Ray Bethell, the guy flying the three kites, is in his 80s from Canada. He comes to the Washington State International Kite Festival every year. He is deaf, so when he flies, we hold our hands up and wave them for applause. He flies two kites with his hands, and the third one is attached to his waist.
Be sure to watch this 5-minute video to the end to see the amazing landing of that last kite.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
MEET THE TERRORIST BEHIND THE NEXT WOMEN’S MARCH
Convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Yousef Odeh, Black Panther associate Angela Davis and Maoist Tithi Bhattacharya are the organizers of the International Women’s Strike against Trump
By Kyle Smith | New York Post | February 25, 2017
Here’s the left’s next great idea for bringing down President Trump: another women’s march. Which means another public instance of Trump haters shouting slogans to one another and mistaking it for constructive politics. What progressives need to defeat Trump is outreach, but all they have is outrage.
On March 8, organizers seem to be aiming for a different vibe than the librarians-in-pussy-hats element that made the first women’s march after Trump’s inauguration so adorable.
Instead of milling around Washington, organizers have in mind a “general strike” called the Day without a Woman. In a manifesto published in The Guardian on Feb. 6, the brains behind the movement are calling for a “new wave of militant feminist struggle.” That’s right: militant, not peaceful.
The document was co-authored by, among others, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a convicted terrorist. Odeh, a Palestinian, was convicted in Israel in 1970 for her part in two terrorist bombings, one of which killed two students while they were shopping for groceries. She spent 10 years in prison for her crimes. She then managed to become a US citizen in 2004 by lying about her past (great detective work, INS: Next time, use Google) but was subsequently convicted, in 2014, of immigration fraud for the falsehoods. However, she won the right to a new trial (set for this spring) by claiming she had been suffering from PTSD at the time she lied on her application. Oh, and in her time as a citizen, she worked for a while as an ObamaCare navigator.
You can see why she’s a hero to the left. Another co-author, Angela Davis, is a Stalinist professor and longtime supporter of the Black Panthers. Davis is best known for being acquitted in a 1972 trial after three guns she bought were used in a courtroom shootout that resulted in the death of a judge. She celebrated by going to Cuba.
A third co-author, Tithi Bhattacharya, praised Maoism in an essay for the International Socialist Review, noting that Maoists are “on the terrorist list of the US State Department, Canada, and the European Union,” which she called an indication that “Maoists are back in the news and by all accounts they are fighting against all the right people.” You know you’re dealing with extremism when someone admits to hating Canada.
The International Women’s Strike is meant to be a grass-roots affair, with womensmarch.com promising more information about how to participate in local protests across the US. Women around the country are being urged to walk off their jobs and join a demonstration near them.
According to The Guardian piece, women should spend their day “blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work” and “boycotting” pro-Trump businesses. Also every woman is supposed to wear red in solidarity.
The bristling tone of the manifesto and its call for a “militant” uprising are yet another indicator that liberals are increasingly willing to justify violence in the name of opposing Trump. After the Berkeley campus erupted in flames and violence to protest the planned appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos, many progressive activists took to Twitter to cheer them on. Hollywood stars Debra Messing and Sarah Silverman both tweeted their support, with Messing saying, “RESISTANCE WORKS” and Silverman ranting: “WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE. ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE.”
Progs are equally enthusiastic about the idea that it’s OK to punch people as long as you hate them: “Stranger Things” star David Harbour said at the Screen Actors Guild awards, “We will, as per Chief Jim Hopper [the character he played on the show], punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized.” Nice liberal Democrats should be aware that this newer, angrier cohort is just as hostile to their own party. “I have problems with the Democratic Party that is just as linked to the corporate capitalist structure as the Republican party,” Davis said at a rally last year.
Anti-Trump activism seems to have little to do with the political arts required to win elections — finding common ground, forging alliances, making friends. Instead all of these demonstrations are about denouncing enemies, and making yourself feel better about the November defeat by gathering publicly with those who share your rage. This sort of thinking leads to such self-defeating acts as interrupting traffic in places like New York City (where Trump got 18 percent of the vote) or San Francisco (9 percent).
If you want to persuade working-class Trump voters in Wisconsin to join your cause, annoying rich liberal Democrats trying to get to work a thousand miles away is a strange way to go about it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here from the June 5, 1972 issue of The New York Times is an account of the case in which Angela Davis was acquitted:
The charges against her were lodged late in August, 1970, shortly after Jonathan Jackson, 17, smuggled guns into a Marin County courtroom in San Rafael, Calif, and armed three black convicts. They then attempted to escape by using a judge, an assistant district attorney and three women jurors as hostages.
The judge was taken hostage with a shot gun taped to his neck. He died in the getaway vans outside the civic center along with Jackson and two of the three convicts who participated in the escape. There was always a question as to how the shooting began and in evidence presented during the trial this remained a question.
Although the judge was shot in the head with a blast from the shotgun, he also suffered a chest wound from a bullet that may have been fired from outside the van. Evidence during the trial showed, however, that either could have been fatal.
Miss Davis was connected with the case when it was learned that the guns smuggled into the court were registered in her name.
I still can’t believe that a jury, an all-white jury at that, could acquit the bitch when the guns used were registered to her.
By Kyle Smith | New York Post | February 25, 2017
Here’s the left’s next great idea for bringing down President Trump: another women’s march. Which means another public instance of Trump haters shouting slogans to one another and mistaking it for constructive politics. What progressives need to defeat Trump is outreach, but all they have is outrage.
On March 8, organizers seem to be aiming for a different vibe than the librarians-in-pussy-hats element that made the first women’s march after Trump’s inauguration so adorable.
Instead of milling around Washington, organizers have in mind a “general strike” called the Day without a Woman. In a manifesto published in The Guardian on Feb. 6, the brains behind the movement are calling for a “new wave of militant feminist struggle.” That’s right: militant, not peaceful.
The document was co-authored by, among others, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a convicted terrorist. Odeh, a Palestinian, was convicted in Israel in 1970 for her part in two terrorist bombings, one of which killed two students while they were shopping for groceries. She spent 10 years in prison for her crimes. She then managed to become a US citizen in 2004 by lying about her past (great detective work, INS: Next time, use Google) but was subsequently convicted, in 2014, of immigration fraud for the falsehoods. However, she won the right to a new trial (set for this spring) by claiming she had been suffering from PTSD at the time she lied on her application. Oh, and in her time as a citizen, she worked for a while as an ObamaCare navigator.
You can see why she’s a hero to the left. Another co-author, Angela Davis, is a Stalinist professor and longtime supporter of the Black Panthers. Davis is best known for being acquitted in a 1972 trial after three guns she bought were used in a courtroom shootout that resulted in the death of a judge. She celebrated by going to Cuba.
A third co-author, Tithi Bhattacharya, praised Maoism in an essay for the International Socialist Review, noting that Maoists are “on the terrorist list of the US State Department, Canada, and the European Union,” which she called an indication that “Maoists are back in the news and by all accounts they are fighting against all the right people.” You know you’re dealing with extremism when someone admits to hating Canada.
The International Women’s Strike is meant to be a grass-roots affair, with womensmarch.com promising more information about how to participate in local protests across the US. Women around the country are being urged to walk off their jobs and join a demonstration near them.
According to The Guardian piece, women should spend their day “blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work” and “boycotting” pro-Trump businesses. Also every woman is supposed to wear red in solidarity.
The bristling tone of the manifesto and its call for a “militant” uprising are yet another indicator that liberals are increasingly willing to justify violence in the name of opposing Trump. After the Berkeley campus erupted in flames and violence to protest the planned appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos, many progressive activists took to Twitter to cheer them on. Hollywood stars Debra Messing and Sarah Silverman both tweeted their support, with Messing saying, “RESISTANCE WORKS” and Silverman ranting: “WAKE UP & JOIN THE RESISTANCE. ONCE THE MILITARY IS W US FASCISTS GET OVERTHROWN. MAD KING & HIS HANDLERS GO BYE BYE.”
Progs are equally enthusiastic about the idea that it’s OK to punch people as long as you hate them: “Stranger Things” star David Harbour said at the Screen Actors Guild awards, “We will, as per Chief Jim Hopper [the character he played on the show], punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized.” Nice liberal Democrats should be aware that this newer, angrier cohort is just as hostile to their own party. “I have problems with the Democratic Party that is just as linked to the corporate capitalist structure as the Republican party,” Davis said at a rally last year.
Anti-Trump activism seems to have little to do with the political arts required to win elections — finding common ground, forging alliances, making friends. Instead all of these demonstrations are about denouncing enemies, and making yourself feel better about the November defeat by gathering publicly with those who share your rage. This sort of thinking leads to such self-defeating acts as interrupting traffic in places like New York City (where Trump got 18 percent of the vote) or San Francisco (9 percent).
If you want to persuade working-class Trump voters in Wisconsin to join your cause, annoying rich liberal Democrats trying to get to work a thousand miles away is a strange way to go about it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Here from the June 5, 1972 issue of The New York Times is an account of the case in which Angela Davis was acquitted:
The charges against her were lodged late in August, 1970, shortly after Jonathan Jackson, 17, smuggled guns into a Marin County courtroom in San Rafael, Calif, and armed three black convicts. They then attempted to escape by using a judge, an assistant district attorney and three women jurors as hostages.
The judge was taken hostage with a shot gun taped to his neck. He died in the getaway vans outside the civic center along with Jackson and two of the three convicts who participated in the escape. There was always a question as to how the shooting began and in evidence presented during the trial this remained a question.
Although the judge was shot in the head with a blast from the shotgun, he also suffered a chest wound from a bullet that may have been fired from outside the van. Evidence during the trial showed, however, that either could have been fatal.
Miss Davis was connected with the case when it was learned that the guns smuggled into the court were registered in her name.
I still can’t believe that a jury, an all-white jury at that, could acquit the bitch when the guns used were registered to her.
CALFIORNIA DEMOCRATS DEMAND INFO FROM ICE
by Bob Walsh
Kevin de Leon is the President Pro Temp of the California Senate. Anthony Rendon is the Assembly Speaker. Both are virulent liberal Democrats who see illegal aliens are one of their principle constituent groups. Jointly they have just sent a F.O.I.A. request to ICE demanding information on policies regarding "sensitive areas" like schools, churches and hospitals and access to detainees by legal counsel.
They are sniveling that recent enforcement actions in L.A. County (which both of these slugs represent) has led to "increased confusion and fear in many communities."
I strongly suspect that is exactly what Trump and ICE intend.
Were I President Trump I would tell these two partisan assholes to kick-rocks. Then I would slow-drag their F.O.I.A. "demand." Then I would bury them in bullshit and hold a few raids in the immediate areas of their in-district legislative offices and park a couple of ICE transport vehicles directly in front of their offices. But maybe that's just me. I confess I don't like liberal assholes.
Kevin de Leon is the President Pro Temp of the California Senate. Anthony Rendon is the Assembly Speaker. Both are virulent liberal Democrats who see illegal aliens are one of their principle constituent groups. Jointly they have just sent a F.O.I.A. request to ICE demanding information on policies regarding "sensitive areas" like schools, churches and hospitals and access to detainees by legal counsel.
They are sniveling that recent enforcement actions in L.A. County (which both of these slugs represent) has led to "increased confusion and fear in many communities."
I strongly suspect that is exactly what Trump and ICE intend.
Were I President Trump I would tell these two partisan assholes to kick-rocks. Then I would slow-drag their F.O.I.A. "demand." Then I would bury them in bullshit and hold a few raids in the immediate areas of their in-district legislative offices and park a couple of ICE transport vehicles directly in front of their offices. But maybe that's just me. I confess I don't like liberal assholes.
SCREWING THE POOCH IN FRONT OF 500 MILLION PEOPLE
by Bob Walsh
I often watch the Oscar show. I like movies and it can be amusing, and it has its moments. I remember Sasheen Littlefeather turning down the Oscar on behalf of George C. Scott for Patton to protest how Native Americans were treated. I remember David Niven coping very skillfully with a streaker. That being said, last night definitely gets the gold medal. I really don't know whether or not 500 million people watch the Oscar ceremonies or not. I do know it ran over 40 minutes, which is about normal allowing for all the winners thanking everybody and their pet hamster for the win. Plus of course some anti-Trump political shots.
So, did they screw up the award for Best Animated Short. No. How about Achievements in Sound Editing. No, that wasn't it either. It was the biggie, Best Picture. Apparently/allegedly the person from Price-Waterhouse gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It said EMMA STONE, LaLa Land. That's what got read. I forget if Faye Dunaway or Beatty actually read it, but it got read and the mob from LaLa Land came up on stage, took their Oscars and started doing their thank-you speeches. Then.....Slam. That's Entertainment.
I often watch the Oscar show. I like movies and it can be amusing, and it has its moments. I remember Sasheen Littlefeather turning down the Oscar on behalf of George C. Scott for Patton to protest how Native Americans were treated. I remember David Niven coping very skillfully with a streaker. That being said, last night definitely gets the gold medal. I really don't know whether or not 500 million people watch the Oscar ceremonies or not. I do know it ran over 40 minutes, which is about normal allowing for all the winners thanking everybody and their pet hamster for the win. Plus of course some anti-Trump political shots.
So, did they screw up the award for Best Animated Short. No. How about Achievements in Sound Editing. No, that wasn't it either. It was the biggie, Best Picture. Apparently/allegedly the person from Price-Waterhouse gave Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. It said EMMA STONE, LaLa Land. That's what got read. I forget if Faye Dunaway or Beatty actually read it, but it got read and the mob from LaLa Land came up on stage, took their Oscars and started doing their thank-you speeches. Then.....Slam. That's Entertainment.
SUSPECTED OF CHEATING ON HIS GIRLFRIEND, MAN GOT SHOT IN THE DICK AND BALLS
Arizona woman accused of shooting boyfriend in genitals
By William Everett | The Ariaona Republic | February 27, 2017
A Scottsdale woman accused of shooting her boyfriend in the genitals told police she thought he was having an affair, officials say.
Delia Mary Flores, 53, is suspected of shooting her boyfriend seven times with a .32-caliber revolver, firing one shot into his penis and two shots into his scrotum, police said in court documents.
The man, whose name was not released, was expected to survive his injuries.
He told officers that he had been sleeping upright in a chair around 8:30 p.m. Saturday when he woke up to what he thought were fireworks until he felt "excruciating pain in his lower extremities."
Flores made the 911 call and told the dispatcher she didn't know how her boyfriend had been shot, only that he asked her to get help, police said.
Police said Flores met officers outside as they arrived to the home she shares with her boyfriend in the 7400 block of East Parkview Lane. At first, Flores said she didn't know what happened, but she then "quickly changed her answer without prompting and told officers that she had shot her boyfriend after learning that he had been having an affair," police said in court records.
The couple had been dating for two years, and she moved in with him last year.
In an interview with the patient at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, the man told police he wasn't having an affair and didn't know why she would have shot him. He didn't think Flores even knew how to use a gun, police said.
A revolver was found beneath the chair he had been sleeping in when he was shot. Among Flores' clothes was a .32-caliber handgun box in a Victoria's Secret bag, along with a receipt that showed the gun had been purchased 10 days before the shooting, according to police.
"The fact that there were gunshots directed at the victim's neck near his head, and that the victim was sleeping at the time of the shooting and no argument was taking place, it is believed that the defendant intentionally planned to shoot the victim with premeditation," police concluded in court documents.
Flores was being held Monday in a Maricopa County jail and is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge set her bond at $750,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: He sings alto now.
By William Everett | The Ariaona Republic | February 27, 2017
A Scottsdale woman accused of shooting her boyfriend in the genitals told police she thought he was having an affair, officials say.
Delia Mary Flores, 53, is suspected of shooting her boyfriend seven times with a .32-caliber revolver, firing one shot into his penis and two shots into his scrotum, police said in court documents.
The man, whose name was not released, was expected to survive his injuries.
He told officers that he had been sleeping upright in a chair around 8:30 p.m. Saturday when he woke up to what he thought were fireworks until he felt "excruciating pain in his lower extremities."
Flores made the 911 call and told the dispatcher she didn't know how her boyfriend had been shot, only that he asked her to get help, police said.
Police said Flores met officers outside as they arrived to the home she shares with her boyfriend in the 7400 block of East Parkview Lane. At first, Flores said she didn't know what happened, but she then "quickly changed her answer without prompting and told officers that she had shot her boyfriend after learning that he had been having an affair," police said in court records.
The couple had been dating for two years, and she moved in with him last year.
In an interview with the patient at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, the man told police he wasn't having an affair and didn't know why she would have shot him. He didn't think Flores even knew how to use a gun, police said.
A revolver was found beneath the chair he had been sleeping in when he was shot. Among Flores' clothes was a .32-caliber handgun box in a Victoria's Secret bag, along with a receipt that showed the gun had been purchased 10 days before the shooting, according to police.
"The fact that there were gunshots directed at the victim's neck near his head, and that the victim was sleeping at the time of the shooting and no argument was taking place, it is believed that the defendant intentionally planned to shoot the victim with premeditation," police concluded in court documents.
Flores was being held Monday in a Maricopa County jail and is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge set her bond at $750,000.
EDITOR’S NOTE: He sings alto now.
HOSPITALIZED BY BOOBS
Please hold my e-mails until further notice. I am in the hospital. I was attacked by a woman in an elevator.
I was on the elevator when this beautiful blonde got in. She had on a tight fitting dress with a low cut top. The cleavage gave me a glimpse of two of the most gorgeous boobs I ever saw. I was casually staring at her boobs when she said, "Could you press one for me, please”.
