Without the Ike Dike, a direct hit in the Houston-Galveston area by a category 3 hurricane will result in a catastrophic loss of lives and property
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Politics
June 29, 2017
Hurricane Ike, which struck the Texas Gulf Coast just east of Galveston in September 2008, was the third most destructive hurricane to strike the United States. Ike left an estimated $24 billion of property damage, 82 deaths and 202 missing in its wake. Had the storm not taken a last minute turn to the north from its northwest track, it would have made a direct hit on Galveston and Houston and the storm surge would have been far more catastrophic to property and lives.
In the wake of Hurricane Ike, Texas A&M University at Galveston oceanographer William Merrell devised a plan that would protect homes and lives in the Houston-Galveston area from deadly hurricane storm surges. His plan was dubbed the “Ike Dike”.
Professor Merrell proposed an extension of the seawall all the way to the western end of Galveston Island and for a new sea wall on the Bolivar Peninsula east of Galveston Bay. In order to protect Houston and other cities along Galveston Bay, Merrell proposed the construction of huge floodgates at the entrance to the bay, like those used in the Netherlands. He also called for smaller gates at San Louis Pass and the Intracoastal Waterway, both of which are west of Galveston Island.
Sounds like a solid plan, one that would protect several hundred thousand homes and people from those deadly and destructive storm surges. But the Ike Dike was met with immediate opposition from environmentalists.
The econuts warned that the floodgates would interfere with the migration of sea life. What a crock! Those gates would only be closed upon the approach of a hurricane. They would be open at all other times, thus allowing that precious sea life to migrate into the polluted waters of the Houston ship channel. The econuts also opposed extension of the sea wall. Instead, they proposed building up the sand dunes as a natural barrier against any storm surge. Yeah right, that’ll work.
The environmentalists also say that developers are to blame for building homes and businesses within the storm surge areas. Of course they are right. But that’s no consolation for the people now living in the hundreds of thousands homes that are now sitting where they should never have been built.
The next opposition came from the bean counters. They said that the estimated $5 billion it would cost to build the Ike Dike was unattainable. Never mind that Hurricane Ike did $24 billion of property damage even though it came ashore in a far less populated area than Houston and Galveston. $5 billion is too much? Never mind that the feds spent $14.5 billion just within the city of on New Orleans to protect its citizens from the ravages of storm surge-induced flooding.
What did New Orleans have that Houston and Galveston did not have? After Hurricane Ike we did not have the pictures New Orleans had showing heart-wrenching images of 16,000 poor souls trapped in the Super Dome under unimaginable inhumane conditions.
$5 billion is too much? Along came the educated idiots at Rice University’s Baker Institute to throw a wrench into the Ike Dike plan. They had the solution to the high cost of the proposed Ike Dike. They recommended scrapping Merrell’s floodgates and sea wall extension in favor of one floodgate across the Houston ship channel. That would protect Houston’s multibillion dollar petro-chemical complex. But what about the homes and businesses siting in the path of a hurricane storm surge?
I am not an engineer or hydrologist. Common sense tells me that the water from the storm surge won’t just stop once it reaches the ship channel floodgate. It has to go somewhere. It probably cannot recede. Most likely the water will spread east and west, thereby flooding thousands of homes that might otherwise have been spared.
There has been a concerted effort in support of the Ike Dike on the part of public officials and prominent citizens from the cities within the Houston-Galveston area. But here it is nine years after Hurricane Ike and no Ike Dike is in sight. And by now the cost has probably tripled.
Will the Houston-Galveston area ever get the Ike Dike? Yes, but I fear it won’t be until after the area has taken a direct hit from a category 3 hurricane and the catastrophic loss of lives and property left in its wake.
Friday, June 30, 2017
THE SUREST TEST OF A PERSON'S INTELLIGENCE...
...Is how much they agree with you
by Bob Walsh
Federal Judge Roger Benitez said today that, among other things, the magazine ban scheduled to take effect Saturday is an unlawful taking of private property without compensation.
The judge said, "If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess one's self of lawfully acquired property." The San Diego based judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect until the matter is heard more fully.
A second judge, based in Sacramento, is also considering the matter in a different lawsuit filed by a different Second Amendment group.
It seems that not all federal judges are morons, even in the People's Republic of California.
by Bob Walsh
Federal Judge Roger Benitez said today that, among other things, the magazine ban scheduled to take effect Saturday is an unlawful taking of private property without compensation.
The judge said, "If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess one's self of lawfully acquired property." The San Diego based judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect until the matter is heard more fully.
A second judge, based in Sacramento, is also considering the matter in a different lawsuit filed by a different Second Amendment group.
It seems that not all federal judges are morons, even in the People's Republic of California.
SAN FRANSICKO TO PAY ILLEGAL ALIEN $190,000 BECAUSE COPS TURNED HIM OVER TO ICE
Undocumented immigrant to receive $190,000 from SF for sanctuary city violation
By Jonah Owen Lamb
San Francisco Examiner
June 28, 2017
A man who San Francisco police turned over to immigration authorities in violation of The City’s sanctuary ordinance is set to be awarded $190,000 in a settlement agreement reached with the City Attorney’s Office, which his lawyer hopes will push police to obey such laws.
Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, 33, sued The City on Jan. 17 for violating its sanctuary city laws when officers at Southern Station allegedly cooperated with immigration officials. Figueroa-Zarceno, an undocumented immigrant and native of El Salvador, went to the station at 1251 3rd Street in Mission Bay in December 2015 to report a stolen car.
But instead of helping him find his car, officers called immigration authorities, who took him into custody outside of the station.
Police reports and case documents previously obtained by the Examiner showed that officers at the station detained Figueroa-Zarceno after they ran his name and found a warrant for his arrest. But they were unable to find details on the warrant, so Figueroa-Zarceno was released from a side door, where he was then arrested by immigration officials. Those officials had been notified by San Francisco police.
“It’s really important for San Francisco to remain a sanctuary city not in name only but also in practice,” said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, who represented Zarceno.
Hussain said her client’s case is not an isolated incident, and she hopes the settlement will encourage the department to follow its own rules and city ordinances. One recent case she mentioned was when an undercover officer, Joshua Fry, was caught on tape allegedly threatening to call immigration authorities on men in U.N. Plaza on May 5.
“Our hope is that the department is going to look into this further and really examine the way that the department can do more,” she said.
The department did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
The settlement agreement — which was introduced to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday and has yet to be voted on — and lawsuit names a number of officers who were involved, including then-Acting Chief of Police Toney Chaplin, Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, sgts. Trevor Kelly and Eric Balmy, and officers Kevin Clifford, Nicole Chambers and Dayna Thibeaux.
Settlement agreements that are reached by the City Attorney’s Office are usually approved by the Board of Supervisors, but the body can reject them. The matter will next go before the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, which will then send their recommendation back to the Board of Supervisors.
City law, the Due Process for All Ordinance, bars law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other federal immigration officials, except in a few exceptions when violent criminals are involved. Part of the law’s purpose was to encourage immigrants to report crimes they may otherwise not report because they fear law enforcement will turn them over to immigration authorities.
The City’s sanctuary laws have been center stage in recent years in national politics, including in the killing of San Francisco resident Kathryn Steinle by an undocumented immigrant who at Pier 14 on July 1, 2015.
The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican citizen, had been sent to San Francisco on an old drug possession warrant from federal custody and then released months before the shooting.
The City came under fire from many who said that Steinle’s death was due to The City’s policies, which allowed the release of Lopez-Sanchez from jail because he had no violent convictions.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If the sanctuary city kooks give Pedro 190,000 because that is less costly than continuing on with his lawsuit, I can understand that. What I cannot understand is why the judges didn’t dump Pedro’s lawsuit into the nearest garbage landfill.
By Jonah Owen Lamb
San Francisco Examiner
June 28, 2017
A man who San Francisco police turned over to immigration authorities in violation of The City’s sanctuary ordinance is set to be awarded $190,000 in a settlement agreement reached with the City Attorney’s Office, which his lawyer hopes will push police to obey such laws.
Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, 33, sued The City on Jan. 17 for violating its sanctuary city laws when officers at Southern Station allegedly cooperated with immigration officials. Figueroa-Zarceno, an undocumented immigrant and native of El Salvador, went to the station at 1251 3rd Street in Mission Bay in December 2015 to report a stolen car.
But instead of helping him find his car, officers called immigration authorities, who took him into custody outside of the station.
Police reports and case documents previously obtained by the Examiner showed that officers at the station detained Figueroa-Zarceno after they ran his name and found a warrant for his arrest. But they were unable to find details on the warrant, so Figueroa-Zarceno was released from a side door, where he was then arrested by immigration officials. Those officials had been notified by San Francisco police.
“It’s really important for San Francisco to remain a sanctuary city not in name only but also in practice,” said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, who represented Zarceno.
Hussain said her client’s case is not an isolated incident, and she hopes the settlement will encourage the department to follow its own rules and city ordinances. One recent case she mentioned was when an undercover officer, Joshua Fry, was caught on tape allegedly threatening to call immigration authorities on men in U.N. Plaza on May 5.
“Our hope is that the department is going to look into this further and really examine the way that the department can do more,” she said.
The department did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
The settlement agreement — which was introduced to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday and has yet to be voted on — and lawsuit names a number of officers who were involved, including then-Acting Chief of Police Toney Chaplin, Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, sgts. Trevor Kelly and Eric Balmy, and officers Kevin Clifford, Nicole Chambers and Dayna Thibeaux.
Settlement agreements that are reached by the City Attorney’s Office are usually approved by the Board of Supervisors, but the body can reject them. The matter will next go before the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, which will then send their recommendation back to the Board of Supervisors.
City law, the Due Process for All Ordinance, bars law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other federal immigration officials, except in a few exceptions when violent criminals are involved. Part of the law’s purpose was to encourage immigrants to report crimes they may otherwise not report because they fear law enforcement will turn them over to immigration authorities.
The City’s sanctuary laws have been center stage in recent years in national politics, including in the killing of San Francisco resident Kathryn Steinle by an undocumented immigrant who at Pier 14 on July 1, 2015.
The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican citizen, had been sent to San Francisco on an old drug possession warrant from federal custody and then released months before the shooting.
The City came under fire from many who said that Steinle’s death was due to The City’s policies, which allowed the release of Lopez-Sanchez from jail because he had no violent convictions.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If the sanctuary city kooks give Pedro 190,000 because that is less costly than continuing on with his lawsuit, I can understand that. What I cannot understand is why the judges didn’t dump Pedro’s lawsuit into the nearest garbage landfill.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
A GUN SAFETY LESSON ONLY TOO REAL
An Indiana father was teaching his twin 10-year-old sons gun safety when he accidentally shot his 9-year-old daughter to death
BarkGrowlBite
June 29, 2017
Eric Hummel, 33, of Hobart, Indiana is facing charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old, reckless homicide and two counts of neglect of a dependent.
What did Eric do?
On June 10, Hummel was teaching his twin 10-year-old sons not to handle his semi-auto pistol when – KABOOM – the gun went off. The bullet struck his 9-year-old daughter in the head. She died shortly after arriving at a hospital.
During his frantic panic-stricken 911 call, Hummel told the dispatcher that “I had my gun and I pulled the trigger, and I didn’t realize there was a bullet in there, and I shot my daughter.”
A bit later Hummel was heard saying “What the fuck just happened.” Then he pleaded with his daughter, “Please don’t go. Oh my God, please don’t go.”
A tragic ending to a gun safety lesson only too real.
BarkGrowlBite
June 29, 2017
Eric Hummel, 33, of Hobart, Indiana is facing charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old, reckless homicide and two counts of neglect of a dependent.
What did Eric do?
On June 10, Hummel was teaching his twin 10-year-old sons not to handle his semi-auto pistol when – KABOOM – the gun went off. The bullet struck his 9-year-old daughter in the head. She died shortly after arriving at a hospital.
During his frantic panic-stricken 911 call, Hummel told the dispatcher that “I had my gun and I pulled the trigger, and I didn’t realize there was a bullet in there, and I shot my daughter.”
A bit later Hummel was heard saying “What the fuck just happened.” Then he pleaded with his daughter, “Please don’t go. Oh my God, please don’t go.”
A tragic ending to a gun safety lesson only too real.
IT HAS BEEN SIX MONTHS AND NO JUSTICE SO FAR
Paralyzed, Pregnant and Waiting for Justice after a Near-Fatal Houston Robbery
BY Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
June 28, 2017
Many people have asked Paxton Taylor Webb what it feels like to get shot, but even though it happened to her, she doesn’t know either.
