily Mail
October 25, 2017
The notorious Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles in 1947 is arguably the most gruesome of America's cold cases ever.
The body of aspiring starlet Elizabeth Short was found beside a sidewalk in a vacant lot in a southern Los Angeles suburb and shocked even the most hardened newspaper crime reporters.
The woman had been strung up by the wrists, her face and head severely beaten and a satanic smile cut into her face with deep cuts extending out from the corners of her mouth.
The 22-year-old had been viciously mutilated, with the trunk of her body completely severed, the anal opening had abrasions from the insertion of a foreign object and her stomach was filled with feces, among many other horrors.
Short's murder has remained unsolved for decades, although there was a break through in late 1948 when the killer was seduced out of hiding and admitted to knowing the two things about the crime that were never revealed to the public.
But the case was never solved by the LAPD because of a cover-up by the Homicide Division and lingering fears for years of reprisal by the department.
Now, 70 years later, after an exhaustive investigation author and legal sleuth Piu Eatwell exposes why the truth never out in her new book,Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder.
Short's murder captivated the nation, as her injuries 'suggested necrophilia and a fetishism with knives'.
'They were the marks of a sadistic lust murderer ...and it was speculated that the killer either had medical training or experience with handling corpses in a mortuary --- and a manifest fascination with death', writes Eatwell, a historical researcher and legal sleuth.
The young woman's body had multiple deep lacerations to the face and blows to the head that suggested they were delivered while the victim was still alive and possibly what killed her.
The trunk of her body had been completely severed by an incision cutting through the intestine exposing the organs of the abdomen and lacerating the intestines and both kidneys.
There was a gaping cut extending down from the naval to just above the pubis, multiple lacerations in the skin of the hip and an irregular piece of flesh had been removed from in front of her left thigh.
A square of tissue had been cut out from the right breast. The anal opening had multiple abrasions from the insertion of a foreign object.
Her stomach was filled with feces and the corpse completely cleaned and drained of blood.
As the case rose in prominence and no legitimate suspect on hand, detectives dived into the depths of the victim's life in order to track down her illusive killer.
Elizabeth Short, called 'Beth', was the third of five girls. She was raised by her mother, Phoebe, in Medford, Massachusetts, a working class Boston suburb. Her father feigned suicide only to resurface years later.
'She wanted to be someone famous. She had stars in her eyes, dreams rather than plans. I think of her as a very beautiful but very private person, with a sadness about her. A void, something missing', her mother, Phoebe recalled.
Short suffered from an acute bronchial condition and she moved around between Florida, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Chicago – in search of a better climate for her health.
She once worked as a clerk at the U.S. Army's Camp Cooke in Lompoc, California, a small town north of Santa Barbara and won a 'Cutie of the Week' contest.
Her former boss said 'she was one of the loveliest girls I have ever seen – and the most shy'.
She suddenly left the camp after being assaulted by a sergeant at the Army base.
She had been arrested in September 1943 for underage drinking with soldiers in a Santa Barbara restaurant.
The fingerprints filed by the Santa Barbara police were what identified her body.
Her mug shot showed a girl with raven-black hair with 'a look that went straight through you. Nobody had expected her to be so sullenly beautiful', writes Eatwell.
While awaiting trial at the time, the local policewoman, Mary Unkefer, took her into her home.
'She had the blackest hair I ever saw. I noticed that she was a very nice girl and was most neat about her person and clothes'.
She had a rose tattooed on her upper left leg and Unkefer recalled that loved to sit with it showing.
Short was released on probation by juvenile court at the time and Unkefer put her on a bus back to Medford with $10 from the Santa Barbara Neighborhood House for food and cokes on the six-day ride home.
Short stayed in the East for two years and then headed down to Miami Beach where she worked as a waitress and hooked up with an Army Air Force officer. They were to be married but his plane crashed over India.
She dated other men and then headed back to Los Angeles. Although Short was no prostitute, she wasn't innocent.
'This victim knew at least 50 men at the time of her death and at least 25 men had been seen with her in the 60 days preceding her death', according to a police report.
Short teased men, got rides with them, places to sleep, clothes and money but then refused to have sexual intercourse, claiming she was either a virgin, engaged or married.
She connected with no less than four men a day.
'And so, the public image of the murder victim began to change from that of a violated beauty into a "man crazy delinquent, a temptress prowling the rain-soaked streets of an urban film noir"'.
The movie industry in Southern California promised the golden life and stimulated a wave of women to seek their fame and fortune in the movies and Tinseltown.