So I did... and I don't remember much afterwards, but I'm guessing it was the wrong one!
I was on the elevator when this beautiful blonde got in. She had on a tight fitting dress with a low cut top. The cleavage gave me a glimpse of two of the most gorgeous boobs I ever saw. I was casually staring at her boobs when she said, "Could you press one for me, please”.
So I did... and I don't remember much afterwards, but I'm guessing it was the wrong one!
Monday, February 27, 2017
THE ESSENTIAL COWARDICE OF LIBERALISM
by Bob Walsh
Liberalism is essentially gutless. You never have to actually DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything if you are a liberal, all you have to do is feel "good" or "bad" about the appropriate things. A case in point.
The Orange Coast College is a community college in Costa Mesa (Orange County) California. (Orange County is actually fairly conservative by California standards.) Caleb O'Neil is a student at that college. He is 19 years old and a Trump supporter.
Recently during his human sexuality class he recorded his psych professor, Olga Perez Stable Cox, going 5150 on Donald Trump. Among other things she asserted that Trump was a white supremacist and that his election victory was in fact an act of terrorism. She also said that, "we are back to being in a civil war." O'Neill asserts that he made the recording in academic self defense.
He took that recording to a campus Republican group. (Yes, there is one there.) They took it to the administration. When the administration took no action they put the rant on line. O'Neil did not himself post the rant.
After the recording got out the professor allegedly became frightened herself due to the backlash against her. She turned her class over to a sub and moved out of her pad.
On February 9 O'Neil got a letter from the dean. He was suspended for a semester because he recorded the rant, which is apparently against the rules. The dean also demanded that he apologize to the professor and submit an essay about "Why you decided to share the video" and the damage to the school, students, faculty and staff that resulted from that action.
O'Neil told them to go fuck themselves, filed an appeal of the action and got a lawyer. He threatened to sue and co-wrote an essay in the local fishwrapper, The Orange County Register, in which he addressed the assault on free speech by the administration. The Register editorial board backed his play. The paper promised a daily barrage of editorials until the suspension was rescinded or the trustees sacked the school president.
The school peed. A complete pack of gutless assholes who are happy to try to stomp one student into the dirt but do not have the courage of their convictions. The suspension was rescinded.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What about Olga Perez Stable Cox? She went way beyond the bounds of academic freedom. She should have been fired forthwith!
Liberalism is essentially gutless. You never have to actually DO anything or ACCOMPLISH anything if you are a liberal, all you have to do is feel "good" or "bad" about the appropriate things. A case in point.
The Orange Coast College is a community college in Costa Mesa (Orange County) California. (Orange County is actually fairly conservative by California standards.) Caleb O'Neil is a student at that college. He is 19 years old and a Trump supporter.
Recently during his human sexuality class he recorded his psych professor, Olga Perez Stable Cox, going 5150 on Donald Trump. Among other things she asserted that Trump was a white supremacist and that his election victory was in fact an act of terrorism. She also said that, "we are back to being in a civil war." O'Neill asserts that he made the recording in academic self defense.
He took that recording to a campus Republican group. (Yes, there is one there.) They took it to the administration. When the administration took no action they put the rant on line. O'Neil did not himself post the rant.
After the recording got out the professor allegedly became frightened herself due to the backlash against her. She turned her class over to a sub and moved out of her pad.
On February 9 O'Neil got a letter from the dean. He was suspended for a semester because he recorded the rant, which is apparently against the rules. The dean also demanded that he apologize to the professor and submit an essay about "Why you decided to share the video" and the damage to the school, students, faculty and staff that resulted from that action.
O'Neil told them to go fuck themselves, filed an appeal of the action and got a lawyer. He threatened to sue and co-wrote an essay in the local fishwrapper, The Orange County Register, in which he addressed the assault on free speech by the administration. The Register editorial board backed his play. The paper promised a daily barrage of editorials until the suspension was rescinded or the trustees sacked the school president.
The school peed. A complete pack of gutless assholes who are happy to try to stomp one student into the dirt but do not have the courage of their convictions. The suspension was rescinded.
EDITOR'S NOTE: What about Olga Perez Stable Cox? She went way beyond the bounds of academic freedom. She should have been fired forthwith!
Sunday, February 26, 2017
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS CREATE SANCTUARY STATES BY PROHIBITING STATE POLICE FROM COOPERATING WITH ICE
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have issued executive orders that ban state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE
BarkGrowlBite | February 26, 2017
At the beginning of this month, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Issued an executive order banning state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a similar order to Washington’s state police.
In a letter to Oregon’s Attorney General, Brown wrote:
“I will uphold the civil and human rights of all who call Oregon home. These new policies from the White House show no regard for the values Oregonians believe in or the economic realities Oregon faces.
I have great faith that justice for our valued Oregonian immigrants and refugees and their families can be preserved through court action initiated by the state.”
Inslee released a statement which said:
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies that break up families and compromise our national security and, importantly, our community safety.”
This is simply outrageous! By the stroke of a pen, these Democratic governors have made Oregon and Washington sanctuary states.
The Trump administration should withhold whatever federal funds they can from Oregon and Washington until these executive orders are rescinded and the state police in those states are ordered to detain any illegal aliens when requested by ICE.
BarkGrowlBite | February 26, 2017
At the beginning of this month, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Issued an executive order banning state police from detaining illegal aliens at the request of ICE. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a similar order to Washington’s state police.
In a letter to Oregon’s Attorney General, Brown wrote:
“I will uphold the civil and human rights of all who call Oregon home. These new policies from the White House show no regard for the values Oregonians believe in or the economic realities Oregon faces.
I have great faith that justice for our valued Oregonian immigrants and refugees and their families can be preserved through court action initiated by the state.”
Inslee released a statement which said:
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies that break up families and compromise our national security and, importantly, our community safety.”
This is simply outrageous! By the stroke of a pen, these Democratic governors have made Oregon and Washington sanctuary states.
The Trump administration should withhold whatever federal funds they can from Oregon and Washington until these executive orders are rescinded and the state police in those states are ordered to detain any illegal aliens when requested by ICE.
NEITHER FISH NOR FOWL...
by Bob Walsh
Mack Beggs, 17, of Cypress, Texas, is in a quandary. Mack is a transgender, having been born female but is in the process of transitioning to male. He also wrestles in high school. Trouble is Texas school policy about wrestling says you have to wrestle within the gender category on your birth certificate so Mack wrestles against girls.
Mack wrestles in the 110 pound class and is thus far 56-0. Many of his opponents believe he has an unfair advantage due to the load of testosterone he takes. Two of his opponents on the way to the state tournament forfeited rather than wrestle against him. He has said that he would wrestle against boys if the rules would allow it.
His team at Euliss Trinity high school is said to be very supportive of his situation.
The birth certificate policy was enacted on August 1 of last year.
Mack Beggs, 17, of Cypress, Texas, is in a quandary. Mack is a transgender, having been born female but is in the process of transitioning to male. He also wrestles in high school. Trouble is Texas school policy about wrestling says you have to wrestle within the gender category on your birth certificate so Mack wrestles against girls.
Mack wrestles in the 110 pound class and is thus far 56-0. Many of his opponents believe he has an unfair advantage due to the load of testosterone he takes. Two of his opponents on the way to the state tournament forfeited rather than wrestle against him. He has said that he would wrestle against boys if the rules would allow it.
His team at Euliss Trinity high school is said to be very supportive of his situation.
The birth certificate policy was enacted on August 1 of last year.
JUDGE THROWS INSENSITIVE ASS IN JAIL FOR BEING AN INSENSITIVE ASS
by Bob Walsh
Amanda Kosai, 25, is a drunk driver. She killed the father of five in a DUI accident in Detroit. For some reason that passes understanding Kosai's mother, Donna, and Donna's boyfriend though the victim statement given in court by the dead guy's sister was absolutely hilarious and they laughed out loud thru it and sat thee grinning like morons.
Judge Qiana Lillard was not pleased and ordered the boyfriend out of the court room. Shortly thereafter Donna got into a verbal hoorah with the Judge in the courtroom. Really, really stupid. He ordered her into custody for 93 days for contempt of court.
The next day she came back to court, groveled severely, and the judge suspended the remaining 92 days of her sentence.
The daughter got 3-15 for the felony DUI. It isn't too hard to figure out how she became to be so irresponsible. Assholes tend to not fall too far from the asshole tree.
Amanda Kosai, 25, is a drunk driver. She killed the father of five in a DUI accident in Detroit. For some reason that passes understanding Kosai's mother, Donna, and Donna's boyfriend though the victim statement given in court by the dead guy's sister was absolutely hilarious and they laughed out loud thru it and sat thee grinning like morons.
Judge Qiana Lillard was not pleased and ordered the boyfriend out of the court room. Shortly thereafter Donna got into a verbal hoorah with the Judge in the courtroom. Really, really stupid. He ordered her into custody for 93 days for contempt of court.
The next day she came back to court, groveled severely, and the judge suspended the remaining 92 days of her sentence.
The daughter got 3-15 for the felony DUI. It isn't too hard to figure out how she became to be so irresponsible. Assholes tend to not fall too far from the asshole tree.
TWO PROSTITUTES PROBABLY DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE ASSASSINATING KIM JONG-NAM WITH DEADLY CHEMICAL VX
Two 'assassins' reveal all: Women arrested over nerve agent killing of Kim Jong-nam tell police they were 'good time girls hired in Malaysian massage parlors for $90 and told to carry out baby oil prank'
By Richard Shears | Daily Mail | February 25, 2017
In the seedy, sex-driven, underworld beneath Malaysia's world-wide image of respectability, two 'good time girls' made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for 'patsies' to commit a murder.
Today the women, Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Siti Aishah, from Indonesia - both in their mid to late 20s - continued to be interrogated by Malaysian police about their roles in the murder of Kim Jong-nam who died after nerve agent was thrown in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 13 February.
They are understood to have admitted they had worked in massage parlours and had also escorted wealthy Asian men around town, ending up in their bedrooms - and they made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for women who could assume harmless identities for the deadly roles they were needed for.
Police are understood to be looking at preparing murder charges against the women despite their agreeing to tell everything about the men they met, the names they knew, and the promises that were made to them if they carried off their deadly mission of murdering Kim, the estranged elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Aishah has already admitted that she worked in a massage parlour, while Huong has told police that she earned money for her family back in Vietnam by escorting men in night clubs and being paid well for her services.
But, aside from the serious charges they now face - despite their claims that they thought they had been recruited to play a part in a jokey TV show in which members of the public would have a liquid sprayed in their faces - Huong has an added reason to regret.
She has fallen sick, police revealed, because she ingested some of the 'harmless' liquid she and Aishah were involved in spraying in Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur airport.
She has been vomiting and refusing food, sources said, because the liquid has been identified as a deadly nerve agent known as VX. Although she is not in any danger to her life, it is possible that she did not wash her hands properly after the airport incident.
Just where the deadly chemical came from - whether it was brought into the country by a North Korean agent or was produced locally - was still being investigated today but suspicion that it might have been produced in Kuala Lumpur has been suggested by The Star newspaper.
It reported that a hazardous material team had gone to an apartment in the city, understood to be where North Korean chemist, Ri Jong-chol, had been living, and had seized various chemicals, several pairs of gloves and shoes.
Malaysian experts are now trying to ascertain whether the deadly chemical used to kill Kim was made up of more than the nerve agent VX. But as far as the two arrested women were concerned, they continue to claim they did not know its dangers.
Aishah has told police that she believed the liquid was just baby oil.
Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Andreano Erwin, who visited Aishah today, told reporters today that she had been paid the equivalent of £72 to take part in the 'prank'.
'She didn't know it was poison. That is the answer from her,' he said.
'She only said in general that somebody had asked her to do it and she didn't know what would happened next.
'She mentioned some names but I did not recognise them. The names were very general…James, Jang, that's it.'
He said Aishah had told him that the men who had approached her were 'maybe Japanese or Korean.'
Eight North Koreans are wanted in connection with the murder, four of whom are suspected of having already escaped back to Pyongyang, but police are hoping for a 'big catch' with the arrest of a diplomat at the North Korean Embassy.
They have ordered 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Son, a second secretary at the embassy, to co-operate voluntarily with police - and he has been given 'reasonable time' to come forward.
Police chief Abdul Samah Mat said that if he failed to co-operate a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Malaysian police Saturday told the public they would do everything possible to ensure there was no risk from the lethal VX nerve agent used to assassinate Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
People were worried about the use of the highly toxic agent developed for chemical warfare, state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said, after the audacious February 13 attack by two assassins at Kuala Lumpur airport.
By Richard Shears | Daily Mail | February 25, 2017
In the seedy, sex-driven, underworld beneath Malaysia's world-wide image of respectability, two 'good time girls' made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for 'patsies' to commit a murder.
Today the women, Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Siti Aishah, from Indonesia - both in their mid to late 20s - continued to be interrogated by Malaysian police about their roles in the murder of Kim Jong-nam who died after nerve agent was thrown in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 13 February.
They are understood to have admitted they had worked in massage parlours and had also escorted wealthy Asian men around town, ending up in their bedrooms - and they made easy pickings for North Korean agents looking for women who could assume harmless identities for the deadly roles they were needed for.
Police are understood to be looking at preparing murder charges against the women despite their agreeing to tell everything about the men they met, the names they knew, and the promises that were made to them if they carried off their deadly mission of murdering Kim, the estranged elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Aishah has already admitted that she worked in a massage parlour, while Huong has told police that she earned money for her family back in Vietnam by escorting men in night clubs and being paid well for her services.
But, aside from the serious charges they now face - despite their claims that they thought they had been recruited to play a part in a jokey TV show in which members of the public would have a liquid sprayed in their faces - Huong has an added reason to regret.
She has fallen sick, police revealed, because she ingested some of the 'harmless' liquid she and Aishah were involved in spraying in Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur airport.
She has been vomiting and refusing food, sources said, because the liquid has been identified as a deadly nerve agent known as VX. Although she is not in any danger to her life, it is possible that she did not wash her hands properly after the airport incident.
Just where the deadly chemical came from - whether it was brought into the country by a North Korean agent or was produced locally - was still being investigated today but suspicion that it might have been produced in Kuala Lumpur has been suggested by The Star newspaper.
It reported that a hazardous material team had gone to an apartment in the city, understood to be where North Korean chemist, Ri Jong-chol, had been living, and had seized various chemicals, several pairs of gloves and shoes.
Malaysian experts are now trying to ascertain whether the deadly chemical used to kill Kim was made up of more than the nerve agent VX. But as far as the two arrested women were concerned, they continue to claim they did not know its dangers.
Aishah has told police that she believed the liquid was just baby oil.
Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Andreano Erwin, who visited Aishah today, told reporters today that she had been paid the equivalent of £72 to take part in the 'prank'.
'She didn't know it was poison. That is the answer from her,' he said.
'She only said in general that somebody had asked her to do it and she didn't know what would happened next.
'She mentioned some names but I did not recognise them. The names were very general…James, Jang, that's it.'
He said Aishah had told him that the men who had approached her were 'maybe Japanese or Korean.'
Eight North Koreans are wanted in connection with the murder, four of whom are suspected of having already escaped back to Pyongyang, but police are hoping for a 'big catch' with the arrest of a diplomat at the North Korean Embassy.
They have ordered 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Son, a second secretary at the embassy, to co-operate voluntarily with police - and he has been given 'reasonable time' to come forward.
Police chief Abdul Samah Mat said that if he failed to co-operate a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Malaysian police Saturday told the public they would do everything possible to ensure there was no risk from the lethal VX nerve agent used to assassinate Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
People were worried about the use of the highly toxic agent developed for chemical warfare, state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said, after the audacious February 13 attack by two assassins at Kuala Lumpur airport.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
ANOTHER SET OF NOMINEES FOR PARENT OF THE YEAR
by Bob Walsh
This one is a little complicated as it involves two generations and anonymous charges, but I will have a shot at it.
The only parent that we know of by name is Antonio Parra-Rodriguez, 25, a denizen of Concord, CA. Also involved is a girl who he knocked up four years ago, when she was 12 and the girls parents, who approved of and encouraged the relationship. None of them are named as it would put the name of the girl in the public domain.
This situation came to the attention of the authorities when someone made a domestic violence complaint against Parra-Rodriguez. It wasn't explained whether that was this girl or a second under-14-year old that this guy also knocked up.
All three of the adults involved in this sorry mess are in the Contra Costa County slammer right now.
This one is a little complicated as it involves two generations and anonymous charges, but I will have a shot at it.
The only parent that we know of by name is Antonio Parra-Rodriguez, 25, a denizen of Concord, CA. Also involved is a girl who he knocked up four years ago, when she was 12 and the girls parents, who approved of and encouraged the relationship. None of them are named as it would put the name of the girl in the public domain.
This situation came to the attention of the authorities when someone made a domestic violence complaint against Parra-Rodriguez. It wasn't explained whether that was this girl or a second under-14-year old that this guy also knocked up.
All three of the adults involved in this sorry mess are in the Contra Costa County slammer right now.
COPS REALLY ENJOY THEIR WORK IN ARGENTINA
Two Argentinian police officers caught on video having sex in their patrol car as they receive robbery call on the radio
By Gerard Couzens | Daily Mail | February 24, 2017
Two Argentinian police officers are facing disciplinary action after they were filmed having sex inside a atrol car as they received an alert about a robbery on their radio.
In vidpeo of the incident, the unnamed female officer can be seen pausing as she hears the call to head to a crime scene, but then continues to lift up her unnamed male colleague's T-shirt, which features the slogan, 'Core Durability and Strength'.