The bullet entered her upper-mid back and severed her spinal cord. It then punctured her left lung, broke several ribs and ricocheted upward, fracturing her clavicle, before finally coming to rest in her left shoulder. Paxton had no idea. All she remembers is a piercing ringing in her ears and falling backward onto the floor, behind the cash register.
She had complied with everything the masked robbers asked of her. Around 2 o’clock on Christmas Eve morning last year, two gunmen entered Katz Boutique in Humble, and somehow knew the code to get inside the cashier’s booth where Paxton stood, encased in glass. In the surveillance video police released, she’s seen working quickly, handing over trays of cash and allowing the robbers to search for more as they please. It’s unclear why, then, one gunman decided to fire at her on his way out the door, as though taking the life of a 23-year-old woman was merely an afterthought.
She didn’t feel it, because she was paralyzed instantly.
“You would think, getting shot, that it’s gonna be like what you see in all the TV shows, like it’s an excruciating pain,” Paxton said from her hospital bed, an episode of Law & Order playing quietly in the background. “I didn’t feel any of that. So I told the paramedics I wasn’t shot.” They turned her over to find the blood pouring out of her back.
Six months later, Paxton is still waiting on justice, police still don’t have any idea who shot her, and she is still spending her days in the manufactured comfort of a hospital room. Yet just as she has begun to settle into her drastically alerted life, Paxton is preparing for another mammoth change: In several weeks, she will give birth to a baby girl.
On the night she was shot, she was four weeks pregnant. Neither she or her husband knew about the baby until she was on the operating room. The news came not long after doctors informed her that a only a piece of paper could have fit in the space between the bullet hole and her heart.
“I was thinking, how am I supposed to be pregnant and paralyzed? Why didn’t the bullet hit my heart? Why did I survive this?” Paxton said. “I didn’t understand anything that was going on. I mean, I’m not ever gonna understand why I was paralyzed or why I didn’t die. That’s just something I’m never gonna figure out. I will tell you, it was the scariest night of my life. And not just because two people came in and robbed the store, but it was…at that moment, my life had changed, and another life was being created at the same time, and I didn’t know how I was gonna do it all. I still don’t know how I’m gonna do it.”
* * *
In January, two miles from the scene of the crime, Houston Police Department investigators discovered an abandoned maroon Ford F-250, the vehicle Detective Samuel Spurlock says he is “highly confident” was used in the robbery.
It’s the best shot that Paxton and police have of tracking down the people who deprived the 23-year-old of the chance to walk again — but it’s also a long shot.
In the truck, Spurlock says investigators found clothing that appeared similar to what the robbers were wearing on video in the store. (Another surveillance video captured this truck fleeing the scene.) They took swabs from carseat headrests and sent the DNA to the Houston Forensic Science Center for testing.
In April the DNA lab results came back. There was no matching profile in any existing databases.
Detective Spurlock said that the DNA results have been entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, called CODIS, which stores the DNA profile until a match comes up, possibly if the suspect commits another crime elsewhere. The next step from here, Spurlock said, is waiting.
“It can take months. It can take years,” he said. “Not too long ago, I had results come back from something I submitted three years ago.”
Police held a press conference following the shooting in December, pleading that the public come forward with tips. Spurlock said none have led to any substantial people of interest yet, but that questions swirled around how the robbers knew the key code to get into Paxton’s cashier space, and whether any store employees may have known in any capacity about the robbery in advance. For now, however, that’s all they are: questions.
* * *
Her first trip in public in her electric wheelchair was to the Natural Science Museum.
It was a group outing, with her physical therapy group from Memorial Hermann’s TIRR rehabilitation center. She went with her aunt, Michelle Miller, one of Paxton’s regular caregivers, who said she and her niece both felt for the first time the curious gazes from those who still had the luxury of functioning legs. They learned for the first time how wheelchair ramps and seating that’s supposedly “handicap friendly” is friendly to only some but not all handicapped people. There were kids asking their moms why there was a whole group of people in wheelchairs—and the adults stared, too, Paxton said.
Her therapy group at TIRR had been preparing her for this. For two months, Paxton learned how to live again, learning basic everyday skills like how to shower without help. The therapy did just as much to change Paxton’s mindset about what it means to be paralyzed from the chest down. Therapists assured the former dancer that she could still dance in a wheelchair, just differently. That she could still drive a car one day, just differently. That she could still be a mom.
“I have to learn this stuff for her, so that she can go to the doctor when she needs to go to the doctor and I don’t need to depend on someone else,” Paxton said, “or if she falls and cuts herself, I need to be able to learn how to pick her up and make her tears go away. I have to learn how to do this stuff not only for myself, but for her.”
For a long time, Paxton wasn’t sure the day would even come.
On the night of the robbery, doctors told Paxton she was going to lose her baby. When she didn’t miscarry that night she and her family waited for her to miscarry for the next 12 weeks, when doctors said it was bound to happen due to the trauma and shock Paxton was still trying to shed. For her and the family the prediction was devastating: The news of her pregnancy had given her a reason to fight for her life, and now it was supposed to be stripped from her?
Paxton said she doesn’t believe she would have made it through those first weeks had it not been for her mother’s tough love, from the night she told her daughter, “don’t you dare die on me” to the times throughout her recovery she yelled, “don’t you dare say you can’t do this!”
Her mother, Brittney Miller, frequently spends the night on the couch next to Paxton’s hospital bed, where she tries not to dream about the night she had to tell Paxton she wouldn’t be able to walk again. Doctors hadn’t told Paxton yet, and, knowing something was seriously wrong, Paxton turned to her mom for honesty. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Miller said.
“It’s one of those things that doesn’t just affect you when it happens. It affects everybody close to you,” Paxton said. “It has affected my family; it has affected my husband; it has affected my unborn child. Even though she’s not here yet, eventually she’s gonna ask me, mommy, why can’t you walk? And that’s gonna affect her. And then one day, Mom, when did you find out when you were pregnant with me?”
Yet despite all the pain that has come with paralysis and the pregnancy, there is unanimous agreement when Brittney Miller says the hardest part has been going about their days with the knowledge that the people who shot Paxton are out there, perhaps doing the same thing.
Every few weeks they check in with Detective Spurlock, and every few weeks there is no new information to share. The label “inactive” remains on the Paxton’s case file.
The effects of the stalled investigation have manifested in the family’s daily lives.
Paxton and Miller have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes Miller has panic attacks while walking to her car, or while ordering a sandwich in Quiznos — moments when she sees a figure or a vehicle that for just a split second look like they’re straight out of the surveillance video. Sometimes her aunt Michelle feels like she is being followed, afraid that the robbers have kept tabs on Paxton’s closest loved ones.
And sometimes, for Paxton, who has only been out of a hospital setting for a couple days at a time, the fear manifests in nightmares. She has been waiting for the details to slip away with time, hoping that she’ll forget about the white gloves, or the way they held the pistols or the way they yelled for the money.
“I wish I could forget even one thing,” Paxton said, “Just one. But I can’t.”
BY Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
June 28, 2017
Many people have asked Paxton Taylor Webb what it feels like to get shot, but even though it happened to her, she doesn’t know either.
The bullet entered her upper-mid back and severed her spinal cord. It then punctured her left lung, broke several ribs and ricocheted upward, fracturing her clavicle, before finally coming to rest in her left shoulder. Paxton had no idea. All she remembers is a piercing ringing in her ears and falling backward onto the floor, behind the cash register.
She had complied with everything the masked robbers asked of her. Around 2 o’clock on Christmas Eve morning last year, two gunmen entered Katz Boutique in Humble, and somehow knew the code to get inside the cashier’s booth where Paxton stood, encased in glass. In the surveillance video police released, she’s seen working quickly, handing over trays of cash and allowing the robbers to search for more as they please. It’s unclear why, then, one gunman decided to fire at her on his way out the door, as though taking the life of a 23-year-old woman was merely an afterthought.
She didn’t feel it, because she was paralyzed instantly.
“You would think, getting shot, that it’s gonna be like what you see in all the TV shows, like it’s an excruciating pain,” Paxton said from her hospital bed, an episode of Law & Order playing quietly in the background. “I didn’t feel any of that. So I told the paramedics I wasn’t shot.” They turned her over to find the blood pouring out of her back.
Six months later, Paxton is still waiting on justice, police still don’t have any idea who shot her, and she is still spending her days in the manufactured comfort of a hospital room. Yet just as she has begun to settle into her drastically alerted life, Paxton is preparing for another mammoth change: In several weeks, she will give birth to a baby girl.
On the night she was shot, she was four weeks pregnant. Neither she or her husband knew about the baby until she was on the operating room. The news came not long after doctors informed her that a only a piece of paper could have fit in the space between the bullet hole and her heart.
“I was thinking, how am I supposed to be pregnant and paralyzed? Why didn’t the bullet hit my heart? Why did I survive this?” Paxton said. “I didn’t understand anything that was going on. I mean, I’m not ever gonna understand why I was paralyzed or why I didn’t die. That’s just something I’m never gonna figure out. I will tell you, it was the scariest night of my life. And not just because two people came in and robbed the store, but it was…at that moment, my life had changed, and another life was being created at the same time, and I didn’t know how I was gonna do it all. I still don’t know how I’m gonna do it.”
* * *
In January, two miles from the scene of the crime, Houston Police Department investigators discovered an abandoned maroon Ford F-250, the vehicle Detective Samuel Spurlock says he is “highly confident” was used in the robbery.
It’s the best shot that Paxton and police have of tracking down the people who deprived the 23-year-old of the chance to walk again — but it’s also a long shot.
In the truck, Spurlock says investigators found clothing that appeared similar to what the robbers were wearing on video in the store. (Another surveillance video captured this truck fleeing the scene.) They took swabs from carseat headrests and sent the DNA to the Houston Forensic Science Center for testing.
In April the DNA lab results came back. There was no matching profile in any existing databases.
Detective Spurlock said that the DNA results have been entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, called CODIS, which stores the DNA profile until a match comes up, possibly if the suspect commits another crime elsewhere. The next step from here, Spurlock said, is waiting.
“It can take months. It can take years,” he said. “Not too long ago, I had results come back from something I submitted three years ago.”
Police held a press conference following the shooting in December, pleading that the public come forward with tips. Spurlock said none have led to any substantial people of interest yet, but that questions swirled around how the robbers knew the key code to get into Paxton’s cashier space, and whether any store employees may have known in any capacity about the robbery in advance. For now, however, that’s all they are: questions.
* * *
Her first trip in public in her electric wheelchair was to the Natural Science Museum.
It was a group outing, with her physical therapy group from Memorial Hermann’s TIRR rehabilitation center. She went with her aunt, Michelle Miller, one of Paxton’s regular caregivers, who said she and her niece both felt for the first time the curious gazes from those who still had the luxury of functioning legs. They learned for the first time how wheelchair ramps and seating that’s supposedly “handicap friendly” is friendly to only some but not all handicapped people. There were kids asking their moms why there was a whole group of people in wheelchairs—and the adults stared, too, Paxton said.
Her therapy group at TIRR had been preparing her for this. For two months, Paxton learned how to live again, learning basic everyday skills like how to shower without help. The therapy did just as much to change Paxton’s mindset about what it means to be paralyzed from the chest down. Therapists assured the former dancer that she could still dance in a wheelchair, just differently. That she could still drive a car one day, just differently. That she could still be a mom.
“I have to learn this stuff for her, so that she can go to the doctor when she needs to go to the doctor and I don’t need to depend on someone else,” Paxton said, “or if she falls and cuts herself, I need to be able to learn how to pick her up and make her tears go away. I have to learn how to do this stuff not only for myself, but for her.”
For a long time, Paxton wasn’t sure the day would even come.
On the night of the robbery, doctors told Paxton she was going to lose her baby. When she didn’t miscarry that night she and her family waited for her to miscarry for the next 12 weeks, when doctors said it was bound to happen due to the trauma and shock Paxton was still trying to shed. For her and the family the prediction was devastating: The news of her pregnancy had given her a reason to fight for her life, and now it was supposed to be stripped from her?
Paxton said she doesn’t believe she would have made it through those first weeks had it not been for her mother’s tough love, from the night she told her daughter, “don’t you dare die on me” to the times throughout her recovery she yelled, “don’t you dare say you can’t do this!”
Her mother, Brittney Miller, frequently spends the night on the couch next to Paxton’s hospital bed, where she tries not to dream about the night she had to tell Paxton she wouldn’t be able to walk again. Doctors hadn’t told Paxton yet, and, knowing something was seriously wrong, Paxton turned to her mom for honesty. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Miller said.
“It’s one of those things that doesn’t just affect you when it happens. It affects everybody close to you,” Paxton said. “It has affected my family; it has affected my husband; it has affected my unborn child. Even though she’s not here yet, eventually she’s gonna ask me, mommy, why can’t you walk? And that’s gonna affect her. And then one day, Mom, when did you find out when you were pregnant with me?”