More revelations about the dead girl came from a pharmacist in Long Beach where she had drifted in the summer of 1946.
She came frequently and wore a two-piece outfit revealing her bare midriff – and 'black lacy things'.
'She was popular with the men who came in here and they got to calling her The Black Dahlia'.
The name was also perhaps the brainchild of a newspaper reporter at a time when homicides were given floral murder tags. Wherever the moniker came from, it sparked a national obsession.
The reality of the young girl's life was that she was in search of a husband, home and happiness.
She got involved with the wrong person when she met 55-year-old Mark Hansen from Denmark who became a wealthy and powerful Hollywood figure.
He owned more than a dozen movie theaters and was a part owner of the Florentine Gardens on Hollywood Boulevard that put on a girly shows that even attracted the aging movie star, Errol Flynn.
A secret gambling casino was hidden within the Florentine Gardens.
'Hansen worked in a shadowy hinterland between legitimate business and the fringes of the LA underworld'.
He operated his own B-version of the casting couch and 'owned two rooming houses where would-be Hollywood hopefuls were groomed for semi-nude careers both on and off the dance floor'.
Back at his house behind the Gardens, he kept a harem of his favorite girls.
In October 1946, Short showed up on Hansen's doorstep with her friend Ann Toth who lived in Mark's home.
Hansen noticed her and came on to her but Short claimed she was a virgin. He finally had enough of her teasing after 10 days and ordered the two to move on.
He was also tired of Short's endless stream of boyfriends.
Hansen couldn't deny he knew the girl. His name was on the cover of Short's address book.
Short's body was discovered one morning in the wet morning grass in a vacant lot in a south LA neighborhood – and a room in the Aster Motel in downtown Los Angeles was found to be covered in blood and human feces. It was Short's death chamber.
Rumors circulated that Short was a female pervert and had indulged in 'unnatural intimacies' with other women. There were unsubstantiated sightings at gay bars.
Folksinger Woody Guthrie, once indicted by New York authorities for sending obscene letters in the mail, was considered a suspect in the ensuing hysteria and possibly capable of such a heinous crime a suspect in the ensuing hysteria until it was discovered he wasn't in LA at the time of the murder.
Over 500 crackpots came forward confessing to the murder in exchange for a free meal and a place to stay for the night.
The big break through in the case came in late 1948 when the chief police psychiatrist who was employed by the LAPD, Dr. Joseph Paul De River, seduced the killer out of hiding and he subtly revealed himself to the doctor.
The murderer came calling after Dr. De River planted a magazine article in a pulp crime magazine, True Detective, in an attempt to lure the killer out of hiding.
'It was his view that the pathology of the Dahlia killer included a deep-seated compulsion to publicize and claim recognition for his act'.
The confessors would continue to come and the police would talk to them but 'the type of mind that conceived the Elizabeth Short murder will some day have to boast about it', according to Dr. De River.
In October 1948, a letter arrived for Dr. De River with a return address of a post office box in Miami Beach.
The letter was signed 'Jack Sand' and stated he had associated with someone who fitted the 'pattern' of the 'infamous one'.
This 'Jack Sand' said he had associated with the killer for two months in San Francisco and the man had a motive for the killing and 'knew the characters involved'.
Jack Sand was also offering his help in tracking the suspect down.
Meetings were set up between Dr. De River and 'Jack Sand' in Vegas but the location was changed when they couldn't get rooms to a health resort in the San Jacinto Mountains far north of Banning, California, near Palm Springs.
Two other cops, members of the Gangster Squad, accompanied De River, one acting as the driver while Sand talked to De River.
'Jack Sand' was in fact Leslie Dillon, the true killer. He was connected to a prostitution network and a pimp and errand boy for Mark Hansen.
When Hansen got tired of Short's boyfriends and tired of her pestering him for money, he told his errand boy, Dillon to get rid of her – not realizing the man was a dangerous and murderous psychopath.
Dillon knew two things about the murder that had never been revealed to the public: a rose tattoo had been cut out of Short's thigh by the killer and inserted in her vagina. Her pubic hair had also been cut off and pushed up inside her rectum.
Dillon had worked briefly in a mortuary and knew how to make a cut in the leg of a corpse to bleed it out and how to insert a tube to drain the blood.
The man talked about this other individual 'Jeff Connors' he claimed to be the likely suspect for the murder.
Dillon suggested that Short's body had been cut in half so the killer could see how far his penis penetrated into the woman's body.