An investigation into the video started after the mobile footage, which featured a clip of the woman's police badge on her arm that detailed her force, led to her and her colleague's identification. It is unknown how the footage was made public.
The two officers work for the police force in Rosario, Argentina, where football star Lionel Messi was born.
In the clip, the female officer can be seen putting her hand up to the mobile phone to stop her colleague from filming them before appearing to allow him to carry on recording the sex scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Security of Santa Fe, the province Rosario forms part of, released a statement following the incident.
The statement said: 'The Ministry of Security of Santa Fe informs, with regards to the video in which two police officers appear having sex in a patrol car, that the Violence and Institutional Office of the local State Prosecutor's Officer led by Karina Bartocci, has been informed.
'Also a disciplinary probe which will involve the suspension of both officers has been initiated.
'We condemn this extremely offensive incident for the people of this province, given that we're dealing with public servants on duty who should be protecting the lives and security of our people.'
This isn't the first scandal to come out of Rosario's police force this month.
Earlier in February, footage emerged of two female community police officers in Rosario celebrating the seizure of a cannabis plant.
One of the women was filmed laughing and joking as she held the massive plant up and shouted: 'Who wants to smoke this? This is what we took off someone we stopped and searched.
'We asked him, "Do you want to run off home and leave us with this or do you want us to take you into custody and he wisely decided to leave it with us?" And this is what we got.'
Both were ordered to hand in their weapons and uniforms as part of an ongoing probe.
In December a police officer in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires was filmed snorting what appeared to be cocaine inside his patrol car while on duty.
The cop was still wearing his bulletproof vest when he bent his head down to take the drugs as messages came across his police radio.
By Gerard Couzens | Daily Mail | February 24, 2017
Two Argentinian police officers are facing disciplinary action after they were filmed having sex inside a atrol car as they received an alert about a robbery on their radio.
In vidpeo of the incident, the unnamed female officer can be seen pausing as she hears the call to head to a crime scene, but then continues to lift up her unnamed male colleague's T-shirt, which features the slogan, 'Core Durability and Strength'.
An investigation into the video started after the mobile footage, which featured a clip of the woman's police badge on her arm that detailed her force, led to her and her colleague's identification. It is unknown how the footage was made public.
The two officers work for the police force in Rosario, Argentina, where football star Lionel Messi was born.
In the clip, the female officer can be seen putting her hand up to the mobile phone to stop her colleague from filming them before appearing to allow him to carry on recording the sex scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Security of Santa Fe, the province Rosario forms part of, released a statement following the incident.
The statement said: 'The Ministry of Security of Santa Fe informs, with regards to the video in which two police officers appear having sex in a patrol car, that the Violence and Institutional Office of the local State Prosecutor's Officer led by Karina Bartocci, has been informed.
'Also a disciplinary probe which will involve the suspension of both officers has been initiated.
'We condemn this extremely offensive incident for the people of this province, given that we're dealing with public servants on duty who should be protecting the lives and security of our people.'
This isn't the first scandal to come out of Rosario's police force this month.
Earlier in February, footage emerged of two female community police officers in Rosario celebrating the seizure of a cannabis plant.
One of the women was filmed laughing and joking as she held the massive plant up and shouted: 'Who wants to smoke this? This is what we took off someone we stopped and searched.
'We asked him, "Do you want to run off home and leave us with this or do you want us to take you into custody and he wisely decided to leave it with us?" And this is what we got.'
Both were ordered to hand in their weapons and uniforms as part of an ongoing probe.
In December a police officer in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires was filmed snorting what appeared to be cocaine inside his patrol car while on duty.
The cop was still wearing his bulletproof vest when he bent his head down to take the drugs as messages came across his police radio.
Friday, February 24, 2017
TRUMP DOES NOT LIKE POT HEADS
by Bob Walsh
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that they will likely take enforcement action against recreational pot users in the nine states (including D.C.) where recreational marijuana is legal. This could put a major crimp in what is said to be a potentially $5 billion a year industry.
Personally I hope he does. Disregard for one law breeds disregard for all laws. Of course, in the People's Republic of California, you can get a medical marijuana card essentially for asking for one. I understand that one of the leading causes for issuing them is stress over the possibility that you will no longer be allowed to smoke marijuana.
The feds assert that they will NOT be going after medical marijuana users even though that is just as illegal under federal law as recreational pot use.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, by all means, unleash the DEA!
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that they will likely take enforcement action against recreational pot users in the nine states (including D.C.) where recreational marijuana is legal. This could put a major crimp in what is said to be a potentially $5 billion a year industry.
Personally I hope he does. Disregard for one law breeds disregard for all laws. Of course, in the People's Republic of California, you can get a medical marijuana card essentially for asking for one. I understand that one of the leading causes for issuing them is stress over the possibility that you will no longer be allowed to smoke marijuana.
The feds assert that they will NOT be going after medical marijuana users even though that is just as illegal under federal law as recreational pot use.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, by all means, unleash the DEA!
BOOBS IN FT. COLLINS, COLORADO
by Bob Walsh
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson has just ruled that the Fort Collins ordinance against women appearing topless in public is unconstitutional and unenforceable due to gender discrimination.
I understand that area is very pretty. Depending on the general appearance of those likely to avail themselves of this new-found freedom that situation may improve, or then again maybe not.
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson has just ruled that the Fort Collins ordinance against women appearing topless in public is unconstitutional and unenforceable due to gender discrimination.
I understand that area is very pretty. Depending on the general appearance of those likely to avail themselves of this new-found freedom that situation may improve, or then again maybe not.
UNLEASH THE DEA
If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal marijuana laws, it would nullify the recreational use of pot in those states that have legalized it
By Howie Katz | Big Jolly Politics | February 23, 2017
In 2013, President Obama’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to stop enforcing federal drug laws that contradict state marijuana policies. That order also put a leash on the DEA.
Now a number of states, most notably Washington, Colorado and California, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. That blue haze you see in Denver is not car pollution, it’s pot pollution.
The DEA has classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the same as heroin and cocaine. Under federal law it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied.
Now that Trump is President and Jeff Sessions is Attorney General, it’s time to unleash the DEA and put a stop to the marijuana legalization nonsense. If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal laws against marijuana in those states that have legalized its recreational use, it would in effect nullify the state legalization laws.
More and more recent studies by reputable researchers have shown that marijuana is indeed a dangerous drug, contrary to the claim by pot proponents that it is innocuous. Marijuana should not be legalized.
The pro-pot crowd claims that by legalizing marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels would be driven out of business. That is patently untrue! In Colorado for instance, the cartels are doing a thriving business. Many stoners prefer to buy their pot on the black market because it’s cheaper on the street corner than in the ‘legal’ pot shops where they would have to pay the added on state and local taxes.
Will Trump and Sessions unleash the DEA to go after the federal law violators in Washington, Colorado, California and the other states that have legalized pot? I’m not holding my breath.
By Howie Katz | Big Jolly Politics | February 23, 2017
In 2013, President Obama’s Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to stop enforcing federal drug laws that contradict state marijuana policies. That order also put a leash on the DEA.
Now a number of states, most notably Washington, Colorado and California, have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. That blue haze you see in Denver is not car pollution, it’s pot pollution.
The DEA has classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the same as heroin and cocaine. Under federal law it is illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that in case of conflict between federal and state law, the federal law must be applied.
Now that Trump is President and Jeff Sessions is Attorney General, it’s time to unleash the DEA and put a stop to the marijuana legalization nonsense. If the DEA is turned loose to enforce the federal laws against marijuana in those states that have legalized its recreational use, it would in effect nullify the state legalization laws.
More and more recent studies by reputable researchers have shown that marijuana is indeed a dangerous drug, contrary to the claim by pot proponents that it is innocuous. Marijuana should not be legalized.
The pro-pot crowd claims that by legalizing marijuana, the Mexican drug cartels would be driven out of business. That is patently untrue! In Colorado for instance, the cartels are doing a thriving business. Many stoners prefer to buy their pot on the black market because it’s cheaper on the street corner than in the ‘legal’ pot shops where they would have to pay the added on state and local taxes.
Will Trump and Sessions unleash the DEA to go after the federal law violators in Washington, Colorado, California and the other states that have legalized pot? I’m not holding my breath.
STUPID COP IS AS STUPID COP DOES WITH A GUN
Officer who fired gun with live rounds charged in Citizen's Academy death
By Carlos R. Munoz | Saratoga Herald-Tribune | February 23, 2017
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Florida -- The Punta Gorda police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a retired librarian during an August community police academy has been arrested and will face manslaughter charges, state prosecutors said.
Lee Coel, 28, was arrested earlier today, accused of felony manslaughter.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis was charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, but not arrested. Lewis received a summons to appear in court.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents completed their criminal investigation into the Aug. 9 shooting and submitted their report to prosecutors in the 20th Judicial Circuit, who found probable cause to charge both Coel and Lewis.
"There is a very voluminous amount of information we reviewed," State Attorney Stephen B. Russell said during a press conference on Wednesday. "We looked at the crime scene, photographs and videos of the incident. We went through a large volume of investigative material from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Many people were interviewed for what happened at the scene.
"Looking at the totality of the facts and evidence brought our office to this decision."
Russell said the FDLE report would not be available until discovery is requested by the defense. The report would then be made public to those who request it. That may not happen for several weeks, he said.
"To the citizens of Charlotte County, I want to say that while my office is endeavoring to responsibly address this difficult, somewhat unique, tragic event, Charlotte County continues to be well served by its law enforcement community," Russell said.
In what was billed as a training demonstration as part of a special "Chamber Police Night" for local business leaders and others at the police department, Coel pointed a revolver -- which he believed was loaded with blanks -- at 73-year-old Mary Knowlton and pulled the trigger several times, according to accounts.
Knowlton fell dead. Her husband watched just feet away.
Lewis placed Coel, hired by the agency in 2014, on paid administrative leave, a common response to officer-involved shootings.
Punta Gorda City Manager Howard Kunik said in November that a "fair" and "mutual" deal was reached between the family of the retired librarian and the city of Punta Gorda. The Knowlton family was paid $2,060,234.23 from the city's insurance and damage recovery funds.
The settlement agreement signed by Gary Knowlton and his attorney was approved unanimously by the Punta Gorda City Council as a consent agenda item.
"Obviously, this is a sad tragedy for everyone involved," said Julie McGillivray during citizen's comments.
Kunik said the agreement did not affect the FDLE investigation, and that the settlement was not an admission of guilt. He said it was meant to avoid the cost of a lawsuit.
Coel, a K-9 officer, also was involved in a $70,000 settlement between Punta Gorda and Richard Schumacher. The settlement stemmed from an October 2015 incident where Coel attempted to stop Schumacher from riding his bike, which had a broken taillight, using his trained police dog.
In Coel's dashcam video he is heard saying, "Stop now or I'll send the dog."
Schumacher did not obey and the 28-year-old officer parked his car and released his dog, "Spirit," which chased Schumacher who was on foot.
Schumacher' had bite injuries that were so severe he required surgery and an 11-day hospital stay. He pled guilty to DUI on a bicycle and obstructing a police officer without violence.
Kunik said an outside consultant who specializes in cases involving police dogs said in October that Coel should not be fired.
That was two months after the death of Knowlton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s why Houston Police Department uses plugged up guns with vents drilled into the bottom of the barrels in training programs where blank firing is used.
By Carlos R. Munoz | Saratoga Herald-Tribune | February 23, 2017
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Florida -- The Punta Gorda police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a retired librarian during an August community police academy has been arrested and will face manslaughter charges, state prosecutors said.
Lee Coel, 28, was arrested earlier today, accused of felony manslaughter.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis was charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, but not arrested. Lewis received a summons to appear in court.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents completed their criminal investigation into the Aug. 9 shooting and submitted their report to prosecutors in the 20th Judicial Circuit, who found probable cause to charge both Coel and Lewis.
"There is a very voluminous amount of information we reviewed," State Attorney Stephen B. Russell said during a press conference on Wednesday. "We looked at the crime scene, photographs and videos of the incident. We went through a large volume of investigative material from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Many people were interviewed for what happened at the scene.
"Looking at the totality of the facts and evidence brought our office to this decision."
Russell said the FDLE report would not be available until discovery is requested by the defense. The report would then be made public to those who request it. That may not happen for several weeks, he said.
"To the citizens of Charlotte County, I want to say that while my office is endeavoring to responsibly address this difficult, somewhat unique, tragic event, Charlotte County continues to be well served by its law enforcement community," Russell said.
In what was billed as a training demonstration as part of a special "Chamber Police Night" for local business leaders and others at the police department, Coel pointed a revolver -- which he believed was loaded with blanks -- at 73-year-old Mary Knowlton and pulled the trigger several times, according to accounts.
Knowlton fell dead. Her husband watched just feet away.
Lewis placed Coel, hired by the agency in 2014, on paid administrative leave, a common response to officer-involved shootings.
Punta Gorda City Manager Howard Kunik said in November that a "fair" and "mutual" deal was reached between the family of the retired librarian and the city of Punta Gorda. The Knowlton family was paid $2,060,234.23 from the city's insurance and damage recovery funds.
The settlement agreement signed by Gary Knowlton and his attorney was approved unanimously by the Punta Gorda City Council as a consent agenda item.
"Obviously, this is a sad tragedy for everyone involved," said Julie McGillivray during citizen's comments.
Kunik said the agreement did not affect the FDLE investigation, and that the settlement was not an admission of guilt. He said it was meant to avoid the cost of a lawsuit.
Coel, a K-9 officer, also was involved in a $70,000 settlement between Punta Gorda and Richard Schumacher. The settlement stemmed from an October 2015 incident where Coel attempted to stop Schumacher from riding his bike, which had a broken taillight, using his trained police dog.
In Coel's dashcam video he is heard saying, "Stop now or I'll send the dog."
Schumacher did not obey and the 28-year-old officer parked his car and released his dog, "Spirit," which chased Schumacher who was on foot.
Schumacher' had bite injuries that were so severe he required surgery and an 11-day hospital stay. He pled guilty to DUI on a bicycle and obstructing a police officer without violence.
Kunik said an outside consultant who specializes in cases involving police dogs said in October that Coel should not be fired.
That was two months after the death of Knowlton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s why Houston Police Department uses plugged up guns with vents drilled into the bottom of the barrels in training programs where blank firing is used.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SHITTERS
by Bob Walsh
Yup, it is true. Our former President, the God-King Barack I, was enthralled, obsessed and fascinated by shitters. So much so that it became the official position of his government that public schools and even private schools that accepted federal bribe money MUST allow self-declared transgender students to use whatever bathroom and locker room facilities the mood struck them as being appropriate to them on the day in question.
Our current El Presidente, Donald Trump, has decided that he doesn't give a shit. He has disentangled the federal government from their extortion position in that matter and has announced that each state is free to set their own policy in the matter.
Damn, this is noteworthy. The federal government is getting their nose out from underneath the tent. It might not be an earth-shattering occurrence, but it is certainly noteworthy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: OK, but here in Texas we've got the fucking NFL and NBA sticking their shitty noses in our tent with threats to keep future Super Bowls and NBA All Star Games out of the state if we prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice.
Yup, it is true. Our former President, the God-King Barack I, was enthralled, obsessed and fascinated by shitters. So much so that it became the official position of his government that public schools and even private schools that accepted federal bribe money MUST allow self-declared transgender students to use whatever bathroom and locker room facilities the mood struck them as being appropriate to them on the day in question.
Our current El Presidente, Donald Trump, has decided that he doesn't give a shit. He has disentangled the federal government from their extortion position in that matter and has announced that each state is free to set their own policy in the matter.
Damn, this is noteworthy. The federal government is getting their nose out from underneath the tent. It might not be an earth-shattering occurrence, but it is certainly noteworthy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: OK, but here in Texas we've got the fucking NFL and NBA sticking their shitty noses in our tent with threats to keep future Super Bowls and NBA All Star Games out of the state if we prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice.
ASSAULT WEAPONS ARE NOT PROTECTED BY THE SECOND AMENDMENT, APPEALS COURT RULES
The Fourth Circuit decision is the first to expressly reject a right to bear an AR-15 or other "weapons of war"
By Alex Yablon | The Trace | February 21, 2017
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ruling that Second Amendment protections do not extend to what it called “weapons of war.”
Writing for the 10-4 majority, Judge Robert King of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said that the landmark Heller v. District of Columbia decision rendered in 2008 explicitly allows governments to regulate firearms similar in design and function to those issued to members of the military.
“We are convinced that the banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are among those arms that are ‘like’ M-16 rifles — ‘weapons that are most useful in military service’ — which the Heller Court singled out as being beyond the Second Amendment’s reach,” the decision reads. “Put simply, we have no power to extend Second Amendment protection to the weapons of war that the Heller decision explicitly excluded from such coverage.”
The decision marks the fifth time that a federal appeals court has upheld a state assault weapons law, but it goes further than those previous decisions. It is the first to exclude AR-15s and other similar guns from Second Amendment protection on the grounds that they are virtually indistinguishable from weapons of war. The court found that such designation overrides considerations of the common usage or suitability for home self-defense of a gun like the AR-15.
The ruling is a resounding defeat for the National Sports Shooting Foundation, the gun manufacturers’ trade group which, along with two Maryland gun owners, had sued to overturn the state’s sweeping assault weapons ban, which prohibits the possession, sale, transfer, or transportation into the state of certain weapons, including all variants of the AR-15 and AK-47 rifle platforms, along with certain kinds of pistols, including semiautomatic versions of the Uzi.