Yet despite all the pain that has come with paralysis and the pregnancy, there is unanimous agreement when Brittney Miller says the hardest part has been going about their days with the knowledge that the people who shot Paxton are out there, perhaps doing the same thing.
Every few weeks they check in with Detective Spurlock, and every few weeks there is no new information to share. The label “inactive” remains on the Paxton’s case file.
The effects of the stalled investigation have manifested in the family’s daily lives.
Paxton and Miller have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes Miller has panic attacks while walking to her car, or while ordering a sandwich in Quiznos — moments when she sees a figure or a vehicle that for just a split second look like they’re straight out of the surveillance video. Sometimes her aunt Michelle feels like she is being followed, afraid that the robbers have kept tabs on Paxton’s closest loved ones.
And sometimes, for Paxton, who has only been out of a hospital setting for a couple days at a time, the fear manifests in nightmares. She has been waiting for the details to slip away with time, hoping that she’ll forget about the white gloves, or the way they held the pistols or the way they yelled for the money.
“I wish I could forget even one thing,” Paxton said, “Just one. But I can’t.”
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE REFORM IS ON LIFE SUPPORT
The Republican health care bills passed by the House and proposed in the Senate will never fly
For seven years the Republicans have been obsessed not with outlawing abortions, but with outlawing Obamacare. They had me all aboard until I saw what the House-passed bill would do if it became law. It would make health care unaffordable for many seniors and would drive millions of the poor to emergency rooms for their health needs. And that would drive up hospital costs for everybody.
While I was and am still opposed to the mandatory provisions of Obamacare, I always thought – and said so – that Obama’s Affordable Care Act had some desirable provisions. Outright Repeal, which is what most Republican politicians have bee screaming for during the past seven years, is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Republicans are determined to repeal Obamacare but really do not have a solution to the nation’s health care problems. Republican health care reform is on life support and unless the GOP comes up with a reasonable plan that doesn’t hurt seniors and the poor, they might as well pull the plug. And then, although it is in critical condition, Obamacare will live on.
Here is a logical perspective from Jake Novak:
HERE’S THE ONE THING THE GOP NEEDS TO DO TO SAVE ITS HEALTH-CARE BILL
The GOP should leave Medicaid alone for now and focus on actual insurance reform that can pass
By Jake Novak
CNBC
June 27, 2017
Why is the Senate Republican leadership delaying the vote on its Obamacare replacement bill? Obviously, the easiest answer to that question is the GOP simply doesn't have the votes. But dig just a little bit deeper and we find the same problem that's been weighing this replacement effort down since this Congressional session began: fear.
As I have noted for months, the intense political fear of the number of people projected to lose health coverage has made any effort to reform Obamacare almost impossible for the Republicans to pass. I called those people the "Obamacare orphans."
When the latest CBO report came out Monday projecting that the number of Americans losing coverage under the Senate bill will be 22 million by 2026, it was obvious this measure was never going to even come up with for a vote until big changes were made first.
But the CBO report had an even more telling detail, and it proved that using the term "Obamacare orphans" wasn't very accurate. It said that almost 70 percent of that 22 million number would not come from people losing private health insurance coverage, but from the rolling back of the Medicaid expansion that went into effect under Obamacare.
In other words, 15 million people won't be losing "insurance" as we know it with premiums and deductibles to pay, but they'd be losing access to a government entitlement traditionally set aside for the poorest Americans. So the real fear is all about the blow back from "Medicaid orphans."
That, as they say, is a whole different ballgame.
Medicaid enrollment in the U.S. right now is no small issue. Thanks to the expansion, a whopping 74.5 million Americans are currently on Medicaid according to the latest government reports. That is almost double the 39 million Americans who were on Medicaid just as recently as 2007.
By contrast, the entire population of Great Britain is less than 65 million people. And again, unlike Obamacare, it's an entitlement program that requires no payments or financial commitments from its recipients. Even though it can often be very hard to find good and reliable care on Medicaid alone, it's clearly very popular considering this Medicaid expansion hasn't had any trouble finding more than 35 million new takers in under 10 years.
These massive numbers should make it clear why Medicaid is the key stumbling block in the Obamacare replacement or reform effort. It's not just because rolling back Medicaid would be responsible for the bulk of people losing coverage, it's because even a bare-bones entitlement like Medicaid is so hard to take away once the public gets it.
Now that the GOP senators know where this problem is coming from, it's time for them to throw in the towel for now on Medicaid, leave it for later, and get back to fixing the actual private insurance market.
That means getting back to so many of the insurance market reforms Republicans have said they've supported for years like allowing companies to sell insurance over state lines, allowing all kinds of bare-boned "major medical" plans to be sold everywhere, and expanding tax-free health spending accounts. These are the kinds of reforms that will truly bend the cost curve in health coverage and stop the insanity of using so many subsidies and regulations to help big insurance companies inflate prices.
The Medicaid expansion was not something President Obama or the Democrats talked a lot about when they were trying to sell Obamacare to the public in 2009 and 2010. Most of what we heard was about helping working people afford private coverage and, "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan."
This almost doubling of the number of people getting onto Medicaid was basically never discussed or publicly debated. Now, the Republicans are finding that rolling back this Medicaid expansion won't be possible under the same fog. It's obvious now that they shouldn't even try.
Conservatives and fiscal hawks know the Medicaid issue is not something that should be put aside for too long. That near-75 million Americans on the plan are a major cost balloon that could burst very soon. But after what's happened this week, they must also now know that it's a problem that cannot be politically addressed concurrently with private health insurance. Doing something about cutting back the Medicaid rolls and all the spending that comes with it, can wait at least until the Republicans can put together a reasonable alternative beyond White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway's advice that Medicaid recipients get a job. That will skew all the savings the CBO is projecting for the GOP bill right now, but saving money isn't the issue that's holding up the votes, it's these Medicaid orphans that are too hot to handle.
Delaying the votes on this GOP bill by a week, or even a month won't be enough to get the magic number of Republicans to vote for and pass the measure. The reason is Medicaid. So with time running out, it's time for McConnell to make like a surgeon and cut out the Medicaid part of this bill and focus on private coverage reforms only. That will perform the medical miracle of making things not only politically easier for the GOP, but actually achieving something that will do some good for the rest of the country too.
For seven years the Republicans have been obsessed not with outlawing abortions, but with outlawing Obamacare. They had me all aboard until I saw what the House-passed bill would do if it became law. It would make health care unaffordable for many seniors and would drive millions of the poor to emergency rooms for their health needs. And that would drive up hospital costs for everybody.
While I was and am still opposed to the mandatory provisions of Obamacare, I always thought – and said so – that Obama’s Affordable Care Act had some desirable provisions. Outright Repeal, which is what most Republican politicians have bee screaming for during the past seven years, is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Republicans are determined to repeal Obamacare but really do not have a solution to the nation’s health care problems. Republican health care reform is on life support and unless the GOP comes up with a reasonable plan that doesn’t hurt seniors and the poor, they might as well pull the plug. And then, although it is in critical condition, Obamacare will live on.
Here is a logical perspective from Jake Novak:
HERE’S THE ONE THING THE GOP NEEDS TO DO TO SAVE ITS HEALTH-CARE BILL
The GOP should leave Medicaid alone for now and focus on actual insurance reform that can pass
By Jake Novak
CNBC
June 27, 2017
Why is the Senate Republican leadership delaying the vote on its Obamacare replacement bill? Obviously, the easiest answer to that question is the GOP simply doesn't have the votes. But dig just a little bit deeper and we find the same problem that's been weighing this replacement effort down since this Congressional session began: fear.
As I have noted for months, the intense political fear of the number of people projected to lose health coverage has made any effort to reform Obamacare almost impossible for the Republicans to pass. I called those people the "Obamacare orphans."
When the latest CBO report came out Monday projecting that the number of Americans losing coverage under the Senate bill will be 22 million by 2026, it was obvious this measure was never going to even come up with for a vote until big changes were made first.
But the CBO report had an even more telling detail, and it proved that using the term "Obamacare orphans" wasn't very accurate. It said that almost 70 percent of that 22 million number would not come from people losing private health insurance coverage, but from the rolling back of the Medicaid expansion that went into effect under Obamacare.
In other words, 15 million people won't be losing "insurance" as we know it with premiums and deductibles to pay, but they'd be losing access to a government entitlement traditionally set aside for the poorest Americans. So the real fear is all about the blow back from "Medicaid orphans."
That, as they say, is a whole different ballgame.
Medicaid enrollment in the U.S. right now is no small issue. Thanks to the expansion, a whopping 74.5 million Americans are currently on Medicaid according to the latest government reports. That is almost double the 39 million Americans who were on Medicaid just as recently as 2007.
By contrast, the entire population of Great Britain is less than 65 million people. And again, unlike Obamacare, it's an entitlement program that requires no payments or financial commitments from its recipients. Even though it can often be very hard to find good and reliable care on Medicaid alone, it's clearly very popular considering this Medicaid expansion hasn't had any trouble finding more than 35 million new takers in under 10 years.
These massive numbers should make it clear why Medicaid is the key stumbling block in the Obamacare replacement or reform effort. It's not just because rolling back Medicaid would be responsible for the bulk of people losing coverage, it's because even a bare-bones entitlement like Medicaid is so hard to take away once the public gets it.
Now that the GOP senators know where this problem is coming from, it's time for them to throw in the towel for now on Medicaid, leave it for later, and get back to fixing the actual private insurance market.
That means getting back to so many of the insurance market reforms Republicans have said they've supported for years like allowing companies to sell insurance over state lines, allowing all kinds of bare-boned "major medical" plans to be sold everywhere, and expanding tax-free health spending accounts. These are the kinds of reforms that will truly bend the cost curve in health coverage and stop the insanity of using so many subsidies and regulations to help big insurance companies inflate prices.
The Medicaid expansion was not something President Obama or the Democrats talked a lot about when they were trying to sell Obamacare to the public in 2009 and 2010. Most of what we heard was about helping working people afford private coverage and, "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan."
This almost doubling of the number of people getting onto Medicaid was basically never discussed or publicly debated. Now, the Republicans are finding that rolling back this Medicaid expansion won't be possible under the same fog. It's obvious now that they shouldn't even try.
Conservatives and fiscal hawks know the Medicaid issue is not something that should be put aside for too long. That near-75 million Americans on the plan are a major cost balloon that could burst very soon. But after what's happened this week, they must also now know that it's a problem that cannot be politically addressed concurrently with private health insurance. Doing something about cutting back the Medicaid rolls and all the spending that comes with it, can wait at least until the Republicans can put together a reasonable alternative beyond White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway's advice that Medicaid recipients get a job. That will skew all the savings the CBO is projecting for the GOP bill right now, but saving money isn't the issue that's holding up the votes, it's these Medicaid orphans that are too hot to handle.
Delaying the votes on this GOP bill by a week, or even a month won't be enough to get the magic number of Republicans to vote for and pass the measure. The reason is Medicaid. So with time running out, it's time for McConnell to make like a surgeon and cut out the Medicaid part of this bill and focus on private coverage reforms only. That will perform the medical miracle of making things not only politically easier for the GOP, but actually achieving something that will do some good for the rest of the country too.
THE INHERENT RISKS OF BEING "HELPFUL"
by Bob Walsh
Many years ago I taught a class for CCW applicants. Successful completion was accepted as evidence of competence by many of the local agencies that issue CCW permits. I team-taught it with a local criminal lawyer.
One of the things we covered in some detail was sticking your nose into other people's business. There are risks inherent in this action and, generally speaking, you should avoid the risk by avoiding the action. A case in point.
The cops attempted to pull one Terence Lee Lenox, 47, over for suspected DUI in the vicinity of Newton, GA. He fled, crashed, and fled on foot.
Marcus Pitts, 47, a private citizen who happened to see all this, began to pursue with his pickup truck. When he caught Lenox, Pitts pulled a gun and shot Lenox in the neck.
Lenox was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Pitts was arrested by the local constabulary on unspecified charges relating to the unjustified discharge of a weapon.
Many years ago I taught a class for CCW applicants. Successful completion was accepted as evidence of competence by many of the local agencies that issue CCW permits. I team-taught it with a local criminal lawyer.
One of the things we covered in some detail was sticking your nose into other people's business. There are risks inherent in this action and, generally speaking, you should avoid the risk by avoiding the action. A case in point.
The cops attempted to pull one Terence Lee Lenox, 47, over for suspected DUI in the vicinity of Newton, GA. He fled, crashed, and fled on foot.
Marcus Pitts, 47, a private citizen who happened to see all this, began to pursue with his pickup truck. When he caught Lenox, Pitts pulled a gun and shot Lenox in the neck.