He inferred that this person named Jeff could have committed the crime in a hotel, a ground level motel, the doctor corrected him, so that he could get the body outside without carrying it downstairs.
De River asked Dillon to take off his shirt. He agreed and had a very muscular build.
The doctor then asked Dillon if he objected to dropping his trousers. Dillon hesitated briefly and then down they came, revealing a 'juvenile penis ... typical of an eight-year-old boy'.
In one of the letters to the doctor, Dillon had said that Short's killer 'had been mocked or threatened exposure by her to his friends'.
The author questions whether Short could have mocked Dillon and exposed him for having such a small penis. Dillon also stated he liked girls with 'big mouths'.
He didn't drink but he did do drugs – bennies or Benzedrine 'for pep'.
'He also told one of the gangster squad with the doctor about how he would grind up the phenobarbital and 'put it on ice cream or food' and give it to women 'as it knocks them out'.
De River knew he had his man.
'And yet, despite the compelling evidence the officers of the Gangster Squad were uncovering, they never seemed to make headway with their investigation. The path was always blocked', writes Eatwell.
Summer of 1949, 'the LAPD became embroiled in the biggest corruption scandal of its history: a scandal that was to change the police department, and the course of the Dahlia case, forever'.
It was a massive cover-up by the Homicide Division that had links to Hansen, according to Eatwell.
The LAPD was rotten to the core and 'let a dangerous psychopath on the loose'.
In an interview with homicide, Dillon told them he wouldn't say a word if they let him go. But if they arrest him, he would talk and 'he knew where the bodies were buried in terms of organized crime. And then he was gone'.
All the key protagonists of the Dahlia case are dead. Most of the documents are gone or locked away in the vaults of the LAPD.
In the aftermath of the 1949 grand jury investigation, there had clearly been a willful campaign to suppress the facts of the case and to discredit and harass key witness such as Dr. De River', writes the author.
And there was an unwillingness by more recent writers and researchers to let the facts tell the story.
'The facts – buried in newspapers reports and court documents are more compelling that any of the alternate facts'.
Dillon was the centerpiece of the Dahlia drama and evil personified in a native boy from the Southern plains. The legal sleuth and author rests her case.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To my generation, the Black Dahlia murder was a really big case.
By Caroline Howe
Daily Mail
October 25, 2017
The notorious Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles in 1947 is arguably the most gruesome of America's cold cases ever.
The body of aspiring starlet Elizabeth Short was found beside a sidewalk in a vacant lot in a southern Los Angeles suburb and shocked even the most hardened newspaper crime reporters.
The woman had been strung up by the wrists, her face and head severely beaten and a satanic smile cut into her face with deep cuts extending out from the corners of her mouth.
The 22-year-old had been viciously mutilated, with the trunk of her body completely severed, the anal opening had abrasions from the insertion of a foreign object and her stomach was filled with feces, among many other horrors.
Short's murder has remained unsolved for decades, although there was a break through in late 1948 when the killer was seduced out of hiding and admitted to knowing the two things about the crime that were never revealed to the public.
But the case was never solved by the LAPD because of a cover-up by the Homicide Division and lingering fears for years of reprisal by the department.
Now, 70 years later, after an exhaustive investigation author and legal sleuth Piu Eatwell exposes why the truth never out in her new book,Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder.
Short's murder captivated the nation, as her injuries 'suggested necrophilia and a fetishism with knives'.
'They were the marks of a sadistic lust murderer ...and it was speculated that the killer either had medical training or experience with handling corpses in a mortuary --- and a manifest fascination with death', writes Eatwell, a historical researcher and legal sleuth.
The young woman's body had multiple deep lacerations to the face and blows to the head that suggested they were delivered while the victim was still alive and possibly what killed her.
The trunk of her body had been completely severed by an incision cutting through the intestine exposing the organs of the abdomen and lacerating the intestines and both kidneys.
There was a gaping cut extending down from the naval to just above the pubis, multiple lacerations in the skin of the hip and an irregular piece of flesh had been removed from in front of her left thigh.
A square of tissue had been cut out from the right breast. The anal opening had multiple abrasions from the insertion of a foreign object.
Her stomach was filled with feces and the corpse completely cleaned and drained of blood.
As the case rose in prominence and no legitimate suspect on hand, detectives dived into the depths of the victim's life in order to track down her illusive killer.
Elizabeth Short, called 'Beth', was the third of five girls. She was raised by her mother, Phoebe, in Medford, Massachusetts, a working class Boston suburb. Her father feigned suicide only to resurface years later.