More broadly, Maryland’s law applies to all center-fired semiautomatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines and have two or more features like a flash suppressor or a pistol grip. After the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, millions of such guns have been manufactured for civilians and remain unregulated in much of the country. Maryland’s assault weapons law is similar to California’s, requiring registration of those weapons lawfully possessed before the passage of the ban.
The Maryland law also prohibits the sale and transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Maryland residents who owned magazines affected by the law before its passage may keep them. In comparison, California gun owners must surrender their large-capacity magazines to authorities by July 1.
“It’s a huge victory,” said appellate attorney Deepak Gupta, who submitted a brief on behalf of the defendants. “It shows that a Second Amendment right to bear arms can coexist with common-sense gun legislation.”
John Parker Sweeney, who represented the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Judge William Traxler, a President Bill Clinton appointee, was joined by three colleagues in a dissenting opinion. Traxler argued that “the majority has gone to greater lengths than any other court to eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.”
The majority opinion extensively describes the history of assault-style weapons, and the extent to which they are created to mimic the functionality of military-grade guns.
“The banned assault weapons ‘are firearms designed for the battlefield, for the soldier to be able to shoot a large number of rounds across a battlefield at a high rate of speed,’” the opinion reads, citing filings in the case. “Their design results in ‘a capability for lethality — more wounds, more serious, in more victims — far beyond that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.’”
The opinion cites a 1994 Treasury Department study that found the technical features singled out by assault weapons bans — flash suppressors, barrel shrouds, folding and telescoping stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, night sights, and the ability to accept bayonets and large-capacity magazines — “serve specific, combat-functional ends.”
Significantly, Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III, a conservative appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a separate concurring opinion that assault weapon laws are a “wholly separate subject” from constitutionally protected handgun ownership for self defense. He wrote that judicial decisions to reject assault weapons bans would be “disenfranchising.”
“To say in the wake of so many mass shootings in so many localities across this country that the people themselves are now to be rendered newly powerless, that all they can do is stand by and watch as federal courts design their destiny — this would deliver a body blow to democracy as we have known it since the very founding of this nation,” Wilkinson wrote.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m sure glad to live in Texas!
By Alex Yablon | The Trace | February 21, 2017
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ruling that Second Amendment protections do not extend to what it called “weapons of war.”
Writing for the 10-4 majority, Judge Robert King of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said that the landmark Heller v. District of Columbia decision rendered in 2008 explicitly allows governments to regulate firearms similar in design and function to those issued to members of the military.
“We are convinced that the banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are among those arms that are ‘like’ M-16 rifles — ‘weapons that are most useful in military service’ — which the Heller Court singled out as being beyond the Second Amendment’s reach,” the decision reads. “Put simply, we have no power to extend Second Amendment protection to the weapons of war that the Heller decision explicitly excluded from such coverage.”
The decision marks the fifth time that a federal appeals court has upheld a state assault weapons law, but it goes further than those previous decisions. It is the first to exclude AR-15s and other similar guns from Second Amendment protection on the grounds that they are virtually indistinguishable from weapons of war. The court found that such designation overrides considerations of the common usage or suitability for home self-defense of a gun like the AR-15.
The ruling is a resounding defeat for the National Sports Shooting Foundation, the gun manufacturers’ trade group which, along with two Maryland gun owners, had sued to overturn the state’s sweeping assault weapons ban, which prohibits the possession, sale, transfer, or transportation into the state of certain weapons, including all variants of the AR-15 and AK-47 rifle platforms, along with certain kinds of pistols, including semiautomatic versions of the Uzi.
More broadly, Maryland’s law applies to all center-fired semiautomatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines and have two or more features like a flash suppressor or a pistol grip. After the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, millions of such guns have been manufactured for civilians and remain unregulated in much of the country. Maryland’s assault weapons law is similar to California’s, requiring registration of those weapons lawfully possessed before the passage of the ban.
The Maryland law also prohibits the sale and transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Maryland residents who owned magazines affected by the law before its passage may keep them. In comparison, California gun owners must surrender their large-capacity magazines to authorities by July 1.
“It’s a huge victory,” said appellate attorney Deepak Gupta, who submitted a brief on behalf of the defendants. “It shows that a Second Amendment right to bear arms can coexist with common-sense gun legislation.”
John Parker Sweeney, who represented the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Judge William Traxler, a President Bill Clinton appointee, was joined by three colleagues in a dissenting opinion. Traxler argued that “the majority has gone to greater lengths than any other court to eviscerate the constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.”
The majority opinion extensively describes the history of assault-style weapons, and the extent to which they are created to mimic the functionality of military-grade guns.
“The banned assault weapons ‘are firearms designed for the battlefield, for the soldier to be able to shoot a large number of rounds across a battlefield at a high rate of speed,’” the opinion reads, citing filings in the case. “Their design results in ‘a capability for lethality — more wounds, more serious, in more victims — far beyond that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.’”
The opinion cites a 1994 Treasury Department study that found the technical features singled out by assault weapons bans — flash suppressors, barrel shrouds, folding and telescoping stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, night sights, and the ability to accept bayonets and large-capacity magazines — “serve specific, combat-functional ends.”
Significantly, Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III, a conservative appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote in a separate concurring opinion that assault weapon laws are a “wholly separate subject” from constitutionally protected handgun ownership for self defense. He wrote that judicial decisions to reject assault weapons bans would be “disenfranchising.”
“To say in the wake of so many mass shootings in so many localities across this country that the people themselves are now to be rendered newly powerless, that all they can do is stand by and watch as federal courts design their destiny — this would deliver a body blow to democracy as we have known it since the very founding of this nation,” Wilkinson wrote.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m sure glad to live in Texas!
WHY SELF-DRIVING CARS COULD BE A DREAM COME TRUE FOR CAR THIEVES
Vehicles that stop for pedestrians could be a gift to thieves
By Corin Faife | VICE News | February 22, 2017
One moment you're cruising to a halt at a red light; the next, being pulled roughly out of your vehicle by an armed man in a mask. It's every driver's nightmare and the crime that helped Grand Theft Auto become a multi-billion dollar franchise: carjacking.
There are endless depictions of carjacking in popular culture, perhaps tied to the role that the automobile occupies in the American psyche. Certain places like Los Angeles, New Jersey or Detroit are notorious for it, with some incidents linked to organized crime rings who will steal to order and arrange international shipments for their discerning (if unscrupulous) foreign customers.
But the vehicles we drive are changing, as is the way we drive them. As a world of widespread autonomous vehicles moves from the realm of science fiction into near-future possibility, it's important to consider how vehicle crime will change, and how the benefits from the elimination of certain categories of crime linked to vehicles—drunk driving, for example—could be tempered by the growth of other types.
When parked, advances in security have made modern cars far more difficult to steal than used to be the case. But if a thief can stop a car with the driver in it, say by bumping it deliberately with another car, creating a distraction or blocking the road with some kind of physical barrier, immobilizing technology is made irrelevant by having access to the ignition keys and an unlocked vehicle.
This creates a problem for self-driving cars, which are explicitly designed to be risk averse when it comes to interactions with pedestrians. In a paper in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Adam Millard-Ball, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, argued that pedestrians would learn to become more aggressive when crossing roads in front of autonomous vehicles in the knowledge that the vehicle would be forced to stop. Although Millard-Ball wasn't addressing malicious intent, it's not hard to imagine criminal gangs using the same principles to "herd" an autonomous vehicle into a position where it could be commandeered, or the driver harmed. (Of course, the possibility of stealing a car in this situation also depends on the steering system: a vehicle with a manual override would be simple enough to take, but a fully autonomous vehicle with pre-programmed destination, say an airport-to-city shuttle taxi, would be difficult to make off with.)
Mary "Missy" Cummings, Director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University, says that the optimism surrounding driverless cars has discouraged people from talking about the darker aspects of the behavior they could enable.
"I've been saying for a long time [that] I think that there's a lot more criminal behavior that will happen in these cars than people understand," Cummings said in a phone call. "Interiors of cars will be gutted, hubcaps will be destroyed, headlights will be taken out of these cars. Without a human driver in the car, we're going to see some really bad behavior."
Cummings says that she's more cynical about this kind of behavior happening in America than in, say, Europe, citing the sad tale of Hitchbot as an example of what can happen when people choose to enact violence on anthropomorphic robots. But in the case of carjacking it's not just the robotic cars, but their occupants, that could be at greatest risk.
"There's a section of society, like it or not, that's going to be predatory towards these vehicles," she said. "Hacking of cars is real. It's not hard at all to GPS spoof any vehicle that relies on GPS—that's true of drones and driverless cars—and so at a minimum we have a real vulnerability that if you're in a driverless car you could be kidnapped, electronic locks could be engaged externally, and if there's no steering wheel, good luck!"
Nonetheless, Cummings is clear that the possibility of police being able to remotely control driverless cars is not an appropriate response. Instead, closer liaisons will need to be made between the police and a new kind of dispatch center run by Tesla, Uber or other driverless car manufacturers, which will allow for quick reaction when a problem occurs—whether mechanical or criminal—that necessitates the intervention of an engineer, either physically or remotely.
Although autonomous vehicle systems look set to revolutionize urban transport, designing for these kind of edge cases will be a crucial part of the transition from human-controlled to self-driving transport networks.
By Corin Faife | VICE News | February 22, 2017
One moment you're cruising to a halt at a red light; the next, being pulled roughly out of your vehicle by an armed man in a mask. It's every driver's nightmare and the crime that helped Grand Theft Auto become a multi-billion dollar franchise: carjacking.
There are endless depictions of carjacking in popular culture, perhaps tied to the role that the automobile occupies in the American psyche. Certain places like Los Angeles, New Jersey or Detroit are notorious for it, with some incidents linked to organized crime rings who will steal to order and arrange international shipments for their discerning (if unscrupulous) foreign customers.
But the vehicles we drive are changing, as is the way we drive them. As a world of widespread autonomous vehicles moves from the realm of science fiction into near-future possibility, it's important to consider how vehicle crime will change, and how the benefits from the elimination of certain categories of crime linked to vehicles—drunk driving, for example—could be tempered by the growth of other types.
When parked, advances in security have made modern cars far more difficult to steal than used to be the case. But if a thief can stop a car with the driver in it, say by bumping it deliberately with another car, creating a distraction or blocking the road with some kind of physical barrier, immobilizing technology is made irrelevant by having access to the ignition keys and an unlocked vehicle.
This creates a problem for self-driving cars, which are explicitly designed to be risk averse when it comes to interactions with pedestrians. In a paper in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, Adam Millard-Ball, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, argued that pedestrians would learn to become more aggressive when crossing roads in front of autonomous vehicles in the knowledge that the vehicle would be forced to stop. Although Millard-Ball wasn't addressing malicious intent, it's not hard to imagine criminal gangs using the same principles to "herd" an autonomous vehicle into a position where it could be commandeered, or the driver harmed. (Of course, the possibility of stealing a car in this situation also depends on the steering system: a vehicle with a manual override would be simple enough to take, but a fully autonomous vehicle with pre-programmed destination, say an airport-to-city shuttle taxi, would be difficult to make off with.)
Mary "Missy" Cummings, Director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University, says that the optimism surrounding driverless cars has discouraged people from talking about the darker aspects of the behavior they could enable.
"I've been saying for a long time [that] I think that there's a lot more criminal behavior that will happen in these cars than people understand," Cummings said in a phone call. "Interiors of cars will be gutted, hubcaps will be destroyed, headlights will be taken out of these cars. Without a human driver in the car, we're going to see some really bad behavior."
Cummings says that she's more cynical about this kind of behavior happening in America than in, say, Europe, citing the sad tale of Hitchbot as an example of what can happen when people choose to enact violence on anthropomorphic robots. But in the case of carjacking it's not just the robotic cars, but their occupants, that could be at greatest risk.
"There's a section of society, like it or not, that's going to be predatory towards these vehicles," she said. "Hacking of cars is real. It's not hard at all to GPS spoof any vehicle that relies on GPS—that's true of drones and driverless cars—and so at a minimum we have a real vulnerability that if you're in a driverless car you could be kidnapped, electronic locks could be engaged externally, and if there's no steering wheel, good luck!"
Nonetheless, Cummings is clear that the possibility of police being able to remotely control driverless cars is not an appropriate response. Instead, closer liaisons will need to be made between the police and a new kind of dispatch center run by Tesla, Uber or other driverless car manufacturers, which will allow for quick reaction when a problem occurs—whether mechanical or criminal—that necessitates the intervention of an engineer, either physically or remotely.
Although autonomous vehicle systems look set to revolutionize urban transport, designing for these kind of edge cases will be a crucial part of the transition from human-controlled to self-driving transport networks.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
56-YEAR-OLD HEROIC BLACK WOMAN JUMPS ON BACK OF ASSAILANT TO HELP WHITE COP BEING WHACKED WITH HIS OWN BATON
'She is a true hero': Good Samaritan bravely comes to the rescue of a Louisiana police officer being beaten with his own baton and JUMPS on the suspect's back until back-up arrives
BarkGrowlBite | February 22, 2017
Associated Press and Ariel Zilber for Daily Mail
February 21, 2017
A Louisiana woman is being hailed as a hero after police say she saw an officer struggling with a suspect and jumped on the man's back to help the officer subdue him.
Vickie Williams-Tillman, 56, was driving to a store Sunday morning, with gospel music on her radio, when she spotted the Baton Rouge officer, Billy Aime, and the suspect, according to The Advocate.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely says the suspect grabbed the officer's baton and repeatedly bashed him on the head with it, and also tried to grab the officer's gun.
Police say that after Williams-Tillman jumped on the man's back, police backup arrived and the suspect was apprehended after being shot with a stun gun.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome called the woman a courageous hero.
The incident occurred just before 8:00am on Sunday, when a 44-year-old police officer found the suspect, 28-year-old Thomas Bennett, asleep in his car.
The officer allegedly noticed drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
When the officer approached Bennett's car to make an arrest, Bennett is alleged to have become violent.
Bennett allegedly grabbed the officer's baton and began hitting him over the head.
He also took the officer's flashlight and radio, according to the arrest report.
Bennett also allegedly reached for the officer's gun.
‘[Maybe an] angel, whatever it was…God was watching down on both of us and told her to stop,’ Aime told WAFB.
Seeing the scuffle unfold, Williams-Tillman initially pulled up alongside the police officer, rolled down the window, and asked if he needed help.
When the officer didn't respond, Williams-Tillman 'locked eyes' with him and realized that he could not speak.
That is when she sprung into action. She called 911 and notified the police that an officer needed help.
Immediately afterward, police say that she stepped out of her car and jumped on Bennett's back, helping to subdue him.
The officer said that Williams-Tillman may have saved his life.
‘Next thing I knew she was pulling the suspect’s hand off of my gun,’ Aime said.
‘Without her stopping, I can’t tell you what the outcome would have been.’
'I could see in [the officer's] eyes he needed help,' said Williams-Tillman.
'You don't have time to think about it … I did what God needed me to do.'
'It was something that went through my soul,' she said. 'You don't think about the risk.'
More police arrived as backup and took the suspect into custody.
Bennett faces charges including aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and drug possession.
A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge Police Department said the officer suffered injuries to his head.
'Vickie Williams-Tillman epitomizes the true Good Samaritan,' Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome said in a statement.
'She reached out and offered a courageous and unconditional response to the officer. Ms. Williams-Tillman is a hero and demonstrates the true meaning of loving God and loving your neighbor.'
The BRPD hailed Williams-Tillman on its Facebook page, posting a message of thanks that generated over 7,000 likes and 2,100 shares.
For a special #BRPDSalutes today we want to thank a very special lady.
'Early this morning one of our officers performed a traffic stop just before 8am in the 8400 block of Harry Drive, finding drugs in the man's vehicle,' the BRPD wrote.
'Our officer tried to secure the man in handcuffs when the driver became aggressive. The 28-year-old man, grabbed the officer's baton and used it to repeatedly hit the officer in the head.'
'As the officer struggled with his assailant, 56-year-old Vickie Williams-Tillman saw that our officer needed help.'
'Ms. Williams-Tillman immediately called for more police but then went so much further.'
'Risking her own safety she jumped out of her vehicle and onto the back of the 28-year old assailant. Ms. Williams-Tillman was able to help hold off the assailant until other officers arrived.'
'For going above and beyond in that moment to help our officer and possibly save his life we are forever grateful to you Ms. Vickie! For showing so much love and concern for one of our officers BRPDSalutes you!'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wow, this 56-year-old black lady risked her life to save a white cop’s ass. I’ll bet she is not a member of Black Lives Matter.
Vickie Williams-Tillman is a true hero and deserves a salute not only from BRPD, but from every law abiding American.
BarkGrowlBite | February 22, 2017
Associated Press and Ariel Zilber for Daily Mail
February 21, 2017
A Louisiana woman is being hailed as a hero after police say she saw an officer struggling with a suspect and jumped on the man's back to help the officer subdue him.
Vickie Williams-Tillman, 56, was driving to a store Sunday morning, with gospel music on her radio, when she spotted the Baton Rouge officer, Billy Aime, and the suspect, according to The Advocate.
Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L'Jean McKneely says the suspect grabbed the officer's baton and repeatedly bashed him on the head with it, and also tried to grab the officer's gun.
Police say that after Williams-Tillman jumped on the man's back, police backup arrived and the suspect was apprehended after being shot with a stun gun.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome called the woman a courageous hero.
The incident occurred just before 8:00am on Sunday, when a 44-year-old police officer found the suspect, 28-year-old Thomas Bennett, asleep in his car.
The officer allegedly noticed drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
When the officer approached Bennett's car to make an arrest, Bennett is alleged to have become violent.