Lenox was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Pitts was arrested by the local constabulary on unspecified charges relating to the unjustified discharge of a weapon.
WHEN FOLLOWING THE LAW VIOLATES THE LAW
by Bob Walsh
It happens if you live in the formerly great state of California and you can get to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2006 Jose Arias (an illegal alien) filed a lawsuit against Angelo Dairy in Acampo. There were various wages and hours violations listed in the basic allegation. Rural Legal Assistance was representing Arias. Shortly before the case came to court the defendant's lawyer is alleged to have ratted Arias out to ICE to get his happy ass deported. (Apparently that actually did happen.)
In 2013 Arias filed a second lawsuit alleging retaliation under FLSA naming both the lawyer and the dairy. The Ninth Circuit has just ruled that action can go forward.
Just thought you might like to know that you need to be careful, you could end up being sued in federal court for following federal law.
It happens if you live in the formerly great state of California and you can get to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2006 Jose Arias (an illegal alien) filed a lawsuit against Angelo Dairy in Acampo. There were various wages and hours violations listed in the basic allegation. Rural Legal Assistance was representing Arias. Shortly before the case came to court the defendant's lawyer is alleged to have ratted Arias out to ICE to get his happy ass deported. (Apparently that actually did happen.)
In 2013 Arias filed a second lawsuit alleging retaliation under FLSA naming both the lawyer and the dairy. The Ninth Circuit has just ruled that action can go forward.
Just thought you might like to know that you need to be careful, you could end up being sued in federal court for following federal law.
ON JULY 1, CALIFORNIA WILL SUDDENLY GAIN 6 MILLION NEW CRIMINALS
Why California gun owners may be breaking the law on July 1
By Ryan Sabalow
The Sacramento Bee
June 26, 2017
Sweeping new gun laws passed last year by California voters and legislators require those with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to get rid of them by July 1.
The question is: How many of California’s 6 million-plus gun owners are actually going to comply, even though violators face potential jail time if they’re caught?
Talk to gun owners, retailers and pro-gun sheriffs across California and you’ll get something akin to an eye roll when they’re asked if gun owners are going to voluntarily part with their property because Democratic politicians and voters who favor gun control outnumber them and changed the law.
In conservative, pro-gun Redding this week, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko joked that gun owners were lining the block to hand their magazines in to the sheriff’s office (In reality, no one has turned one in). He said his deputies won’t be aggressively hunting for large-capacity magazines starting next month.
“We’re not going to be knocking on anybody’s door looking for them,” Bosenko said. “We’re essentially making law-abiding citizens into criminals with this new law.”
California banned the sale of high-capacity detachable magazines in 2000, but it remained legal to possess them, except in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Sunnyvale that enacted local bans. That changed this fall when voters and lawmakers passed overlapping gun laws that require Californians, with limited exceptions, to give up any magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Sometimes incorrectly called “clips,” magazines are the part inserted into a gun that holds ammunition and can be quickly popped in and out for rapid reloading.
Gun-control advocates say getting rid of magazines that make shooters capable of firing a rapid volley of bullets in a matter of seconds will reduce threats to police and make it harder for gunmen to kill as many people in mass shootings.
“There’s just a lot of data that shows that large-capacity magazines are particularly attractive to mass shooters and to individuals committing crimes against law enforcement,” said Ari Freilich, staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, one the backers of Proposition 63, the gun-control initiative that California voters passed last fall. “They do not have legitimate self-defense value.”
In a pending lawsuit challenging the ban, Chuck Michel, a prominent gun-rights attorney in Long Beach, disagreed.
“The reason for the popularity of these magazines is straightforward: In a confrontation with a violent attacker, having enough ammunition can be the difference between life and death,” he wrote. “Banning magazines over ten rounds is no more likely to reduce criminal abuse of guns than banning high horsepower engines is likely to reduce criminal abuse of automobiles.”
Magazines sales were never tracked and owners weren’t required to register them, so it’s not clear how many remain in circulation. Gun rights advocates say there could be potentially hundreds of thousands of them in California gun owners’ homes.
Many types of handguns sold in California prior to 2000 came with detachable magazines that held more than 10 rounds. Large-capacity magazines also were widely collected and used by owners of semiautomatic rifles. These include the controversial – but hugely popular – AR-style rifles. Similar magazines also have long been popular with owners of Ruger’s 10/22, a ubiquitous .22 caliber rifle used by target shooters and small-game hunters nationwide.
The law provides no state funds to compensate owners for their magazines, and there’s no way to track whether gun owners give them up.
The law does give California gun owners several options to get rid of their magazines, including moving them out of state, turning them into law enforcement, selling them to a licensed dealer or destroying them by July 1. Some gun shops also are offering to permanently modify magazines to make them legal.
Even the staunchest pro-gun sheriffs, including Bosenko, the Shasta County sheriff, say they’ll be more than happy to tack a magazine-possession charge on to a drug dealer’s or a gang member’s rap sheet should deputies catch them with a high-capacity magazine.
“This is one more thing we can add to their charges, absolutely,” said Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, an opponent of the law.
Voluntary compliance among otherwise law-abiding gun owners is another matter.
California cities with local ordinances haven’t had very many gun owners hand magazines in to police, though officers have removed some from circulation during the course of their investigations. The Los Angeles Police Department, for instance, seized nearly 9,000 magazines since it enacted a ban in 2015. Almost of all those magazines came from a cache police found inside a home of a gun collector who died in 2015. The department said it doesn’t track how many citizens voluntarily turned theirs in.
As of late last year, the City of Sunnyvale had six cases in which people handed in their magazines since the city enacted its ordinance in 2013, said Capt. Shawn Ahearn.
Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law who writes about Second Amendment issues, said gun owners ignore local ordinances banning magazines, a trend he expects to continue with a statewide ban.
“We see no compliance from gun owners,” he said. “As best as we can tell, no gun owners are giving up their high capacity magazines or selling them out of state.”
Gun control advocates such as Freilich said that because there’s no way to track magazines, gun owners living in cities with bans could have been getting rid of them through other means.
But Second Amendment advocates say that’s highly unlikely. They say gun owners just became more discrete.
“Why would you (get rid of them)?” said Christopher Lapinski, operations manager of Last Stand Tactical on Florin Road in Sacramento. “You have your Fourth Amendment, which is the right to due process. You can’t just take something away from somebody that they own without violating the Fourth Amendment.”
Some gun owners say they’re hanging on to their magazines in the hopes pending court challenges will block the ban. They also hope the federal government will become friendlier toward gun owners under the Trump Administration.
“We think that we will be successful in the long run,” said Sam Paredes, executor director of Gun Owners of California.
A federal judge in San Diego is expected to decide whether to issue an injunction blocking the ban before July 1. A federal judge in Sacramento recently declined to issue a temporary restraining order in a similar case.
Freilich said that even if the San Diego judge blocks the ban, he’s optimistic gun control-advocates will win on appeal, since numerous courts have sided with states and local governments that have enacted similar restrictions.
“(Courts) have consistently found (high-capacity magazines) are properly considered dangerous and unusual weapons,” Freilich said. “They are weapons of war that do not receive Second Amendment protections.”
The magazine ban isn’t the only pending law California’s gun owners face under the new gun regulations.
Starting in January, Californians who want to buy ammunition online or through catalogs will have to ship their purchases through a licensed dealer. In July 2019, ammunition buyers will have to undergo background checks at retailers. Under the existing rules, anyone age 18 or older (21 or older for handguns) can buy ammunition without a background check, and sellers need no special training or license.
Many California gun owners say they are stocking up on ammunition in advance of the restrictions, which they fear will lead to shortages, especially for rural shooters and hunters who have limited shopping options. Some had feared ammunition retailers such as Walmart would get out of the ammunition business rather than go through with the new licensing process.
But Walmart spokesman Charles Crowson said Wednesday the company was in the process of updating its “systems and processes to comply with the law.”
National ammunition sales have steadied since the Trump administration took office, but it’s a different story in California, said Alan Davis, a spokesman for the Wideners.com, an online ammunition retailer based in Tennessee.
“If you consider the percent of our overall orders that ‘normally’ ship to California, the state is up about 50 percent relative to the country as a whole,” Davis said in an email.
Some of the state’s largest cities – including Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles – already impose restrictions on mail-order ammunition sales.
EDITOR’S NOTE: How many times do I have to tell you gunners to leave Kookfornia for Texas? When you move to Texas you will discover that you are living in a gun-friendly state. With the proper permit from the feds, you can even own a .50 caliber machine gun.
Yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, go ahead and make my day!
By Ryan Sabalow
The Sacramento Bee
June 26, 2017
Sweeping new gun laws passed last year by California voters and legislators require those with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to get rid of them by July 1.
The question is: How many of California’s 6 million-plus gun owners are actually going to comply, even though violators face potential jail time if they’re caught?
Talk to gun owners, retailers and pro-gun sheriffs across California and you’ll get something akin to an eye roll when they’re asked if gun owners are going to voluntarily part with their property because Democratic politicians and voters who favor gun control outnumber them and changed the law.
In conservative, pro-gun Redding this week, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko joked that gun owners were lining the block to hand their magazines in to the sheriff’s office (In reality, no one has turned one in). He said his deputies won’t be aggressively hunting for large-capacity magazines starting next month.
“We’re not going to be knocking on anybody’s door looking for them,” Bosenko said. “We’re essentially making law-abiding citizens into criminals with this new law.”
California banned the sale of high-capacity detachable magazines in 2000, but it remained legal to possess them, except in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Sunnyvale that enacted local bans. That changed this fall when voters and lawmakers passed overlapping gun laws that require Californians, with limited exceptions, to give up any magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Sometimes incorrectly called “clips,” magazines are the part inserted into a gun that holds ammunition and can be quickly popped in and out for rapid reloading.
Gun-control advocates say getting rid of magazines that make shooters capable of firing a rapid volley of bullets in a matter of seconds will reduce threats to police and make it harder for gunmen to kill as many people in mass shootings.
“There’s just a lot of data that shows that large-capacity magazines are particularly attractive to mass shooters and to individuals committing crimes against law enforcement,” said Ari Freilich, staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, one the backers of Proposition 63, the gun-control initiative that California voters passed last fall. “They do not have legitimate self-defense value.”
In a pending lawsuit challenging the ban, Chuck Michel, a prominent gun-rights attorney in Long Beach, disagreed.
“The reason for the popularity of these magazines is straightforward: In a confrontation with a violent attacker, having enough ammunition can be the difference between life and death,” he wrote. “Banning magazines over ten rounds is no more likely to reduce criminal abuse of guns than banning high horsepower engines is likely to reduce criminal abuse of automobiles.”
Magazines sales were never tracked and owners weren’t required to register them, so it’s not clear how many remain in circulation. Gun rights advocates say there could be potentially hundreds of thousands of them in California gun owners’ homes.
Many types of handguns sold in California prior to 2000 came with detachable magazines that held more than 10 rounds. Large-capacity magazines also were widely collected and used by owners of semiautomatic rifles. These include the controversial – but hugely popular – AR-style rifles. Similar magazines also have long been popular with owners of Ruger’s 10/22, a ubiquitous .22 caliber rifle used by target shooters and small-game hunters nationwide.
The law provides no state funds to compensate owners for their magazines, and there’s no way to track whether gun owners give them up.
The law does give California gun owners several options to get rid of their magazines, including moving them out of state, turning them into law enforcement, selling them to a licensed dealer or destroying them by July 1. Some gun shops also are offering to permanently modify magazines to make them legal.
Even the staunchest pro-gun sheriffs, including Bosenko, the Shasta County sheriff, say they’ll be more than happy to tack a magazine-possession charge on to a drug dealer’s or a gang member’s rap sheet should deputies catch them with a high-capacity magazine.
“This is one more thing we can add to their charges, absolutely,” said Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, an opponent of the law.
Voluntary compliance among otherwise law-abiding gun owners is another matter.
California cities with local ordinances haven’t had very many gun owners hand magazines in to police, though officers have removed some from circulation during the course of their investigations. The Los Angeles Police Department, for instance, seized nearly 9,000 magazines since it enacted a ban in 2015. Almost of all those magazines came from a cache police found inside a home of a gun collector who died in 2015. The department said it doesn’t track how many citizens voluntarily turned theirs in.
As of late last year, the City of Sunnyvale had six cases in which people handed in their magazines since the city enacted its ordinance in 2013, said Capt. Shawn Ahearn.
Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law who writes about Second Amendment issues, said gun owners ignore local ordinances banning magazines, a trend he expects to continue with a statewide ban.
“We see no compliance from gun owners,” he said. “As best as we can tell, no gun owners are giving up their high capacity magazines or selling them out of state.”