'She wanted to be someone famous. She had stars in her eyes, dreams rather than plans. I think of her as a very beautiful but very private person, with a sadness about her. A void, something missing', her mother, Phoebe recalled.
Short suffered from an acute bronchial condition and she moved around between Florida, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Chicago – in search of a better climate for her health.
She once worked as a clerk at the U.S. Army's Camp Cooke in Lompoc, California, a small town north of Santa Barbara and won a 'Cutie of the Week' contest.
Her former boss said 'she was one of the loveliest girls I have ever seen – and the most shy'.
She suddenly left the camp after being assaulted by a sergeant at the Army base.
She had been arrested in September 1943 for underage drinking with soldiers in a Santa Barbara restaurant.
The fingerprints filed by the Santa Barbara police were what identified her body.
Her mug shot showed a girl with raven-black hair with 'a look that went straight through you. Nobody had expected her to be so sullenly beautiful', writes Eatwell.
While awaiting trial at the time, the local policewoman, Mary Unkefer, took her into her home.
'She had the blackest hair I ever saw. I noticed that she was a very nice girl and was most neat about her person and clothes'.
She had a rose tattooed on her upper left leg and Unkefer recalled that loved to sit with it showing.
Short was released on probation by juvenile court at the time and Unkefer put her on a bus back to Medford with $10 from the Santa Barbara Neighborhood House for food and cokes on the six-day ride home.
Short stayed in the East for two years and then headed down to Miami Beach where she worked as a waitress and hooked up with an Army Air Force officer. They were to be married but his plane crashed over India.
She dated other men and then headed back to Los Angeles. Although Short was no prostitute, she wasn't innocent.
'This victim knew at least 50 men at the time of her death and at least 25 men had been seen with her in the 60 days preceding her death', according to a police report.
Short teased men, got rides with them, places to sleep, clothes and money but then refused to have sexual intercourse, claiming she was either a virgin, engaged or married.
She connected with no less than four men a day.
'And so, the public image of the murder victim began to change from that of a violated beauty into a "man crazy delinquent, a temptress prowling the rain-soaked streets of an urban film noir"'.
The movie industry in Southern California promised the golden life and stimulated a wave of women to seek their fame and fortune in the movies and Tinseltown.
More revelations about the dead girl came from a pharmacist in Long Beach where she had drifted in the summer of 1946.
She came frequently and wore a two-piece outfit revealing her bare midriff – and 'black lacy things'.
'She was popular with the men who came in here and they got to calling her The Black Dahlia'.
The name was also perhaps the brainchild of a newspaper reporter at a time when homicides were given floral murder tags. Wherever the moniker came from, it sparked a national obsession.
The reality of the young girl's life was that she was in search of a husband, home and happiness.
She got involved with the wrong person when she met 55-year-old Mark Hansen from Denmark who became a wealthy and powerful Hollywood figure.
He owned more than a dozen movie theaters and was a part owner of the Florentine Gardens on Hollywood Boulevard that put on a girly shows that even attracted the aging movie star, Errol Flynn.
A secret gambling casino was hidden within the Florentine Gardens.
'Hansen worked in a shadowy hinterland between legitimate business and the fringes of the LA underworld'.
He operated his own B-version of the casting couch and 'owned two rooming houses where would-be Hollywood hopefuls were groomed for semi-nude careers both on and off the dance floor'.
Back at his house behind the Gardens, he kept a harem of his favorite girls.
In October 1946, Short showed up on Hansen's doorstep with her friend Ann Toth who lived in Mark's home.
Hansen noticed her and came on to her but Short claimed she was a virgin. He finally had enough of her teasing after 10 days and ordered the two to move on.
He was also tired of Short's endless stream of boyfriends.
Hansen couldn't deny he knew the girl. His name was on the cover of Short's address book.
Short's body was discovered one morning in the wet morning grass in a vacant lot in a south LA neighborhood – and a room in the Aster Motel in downtown Los Angeles was found to be covered in blood and human feces. It was Short's death chamber.
Rumors circulated that Short was a female pervert and had indulged in 'unnatural intimacies' with other women. There were unsubstantiated sightings at gay bars.
Folksinger Woody Guthrie, once indicted by New York authorities for sending obscene letters in the mail, was considered a suspect in the ensuing hysteria and possibly capable of such a heinous crime a suspect in the ensuing hysteria until it was discovered he wasn't in LA at the time of the murder.