Bennett allegedly grabbed the officer's baton and began hitting him over the head.
He also took the officer's flashlight and radio, according to the arrest report.
Bennett also allegedly reached for the officer's gun.
‘[Maybe an] angel, whatever it was…God was watching down on both of us and told her to stop,’ Aime told WAFB.
Seeing the scuffle unfold, Williams-Tillman initially pulled up alongside the police officer, rolled down the window, and asked if he needed help.
When the officer didn't respond, Williams-Tillman 'locked eyes' with him and realized that he could not speak.
That is when she sprung into action. She called 911 and notified the police that an officer needed help.
Immediately afterward, police say that she stepped out of her car and jumped on Bennett's back, helping to subdue him.
The officer said that Williams-Tillman may have saved his life.
‘Next thing I knew she was pulling the suspect’s hand off of my gun,’ Aime said.
‘Without her stopping, I can’t tell you what the outcome would have been.’
'I could see in [the officer's] eyes he needed help,' said Williams-Tillman.
'You don't have time to think about it … I did what God needed me to do.'
'It was something that went through my soul,' she said. 'You don't think about the risk.'
More police arrived as backup and took the suspect into custody.
Bennett faces charges including aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and drug possession.
A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge Police Department said the officer suffered injuries to his head.
'Vickie Williams-Tillman epitomizes the true Good Samaritan,' Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome said in a statement.
'She reached out and offered a courageous and unconditional response to the officer. Ms. Williams-Tillman is a hero and demonstrates the true meaning of loving God and loving your neighbor.'
The BRPD hailed Williams-Tillman on its Facebook page, posting a message of thanks that generated over 7,000 likes and 2,100 shares.
For a special #BRPDSalutes today we want to thank a very special lady.
'Early this morning one of our officers performed a traffic stop just before 8am in the 8400 block of Harry Drive, finding drugs in the man's vehicle,' the BRPD wrote.
'Our officer tried to secure the man in handcuffs when the driver became aggressive. The 28-year-old man, grabbed the officer's baton and used it to repeatedly hit the officer in the head.'
'As the officer struggled with his assailant, 56-year-old Vickie Williams-Tillman saw that our officer needed help.'
'Ms. Williams-Tillman immediately called for more police but then went so much further.'
'Risking her own safety she jumped out of her vehicle and onto the back of the 28-year old assailant. Ms. Williams-Tillman was able to help hold off the assailant until other officers arrived.'
'For going above and beyond in that moment to help our officer and possibly save his life we are forever grateful to you Ms. Vickie! For showing so much love and concern for one of our officers BRPDSalutes you!'
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wow, this 56-year-old black lady risked her life to save a white cop’s ass. I’ll bet she is not a member of Black Lives Matter.
Vickie Williams-Tillman is a true hero and deserves a salute not only from BRPD, but from every law abiding American.
ALTERERED REALITY, STUPIDITY OR WHAT?
by Bob Walsh
This is one of those stories that, except for the tragedy involved, a normal, reasonable person would be inclined to laugh at as being so incredibly stupid that no one in their right mind would believe it.
It happened Sunday in Memphis, TN. The cops showed up at the house about 8 p.m.. There was a report that someone had fired shots into the house. When the cops were there they heard another gunshot from inside the house. It seems that the four-year old in the house had just been shot by the three-year old. The kid was only hit in the arm and is likely to make a full recovery.
Allegedly when the original shots fired incident happened grandmamma opened up her lock box, retrieved her handgun and pumped a few rounds into the ground in front of the house in order to discourage further incoming fire. Allegedly she then returned the gun to the lock box but did not actually lock it.
The cops now think that she in fact put the gun down in plain sight and while she was talking to the cops the second shooting took place in which the rugrat was shot. Someone, presumably granny, is asserting that the kid dropped the gun and it fired accidentally, hitting the brother. That isn't bloody likely.
Granny is now in custody for felony child abuse, neglect and stupidity. (Actually there is no criminal charge of felony stupid in Tennessee. That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be.)
This is one of those stories that, except for the tragedy involved, a normal, reasonable person would be inclined to laugh at as being so incredibly stupid that no one in their right mind would believe it.
It happened Sunday in Memphis, TN. The cops showed up at the house about 8 p.m.. There was a report that someone had fired shots into the house. When the cops were there they heard another gunshot from inside the house. It seems that the four-year old in the house had just been shot by the three-year old. The kid was only hit in the arm and is likely to make a full recovery.
Allegedly when the original shots fired incident happened grandmamma opened up her lock box, retrieved her handgun and pumped a few rounds into the ground in front of the house in order to discourage further incoming fire. Allegedly she then returned the gun to the lock box but did not actually lock it.
The cops now think that she in fact put the gun down in plain sight and while she was talking to the cops the second shooting took place in which the rugrat was shot. Someone, presumably granny, is asserting that the kid dropped the gun and it fired accidentally, hitting the brother. That isn't bloody likely.
Granny is now in custody for felony child abuse, neglect and stupidity. (Actually there is no criminal charge of felony stupid in Tennessee. That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be.)
CALIFORNIA CAREER CRIMINAL KILLS COP 10 DAYS AFTER HIS EARLY RELEASE FROM JAIL
Gang member accused of killing Whittier cop had cycled in and out of jail, records show
By Richard Winton | Los Angeles Times | February 21, 2017
The gang member accused of killing a Whittier police officer Monday has cycled in and out of jail for repeatedly violating the terms of his release, records show.
Sheriff's Homicide Capt. Steve Katz on Tuesday identified the suspect as Michael C. Mejia, 26, a career criminal with a history of drugs and violence. Mejia has a "history of control problems," Katz said.
Mejia is suspected of killing Whittier police Officer Keith Boyer and wounding another officer in a shootout following a crash involving a stolen vehicle.
Court records show that Mejia was sentenced in 2010 to four years in state prison for robbery and was convicted in July 2014 of grand theft auto and attempting to steal a vehicle. He was given another two-year sentence.
Mejia, who was shot by officers in the deadly gunfight that claimed Boyer's life and left Officer Patrick Hazell wounded, has been arrested and jailed for short stints several times since July. State officials said he was on probation and under supervision of the L.A. County Probation Department.
In July, he violated terms of his release and got 10 days in jail. He was arrested again in September after authorities moved to revoke his community supervision.
He was arrested in January for again violating the terms of his release and sentenced to a combined 40 days in jail. But he was out again after 10 days, records show. Then, Feb. 2 he was arrested by East L.A. sheriff’s deputies for violating his release terms and "flash incarcerated."
Mejia was sentenced to 10 days and released Feb. 11. On Monday, before his run-in with Whittier police, he allegedly went on a deadly rampage that began at an East L.A. home, where authorities suspect Mejia in the fatal shooting of a man believed to be his his 46-year-old cousin, Ray Torres. Mejia then allegedly stole his car.
Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said Mejia is an example of how statewide efforts to reduce incarceration of certain criminals can have tragic consequences.
“We need to wake up. Enough is enough,” Piper said at an emotional news conference Monday, the day Boyer was killed. “This is a senseless, senseless tragedy that did not need to be.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell pointed to three measures enacted in the last seven years — Propositions 47 and 57 and Assembly Bill 109 — that he said have led to the release of too many criminals without creating a proper safety net of mental health, drug rehabilitation and other services.
“We’re putting people back on the street that aren’t ready to be back on the street,” McDonnell said. He said the county jail system he runs, the largest in the nation, has become a “default state prison.”
Sheriff’s officials have long criticized Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and downgraded some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
They say AB 109 — which moved state prisoners to local lockups — has pushed lower-level offenders out of custody and onto the streets, offering little deterrent against committing new crimes.
Proposition 57, which passed last year, changed California’s “three strikes” rule and made sentencing more flexible, allowing some prisoners who wouldn’t normally have been eligible for early parole to be considered for release.
It was unclear if Mejia’s releases were related to any of the measures.
In Los Angeles County, the jail population has decreased, from 18,500 inmates just before Proposition 47 passed to about 16,500 inmates in November. Narcotics arrests have dropped, with busy police officers deciding that the time needed to process a case is not worth it.
The result, some law enforcement officials say, is that more criminals are now on the streets instead of in jail and are not receiving the drug and mental health treatment the measure had promised. Without the threat of a felony prosecution, they say, defendants are less likely to choose treatment as an alternative to serving time.
But supporters of Proposition 47 dispute the theory that crime increases are connected to the measure. Misdemeanors can still result in sentences of up to a year in jail, and it is up to police officers and prosecutors to enforce those penalties, Michael Romano, a lecturer at Stanford Law School, told The Times in December.
“The idea that Proposition 47 has been responsible for an increase in crime in California over the past year or two is fake news, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What in the fuck was this sorry piece of shit doing on the streets? This motherfucker should have been locked up for life. Now a good cop is dead because of the lenience shown criminals.
__________
MURDEROUS NON-VIOLENT LOW-LEVEL PAROLEE
by Bob Walsh
On Monday a "non-violent, low-level" gang involved violent asshole murdered his cousin, stole the cousins car, wrecked the car and shot two cops who responded to the wreck attempting to render assistance. One of the cops died at the scene. The other was wounded. The asshole was also injured in the exchange and later captured.
The asshole is Michael C. Mejia. He was released about two weeks ago from state custody as an AB-109 client and was subject to monitoring by the L. A. County Parole Office rather than state parole agents. He had numerous RTCs (returned to custody) on his record including one "flash incarceration" of ten days.
The dead officer was Keith Lane Boyer and the wounded officer is Patrick Hazel, both of the Whittier P. D. That department has about 125 sworn officers and has lost two others in the line of duty, both about 40 years ago.
It would be nice if they scrag this piece of shit, but California does not have an actual death penalty and likely will not anytime in the reasonably foreseeable future.
By Richard Winton | Los Angeles Times | February 21, 2017
The gang member accused of killing a Whittier police officer Monday has cycled in and out of jail for repeatedly violating the terms of his release, records show.
Sheriff's Homicide Capt. Steve Katz on Tuesday identified the suspect as Michael C. Mejia, 26, a career criminal with a history of drugs and violence. Mejia has a "history of control problems," Katz said.
Mejia is suspected of killing Whittier police Officer Keith Boyer and wounding another officer in a shootout following a crash involving a stolen vehicle.
Court records show that Mejia was sentenced in 2010 to four years in state prison for robbery and was convicted in July 2014 of grand theft auto and attempting to steal a vehicle. He was given another two-year sentence.
Mejia, who was shot by officers in the deadly gunfight that claimed Boyer's life and left Officer Patrick Hazell wounded, has been arrested and jailed for short stints several times since July. State officials said he was on probation and under supervision of the L.A. County Probation Department.
In July, he violated terms of his release and got 10 days in jail. He was arrested again in September after authorities moved to revoke his community supervision.
He was arrested in January for again violating the terms of his release and sentenced to a combined 40 days in jail. But he was out again after 10 days, records show. Then, Feb. 2 he was arrested by East L.A. sheriff’s deputies for violating his release terms and "flash incarcerated."
Mejia was sentenced to 10 days and released Feb. 11. On Monday, before his run-in with Whittier police, he allegedly went on a deadly rampage that began at an East L.A. home, where authorities suspect Mejia in the fatal shooting of a man believed to be his his 46-year-old cousin, Ray Torres. Mejia then allegedly stole his car.
Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said Mejia is an example of how statewide efforts to reduce incarceration of certain criminals can have tragic consequences.
“We need to wake up. Enough is enough,” Piper said at an emotional news conference Monday, the day Boyer was killed. “This is a senseless, senseless tragedy that did not need to be.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell pointed to three measures enacted in the last seven years — Propositions 47 and 57 and Assembly Bill 109 — that he said have led to the release of too many criminals without creating a proper safety net of mental health, drug rehabilitation and other services.
“We’re putting people back on the street that aren’t ready to be back on the street,” McDonnell said. He said the county jail system he runs, the largest in the nation, has become a “default state prison.”
Sheriff’s officials have long criticized Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and downgraded some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
They say AB 109 — which moved state prisoners to local lockups — has pushed lower-level offenders out of custody and onto the streets, offering little deterrent against committing new crimes.
Proposition 57, which passed last year, changed California’s “three strikes” rule and made sentencing more flexible, allowing some prisoners who wouldn’t normally have been eligible for early parole to be considered for release.
It was unclear if Mejia’s releases were related to any of the measures.
In Los Angeles County, the jail population has decreased, from 18,500 inmates just before Proposition 47 passed to about 16,500 inmates in November. Narcotics arrests have dropped, with busy police officers deciding that the time needed to process a case is not worth it.
The result, some law enforcement officials say, is that more criminals are now on the streets instead of in jail and are not receiving the drug and mental health treatment the measure had promised. Without the threat of a felony prosecution, they say, defendants are less likely to choose treatment as an alternative to serving time.
But supporters of Proposition 47 dispute the theory that crime increases are connected to the measure. Misdemeanors can still result in sentences of up to a year in jail, and it is up to police officers and prosecutors to enforce those penalties, Michael Romano, a lecturer at Stanford Law School, told The Times in December.
“The idea that Proposition 47 has been responsible for an increase in crime in California over the past year or two is fake news, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What in the fuck was this sorry piece of shit doing on the streets? This motherfucker should have been locked up for life. Now a good cop is dead because of the lenience shown criminals.
__________
MURDEROUS NON-VIOLENT LOW-LEVEL PAROLEE
by Bob Walsh
On Monday a "non-violent, low-level" gang involved violent asshole murdered his cousin, stole the cousins car, wrecked the car and shot two cops who responded to the wreck attempting to render assistance. One of the cops died at the scene. The other was wounded. The asshole was also injured in the exchange and later captured.
The asshole is Michael C. Mejia. He was released about two weeks ago from state custody as an AB-109 client and was subject to monitoring by the L. A. County Parole Office rather than state parole agents. He had numerous RTCs (returned to custody) on his record including one "flash incarceration" of ten days.
The dead officer was Keith Lane Boyer and the wounded officer is Patrick Hazel, both of the Whittier P. D. That department has about 125 sworn officers and has lost two others in the line of duty, both about 40 years ago.
It would be nice if they scrag this piece of shit, but California does not have an actual death penalty and likely will not anytime in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
FROM WAR HERO TO BITTER OLD MAN
John McCain has been trying to destroy Donald Trump ever since, back in July 2015, Trump said McCain is no war hero … and Trump has been helping him
BarkGrowlBite | February 21, 2017
Back in July 2015, while campaigning in the Republican primary, Trump belittled John McCain during a presidential forum in Ames, Iowa. Here is what Trump said:
“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
That was a dumbass statement if there ever was one. And it’s come back to bite Trump in the ass time after time.
John McCain is unforgiving. Ever since Trump belittled him with that stupid statement, McCain has been out to destroy Trump. At every opportunity, McCain has criticized Trump in Congress, before the media and on the world stage. And Trump has been helping McCain get his pound of flesh.
McCain’s most recent blast implied that Trump was trying to become a dictator when the President used Twitter on February 17 to say:
“The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
Another dumbass statement, even if true, which it is not. There is no doubt that the media is Trump’s enemy, but that does not make it the enemy of the American people, it just makes it untrustworthy.
Also on February 17, McCain made a blistering attack on Trump’s policies without naming him during a speech before the Security Conference in Munich, Germany. While blasting the President’s policies, he went so far as to compare today's American political atmosphere to the Nazi years of the 1930s and 1940s.
Trump continues to suffer from a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease which no one has been able to cure. During a rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday, the President said:
“Here’s the bottom line. We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening. We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden!"
No, we can’t believe that because nothing untoward happened in Sweden Friday night, or the night before, or the night before that. And they used to make fun of Joe Biden.
As for John McCain, he is belittling himself by getting his revenge for what the president said about him in Ames back in 2015. While McCain was without question a true war hero during the Vietnam War, he is no hero now! He’s just a bitter old man getting his pound of flesh by bashing the President at every opportunity … and Trump is giving him plenty of opportunities.
BarkGrowlBite | February 21, 2017
Back in July 2015, while campaigning in the Republican primary, Trump belittled John McCain during a presidential forum in Ames, Iowa. Here is what Trump said:
“He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
That was a dumbass statement if there ever was one. And it’s come back to bite Trump in the ass time after time.
John McCain is unforgiving. Ever since Trump belittled him with that stupid statement, McCain has been out to destroy Trump. At every opportunity, McCain has criticized Trump in Congress, before the media and on the world stage. And Trump has been helping McCain get his pound of flesh.
McCain’s most recent blast implied that Trump was trying to become a dictator when the President used Twitter on February 17 to say:
“The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
Another dumbass statement, even if true, which it is not. There is no doubt that the media is Trump’s enemy, but that does not make it the enemy of the American people, it just makes it untrustworthy.
Also on February 17, McCain made a blistering attack on Trump’s policies without naming him during a speech before the Security Conference in Munich, Germany. While blasting the President’s policies, he went so far as to compare today's American political atmosphere to the Nazi years of the 1930s and 1940s.
Trump continues to suffer from a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease which no one has been able to cure. During a rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday, the President said:
“Here’s the bottom line. We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening. We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden!"
No, we can’t believe that because nothing untoward happened in Sweden Friday night, or the night before, or the night before that. And they used to make fun of Joe Biden.
As for John McCain, he is belittling himself by getting his revenge for what the president said about him in Ames back in 2015. While McCain was without question a true war hero during the Vietnam War, he is no hero now! He’s just a bitter old man getting his pound of flesh by bashing the President at every opportunity … and Trump is giving him plenty of opportunities.