Gun control advocates such as Freilich said that because there’s no way to track magazines, gun owners living in cities with bans could have been getting rid of them through other means.
But Second Amendment advocates say that’s highly unlikely. They say gun owners just became more discrete.
“Why would you (get rid of them)?” said Christopher Lapinski, operations manager of Last Stand Tactical on Florin Road in Sacramento. “You have your Fourth Amendment, which is the right to due process. You can’t just take something away from somebody that they own without violating the Fourth Amendment.”
Some gun owners say they’re hanging on to their magazines in the hopes pending court challenges will block the ban. They also hope the federal government will become friendlier toward gun owners under the Trump Administration.
“We think that we will be successful in the long run,” said Sam Paredes, executor director of Gun Owners of California.
A federal judge in San Diego is expected to decide whether to issue an injunction blocking the ban before July 1. A federal judge in Sacramento recently declined to issue a temporary restraining order in a similar case.
Freilich said that even if the San Diego judge blocks the ban, he’s optimistic gun control-advocates will win on appeal, since numerous courts have sided with states and local governments that have enacted similar restrictions.
“(Courts) have consistently found (high-capacity magazines) are properly considered dangerous and unusual weapons,” Freilich said. “They are weapons of war that do not receive Second Amendment protections.”
The magazine ban isn’t the only pending law California’s gun owners face under the new gun regulations.
Starting in January, Californians who want to buy ammunition online or through catalogs will have to ship their purchases through a licensed dealer. In July 2019, ammunition buyers will have to undergo background checks at retailers. Under the existing rules, anyone age 18 or older (21 or older for handguns) can buy ammunition without a background check, and sellers need no special training or license.
Many California gun owners say they are stocking up on ammunition in advance of the restrictions, which they fear will lead to shortages, especially for rural shooters and hunters who have limited shopping options. Some had feared ammunition retailers such as Walmart would get out of the ammunition business rather than go through with the new licensing process.
But Walmart spokesman Charles Crowson said Wednesday the company was in the process of updating its “systems and processes to comply with the law.”
National ammunition sales have steadied since the Trump administration took office, but it’s a different story in California, said Alan Davis, a spokesman for the Wideners.com, an online ammunition retailer based in Tennessee.
“If you consider the percent of our overall orders that ‘normally’ ship to California, the state is up about 50 percent relative to the country as a whole,” Davis said in an email.
Some of the state’s largest cities – including Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles – already impose restrictions on mail-order ammunition sales.
EDITOR’S NOTE: How many times do I have to tell you gunners to leave Kookfornia for Texas? When you move to Texas you will discover that you are living in a gun-friendly state. With the proper permit from the feds, you can even own a .50 caliber machine gun.
Yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, go ahead and make my day!
CHRISTIAN JACOBS, THE LITTLEST U.S. MARINE CORPS SERGEANT
Gold Star Wife Brittany Jacobs Shares Her Journey With Christian, Her Little Rock
By Amber Athey
The Daily Caller
June 26, 2017
Marine Sergeant Christopher Jacobs always told his wife, Brittany, and his son, Christian, “go big or go home,” and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing since his untimely death in 2011.
On October 24, 2011, Sgt. Jacobs — then 29 years old — was killed in a training accident in Twentynine Palms, California. Christian was just eight months old at the time.
Ever since, Brittany and Christian have traveled around the country keeping Sgt. Jacobs’ memory alive.
“[Christian] has cried wanting to know why his daddy can’t come down from heaven because he needs him,” Brittany told The Daily Caller. “He talks about his dad daily. He doesn’t cry over it like he used to now. He’s doing better with that, but he asks questions about him.”
Jacobs and her son first received national attention when they visited Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day in 2012. Jacobs says that was the first time she had seen her late husband’s headstone.
“It hits you all over again. When I saw that it was like a smack in my face. I cried,” she said, her voice breaking. “It hurts to go back and think about it.”
Initially, Jacobs had her friend take Christian away so she could be alone at the grave for a few minutes. But when Christian saw his mother crying, he ran back to her, kissed her forehead, and gave her a big squeeze.
Photographers caught the moment on camera and the photos went viral.
“He was barely over a year old when it happened,” Jacobs recalled. “I was getting calls before I even got home from Arlington that day. And I always think, you know, it’s gotta be Chris… It’s gotta be his daddy somehow shining through.”
“He knew what mommy needed,” Jacobs explained. “That’s my little rock.”
In 2015, CNN shared a video of Christian in the uniform “reading” a letter to his father on Memorial Day. Jacobs says Christian was too young to know how to read, so the words he spoke were made up on the spot.
“I hope for you to come back soon daddy, and I love you and hope for you to be here and I know you will be here,” he said. “And I love you.”
This year, the Jacobs family visited Arlington for Memorial Day again and had the opportunity to meet President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Christian ran right up to President Trump and asked him if he wanted to meet his dad.
“You know, he’s little. He doesn’t understand how important of a person President Trump is,” Jacobs explained. “He just saw him as this special guy that he sees on TV. And he wanted to show him his daddy. Just the innocence of it was unbelievable.”
Trump and Pence agreed to go with Christian, now six years old, to see his father’s grave. Christian told them all about his dad and showed them family photos.
“I remember Trump goes, ‘He’s an aggressive little guy! I like that!’” Jacobs recalled.
The meeting with Trump led to an interview on Fox & Friends, and the interview led to an invitation to the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference.
“We got a call from the Faith & Freedom Coalition, the next week they were having an event in DC and they took us up there and Christian got to meet President Trump again,” Jacobs recalled.
President Trump spoke about the Jacobs family during his speech at the conference and led a standing ovation for Christian.
“I bawled. It was a special moment. My son doesn’t get it right now but soon he will,” Jacobs said.
Many people at Arlington remember Christian as the little boy who wears a mini Marine uniform so that he can look just like his dad. In fact, Christian now says he wants to be a Marine when he grows up.
“This is very new to him,” Jacobs explained. “At one point he was saying he didn’t want to be a marine because they get killed.”
The switch happened when Jacobs finally took Christian to Twentynine Palms to see where his father died.
Sgt. Jacobs survived combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan but was killed while training with an amphibious assault vehicle in Twentynine Palms. Christian told the Lieutenant who showed him around the area that he wants to operate the vehicles so that he can prevent other people from dying like his dad.
“His daddy always told him ‘go big or go home,’” Jacobs said. “His daddy was a leader and Christian is a leader too.”
Jacobs said Christian has been a stabilizing force for her while dealing with her husband’s death.
“People say, ‘you do so much for your son’ but they don’t understand how much he’s done for me,” she explained. “That has been my little rock.”
By Amber Athey
The Daily Caller
June 26, 2017
Marine Sergeant Christopher Jacobs always told his wife, Brittany, and his son, Christian, “go big or go home,” and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing since his untimely death in 2011.
On October 24, 2011, Sgt. Jacobs — then 29 years old — was killed in a training accident in Twentynine Palms, California. Christian was just eight months old at the time.
Ever since, Brittany and Christian have traveled around the country keeping Sgt. Jacobs’ memory alive.
“[Christian] has cried wanting to know why his daddy can’t come down from heaven because he needs him,” Brittany told The Daily Caller. “He talks about his dad daily. He doesn’t cry over it like he used to now. He’s doing better with that, but he asks questions about him.”
Jacobs and her son first received national attention when they visited Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day in 2012. Jacobs says that was the first time she had seen her late husband’s headstone.
“It hits you all over again. When I saw that it was like a smack in my face. I cried,” she said, her voice breaking. “It hurts to go back and think about it.”
Initially, Jacobs had her friend take Christian away so she could be alone at the grave for a few minutes. But when Christian saw his mother crying, he ran back to her, kissed her forehead, and gave her a big squeeze.
Photographers caught the moment on camera and the photos went viral.
“He was barely over a year old when it happened,” Jacobs recalled. “I was getting calls before I even got home from Arlington that day. And I always think, you know, it’s gotta be Chris… It’s gotta be his daddy somehow shining through.”
“He knew what mommy needed,” Jacobs explained. “That’s my little rock.”
In 2015, CNN shared a video of Christian in the uniform “reading” a letter to his father on Memorial Day. Jacobs says Christian was too young to know how to read, so the words he spoke were made up on the spot.
“I hope for you to come back soon daddy, and I love you and hope for you to be here and I know you will be here,” he said. “And I love you.”
This year, the Jacobs family visited Arlington for Memorial Day again and had the opportunity to meet President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Christian ran right up to President Trump and asked him if he wanted to meet his dad.
“You know, he’s little. He doesn’t understand how important of a person President Trump is,” Jacobs explained. “He just saw him as this special guy that he sees on TV. And he wanted to show him his daddy. Just the innocence of it was unbelievable.”
Trump and Pence agreed to go with Christian, now six years old, to see his father’s grave. Christian told them all about his dad and showed them family photos.
“I remember Trump goes, ‘He’s an aggressive little guy! I like that!’” Jacobs recalled.
The meeting with Trump led to an interview on Fox & Friends, and the interview led to an invitation to the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference.
“We got a call from the Faith & Freedom Coalition, the next week they were having an event in DC and they took us up there and Christian got to meet President Trump again,” Jacobs recalled.
President Trump spoke about the Jacobs family during his speech at the conference and led a standing ovation for Christian.
“I bawled. It was a special moment. My son doesn’t get it right now but soon he will,” Jacobs said.
Many people at Arlington remember Christian as the little boy who wears a mini Marine uniform so that he can look just like his dad. In fact, Christian now says he wants to be a Marine when he grows up.
“This is very new to him,” Jacobs explained. “At one point he was saying he didn’t want to be a marine because they get killed.”
The switch happened when Jacobs finally took Christian to Twentynine Palms to see where his father died.
Sgt. Jacobs survived combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan but was killed while training with an amphibious assault vehicle in Twentynine Palms. Christian told the Lieutenant who showed him around the area that he wants to operate the vehicles so that he can prevent other people from dying like his dad.
“His daddy always told him ‘go big or go home,’” Jacobs said. “His daddy was a leader and Christian is a leader too.”
Jacobs said Christian has been a stabilizing force for her while dealing with her husband’s death.
“People say, ‘you do so much for your son’ but they don’t understand how much he’s done for me,” she explained. “That has been my little rock.”
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
WE MAY BE GETTING A GOOD FUXING
BarkGrowlBite
June 27, 2017
China has developed a bullet train that can attain a speed of 248 mph and will cruise at 217mph. The train is all set to serve the Beijing to Shanghai run and will reduce the current high speed rail travel tine from 5 hours to 3-1/2 hours.
The train has been named ‘fuxing’ which means ‘rejuvenation’ in Chinese. Chinese engineers developed the Fuxing by acquiring the best technologies from Japanese, German and French bullet trains.
The Chinese plan to export the Fuxing to markets in Europe and the U.S.
It would take Fuxing a little over an hour to travel between Houston and Dallas.
I suggest they change the train’s name. Americans would have a ball with that fucking Fuxing name. And if the train were to go between Houston and Dallas, them East Texas Baptists would absolutely not stand for any fuxing.
June 27, 2017
China has developed a bullet train that can attain a speed of 248 mph and will cruise at 217mph. The train is all set to serve the Beijing to Shanghai run and will reduce the current high speed rail travel tine from 5 hours to 3-1/2 hours.
The train has been named ‘fuxing’ which means ‘rejuvenation’ in Chinese. Chinese engineers developed the Fuxing by acquiring the best technologies from Japanese, German and French bullet trains.
The Chinese plan to export the Fuxing to markets in Europe and the U.S.
It would take Fuxing a little over an hour to travel between Houston and Dallas.
I suggest they change the train’s name. Americans would have a ball with that fucking Fuxing name. And if the train were to go between Houston and Dallas, them East Texas Baptists would absolutely not stand for any fuxing.
NOW THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A SHOT
by Bob Walsh
Adam Johnson is a Sergeant with the Austin, TX police mounted unit. Larry McQuillams, 49, is an asshole who is now a dead asshole.
At about 0230 in the a.m. Johnson became aware of McQuillams who was armed with two rifles and shooting up things in beautiful Austin. That offended Johnson who fired one shot from his S&W .40 pistol at 312 feet, hitting McQuillams square in the chest. McQuillams went down like a sack of wet laundry and died shortly after, possibly from Johnson's shot and possibly from a self-inflicted wound fired after Johnson shot him.
In any case 104 yards with a service handgun in the dark is one HELL of a shot.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This occurred in November 2014 and Johnson was reported to have taken his shot while holding the reins of two horses in his other hand.
Adam Johnson is a Sergeant with the Austin, TX police mounted unit. Larry McQuillams, 49, is an asshole who is now a dead asshole.