Over 500 crackpots came forward confessing to the murder in exchange for a free meal and a place to stay for the night.
The big break through in the case came in late 1948 when the chief police psychiatrist who was employed by the LAPD, Dr. Joseph Paul De River, seduced the killer out of hiding and he subtly revealed himself to the doctor.
The murderer came calling after Dr. De River planted a magazine article in a pulp crime magazine, True Detective, in an attempt to lure the killer out of hiding.
'It was his view that the pathology of the Dahlia killer included a deep-seated compulsion to publicize and claim recognition for his act'.
The confessors would continue to come and the police would talk to them but 'the type of mind that conceived the Elizabeth Short murder will some day have to boast about it', according to Dr. De River.
In October 1948, a letter arrived for Dr. De River with a return address of a post office box in Miami Beach.
The letter was signed 'Jack Sand' and stated he had associated with someone who fitted the 'pattern' of the 'infamous one'.
This 'Jack Sand' said he had associated with the killer for two months in San Francisco and the man had a motive for the killing and 'knew the characters involved'.
Jack Sand was also offering his help in tracking the suspect down.
Meetings were set up between Dr. De River and 'Jack Sand' in Vegas but the location was changed when they couldn't get rooms to a health resort in the San Jacinto Mountains far north of Banning, California, near Palm Springs.
Two other cops, members of the Gangster Squad, accompanied De River, one acting as the driver while Sand talked to De River.
'Jack Sand' was in fact Leslie Dillon, the true killer. He was connected to a prostitution network and a pimp and errand boy for Mark Hansen.
When Hansen got tired of Short's boyfriends and tired of her pestering him for money, he told his errand boy, Dillon to get rid of her – not realizing the man was a dangerous and murderous psychopath.
Dillon knew two things about the murder that had never been revealed to the public: a rose tattoo had been cut out of Short's thigh by the killer and inserted in her vagina. Her pubic hair had also been cut off and pushed up inside her rectum.
Dillon had worked briefly in a mortuary and knew how to make a cut in the leg of a corpse to bleed it out and how to insert a tube to drain the blood.
The man talked about this other individual 'Jeff Connors' he claimed to be the likely suspect for the murder.
Dillon suggested that Short's body had been cut in half so the killer could see how far his penis penetrated into the woman's body.
He inferred that this person named Jeff could have committed the crime in a hotel, a ground level motel, the doctor corrected him, so that he could get the body outside without carrying it downstairs.
De River asked Dillon to take off his shirt. He agreed and had a very muscular build.
The doctor then asked Dillon if he objected to dropping his trousers. Dillon hesitated briefly and then down they came, revealing a 'juvenile penis ... typical of an eight-year-old boy'.
In one of the letters to the doctor, Dillon had said that Short's killer 'had been mocked or threatened exposure by her to his friends'.
The author questions whether Short could have mocked Dillon and exposed him for having such a small penis. Dillon also stated he liked girls with 'big mouths'.
He didn't drink but he did do drugs – bennies or Benzedrine 'for pep'.
'He also told one of the gangster squad with the doctor about how he would grind up the phenobarbital and 'put it on ice cream or food' and give it to women 'as it knocks them out'.
De River knew he had his man.
'And yet, despite the compelling evidence the officers of the Gangster Squad were uncovering, they never seemed to make headway with their investigation. The path was always blocked', writes Eatwell.
Summer of 1949, 'the LAPD became embroiled in the biggest corruption scandal of its history: a scandal that was to change the police department, and the course of the Dahlia case, forever'.
It was a massive cover-up by the Homicide Division that had links to Hansen, according to Eatwell.
The LAPD was rotten to the core and 'let a dangerous psychopath on the loose'.
In an interview with homicide, Dillon told them he wouldn't say a word if they let him go. But if they arrest him, he would talk and 'he knew where the bodies were buried in terms of organized crime. And then he was gone'.
All the key protagonists of the Dahlia case are dead. Most of the documents are gone or locked away in the vaults of the LAPD.
In the aftermath of the 1949 grand jury investigation, there had clearly been a willful campaign to suppress the facts of the case and to discredit and harass key witness such as Dr. De River', writes the author.
And there was an unwillingness by more recent writers and researchers to let the facts tell the story.
'The facts – buried in newspapers reports and court documents are more compelling that any of the alternate facts'.
Dillon was the centerpiece of the Dahlia drama and evil personified in a native boy from the Southern plains. The legal sleuth and author rests her case.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To my generation, the Black Dahlia murder was a really big case.
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