THERE ARE TRAITORS IN IN YOUR INTELLIGENCE SERVICES AND SOME REPORTERS ARE DISGRACEFULLY BIASED …
… but you can't run America on your own, Mr President. So calm down and stop making it so easy for your enemies
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail | February 20, 2017
Dear Mr President,
Slow down. Tone down. Calm down.
I know why you’re so angry.
It enrages you that the same media who blew so much collective smoke up your backside in the first few months of your campaign are now blowing so much collective fire and brimstone.
They’re behaving like Dr Frankenstein when he lost control of his creature, and displaying much of the same fevered hysteria.
It’s made some of them rankly hypocritical, demanding – rightly – that every word that comes from your presidential mouth is 100% accurate, whilst failing that simple test themselves through laziness or commercial greed.
When Buzzfeed published completely unverified claims that you had cavorted with urinating prostitutes in a Russian hotel, I despaired of my industry.
It was a disgraceful piece of opportunist click-baiting, and abrogated every basic rule of journalism.
I was similarly appalled when Time’s White House pool reporter informed the world you had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office.
The optics and implication of that report became instantly clear as it blazed around the world for 40 uncorrected minutes as hard evidence you’re a racist.
To quote Churchill again: ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’
This report was untrue, the MLK bust was still there.
Time apologised within the hour but much of the damage was already done. I had someone the other day citing it to me on Twitter as proof you’re a racist.
‘Oh but that was a genuine mistake!’ bellowed the media, racing to offer their colleague far more latitude over mistakes than they ever afford this Trump administration.
You’ve also had to put up with CNN anchor, Carmen Aristegui, raising two fingers to her upper lip to compare you to Adolf Hitler, an evil genocidal monster who directly murdered 12 million people and started a world war that killed many, many millions more.
That should surely have been a firing offence for a network that prides itself on impartiality?
Oh, and the New Republic shamefully published an essay last week suggesting your ‘bizarre, volatile, behaviour’ may be down to the sexually transmitted infection, syphilis.
These are just some of the numerous examples of dreadful media behaviour that fully justify some of your fury.
Frankly, I have never seen such a concerted campaign of vicious personal vilification against a newly elected president.
However, it would also be true to say I have never seen a newly elected president mount such a concerted campaign of vicious vilification against the media.
I don’t have a problem with you describing specific stories as ‘FAKE NEWS!’ if they are indeed fake, like the ones I referred to.
But it’s ridiculous to describe, as you did on Friday, all of America’s main news networks, in their entirety, as ‘FAKE NEWS!’
And even more ridiculous to say they are now the ‘enemy of the People.’
They’re not. They, like you, are servants of the People.
Nor does it help your ‘FAKE NEWS!’ cause if a lot of statements from you and your team since Inauguration Day have been demonstrably inaccurate.
Truth matters from the media.
It matters even more from the President.
Speaking as a professional journalist for the past three decades, let me offer some perspective.
First, freedom of the press is an absolutely essential tool of any true democracy.
As Sir Winston Churchill, a man you admire so much you have restored a bust of him to the Oval Office, said: ‘A free Press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny. Where men have the habit of liberty, the Press will continue to be the vigilant guardian of the rights of the ordinary citizen.’
It’s OK to criticise the media, of course it is.
But if that criticism descends into a deliberate attempt to delegitimize, as it did on Friday, then it crosses a worrying red line that leads, as Senator John McCain correctly observed, into dictatorship.
The only thing more serious would be for a leader to try to delegitimize the judiciary, which you have also done during your breathless first four weeks in office.
You described Judge James Robart as ‘a so-called judge’ because he blocked your controversial travel ban.
He’s not. He’s a federal judge appointed by the last Republican president, George W. Bush.
You may not like his decisions, and you are free to challenge them.
But as President of the United States, you can’t question Judge Robart’s validity to administer justice without serious evidence to suggest he is unfit to serve. None of which has been forthcoming.
And anyway, he was right about the travel ban. It was poorly drawn up and badly executed, which is why you are now preparing an entirely new version.
As if your war with the media and judiciary wasn’t enough, you have also been engaged in a ferocious battle with your own intelligence agencies.
This has already led to the premature departure of your National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, after just three weeks.
I’m still not sure if he did anything seriously wrong, other than – and this is not an insignificant offence - mislead the Vice-President. But Flynn was tossed on the political bonfire by your vengeful spooks in collusion with the media, because they were all fed up with the abusive way you’ve been talking about them.
Those spooks’ own behaviour has also been lamentable and possibly criminally so.
It’s appears some of them have been deliberately leaking classified information to damage you and your administration. Even worse, we’re told they may have been withholding vital intelligence from you because they don’t trust you.
If true, this is shocking and unacceptable, and you must punish the culprits.
But you must also work quickly to restore mutual trust with your intelligence agencies. You need them on your side.
Just as I also urge you to restore some mutual respect with the media and the judiciary.
They must be free to do their jobs.
It’s perfectly legitimate for reporters to properly investigate any links that may exist between your administration and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After all, you fired General Flynn, not the media.
They’re entitled to get to the bottom of why, particularly given the whirlwind of rumours surrounding Russian’s alleged attempt to rig and hack the US election to your benefit.
That is the whole point of the 1st Amendment, which is the bedrock of the Constitution that I know you love.
As for the media, Churchill had a valuable message for my profession too:
‘Everyone is in favour of free speech. Hardly a day goes by without its being extolled. But some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.’
In other words, stop throwing indignant, over-sensitive temper tantrums every time President Trump says anything about you.
He’s entitled to criticise you, just as you’re entitled to criticise him.
Both sides just need to do it with a little more respect, and a little less rage.
Bottom line, Mr President, is that you can’t keep expending all this time and energy waging war on the media, judiciary and intelligence agencies.
You’ve made your points, loud and clear.
Now you must dial down the aggressive rhetoric and move to delivering on what you promised the American people. That’s jobs, a healthy economy, security, improved education, better health, new infrastructure and the obliteration of Islamic State.
The frustration for people like me who know you well, Mr President, and who do not think you’re a monster, is that your more incendiary rhetoric sometimes suggests to your critics that you might be.
There’s enough pathetically over-the-top, and for the most part completely unwarranted hysteria sweeping the Planet about you as it is without you fuelling the fire.
You’ve got so many exciting plans, but the good stuff’s getting drowned out in the noise of your squabbles with the messengers.
Your announcement about US coal on Friday should have provided great feel-good headlines.
Instead, all the attention moved to your latest attack on the media.
That’s just bad politics.
Mr President, you won the battle for the White House in the greatest political coup America has ever seen.
Now you must win the real war - to Make America Great Again.
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail | February 20, 2017
Dear Mr President,
Slow down. Tone down. Calm down.
I know why you’re so angry.
It enrages you that the same media who blew so much collective smoke up your backside in the first few months of your campaign are now blowing so much collective fire and brimstone.
They’re behaving like Dr Frankenstein when he lost control of his creature, and displaying much of the same fevered hysteria.
It’s made some of them rankly hypocritical, demanding – rightly – that every word that comes from your presidential mouth is 100% accurate, whilst failing that simple test themselves through laziness or commercial greed.
When Buzzfeed published completely unverified claims that you had cavorted with urinating prostitutes in a Russian hotel, I despaired of my industry.
It was a disgraceful piece of opportunist click-baiting, and abrogated every basic rule of journalism.
I was similarly appalled when Time’s White House pool reporter informed the world you had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office.
The optics and implication of that report became instantly clear as it blazed around the world for 40 uncorrected minutes as hard evidence you’re a racist.
To quote Churchill again: ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’
This report was untrue, the MLK bust was still there.
Time apologised within the hour but much of the damage was already done. I had someone the other day citing it to me on Twitter as proof you’re a racist.
‘Oh but that was a genuine mistake!’ bellowed the media, racing to offer their colleague far more latitude over mistakes than they ever afford this Trump administration.
You’ve also had to put up with CNN anchor, Carmen Aristegui, raising two fingers to her upper lip to compare you to Adolf Hitler, an evil genocidal monster who directly murdered 12 million people and started a world war that killed many, many millions more.
That should surely have been a firing offence for a network that prides itself on impartiality?
Oh, and the New Republic shamefully published an essay last week suggesting your ‘bizarre, volatile, behaviour’ may be down to the sexually transmitted infection, syphilis.
These are just some of the numerous examples of dreadful media behaviour that fully justify some of your fury.
Frankly, I have never seen such a concerted campaign of vicious personal vilification against a newly elected president.
However, it would also be true to say I have never seen a newly elected president mount such a concerted campaign of vicious vilification against the media.
I don’t have a problem with you describing specific stories as ‘FAKE NEWS!’ if they are indeed fake, like the ones I referred to.
But it’s ridiculous to describe, as you did on Friday, all of America’s main news networks, in their entirety, as ‘FAKE NEWS!’
And even more ridiculous to say they are now the ‘enemy of the People.’
They’re not. They, like you, are servants of the People.
Nor does it help your ‘FAKE NEWS!’ cause if a lot of statements from you and your team since Inauguration Day have been demonstrably inaccurate.
Truth matters from the media.
It matters even more from the President.
Speaking as a professional journalist for the past three decades, let me offer some perspective.
First, freedom of the press is an absolutely essential tool of any true democracy.
As Sir Winston Churchill, a man you admire so much you have restored a bust of him to the Oval Office, said: ‘A free Press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny. Where men have the habit of liberty, the Press will continue to be the vigilant guardian of the rights of the ordinary citizen.’
It’s OK to criticise the media, of course it is.
But if that criticism descends into a deliberate attempt to delegitimize, as it did on Friday, then it crosses a worrying red line that leads, as Senator John McCain correctly observed, into dictatorship.
The only thing more serious would be for a leader to try to delegitimize the judiciary, which you have also done during your breathless first four weeks in office.
You described Judge James Robart as ‘a so-called judge’ because he blocked your controversial travel ban.
He’s not. He’s a federal judge appointed by the last Republican president, George W. Bush.
You may not like his decisions, and you are free to challenge them.
But as President of the United States, you can’t question Judge Robart’s validity to administer justice without serious evidence to suggest he is unfit to serve. None of which has been forthcoming.
And anyway, he was right about the travel ban. It was poorly drawn up and badly executed, which is why you are now preparing an entirely new version.
As if your war with the media and judiciary wasn’t enough, you have also been engaged in a ferocious battle with your own intelligence agencies.
This has already led to the premature departure of your National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, after just three weeks.
I’m still not sure if he did anything seriously wrong, other than – and this is not an insignificant offence - mislead the Vice-President. But Flynn was tossed on the political bonfire by your vengeful spooks in collusion with the media, because they were all fed up with the abusive way you’ve been talking about them.
Those spooks’ own behaviour has also been lamentable and possibly criminally so.
It’s appears some of them have been deliberately leaking classified information to damage you and your administration. Even worse, we’re told they may have been withholding vital intelligence from you because they don’t trust you.
If true, this is shocking and unacceptable, and you must punish the culprits.
But you must also work quickly to restore mutual trust with your intelligence agencies. You need them on your side.
Just as I also urge you to restore some mutual respect with the media and the judiciary.
They must be free to do their jobs.
It’s perfectly legitimate for reporters to properly investigate any links that may exist between your administration and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After all, you fired General Flynn, not the media.
They’re entitled to get to the bottom of why, particularly given the whirlwind of rumours surrounding Russian’s alleged attempt to rig and hack the US election to your benefit.
That is the whole point of the 1st Amendment, which is the bedrock of the Constitution that I know you love.
As for the media, Churchill had a valuable message for my profession too:
‘Everyone is in favour of free speech. Hardly a day goes by without its being extolled. But some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.’
In other words, stop throwing indignant, over-sensitive temper tantrums every time President Trump says anything about you.
He’s entitled to criticise you, just as you’re entitled to criticise him.
Both sides just need to do it with a little more respect, and a little less rage.
Bottom line, Mr President, is that you can’t keep expending all this time and energy waging war on the media, judiciary and intelligence agencies.
You’ve made your points, loud and clear.
Now you must dial down the aggressive rhetoric and move to delivering on what you promised the American people. That’s jobs, a healthy economy, security, improved education, better health, new infrastructure and the obliteration of Islamic State.
The frustration for people like me who know you well, Mr President, and who do not think you’re a monster, is that your more incendiary rhetoric sometimes suggests to your critics that you might be.
There’s enough pathetically over-the-top, and for the most part completely unwarranted hysteria sweeping the Planet about you as it is without you fuelling the fire.
You’ve got so many exciting plans, but the good stuff’s getting drowned out in the noise of your squabbles with the messengers.
Your announcement about US coal on Friday should have provided great feel-good headlines.
Instead, all the attention moved to your latest attack on the media.
That’s just bad politics.
Mr President, you won the battle for the White House in the greatest political coup America has ever seen.
Now you must win the real war - to Make America Great Again.
ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
While Father O’Malley was presenting a children's sermon before the whole congregation, he asked the children if they knew what the Resurrection was.
In response to the question, little Earl raised his hand.
The priest called on him and Earl said, "All I know is if you have a resurrection that lasts more than four hours you are supposed to call the doctor."
In response to the question, little Earl raised his hand.
The priest called on him and Earl said, "All I know is if you have a resurrection that lasts more than four hours you are supposed to call the doctor."
Monday, February 20, 2017
TEXAS GETTING BLACKMAILED BY NFL AND NBA OVER BATHROOM BILL
The NFL threatens to keep the Super Bowl out of Texas and the NBA threatens the same with its All Star Game if the state passes a bill prohibiting transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice in schools and government facilities
BarkGrowlBite | February 20, 2017
The Texas legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice in schools and government facilities. The NFL reacted by threatening to keep the Super Bowl out of Texas. And the NBA soon followed suite by threatening the same with its All Star Game.
Responding to the threat made by NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said:
“For some low-level NFL adviser to come out and say that they are going to micromanage and try to dictate to the state of Texas what types of policies we're going to pass in our state, that's unacceptable. We don't care what the NFL thinks and certainly what their political policies are because they are not a political arm of the state of Texas or the United States of America. They need to learn their place in the United States, which is to govern football, not politics.”
Well said, Gov. Abbott! The Governor could have added that rather than meddling in the affairs of Texas, the NFL should stick to dealing with its own problems – drug using players, bar brawling players, wife-beating players, etc. – and teach its players to respect our flag and National Anthem.
But then the NFL has a long and successful history of blackmailing the taxpayers in various cities into paying for new sports palaces of billionaire team owners under the threat of moving those teams elsewhere. The NFL rarely fails, but when the taxpayers of San Diego refused to pay for a new stadium, the league carried out its blackmail threat by moving the Chargers to Los Angeles starting next season.. Dean Spanos, billionaire owner of the Chargers, paid the NFL a $550 million relocation fee. That $550 million would have gone a long way toward paying for a new football sports palace in San Diego. .
As far as I am concerned, the NFL can stick the uber-hyped Super Bowl up its collective ass. The same for the NBA with its All Star Game.
The NFL, which allows if not encourages its players to disrespect our flag and National Anthem, has no right to dictate to the State if Texas that it must allow students with dicks to use a girl’s school restroom or that it must allow adults with dicks to use a government facility ladies restroom.
A sensible bathroom policy would require a person with a dick to use the boys/men’s restroom and one without a dick, the girls/ladies restroom.
The bill barring transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice may not pass, but in any event, Texas should not cave in to the blackmail being perpetrated by the NFL and the NBA, nor by any other organizations for that matter.
BarkGrowlBite | February 20, 2017
The Texas legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice in schools and government facilities. The NFL reacted by threatening to keep the Super Bowl out of Texas. And the NBA soon followed suite by threatening the same with its All Star Game.
Responding to the threat made by NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said:
“For some low-level NFL adviser to come out and say that they are going to micromanage and try to dictate to the state of Texas what types of policies we're going to pass in our state, that's unacceptable. We don't care what the NFL thinks and certainly what their political policies are because they are not a political arm of the state of Texas or the United States of America. They need to learn their place in the United States, which is to govern football, not politics.”
Well said, Gov. Abbott! The Governor could have added that rather than meddling in the affairs of Texas, the NFL should stick to dealing with its own problems – drug using players, bar brawling players, wife-beating players, etc. – and teach its players to respect our flag and National Anthem.
But then the NFL has a long and successful history of blackmailing the taxpayers in various cities into paying for new sports palaces of billionaire team owners under the threat of moving those teams elsewhere. The NFL rarely fails, but when the taxpayers of San Diego refused to pay for a new stadium, the league carried out its blackmail threat by moving the Chargers to Los Angeles starting next season.. Dean Spanos, billionaire owner of the Chargers, paid the NFL a $550 million relocation fee. That $550 million would have gone a long way toward paying for a new football sports palace in San Diego. .
As far as I am concerned, the NFL can stick the uber-hyped Super Bowl up its collective ass. The same for the NBA with its All Star Game.
The NFL, which allows if not encourages its players to disrespect our flag and National Anthem, has no right to dictate to the State if Texas that it must allow students with dicks to use a girl’s school restroom or that it must allow adults with dicks to use a government facility ladies restroom.
A sensible bathroom policy would require a person with a dick to use the boys/men’s restroom and one without a dick, the girls/ladies restroom.
The bill barring transgenders from using the bathroom of their choice may not pass, but in any event, Texas should not cave in to the blackmail being perpetrated by the NFL and the NBA, nor by any other organizations for that matter.
PREHISTORIC K-MART BITES THE DUST
by Bob Walsh
The original K-Mart store (sometimes called Krap-Mart or K-Fart nowadays) was opened in Garden City, Michigan in 1962. That icon of Americana is in the process of closing down with an everything-must-go sale currently under way.