At about 0230 in the a.m. Johnson became aware of McQuillams who was armed with two rifles and shooting up things in beautiful Austin. That offended Johnson who fired one shot from his S&W .40 pistol at 312 feet, hitting McQuillams square in the chest. McQuillams went down like a sack of wet laundry and died shortly after, possibly from Johnson's shot and possibly from a self-inflicted wound fired after Johnson shot him.
In any case 104 yards with a service handgun in the dark is one HELL of a shot.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This occurred in November 2014 and Johnson was reported to have taken his shot while holding the reins of two horses in his other hand.
DUTERTE KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT THE WAR ON DRUGS
Filipino president Duterte marks one year in power as it emerges 5,000 people have died and police have arrested more than 80,000 during his brutal war on drugs
By Scott Campbell
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has marked a year in power with 5,000 people killed and 80,000 arrested in his brutal war on drugs.
The outspoken politician took power at the end of June last year vowing to halt substance abuse and lawlessness that he saw as 'symptoms of virulent social disease'.
Government officials claim that crime has dropped because of his campaign with thousands of drug dealers behind bars.
They say that a million users have also registered for treatment and future generations of Filipinos are being protected.
Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said: 'There are thousands of people who are being killed, yes. There are millions who live, see?'
n the first 11 months of Duterte's rule, police say 3,155 suspects were shot dead in anti-drug operations.
Police say they have investigated a further 2,000 drug-related killings, and have yet to identify a motive in at least another 7,000 murders and homicides.
But a growing chorus of critics including human rights activists, lawyers and the country's influential Catholic Church dispute the authorities' claims of success.
They say police have summarily executed drug suspects with impunity, terrorising poorer communities and exacerbating the lawlessnesss.
In the Navotas fishing district there were nine killings in a single night earlier this month.
Local resident Mary Joy Royo said a dozen gunmen arrived on motorbikes and abducted her mother and stepfather.
Their corpses were found later with execution-style gunshots to the head and torso.
She said: 'They should be targeting the drug lords. The victims of the drug war are the poor people.'
Filipino priest Amado Picardal said: 'This president behaves as if he is above the law - that he is the law. He has ignored the rule of law and human rights.'
Critics say the death toll is far above the 5,000 that police have identified as either drug-related killings or suspects shot dead during police operations.
Most victims are small-time users and dealers while the masterminds behind the lucrative drug trade are largely unknown and at large, it is claimed.
In October, the Hague-based International Criminal Court said it could investigate the killings if they were 'committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.'
Police operations were halted for much of February after it emerged that anti-drug police abducted and killed a South Korean businessman last year, but the outcry over the rising body count has rarely slowed the killing or led to prosecutions.
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights is investigating 680 drug-war killings.
Chito Gascon, the commission's chairman, said: 'In this country the basic problem is impunity. No one is ever held to account for the worst violations. Ever.'
Police chief Albayalde says that the force's Internal Affairs Service (IAS) investigates all allegations of abuse by his officers.
He added: 'We do not tolerate senseless killings. We do not just kill anybody.'
Indeed, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's own data suggests crystal meth has become even cheaper in Manila.
In July 2016, a gram of the substance cost 1,200-11,000 pesos (£19-£172), according to official figures - while last month a gram cost 1,000-15,000 pesos (£16-£234).
Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium said: 'If prices have fallen, it's an indication that enforcement actions have not been effective.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Compare Duterte’s war on drugs with our war on drugs. Duterte comes down as hard on the users as on the dealers. The idea is to reduce, if not eliminate, the market for illegal drugs by getting the users off the street. Much of that war is fought in the poor communities.
In the U.S., we weep and wail about ruining the future of users if they are arrested. And if we concentrate our fight in those communities where illegal drugs are most prevalent, we are accused of racial discrimination against blacks. President Obama released drug offenders, mostly dealers, from federal prisons by commuting their sentences. The DEA is not going after the growers and suppliers of marijuana in those states where pot is legal. Instead of getting the users off the streets, we go after the dealers, thereby leaving a market to serve the insatiable hunger Americans have for illegal drugs. But when the drug kingpins get taken down, whether here or in Mexico, they are quickly replaced by underlings.
The Filipinos are fighting a take-no-prisoners war on drugs and winning decisively. While we too are winning the war on drugs, there is no end in sight because of the way we are fighting it.
By Scott Campbell
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has marked a year in power with 5,000 people killed and 80,000 arrested in his brutal war on drugs.
The outspoken politician took power at the end of June last year vowing to halt substance abuse and lawlessness that he saw as 'symptoms of virulent social disease'.
Government officials claim that crime has dropped because of his campaign with thousands of drug dealers behind bars.
They say that a million users have also registered for treatment and future generations of Filipinos are being protected.
Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said: 'There are thousands of people who are being killed, yes. There are millions who live, see?'
n the first 11 months of Duterte's rule, police say 3,155 suspects were shot dead in anti-drug operations.
Police say they have investigated a further 2,000 drug-related killings, and have yet to identify a motive in at least another 7,000 murders and homicides.
But a growing chorus of critics including human rights activists, lawyers and the country's influential Catholic Church dispute the authorities' claims of success.
They say police have summarily executed drug suspects with impunity, terrorising poorer communities and exacerbating the lawlessnesss.
In the Navotas fishing district there were nine killings in a single night earlier this month.
Local resident Mary Joy Royo said a dozen gunmen arrived on motorbikes and abducted her mother and stepfather.
Their corpses were found later with execution-style gunshots to the head and torso.
She said: 'They should be targeting the drug lords. The victims of the drug war are the poor people.'
Filipino priest Amado Picardal said: 'This president behaves as if he is above the law - that he is the law. He has ignored the rule of law and human rights.'
Critics say the death toll is far above the 5,000 that police have identified as either drug-related killings or suspects shot dead during police operations.
Most victims are small-time users and dealers while the masterminds behind the lucrative drug trade are largely unknown and at large, it is claimed.
In October, the Hague-based International Criminal Court said it could investigate the killings if they were 'committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.'
Police operations were halted for much of February after it emerged that anti-drug police abducted and killed a South Korean businessman last year, but the outcry over the rising body count has rarely slowed the killing or led to prosecutions.
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights is investigating 680 drug-war killings.
Chito Gascon, the commission's chairman, said: 'In this country the basic problem is impunity. No one is ever held to account for the worst violations. Ever.'
Police chief Albayalde says that the force's Internal Affairs Service (IAS) investigates all allegations of abuse by his officers.
He added: 'We do not tolerate senseless killings. We do not just kill anybody.'
Indeed, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's own data suggests crystal meth has become even cheaper in Manila.
In July 2016, a gram of the substance cost 1,200-11,000 pesos (£19-£172), according to official figures - while last month a gram cost 1,000-15,000 pesos (£16-£234).
Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium said: 'If prices have fallen, it's an indication that enforcement actions have not been effective.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Compare Duterte’s war on drugs with our war on drugs. Duterte comes down as hard on the users as on the dealers. The idea is to reduce, if not eliminate, the market for illegal drugs by getting the users off the street. Much of that war is fought in the poor communities.
In the U.S., we weep and wail about ruining the future of users if they are arrested. And if we concentrate our fight in those communities where illegal drugs are most prevalent, we are accused of racial discrimination against blacks. President Obama released drug offenders, mostly dealers, from federal prisons by commuting their sentences. The DEA is not going after the growers and suppliers of marijuana in those states where pot is legal. Instead of getting the users off the streets, we go after the dealers, thereby leaving a market to serve the insatiable hunger Americans have for illegal drugs. But when the drug kingpins get taken down, whether here or in Mexico, they are quickly replaced by underlings.
The Filipinos are fighting a take-no-prisoners war on drugs and winning decisively. While we too are winning the war on drugs, there is no end in sight because of the way we are fighting it.
PISS POOR ENGLISH LED TO DEADLY BUNGLED BUNGEE JUMP
Girl, 17, died when she bungee jumped off a bridge in Spain without being tied to the ledge after an instructor with 'very bad English' said 'no jump' and she thought he said 'now jump'
By Gareth Davies
Daily Mail
June 26, 2017
A 17-year-old girl who died when she bungee jumped off a bridge in Spain without being tied to the ledge plunged to her death in a mix-up over an instructor's English.
Vera Mol had a rope attached to her, but it wasn't tied to anything else when she took part in the popular adrenaline-fuelled activity on the bridge of Cabezon de la Sal in Cantabria back in 2015.
Her instructor told her, 'no jump', but his pronunciation was so bad the teenager thought he had said 'now jump' so she leapt to her untimely death.
The instructor, who has not been named, has appeared in court accused of causing the Dutch girl's death.
Judges in the court of Cantabria, northern Spain, say the instructor should have checked for ID to make sure Vera was 18 years old, adding that his English was 'macarronico', which translates to 'very bad'.
The court heard how tragic Vera Mol died after the misunderstanding during the jumping process, which could have been avoided had the instructor used the phrase 'don't jump' as opposed to 'no jump' as was reportedly the correct protocol.
It is also alleged the bridge was not supposed to be used for bungee jumping under Spanish regulations.
Flowtrack, who run the bungee jumping company which employed the man, claim it was an accident, but Martijn Klom from the company admitted the girl's death was caused by a misunderstanding when she was receiving instructions for the jump.
He confirmed the girl jumped when she was tied by the rope, but without being secured to the bridge.
By Gareth Davies
Daily Mail
June 26, 2017
A 17-year-old girl who died when she bungee jumped off a bridge in Spain without being tied to the ledge plunged to her death in a mix-up over an instructor's English.
Vera Mol had a rope attached to her, but it wasn't tied to anything else when she took part in the popular adrenaline-fuelled activity on the bridge of Cabezon de la Sal in Cantabria back in 2015.
Her instructor told her, 'no jump', but his pronunciation was so bad the teenager thought he had said 'now jump' so she leapt to her untimely death.
The instructor, who has not been named, has appeared in court accused of causing the Dutch girl's death.
Judges in the court of Cantabria, northern Spain, say the instructor should have checked for ID to make sure Vera was 18 years old, adding that his English was 'macarronico', which translates to 'very bad'.
The court heard how tragic Vera Mol died after the misunderstanding during the jumping process, which could have been avoided had the instructor used the phrase 'don't jump' as opposed to 'no jump' as was reportedly the correct protocol.
It is also alleged the bridge was not supposed to be used for bungee jumping under Spanish regulations.
Flowtrack, who run the bungee jumping company which employed the man, claim it was an accident, but Martijn Klom from the company admitted the girl's death was caused by a misunderstanding when she was receiving instructions for the jump.
He confirmed the girl jumped when she was tied by the rope, but without being secured to the bridge.
Monday, June 26, 2017
ATTN BLM: WHITE COPS ARE EVEN SHOOTING BLACK COPS
Off-duty black police officer mistakenly shot by white on-duty officer from the same department in St. Louis who apparently mistook him for a fleeing suspect
BY Associated Press and Regina F. Graham
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
An off-duty black police officer in St. Louis was mistakenly shot by a white on-duty officer from the same department who apparently mistook him for a fleeing suspect, authorities said.
The 38-year-old black officer was off-duty when he heard a commotion near his home and ran toward it with his service weapon to try to help his fellow officers on Wednesday night, police said.
St. Louis' interim police chief, Lawrence O'Toole, said the incident began when officers with an anti-crime task force followed a stolen car and were twice fired upon by its occupants.
One suspect was shot in an ankle and was arrested, along with another teenager who tried to run from police, O'Toole said. A third suspect is being sought as the others are being held on $500,000 cash bond.
When the off-duty officer who lived nearby heard the commotion and arrived at the scene Wednesday night to help, two on-duty officers ordered him to the ground but then recognized him and told him to stand up and walk toward them.
As he was doing so, another officer arrived and shot the off-duty officer 'apparently not recognizing' him, police said.
The police department as of Saturday hadn't disclosed the names of the officers, who have been placed on routine administrative leave as the matter is investigated.
Police described the black officer as an 11-year department veteran and said he was treated at a hospital and released. The officer who shot him is 36 and has been with the department more than eight years.
The black officer's lawyer, Rufus J. Tate Jr., discussed the shooting with St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI, but the officer isn't named in that report.
Tate told the station that his client identified himself to the on-duty officers at the scene and complied with their commands.
The lawyer questioned the white officer's account to police that he shot the off-duty officer because he feared for his safety.
'In the police report you have so far, there is no description of a threat he received. So we have a real problem with that. But this has been a national discussion for the past two years. There is this perception that a black man is automatically feared,' Tate said.
Tate did not reply to several phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Saturday.
It was in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson where a white officer shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, three years ago, setting off months of protests, some of which were violent.
The officer, who later left the force, wasn't charged, which further strained relations between the area's black community and the police.