Retailing is getting rough in a brick-and-mortar environment. There is still open speculation that the whole chain may close down in the not-to-distant future. That would be a shame. There is a large, older K-Mart not far from my house and it makes a handy reference point for giving folks directions. That being said, it would make one hell of an indoor go-kart track.
The original K-Mart store (sometimes called Krap-Mart or K-Fart nowadays) was opened in Garden City, Michigan in 1962. That icon of Americana is in the process of closing down with an everything-must-go sale currently under way.
Retailing is getting rough in a brick-and-mortar environment. There is still open speculation that the whole chain may close down in the not-to-distant future. That would be a shame. There is a large, older K-Mart not far from my house and it makes a handy reference point for giving folks directions. That being said, it would make one hell of an indoor go-kart track.
MATH SHOWS THE WAY TO GET AHEAD
What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100% How about achieving 103%?
What makes up 100% in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
And
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
And,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%
AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that, while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there. it is the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100% How about achieving 103%?
What makes up 100% in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
And
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
And,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%
AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that, while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there. it is the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
BILL GATES CONCLUDES THAT WITHIN THE NEXT 15 YEARS, BIOTERRORISM WILL BE MORE DEADLY THAN NUCLEAR WAR
Biological terrorism could kill hundreds of millions of people as genetic engineering unleashes terrifying new weapons, warns Gates
By Dave Burke | Daily Mail | February 18, 2017
Governments overlooking the threat of biological weapons which could one day kill hundreds of millions, Bill Gates has warned.
The richest man in the world has said that biological warfare is not being taken seriously enough.
He warned world leaders in Munich today that a pandemic could wipe out millions of people, and said there is a 'reasonable probability' of this happening in the next 10 to 15 years.
Speaking to The Telegraph ahead of his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Gates said bioterrorism could wipe out far more people than nuclear weapons.
He stated: 'With nuclear weapons, you’d think you would probably stop after killing 100million.
'Smallpox won’t stop. Because the population is naïve, and there are no real preparations. That, if it got out and spread, would be a larger number.'
He believes breakthroughs in genetic engineering will make it easier for terrorists to plot attacks on a massive scale, but claimed security services 'haven't been following biology'.
He told the audience at the conference, The Guardian reports: 'Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year.
'And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years.'
The multi-billionaire added that the most effective way of preparing for a natural pandemic is to get ready for an act of bioterrorism.
He said: 'Getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe. Innovation, cooperation and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats.'
__________
ABOUT BIOTERRORISM
The Telegraph | February 18, 2017
As suggested by the name, bioterrorism is the deliberate release of biological agents such as viruses, bacteria or toxins to cause illness or death.
Animals and crops are considered likely targets of bioterrorist activity, with livestock diseases deployed to damage the economy and cause public concern.
The Centre for Disease Control categorises the following as Category A agents, posing a risk to national security:
*Tularemia or "rabbit fever" – Highly infectious and life-threatening
*Anthrax – Non-contagious disease. Notably used by persons unknown in a series of mail attacks in 2001
*Smallpox – Currently only existing in laboratory cultures, but would be a deadly weapon if released once again
*Botulinum toxin – A highly toxic substance that is readily available, due to its use in “botox” cosmetic procedures
*Bubonic plague – The disease that caused the Black Death in Medieval Europe and with a long history of use as a biological warfare agent
*Viral hemorrhagic fevers – Such as Ebola
The single largest recent incident of biological terrorism was the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in Oregon, USA. Followers of Indian mystic Osho intentionally infected restaurants with salmonella, as part of a plan to incapacitate the electorate and win local elections. 751 people were infected, but there were no fatalities.
By Dave Burke | Daily Mail | February 18, 2017
Governments overlooking the threat of biological weapons which could one day kill hundreds of millions, Bill Gates has warned.
The richest man in the world has said that biological warfare is not being taken seriously enough.
He warned world leaders in Munich today that a pandemic could wipe out millions of people, and said there is a 'reasonable probability' of this happening in the next 10 to 15 years.
Speaking to The Telegraph ahead of his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Gates said bioterrorism could wipe out far more people than nuclear weapons.
He stated: 'With nuclear weapons, you’d think you would probably stop after killing 100million.
'Smallpox won’t stop. Because the population is naïve, and there are no real preparations. That, if it got out and spread, would be a larger number.'
He believes breakthroughs in genetic engineering will make it easier for terrorists to plot attacks on a massive scale, but claimed security services 'haven't been following biology'.
He told the audience at the conference, The Guardian reports: 'Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year.
'And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years.'
The multi-billionaire added that the most effective way of preparing for a natural pandemic is to get ready for an act of bioterrorism.
He said: 'Getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe. Innovation, cooperation and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats.'
__________
ABOUT BIOTERRORISM
The Telegraph | February 18, 2017
As suggested by the name, bioterrorism is the deliberate release of biological agents such as viruses, bacteria or toxins to cause illness or death.
Animals and crops are considered likely targets of bioterrorist activity, with livestock diseases deployed to damage the economy and cause public concern.
The Centre for Disease Control categorises the following as Category A agents, posing a risk to national security:
*Tularemia or "rabbit fever" – Highly infectious and life-threatening
*Anthrax – Non-contagious disease. Notably used by persons unknown in a series of mail attacks in 2001
*Smallpox – Currently only existing in laboratory cultures, but would be a deadly weapon if released once again
*Botulinum toxin – A highly toxic substance that is readily available, due to its use in “botox” cosmetic procedures
*Bubonic plague – The disease that caused the Black Death in Medieval Europe and with a long history of use as a biological warfare agent
*Viral hemorrhagic fevers – Such as Ebola
The single largest recent incident of biological terrorism was the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in Oregon, USA. Followers of Indian mystic Osho intentionally infected restaurants with salmonella, as part of a plan to incapacitate the electorate and win local elections. 751 people were infected, but there were no fatalities.
HOUND LABS CLAIMS ITS PORTABLE BREATHALYZER CAN DETECT AND MEASURE RECENT USE OF POT
The Hound Marijuana Breathalyzer - Detects both Smoked and Edible Marijuana
From Hound Labs
Back in September 2016, Hound Labs Inc. field-tested its marijuana breathalyzer, becoming the first to be tested by law enforcement at the roadside. Additionally, ongoing tests of the company’s proprietary technology with marijuana users resulted in a massive breakthrough – the first time that a portable breathalyzer can detect and measure recently consumed tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in breath from consumption of both smoked and edible marijuana products. Until now, law enforcement relied on imperfect data from methods that measure marijuana in saliva, urine, and blood. The results are unhelpful because they measure the presence of marijuana for days after a driver is actually impaired. The Hound™ breathalyzer will give law enforcement immediate measurements for the few hours that THC is present in breath, allowing them to identify drivers who are actually impaired from recent use. This will ultimately reduce collisions and fatalities, which are on the rise with the increase in marijuana consumption. Hound Labs, Inc. will continue to conduct rigorous testing, which includes ongoing roadside tests with multiple California law enforcement agencies.
“The Hound™ marijuana breathalyzer is exactly the tool that we need to address the existing issue of marijuana-impaired driving on our roads,” said Patrick Walsh, Chief of Police in Lompoc, California. “I have been involved in hundreds of driving under the influence (DUI) arrests throughout my career and know that law enforcement, from both large cities and small communities, is clamoring for a device that can easily be used with existing protocols, while providing objective measurements on recent marijuana use. We are looking for the least invasive way to obtain information that indicates impairment, which is why we are participating in roadside tests. We don’t want to arrest people who are not impaired, and yet we don’t want marijuana users driving if they are high from recent use.”
In December 2015, Hound Labs, Inc. became the first company to develop a proprietary scientific method to not only detect THC in breath but also to measure it in parts per trillion (picograms). The unique capabilities of the Hound™ breathalyzer offers a solution for addressing the growing issue of marijuana-impaired drivers in a manner that aligns with the interests of law enforcement, legislators, pro-marijuana advocates, and the estimated 33 million adult users of marijuana. No one wants drivers detained or wrongfully arrested because residual THC was detected days or even weeks after use. That’s the fundamental flaw of current detection methods that rely on tests of bodily fluids such as saliva, blood, and urine – methods that cannot isolate recent use because they detect THC long after the window of impairment. Measuring THC in breath is the only method that isolates recent use and provides the measurements legislators need to craft meaningful legislation that avoids wrongful arrests and assures users that they will not be subjected to unnecessary tests of their saliva and blood which do not correlate with impairment.
“We have deep experience solving complex scientific and technical problems and we are excited to work with Hound Labs to realize their vision of bringing forensic lab capabilities to the field,” commented Joe Heanue, CEO and Co-Founder of Triple Ring Technologies, the high-tech engineering firm that has formed a strategic partnership with Hound Labs, Inc. “In a relatively short period of time we have been able to leverage our extensive team of scientists and engineers to translate Hound Labs’ breakthrough science into a working prototype that can be used effectively, at the roadside, while incorporating their proprietary technology that has been validated against mass spectrometry, the gold standard of laboratory measurements.”
“It is very rewarding, both professionally and personally, to identify the need for a product that will save countless lives, to develop the solution to an incredibly difficult scientific challenge, and then to create the product – the only marijuana breathalyzer that can measure THC in breath with results that match the best laboratory equipment,” said Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of Hound Labs, Inc. “I feel very fortunate that I have been able to use my experience both as an active reserve deputy sheriff and as a practicing ER physician to create a device that affordably solves an escalating public health crisis. For the first time, communities across the country will have access to the science and technology required to tackle the growing costs that result from people driving under the influence of marijuana.”
From Hound Labs
Back in September 2016, Hound Labs Inc. field-tested its marijuana breathalyzer, becoming the first to be tested by law enforcement at the roadside. Additionally, ongoing tests of the company’s proprietary technology with marijuana users resulted in a massive breakthrough – the first time that a portable breathalyzer can detect and measure recently consumed tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in breath from consumption of both smoked and edible marijuana products. Until now, law enforcement relied on imperfect data from methods that measure marijuana in saliva, urine, and blood. The results are unhelpful because they measure the presence of marijuana for days after a driver is actually impaired. The Hound™ breathalyzer will give law enforcement immediate measurements for the few hours that THC is present in breath, allowing them to identify drivers who are actually impaired from recent use. This will ultimately reduce collisions and fatalities, which are on the rise with the increase in marijuana consumption. Hound Labs, Inc. will continue to conduct rigorous testing, which includes ongoing roadside tests with multiple California law enforcement agencies.
“The Hound™ marijuana breathalyzer is exactly the tool that we need to address the existing issue of marijuana-impaired driving on our roads,” said Patrick Walsh, Chief of Police in Lompoc, California. “I have been involved in hundreds of driving under the influence (DUI) arrests throughout my career and know that law enforcement, from both large cities and small communities, is clamoring for a device that can easily be used with existing protocols, while providing objective measurements on recent marijuana use. We are looking for the least invasive way to obtain information that indicates impairment, which is why we are participating in roadside tests. We don’t want to arrest people who are not impaired, and yet we don’t want marijuana users driving if they are high from recent use.”
In December 2015, Hound Labs, Inc. became the first company to develop a proprietary scientific method to not only detect THC in breath but also to measure it in parts per trillion (picograms). The unique capabilities of the Hound™ breathalyzer offers a solution for addressing the growing issue of marijuana-impaired drivers in a manner that aligns with the interests of law enforcement, legislators, pro-marijuana advocates, and the estimated 33 million adult users of marijuana. No one wants drivers detained or wrongfully arrested because residual THC was detected days or even weeks after use. That’s the fundamental flaw of current detection methods that rely on tests of bodily fluids such as saliva, blood, and urine – methods that cannot isolate recent use because they detect THC long after the window of impairment. Measuring THC in breath is the only method that isolates recent use and provides the measurements legislators need to craft meaningful legislation that avoids wrongful arrests and assures users that they will not be subjected to unnecessary tests of their saliva and blood which do not correlate with impairment.
“We have deep experience solving complex scientific and technical problems and we are excited to work with Hound Labs to realize their vision of bringing forensic lab capabilities to the field,” commented Joe Heanue, CEO and Co-Founder of Triple Ring Technologies, the high-tech engineering firm that has formed a strategic partnership with Hound Labs, Inc. “In a relatively short period of time we have been able to leverage our extensive team of scientists and engineers to translate Hound Labs’ breakthrough science into a working prototype that can be used effectively, at the roadside, while incorporating their proprietary technology that has been validated against mass spectrometry, the gold standard of laboratory measurements.”
“It is very rewarding, both professionally and personally, to identify the need for a product that will save countless lives, to develop the solution to an incredibly difficult scientific challenge, and then to create the product – the only marijuana breathalyzer that can measure THC in breath with results that match the best laboratory equipment,” said Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of Hound Labs, Inc. “I feel very fortunate that I have been able to use my experience both as an active reserve deputy sheriff and as a practicing ER physician to create a device that affordably solves an escalating public health crisis. For the first time, communities across the country will have access to the science and technology required to tackle the growing costs that result from people driving under the influence of marijuana.”
BEER CAN VASECTOMY
After their 11th child, a West Virginia couple decided that was enough, as they could not afford a larger bed.
So, the husband went to his veterinarian and told him that he and his cousin didn't want to have any more children.
The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but that it was expensive.
“A less costly alternative,” said the doctor, “is to go home, get a cherry bomb, light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to your ear and count to 10.”
The man said to the doctor, “I may not be the brightest tool in the shed, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in a beer can next to my ear is going to help me.”
'”Trust me,” said the veterinarian.
So, the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count:
"1"
"2"
"3"
“4"
"5"
At which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and continued counting on his other hand.
When he got to eight - KABOOM – No more children, for sure!
This procedure also works in Kentucky, Tennessee, deep East Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and parts of Georgia.
So, the husband went to his veterinarian and told him that he and his cousin didn't want to have any more children.
The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but that it was expensive.
“A less costly alternative,” said the doctor, “is to go home, get a cherry bomb, light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to your ear and count to 10.”
The man said to the doctor, “I may not be the brightest tool in the shed, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in a beer can next to my ear is going to help me.”
'”Trust me,” said the veterinarian.
So, the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count:
"1"
"2"
"3"
“4"
"5"
At which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and continued counting on his other hand.
When he got to eight - KABOOM – No more children, for sure!
This procedure also works in Kentucky, Tennessee, deep East Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and parts of Georgia.
MICHIGAN POLICE OFFICER IMPALED BY BOOBY-TRAP AT MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROW SITE
‘I was very angry,' Wyoming chief says of booby-trap that impales officer
By John Hogan | WZZM | February 15, 2017
WYOMING, MICH. -- The person who set up a bed of screws to protect a marijuana grow operation, seriously injuring a Wyoming police officer, might face charges if prosecutors can find a criminal statute that applies.
It’s harder than they thought. Existing law covering booby-traps addresses spring-loaded devices and explosives, but apparently not a bed of nails or screws on private property, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said.
“We are looking into it, but it’s not something that’s readily apparent,’’ Becker said.
And that has Wyoming Police Chief James Carmody calling for change.
“I think anytime you set a trap of any sort that can cause harm or injury, it should be prohibited,’’ Carmody said Tuesday. “We have warnings on mice traps, but this is something we don’t have a law on the book on? It kind of defies gravity as far as I’m concerned.’’
Wyoming officer Dustin Cook was investigating an early Sunday break-in at a medical marijuana grow site when he scaled a gate to reach a broken window. On the other side was a sheet of plywood with more than 100 three-inch, threaded decking screws pointing upward. Both of his feet were impaled.
“He had three of these things go into his feet,’’ Carmody said, holding a decking screw. “One in one heel and two in the other foot. One went through the center of his foot and did some damage to one of the tendons.’’
Events that led to Cook’s injuries unfolded about 1:30 a.m. Sunday when Wyoming officers responded to an alarm at a licensed medical marijuana grow operation on Clay Avenue north of 54th Street SW.
When officers arrived, they encountered two men inside the gray brick building. They entered by breaking a rear window, police said. Both were dressed in black with their faces covered. The pair fled; police gave chase.
The first to be caught was 19-year-old Tyquan K. Hassel of Kentwood. Police say he tossed a handgun during the pursuit.
His alleged accomplice, Andre D. Sims, also 19, made it a bit farther. Police had to chase him across Buck Creek. When officers caught up with Sims, he was on a cellphone and overheard saying “they got me,’’ court records show.
Both are charged with breaking and entering a building, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Hassel is also charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a five-year felony. They are due back in Wyoming District Court Feb. 22 for a probable cause hearing.
“The two individuals we caught coming out of that building obviously knew what was in there,’’ Carmody said. “They went in to get (marijuana) and they were going to sell it on the street.’’
Police found an elaborate marijuana grow operation; more than 90 mature plants were found, investigators said. That exceeds the amount the licensed marijuana caregiver was authorized to have.
Carmody says he is mystified why the grower felt the need to use a bed of screws when the building had a working alarm system.
“We responded to that alarm,’’ Carmody said. “Did they not think that we might not walk around the perimeter of that building to try to access the building? For some reason, the moron that put it down there didn’t quite make that connection.’’
Officer Cook, a six-year veteran, is in a lot of pain, the chief said.
“I was very angry; and when I went to the hospital I was even more angry,’’ Carmody said. “He’s a good officer, a hard-working officer and he’s been taken out of the field because of this idiot’s work.’’
By John Hogan | WZZM | February 15, 2017
WYOMING, MICH. -- The person who set up a bed of screws to protect a marijuana grow operation, seriously injuring a Wyoming police officer, might face charges if prosecutors can find a criminal statute that applies.