But there have been several notable instances over the years in which an officer mistakenly shot a colleague.
In 2009, 25-year-old New York City police Officer Omar J. Edwards, who was black, was shot and killed by a white officer on a Harlem street while in street clothes. He had just finished his shift, and had his service weapon out, chasing a man who had broken into his car, police said.
Three plainclothes officers on routine patrol arrived at the scene and yelled for the two to stop, police said.
One officer, Andrew Dunton, opened fire and hit Edwards three times as he turned toward them with his service weapon.
It wasn't until medical workers were on scene that it was determined he was a police officer. A grand jury voted not to indict Dunton.
A year earlier in the suburb of White Plains, New York, a black off-duty Mount Vernon police officer was killed by a Westchester County policeman while holding an assault suspect at gunpoint.
And in Providence, Rhode Island, an off-duty black police sergeant, Cornel Young Jr., was accidentally killed by two uniformed white colleagues in 2000 while he was trying to break up a fight on a parking lot. Young was the son of the department's highest-ranking black officer at the time.
A jury later rejected a $20 million federal lawsuit by Young's mother against the city and its police force, who she claimed didn't properly train officers about how to identify their off-duty and plainclothes counterparts.
Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics show such accidental police-on-police shootings occur at a low rate given the tense, confusing circumstances officers routinely face.
In 2013, according to online FBI figures, only two officers were killed when mistakenly shot as a result of crossfire, mistaken for a subject, or involved in other firearm mishaps. The FBI statistics don't specify the race of the officers killed.
BY Associated Press and Regina F. Graham
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
An off-duty black police officer in St. Louis was mistakenly shot by a white on-duty officer from the same department who apparently mistook him for a fleeing suspect, authorities said.
The 38-year-old black officer was off-duty when he heard a commotion near his home and ran toward it with his service weapon to try to help his fellow officers on Wednesday night, police said.
St. Louis' interim police chief, Lawrence O'Toole, said the incident began when officers with an anti-crime task force followed a stolen car and were twice fired upon by its occupants.
One suspect was shot in an ankle and was arrested, along with another teenager who tried to run from police, O'Toole said. A third suspect is being sought as the others are being held on $500,000 cash bond.
When the off-duty officer who lived nearby heard the commotion and arrived at the scene Wednesday night to help, two on-duty officers ordered him to the ground but then recognized him and told him to stand up and walk toward them.
As he was doing so, another officer arrived and shot the off-duty officer 'apparently not recognizing' him, police said.
The police department as of Saturday hadn't disclosed the names of the officers, who have been placed on routine administrative leave as the matter is investigated.
Police described the black officer as an 11-year department veteran and said he was treated at a hospital and released. The officer who shot him is 36 and has been with the department more than eight years.
The black officer's lawyer, Rufus J. Tate Jr., discussed the shooting with St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI, but the officer isn't named in that report.
Tate told the station that his client identified himself to the on-duty officers at the scene and complied with their commands.
The lawyer questioned the white officer's account to police that he shot the off-duty officer because he feared for his safety.
'In the police report you have so far, there is no description of a threat he received. So we have a real problem with that. But this has been a national discussion for the past two years. There is this perception that a black man is automatically feared,' Tate said.
Tate did not reply to several phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Saturday.
It was in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson where a white officer shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, three years ago, setting off months of protests, some of which were violent.
The officer, who later left the force, wasn't charged, which further strained relations between the area's black community and the police.
But there have been several notable instances over the years in which an officer mistakenly shot a colleague.
In 2009, 25-year-old New York City police Officer Omar J. Edwards, who was black, was shot and killed by a white officer on a Harlem street while in street clothes. He had just finished his shift, and had his service weapon out, chasing a man who had broken into his car, police said.
Three plainclothes officers on routine patrol arrived at the scene and yelled for the two to stop, police said.
One officer, Andrew Dunton, opened fire and hit Edwards three times as he turned toward them with his service weapon.
It wasn't until medical workers were on scene that it was determined he was a police officer. A grand jury voted not to indict Dunton.
A year earlier in the suburb of White Plains, New York, a black off-duty Mount Vernon police officer was killed by a Westchester County policeman while holding an assault suspect at gunpoint.
And in Providence, Rhode Island, an off-duty black police sergeant, Cornel Young Jr., was accidentally killed by two uniformed white colleagues in 2000 while he was trying to break up a fight on a parking lot. Young was the son of the department's highest-ranking black officer at the time.
A jury later rejected a $20 million federal lawsuit by Young's mother against the city and its police force, who she claimed didn't properly train officers about how to identify their off-duty and plainclothes counterparts.
Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics show such accidental police-on-police shootings occur at a low rate given the tense, confusing circumstances officers routinely face.
In 2013, according to online FBI figures, only two officers were killed when mistakenly shot as a result of crossfire, mistaken for a subject, or involved in other firearm mishaps. The FBI statistics don't specify the race of the officers killed.
DESPERATE POVERTY PLUS STUPIDITY CAN EQUAL DEATH
by Bob Walsh
An oil tanker rolled over on a highway in Pakistan yesterday. Many of the locals rushed to the scene of the wreck with containers, attempting to scrounge whatever of the contents of the tanker (kerosene or fuel oil maybe) that they could. Something happened, or somebody did something stupid and the tanker went BOOM. They think about 150 people died in the fireball.
It must truly suck to be that poor. I just can't imagine it.
An oil tanker rolled over on a highway in Pakistan yesterday. Many of the locals rushed to the scene of the wreck with containers, attempting to scrounge whatever of the contents of the tanker (kerosene or fuel oil maybe) that they could. Something happened, or somebody did something stupid and the tanker went BOOM. They think about 150 people died in the fireball.
It must truly suck to be that poor. I just can't imagine it.
CALIFORNIA WOMAN SHOULD BE THANKFUL SHE WAS NOT CHARGED EXTRA FOR THAT FROG IN HER SALAD
Disgusted diner finds a DEAD FROG in her salad at a California pizza restaurant and is only offered a $50 gift card in compensation
By Matthew Wright
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
A woman was left disgusted after she found a dead frog in her salad at a California pizza restaurant.
Shawna C posted a scathing Yelp review on June 14 describing the sickening dining experience she had at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in West Covina.
She wrote: 'I was about 4 bites into it and I noticed it tasted a little different.'
'I thought maybe the ranch dressing was a little bitter and after mixing the salad around some more I found a dead baby frog.
'Yes I said FROG! I've never experienced anything in my life like that.'
The restaurant manager offered to compensate her meal when Shawna told him what happened.
But she declined, and said they wouldn't be eating there any more.
'He explained that there [sic] produce comes from a vendor but don't they wash there vegs before serving?
'I told him this frog could contain salmonella and who knows how long it's been sitting in a produce bag and he still made us pay for our drinks which consisting of three beers total!
Shawna was irate at having to pay for her drinks in addition to having to find a new place for her party to have a meal.
She spoke with corporate, who offered her a $50 gift card to which she thought was a 'joke'.
Krysteen Romero, General Manager of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, saw the post and responded on June 22 apologizing for failing to handle the situation in a timely manner.
'We take situations like this very seriously and have launched an internal investigation including discussions with our suppliers and distributors,' she said.
By Matthew Wright
Daily Mail
June 25, 2017
A woman was left disgusted after she found a dead frog in her salad at a California pizza restaurant.
Shawna C posted a scathing Yelp review on June 14 describing the sickening dining experience she had at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in West Covina.
She wrote: 'I was about 4 bites into it and I noticed it tasted a little different.'
'I thought maybe the ranch dressing was a little bitter and after mixing the salad around some more I found a dead baby frog.
'Yes I said FROG! I've never experienced anything in my life like that.'
The restaurant manager offered to compensate her meal when Shawna told him what happened.
But she declined, and said they wouldn't be eating there any more.
'He explained that there [sic] produce comes from a vendor but don't they wash there vegs before serving?
'I told him this frog could contain salmonella and who knows how long it's been sitting in a produce bag and he still made us pay for our drinks which consisting of three beers total!
Shawna was irate at having to pay for her drinks in addition to having to find a new place for her party to have a meal.
She spoke with corporate, who offered her a $50 gift card to which she thought was a 'joke'.
Krysteen Romero, General Manager of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, saw the post and responded on June 22 apologizing for failing to handle the situation in a timely manner.
'We take situations like this very seriously and have launched an internal investigation including discussions with our suppliers and distributors,' she said.
AS SHARP AS THE SPINES ON A CACTUS … BUT
Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin went camping in the Mojave Desert. After they got their tent all set up, both women fell sound asleep.
Some hours later, Huma wakes Hillary and says, 'Honey, look up, what do you see? '
Hillary replies, 'I see millions of stars.'
‘What does that tell you?' asked Huma.
Hillary ponders for a minute then says, 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.’
‘What's it tell you, Huma?'
‘Hillie, you may be as sharp as the spines on a cactus, but it tells me someone stole the fucking tent.’
Some hours later, Huma wakes Hillary and says, 'Honey, look up, what do you see? '
Hillary replies, 'I see millions of stars.'
‘What does that tell you?' asked Huma.
Hillary ponders for a minute then says, 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.’
‘What's it tell you, Huma?'
‘Hillie, you may be as sharp as the spines on a cactus, but it tells me someone stole the fucking tent.’
Sunday, June 25, 2017
SOUTH AFRICAN SHOTGUN WEDDING
Limpopo man to be forced to ‘marry’ the donkey he raped
Capricorn Voice
June 22, 2017
LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA -- After the recent incident at Roadhouse village, the owner of the donkey insists the man must make the donkey his wife, by marrying the animal.
The matter came to the attention of locals after the owner reported the matter to the local headman that a local resident was “found raping a donkey”. It is believed that it was not the first time the man had been involved in such an incident.
The owner of the donkey said he wants the man to take the donkey as his wife.
“When I went to him he said he was sorry about it but I’m not satisfied as it was not for the first time that he committed the same act,” said the owner.
The alleged perpetrator was summoned by the community structures but he refused to appear.
Acting Headman Daniel Ngobeni confirmed the incident.
“Because of the man’s absence we have transferred the matter to the Shigalo Tribal Authority Council,” he added.
The Secretary of the Shigalo Tribal Authority Council, Thompson Ntlamu, also confirmed the matter. “We summoned the man and he will appear to answer to charges against him,” he said.
Capricorn Voice
June 22, 2017
LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA -- After the recent incident at Roadhouse village, the owner of the donkey insists the man must make the donkey his wife, by marrying the animal.
The matter came to the attention of locals after the owner reported the matter to the local headman that a local resident was “found raping a donkey”. It is believed that it was not the first time the man had been involved in such an incident.
The owner of the donkey said he wants the man to take the donkey as his wife.
“When I went to him he said he was sorry about it but I’m not satisfied as it was not for the first time that he committed the same act,” said the owner.
The alleged perpetrator was summoned by the community structures but he refused to appear.
Acting Headman Daniel Ngobeni confirmed the incident.
“Because of the man’s absence we have transferred the matter to the Shigalo Tribal Authority Council,” he added.
The Secretary of the Shigalo Tribal Authority Council, Thompson Ntlamu, also confirmed the matter. “We summoned the man and he will appear to answer to charges against him,” he said.
BERNIE IS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR FRAUD ..... REALLY.
by Bob Walsh
Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane are under investigation by the FBI for bank fraud.
Saunders was trying to get $10 mill for Burlington College back in 2010. He was president of this fine institution of higher learning at the time. It has since been closed down.
Mrs Sanders is alleged to have fudged the numbers on donor information. Bernie is alleged to have used his political position to pressure the bank into approving the loan.
Bernie claims he is being targeted by Trump fanatics. He didn't claim the basic assertions were false. I somehow have a sneaking hunch the FBI would not be investigating if there was not at least some minimal evidence to support an investigation.
Both Bernie and Jane have lawyered up. That's what guilty people do.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Whoa there, Bob, not so fast! Does that mean Trump is guilty of obstructing justice in that Russian thing he's been denying? He's hired a top notch criminal attorney to represent him.
Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane are under investigation by the FBI for bank fraud.
Saunders was trying to get $10 mill for Burlington College back in 2010. He was president of this fine institution of higher learning at the time. It has since been closed down.
Mrs Sanders is alleged to have fudged the numbers on donor information. Bernie is alleged to have used his political position to pressure the bank into approving the loan.
Bernie claims he is being targeted by Trump fanatics. He didn't claim the basic assertions were false. I somehow have a sneaking hunch the FBI would not be investigating if there was not at least some minimal evidence to support an investigation.
Both Bernie and Jane have lawyered up. That's what guilty people do.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Whoa there, Bob, not so fast! Does that mean Trump is guilty of obstructing justice in that Russian thing he's been denying? He's hired a top notch criminal attorney to represent him.