It’s harder than they thought. Existing law covering booby-traps addresses spring-loaded devices and explosives, but apparently not a bed of nails or screws on private property, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said.
“We are looking into it, but it’s not something that’s readily apparent,’’ Becker said.
And that has Wyoming Police Chief James Carmody calling for change.
“I think anytime you set a trap of any sort that can cause harm or injury, it should be prohibited,’’ Carmody said Tuesday. “We have warnings on mice traps, but this is something we don’t have a law on the book on? It kind of defies gravity as far as I’m concerned.’’
Wyoming officer Dustin Cook was investigating an early Sunday break-in at a medical marijuana grow site when he scaled a gate to reach a broken window. On the other side was a sheet of plywood with more than 100 three-inch, threaded decking screws pointing upward. Both of his feet were impaled.
“He had three of these things go into his feet,’’ Carmody said, holding a decking screw. “One in one heel and two in the other foot. One went through the center of his foot and did some damage to one of the tendons.’’
Events that led to Cook’s injuries unfolded about 1:30 a.m. Sunday when Wyoming officers responded to an alarm at a licensed medical marijuana grow operation on Clay Avenue north of 54th Street SW.
When officers arrived, they encountered two men inside the gray brick building. They entered by breaking a rear window, police said. Both were dressed in black with their faces covered. The pair fled; police gave chase.
The first to be caught was 19-year-old Tyquan K. Hassel of Kentwood. Police say he tossed a handgun during the pursuit.
His alleged accomplice, Andre D. Sims, also 19, made it a bit farther. Police had to chase him across Buck Creek. When officers caught up with Sims, he was on a cellphone and overheard saying “they got me,’’ court records show.
Both are charged with breaking and entering a building, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Hassel is also charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a five-year felony. They are due back in Wyoming District Court Feb. 22 for a probable cause hearing.
“The two individuals we caught coming out of that building obviously knew what was in there,’’ Carmody said. “They went in to get (marijuana) and they were going to sell it on the street.’’
Police found an elaborate marijuana grow operation; more than 90 mature plants were found, investigators said. That exceeds the amount the licensed marijuana caregiver was authorized to have.
Carmody says he is mystified why the grower felt the need to use a bed of screws when the building had a working alarm system.
“We responded to that alarm,’’ Carmody said. “Did they not think that we might not walk around the perimeter of that building to try to access the building? For some reason, the moron that put it down there didn’t quite make that connection.’’
Officer Cook, a six-year veteran, is in a lot of pain, the chief said.
“I was very angry; and when I went to the hospital I was even more angry,’’ Carmody said. “He’s a good officer, a hard-working officer and he’s been taken out of the field because of this idiot’s work.’’
CONNECTICUT COP DRAGGED 150 YARDS ALONGSIDE FLEEING CAR WHOSE DRIVER SHOPLIFTED $190 WORTH OF BEER
By Karen Ruiz | Daily Mail | February 17, 2017
A police officer was dragged alongside of a Connecticut road after pulling over a man who was suspected of robbing $190 worth of beer.
The Newington cop stopped 37-year-old Joshua Coonradt after receiving reports of shoplifting at Best Market supermarket on Saturday. An employee reportedly saw a man and woman walk out of the store with the unpaid beer, Fox 61 reported.
The two took off in a green Honda Civic before authorities arrived at the scene, but another officer spotted the car and pulled the man over on Wells Road.
The officer, who was not named, soon learned the beer thief was armed when he reached for a gun on the dashboard. A struggle ensued between the two before Coonradt took off in his car.
The suspect drove at a high speed dragging along the police officer on the road for 150 yards, Fox 61 said.
The officer was eventually able to free himself and sustained minor injuries.
Coonradt's car was seized and he was arrested on Wednesday by Hartford Police.
He has been charged with assaulting a police officer, third-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit larceny in the sixth degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, reckless driving, misuse of registration plates, operating a motor vehicle while under suspension, and disobeying the signal of an officer.
His alleged accomplice was arrested and identified as Sandra Weeks, 31 who said she knew the suspect who goes to an area in Hartford 'to buy crack.'
Weeks was charged with sixth-degree larceny, but was released on $5,000 bail.
Coonradt is said to sleep in his car near Wethersfield Avenue and known to police to sell stolen items to nearby grocery stores.
A police officer was dragged alongside of a Connecticut road after pulling over a man who was suspected of robbing $190 worth of beer.
The Newington cop stopped 37-year-old Joshua Coonradt after receiving reports of shoplifting at Best Market supermarket on Saturday. An employee reportedly saw a man and woman walk out of the store with the unpaid beer, Fox 61 reported.
The two took off in a green Honda Civic before authorities arrived at the scene, but another officer spotted the car and pulled the man over on Wells Road.
The officer, who was not named, soon learned the beer thief was armed when he reached for a gun on the dashboard. A struggle ensued between the two before Coonradt took off in his car.
The suspect drove at a high speed dragging along the police officer on the road for 150 yards, Fox 61 said.
The officer was eventually able to free himself and sustained minor injuries.
Coonradt's car was seized and he was arrested on Wednesday by Hartford Police.
He has been charged with assaulting a police officer, third-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit larceny in the sixth degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, reckless driving, misuse of registration plates, operating a motor vehicle while under suspension, and disobeying the signal of an officer.
His alleged accomplice was arrested and identified as Sandra Weeks, 31 who said she knew the suspect who goes to an area in Hartford 'to buy crack.'
Weeks was charged with sixth-degree larceny, but was released on $5,000 bail.
Coonradt is said to sleep in his car near Wethersfield Avenue and known to police to sell stolen items to nearby grocery stores.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
IN COLLUSION WITH THE POLICE CHIEF AND THE SHERIFF, HOUSTON’S UBER-LIBERAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES NO MORE ARRESTS OF POT HEADS
Instead of being arrested, stoners will be given only a citation and asked to take a four-hour decision making course
BarkGrowlBite | February 18, 2017
Harris County’s population is overwhelmingly Democratic. During the presidential election, Harris County voters supported Hillary Clinton and swept all the Republican judges and sheriff out of office. The Democrats elected liberal Sheriff Ed Gonzales and uber-liberal District Attorney Kim Ogg. Ogg supports the legalization of pot and opposes the death penalty.
Houston recently hired Art Acevedo as its new police chief. Acevedo had been Austin’s police chief and left just in time to avoid a DNA scandal which could have cost him his job. More than 2,000 Texas convicts, including murderers and rapists, are being notified that Austin cops mishandled DNA evidence under Acevedo’s watch.
Acevedo has been a proponent of sanctuary cities. While he was chief in Austin, Acevedo had his officers write low-level law breakers, including pot heads, a citation rather than having them jailed. So it should come as no surprise that he, along with Sheriff Gonzales, would collude with Ogg ‘s policy of no more pot head arrests.
While Ogg’s policy may save taxpayers a bundle of money, it gives stoners a green light to break the laws of Texas that prohibit the use and possession of marijuana which, any way you look at it, is still a dangerous gateway drug.
Ogg also claims that by not arresting pot heads, cops will have more time on their hands to deal with violent criminals. That’s pure horseshit! With today’s politically correct non-aggressive policing, the time spent in busting pot heads, booking them and making out the arrest report won’t make a dime’s worth of difference as far as catching dangerous criminals is concerned.
If Ogg is unhappy with the law prohibiting the use and possession of pot, rather than encouraging people to break the law, she should take her happy ass to Austin where she can lobby the legislature to decriminalize or legalize marijuana.
D.A. OGG, POLICE LEADERS ANNOUNCE LANDMARK MARIJUANA DIVERSION PROGRAM
District Attorney Kim Ogg and heads of local law enforcement announced Thursday that, starting March 1, all police agencies in Harris County will no longer arrest people caught with four ounces or less of marijuana, and the DA's office will no longer be prosecuting those cases
BY Meagan Flynn | Houston Press | February 16, 2017
The remarkable move, which Ogg had championed throughout her 2016 campaign, pushes the third largest county in the nation to the forefront of marijuana reform in places where it is still illegal. Harris County will join only the Brooklyn County District Attorney's Office in New York in choosing to divert misdemeanor marijuana defendants away from jail entirely, saving taxpayers millions of dollars and saving thousands of people the lifelong burden of a criminal record.
Instead of being arrested and hauled off to jail, low-level potheads and casual smokers will instead be asked to take a four-hour decision-making class, at a cost of $150 (exceptions will be made for indigent people). Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Ogg in developing the landmark policy. It replaces former district attorney Devon Anderson's First Chance Diversion Program, which only applied to first-time offenders caught with less than two ounces, which Ogg had criticized as being too narrow.
“At 107,000 cases over the last ten years, we have spent in excess of $250 million dollars collectively prosecuting a crime that has produced no tangible evidence of improved public safety,” Ogg said. “Additionally, the collateral damage to our workforce is immeasurable — because what we have done is we have disqualified, unnecessarily, thousands of people from greater job, housing and education opportunities by giving them a criminal record for what is in effect a minor law violation.”
The DA's office will still continue to prosecute misdemeanor marijuana offenders in specific circumstances which include: getting caught with weed in a drug-free zone, such as a school zone; in a correctional facility; or if they are already out on bond, on probation or deferred adjudication for another case. Juveniles are ineligible.
Ogg said a major impetus behind the policy change was the realization that police and courts were expending an incredible amount of resources — a total of $26 million per year — on arresting, jailing, and prosecuting stoners, taking away valuable time and money from fighting violent crime. The largest expenses come from inside the jail. Every year, taxpayers spend around $13 million to house 8,000 to 10,000 suspects, as they stay in jail for six to eight days on average, at around $65 per day.
“The problem is, some people stay a lot longer than the average of six days,” Ogg said. “Now, if you have a job, if you have children in child care, if you have home responsibilities to a parent, these six days can change your life. And once that criminal record attaches, that will change your life forever — and not for the better.”
According to county data, the prosecution and court-appointed defense of misdemeanor marijuana defendants cost a combined $7.3 million, taking up roughly 10 percent of Harris County court dockets. Crime labs are also overburdened testing loads of drugs for every case in the system, while rape cases and other violent crimes requiring DNA testing pile up. Eliminating misdemeanor marijuana cases from their docket is estimated to save nearly $1.8 million per year.
And for police, it's expected to free up more time to tackle violent crime. Arresting someone for pot possession, taking them to jail and booking them can take patrol officers an estimated four hours, which according to data provided by the county costs police an estimated $1.3 million per year. Meanwhile, as Acevedo has said, there's a home invasion underway.
“What somebody characterized as being soft on crime, we're being smart on crime. We're being focused on crime,” Acevedo said. “We're focusing on what's important to the people of this community, which is life, limb, and their property.”
While leading the Austin Police Department, Acevedo was among the very first Texas chiefs to implement cite and release, which allowed police to write low-level defendants a citation rather than arresting them. After implementing the policy, he said political blowback from tough-on-crime critics was inevitable — but that the department ultimately reduced crime by, he says, 40 percent from 2007 to 2015.
Before Ogg even released the policy, similar critics already started accusing Ogg and Harris County law enforcement of being softies and creating a “sanctuary for dope smokers,” as Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon put it. Ironically, Ligon accused Ogg of “focusing her attention on the issue of legalization of marijuana” instead of on tackling violent crime... which is sort of the point of the policy. Ogg responded at Thursday's press conference saying it would be wise of public officials to actually read the policy first before criticizing it.
Meanwhile, criminal justice reform advocates in Houston and abroad praised Ogg's policy as “an important first step towards creating a more sensible, fair and humane justice system,” said Jessica Brand, legal director of the Fair Punishment Project.
Closing out the afternoon, Harris County commissioner Rodney Ellis said that criminal-justice reform was the new civil-rights movement of this generation, and that he hoped in 20 years Harris County would be remembered for leading the charge.
BarkGrowlBite | February 18, 2017
Harris County’s population is overwhelmingly Democratic. During the presidential election, Harris County voters supported Hillary Clinton and swept all the Republican judges and sheriff out of office. The Democrats elected liberal Sheriff Ed Gonzales and uber-liberal District Attorney Kim Ogg. Ogg supports the legalization of pot and opposes the death penalty.
Houston recently hired Art Acevedo as its new police chief. Acevedo had been Austin’s police chief and left just in time to avoid a DNA scandal which could have cost him his job. More than 2,000 Texas convicts, including murderers and rapists, are being notified that Austin cops mishandled DNA evidence under Acevedo’s watch.
Acevedo has been a proponent of sanctuary cities. While he was chief in Austin, Acevedo had his officers write low-level law breakers, including pot heads, a citation rather than having them jailed. So it should come as no surprise that he, along with Sheriff Gonzales, would collude with Ogg ‘s policy of no more pot head arrests.
While Ogg’s policy may save taxpayers a bundle of money, it gives stoners a green light to break the laws of Texas that prohibit the use and possession of marijuana which, any way you look at it, is still a dangerous gateway drug.
Ogg also claims that by not arresting pot heads, cops will have more time on their hands to deal with violent criminals. That’s pure horseshit! With today’s politically correct non-aggressive policing, the time spent in busting pot heads, booking them and making out the arrest report won’t make a dime’s worth of difference as far as catching dangerous criminals is concerned.
If Ogg is unhappy with the law prohibiting the use and possession of pot, rather than encouraging people to break the law, she should take her happy ass to Austin where she can lobby the legislature to decriminalize or legalize marijuana.
D.A. OGG, POLICE LEADERS ANNOUNCE LANDMARK MARIJUANA DIVERSION PROGRAM
District Attorney Kim Ogg and heads of local law enforcement announced Thursday that, starting March 1, all police agencies in Harris County will no longer arrest people caught with four ounces or less of marijuana, and the DA's office will no longer be prosecuting those cases
BY Meagan Flynn | Houston Press | February 16, 2017
The remarkable move, which Ogg had championed throughout her 2016 campaign, pushes the third largest county in the nation to the forefront of marijuana reform in places where it is still illegal. Harris County will join only the Brooklyn County District Attorney's Office in New York in choosing to divert misdemeanor marijuana defendants away from jail entirely, saving taxpayers millions of dollars and saving thousands of people the lifelong burden of a criminal record.
Instead of being arrested and hauled off to jail, low-level potheads and casual smokers will instead be asked to take a four-hour decision-making class, at a cost of $150 (exceptions will be made for indigent people). Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Ogg in developing the landmark policy. It replaces former district attorney Devon Anderson's First Chance Diversion Program, which only applied to first-time offenders caught with less than two ounces, which Ogg had criticized as being too narrow.
“At 107,000 cases over the last ten years, we have spent in excess of $250 million dollars collectively prosecuting a crime that has produced no tangible evidence of improved public safety,” Ogg said. “Additionally, the collateral damage to our workforce is immeasurable — because what we have done is we have disqualified, unnecessarily, thousands of people from greater job, housing and education opportunities by giving them a criminal record for what is in effect a minor law violation.”
The DA's office will still continue to prosecute misdemeanor marijuana offenders in specific circumstances which include: getting caught with weed in a drug-free zone, such as a school zone; in a correctional facility; or if they are already out on bond, on probation or deferred adjudication for another case. Juveniles are ineligible.
Ogg said a major impetus behind the policy change was the realization that police and courts were expending an incredible amount of resources — a total of $26 million per year — on arresting, jailing, and prosecuting stoners, taking away valuable time and money from fighting violent crime. The largest expenses come from inside the jail. Every year, taxpayers spend around $13 million to house 8,000 to 10,000 suspects, as they stay in jail for six to eight days on average, at around $65 per day.
“The problem is, some people stay a lot longer than the average of six days,” Ogg said. “Now, if you have a job, if you have children in child care, if you have home responsibilities to a parent, these six days can change your life. And once that criminal record attaches, that will change your life forever — and not for the better.”
According to county data, the prosecution and court-appointed defense of misdemeanor marijuana defendants cost a combined $7.3 million, taking up roughly 10 percent of Harris County court dockets. Crime labs are also overburdened testing loads of drugs for every case in the system, while rape cases and other violent crimes requiring DNA testing pile up. Eliminating misdemeanor marijuana cases from their docket is estimated to save nearly $1.8 million per year.
And for police, it's expected to free up more time to tackle violent crime. Arresting someone for pot possession, taking them to jail and booking them can take patrol officers an estimated four hours, which according to data provided by the county costs police an estimated $1.3 million per year. Meanwhile, as Acevedo has said, there's a home invasion underway.
“What somebody characterized as being soft on crime, we're being smart on crime. We're being focused on crime,” Acevedo said. “We're focusing on what's important to the people of this community, which is life, limb, and their property.”
While leading the Austin Police Department, Acevedo was among the very first Texas chiefs to implement cite and release, which allowed police to write low-level defendants a citation rather than arresting them. After implementing the policy, he said political blowback from tough-on-crime critics was inevitable — but that the department ultimately reduced crime by, he says, 40 percent from 2007 to 2015.
Before Ogg even released the policy, similar critics already started accusing Ogg and Harris County law enforcement of being softies and creating a “sanctuary for dope smokers,” as Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon put it. Ironically, Ligon accused Ogg of “focusing her attention on the issue of legalization of marijuana” instead of on tackling violent crime... which is sort of the point of the policy. Ogg responded at Thursday's press conference saying it would be wise of public officials to actually read the policy first before criticizing it.
Meanwhile, criminal justice reform advocates in Houston and abroad praised Ogg's policy as “an important first step towards creating a more sensible, fair and humane justice system,” said Jessica Brand, legal director of the Fair Punishment Project.
Closing out the afternoon, Harris County commissioner Rodney Ellis said that criminal-justice reform was the new civil-rights movement of this generation, and that he hoped in 20 years Harris County would be remembered for leading the charge.
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