BILL CLINTON’S AND DONALD TRUMP’S PEDOPHILE BUDDY GOT SWEETHEART DEAL FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FEDS
Feds explain sweet deal for billionaire sex offender Epstein
by Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
June 23, 2017
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. -- Federal prosecutors went on the offensive this month, denying allegations that they bowed to pressure from billionaire Palm Beach resident Jeffrey Epstein and his high-priced lawyers at the expense of dozens of teenage girls he sexually abused.
In their first public comment since 2007 — when they negotiated a deal that allowed Epstein to escape federal charges — prosecutors filed hundreds of pages of documents in U.S. District Court, explaining what led to the now infamous non-prosecution agreement that has been decried as “a sweetheart deal.”
Contrary to claims by attorneys representing two of Epstein’s victims in a lawsuit against the federal government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafana said she and her superiors were trying to help the traumatized young women when they agreed to let Epstein plead guilty to state prostitution charges.
The now-64-year-old money manager, who spends most of his time on his estate in the Virgin Islands, served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County Stockade. He was allowed to leave each day to go to work.
Hoping to persuade U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to throw out the lawsuit that accuses the government of violating the federal Crime Victims Rights Act, Villafana said she tried to keep Epstein’s victims informed about the investigation and the eventual plea deal. But, she said, negotiations were sensitive and neither Epstein, his victims nor their attorneys made it easy.
For instance, she said, most of the young women were extremely reluctant — or simply refused — to testify against Epstein, who had paid them to give him sexually-charged massages at his mansion.
One of the women who is now suing the government insisted Epstein never abused her, Villafana wrote in a sworn affidavit.
“I hope Jeffrey, nothing happens to Jeffrey because he’s an awesome man and it would really be a shame,” the woman, identified only as Jane Doe 2, told FBI agents in 2007.
While Villafana said she didn’t believe her, she also understood the young woman’s suffering. Further, she knew she couldn’t force her or Epstein’s more than two dozen other victims to testify against him.
Jane Doe 1, who is also suing the government, agreed to testify. But Villafana said one victim wouldn’t have been enough to convict Epstein.
Rather than let Epstein use his considerable influence to evade prosecution, she and top officials at the U.S. Justice Department crafted the plea deal.
In exchange for pleading guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and soliciting minors to engage in prostitution in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Epstein was not charged with any federal counts. As part of the agreement, Epstein had to register as a sex offender and agree to settle civil lawsuits that his roughly 30 victims filed against him.
Getting Epstein to agree to pay restitution to his victims and register as a sex offender were key, Villafana wrote. Prosecutors wanted to assure his victims that they would be compensated and that “other minors throughout the country” would be protected, she wrote.
But shortly after Epstein signed the agreement on Sept. 24, 2007, he began fighting it, she said. He and his legal team, including former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, whose investigation led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, contacted high-level justice department officials. They challenged the terms of the non-prosecution agreement.
Fearing it was falling apart, Villafana said her office and the FBI resumed the investigation and informed the victims of that by letter in January 2008.
In their lawsuit, the victims’ attorneys, Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell, say the letter is evidence of their claim that prosecutors lied to the victims. They also claim that prosecutors never told Epstein’s victims about the plea deal.
Villafana said she didn’t tell the young women about the terms of the agreement, fearing Epstein’s attorneys would use it to crush them if federal charges were filed and the case went to trial. Savvy attorneys would argue that the women were testifying against Epstein because federal prosecutors told them they would get paid restitution if they did, she said.
When she learned Epstein planned to plead guilty to the two charges in circuit court on June 30, 2008, Villafana said she immediately notified Edwards. She said she told him to alert his clients so they could attend the hearing. None did.
Cassell, a law professor at the University of Utah, shrugged off the government’s new claims, calling them “meritless.” A written response will be filed at the end of July, he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Flight logs show that Clinton flew at least 26 times together with Epstein on his private jet, the “Lolita Express”, and that Trump had been a frequent flier too. The plane – also dubbed the “Mile High Club” – was outfitted with a bed on which Epstein and his buddies would have group sex with underage girls.
Both Clintons, Bill and Hillary, have been Epstein’s guests at his estate on Little St. James, his private 72-acre island – also dubbed “Orgy Island” - in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
by Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post
June 23, 2017
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. -- Federal prosecutors went on the offensive this month, denying allegations that they bowed to pressure from billionaire Palm Beach resident Jeffrey Epstein and his high-priced lawyers at the expense of dozens of teenage girls he sexually abused.
In their first public comment since 2007 — when they negotiated a deal that allowed Epstein to escape federal charges — prosecutors filed hundreds of pages of documents in U.S. District Court, explaining what led to the now infamous non-prosecution agreement that has been decried as “a sweetheart deal.”
Contrary to claims by attorneys representing two of Epstein’s victims in a lawsuit against the federal government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafana said she and her superiors were trying to help the traumatized young women when they agreed to let Epstein plead guilty to state prostitution charges.
The now-64-year-old money manager, who spends most of his time on his estate in the Virgin Islands, served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County Stockade. He was allowed to leave each day to go to work.
Hoping to persuade U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to throw out the lawsuit that accuses the government of violating the federal Crime Victims Rights Act, Villafana said she tried to keep Epstein’s victims informed about the investigation and the eventual plea deal. But, she said, negotiations were sensitive and neither Epstein, his victims nor their attorneys made it easy.
For instance, she said, most of the young women were extremely reluctant — or simply refused — to testify against Epstein, who had paid them to give him sexually-charged massages at his mansion.
One of the women who is now suing the government insisted Epstein never abused her, Villafana wrote in a sworn affidavit.
“I hope Jeffrey, nothing happens to Jeffrey because he’s an awesome man and it would really be a shame,” the woman, identified only as Jane Doe 2, told FBI agents in 2007.
While Villafana said she didn’t believe her, she also understood the young woman’s suffering. Further, she knew she couldn’t force her or Epstein’s more than two dozen other victims to testify against him.
Jane Doe 1, who is also suing the government, agreed to testify. But Villafana said one victim wouldn’t have been enough to convict Epstein.
Rather than let Epstein use his considerable influence to evade prosecution, she and top officials at the U.S. Justice Department crafted the plea deal.
In exchange for pleading guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and soliciting minors to engage in prostitution in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Epstein was not charged with any federal counts. As part of the agreement, Epstein had to register as a sex offender and agree to settle civil lawsuits that his roughly 30 victims filed against him.
Getting Epstein to agree to pay restitution to his victims and register as a sex offender were key, Villafana wrote. Prosecutors wanted to assure his victims that they would be compensated and that “other minors throughout the country” would be protected, she wrote.
But shortly after Epstein signed the agreement on Sept. 24, 2007, he began fighting it, she said. He and his legal team, including former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, whose investigation led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, contacted high-level justice department officials. They challenged the terms of the non-prosecution agreement.
Fearing it was falling apart, Villafana said her office and the FBI resumed the investigation and informed the victims of that by letter in January 2008.
In their lawsuit, the victims’ attorneys, Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell, say the letter is evidence of their claim that prosecutors lied to the victims. They also claim that prosecutors never told Epstein’s victims about the plea deal.
Villafana said she didn’t tell the young women about the terms of the agreement, fearing Epstein’s attorneys would use it to crush them if federal charges were filed and the case went to trial. Savvy attorneys would argue that the women were testifying against Epstein because federal prosecutors told them they would get paid restitution if they did, she said.
When she learned Epstein planned to plead guilty to the two charges in circuit court on June 30, 2008, Villafana said she immediately notified Edwards. She said she told him to alert his clients so they could attend the hearing. None did.
Cassell, a law professor at the University of Utah, shrugged off the government’s new claims, calling them “meritless.” A written response will be filed at the end of July, he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Flight logs show that Clinton flew at least 26 times together with Epstein on his private jet, the “Lolita Express”, and that Trump had been a frequent flier too. The plane – also dubbed the “Mile High Club” – was outfitted with a bed on which Epstein and his buddies would have group sex with underage girls.
Both Clintons, Bill and Hillary, have been Epstein’s guests at his estate on Little St. James, his private 72-acre island – also dubbed “Orgy Island” - in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
AFTER SNUFFING HIM, CHOMPING ON DEAD GUY’S FACE NOT KOSHER
'Cannibal killer' frat boy accused of murdering and eating two random Florida homeowners said he just wants to be a 'normal kid again' in tearful phone calls home to his parents as police release their conversations
By Mary Kekatos
Daily Mail
June 24, 2017
Hundreds of phone calls made from jail between so-called 'Cannibal Killer' Austin Harrouff and his family have been released, in which he says he just wants to 'be a normal kid again'.
More than 10 hours of recordings were made public by the State Attorney's Office in Martin Country where the 20-year-old former Florida State University student details his boredom, his want for mental help, and how he misses home.
Harrouff is accused of stabbing John Stevens III, 59, and Michelle Mishcon, 53, to death at their home on Southeast Kokomo Lane on August 15. He was found biting Stevens' face, making accusers think he was on drugs such as bath salts or flakka.
The teenager has been at the sports bar Duffy's West with his father when he complained that the food was taking too long and left.
Harrouff apparently walked to his mother's house nearby, where she said she found him about to drink cooking oil. She said she told him to stop but said she soon found him eating a bowl of cooking oil mixed with cheese before taking her son back to the restaurant.
He left again and apparently walked the four miles to the victims' home, which was near his father's house.
It is unknown how the encounter began, but Stevens and Mishcon were known to sit in their garage with the door open, watching television and chatting with passers-by.
Harrouff told deputies that he had no drugs in his system that night, though court documents show he told paramedics that he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol.
Toxicology reports showed he had neither common drugs nor designer drugs in his system.
Harrouff's attorney have argued that their client is 'struggling with severe mental illness and the judicial process will bear all of this out in due time'.
Calls from the Martin County Jail, where he was brought on October 3, show a dramatic change in Harrouff from when he first arrived.
In early recordings, he cries constantly, complains about how bored he is and says that he wants to be home.
'It just sucks. I just want to be a normal kid again,' Harrouff is heard saying.
He asks for books, magazines and things to write and draw with. He also cries to his parents, saying he needed a therapist
In later recordings, he speaks in a monotone voice, answers with one word or repeats a word over and over. He laughs briefly and at awkward points in conversations.
He's also heard making strange, unintelligible sounds more than once.
It's unclear if Harrouff is on any medication at this time, but at the beginning of his stay, he told his parents the jail gave him anti-depressants and something to help him sleep.
His next court hearing is scheduled on July 25.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hmmm, so he’s bored. To overcome his boredom, I suggest he be moved in with an experienced group of jailbirds. That might make his stay in jail exciting.
I’d also recommend that he have a supply of Vaseline on hand to keep from getting the red ass.
By Mary Kekatos
Daily Mail
June 24, 2017
Hundreds of phone calls made from jail between so-called 'Cannibal Killer' Austin Harrouff and his family have been released, in which he says he just wants to 'be a normal kid again'.
More than 10 hours of recordings were made public by the State Attorney's Office in Martin Country where the 20-year-old former Florida State University student details his boredom, his want for mental help, and how he misses home.
Harrouff is accused of stabbing John Stevens III, 59, and Michelle Mishcon, 53, to death at their home on Southeast Kokomo Lane on August 15. He was found biting Stevens' face, making accusers think he was on drugs such as bath salts or flakka.
The teenager has been at the sports bar Duffy's West with his father when he complained that the food was taking too long and left.
Harrouff apparently walked to his mother's house nearby, where she said she found him about to drink cooking oil. She said she told him to stop but said she soon found him eating a bowl of cooking oil mixed with cheese before taking her son back to the restaurant.
He left again and apparently walked the four miles to the victims' home, which was near his father's house.
It is unknown how the encounter began, but Stevens and Mishcon were known to sit in their garage with the door open, watching television and chatting with passers-by.
Harrouff told deputies that he had no drugs in his system that night, though court documents show he told paramedics that he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol.
Toxicology reports showed he had neither common drugs nor designer drugs in his system.
Harrouff's attorney have argued that their client is 'struggling with severe mental illness and the judicial process will bear all of this out in due time'.
Calls from the Martin County Jail, where he was brought on October 3, show a dramatic change in Harrouff from when he first arrived.
In early recordings, he cries constantly, complains about how bored he is and says that he wants to be home.
'It just sucks. I just want to be a normal kid again,' Harrouff is heard saying.
He asks for books, magazines and things to write and draw with. He also cries to his parents, saying he needed a therapist
In later recordings, he speaks in a monotone voice, answers with one word or repeats a word over and over. He laughs briefly and at awkward points in conversations.
He's also heard making strange, unintelligible sounds more than once.
It's unclear if Harrouff is on any medication at this time, but at the beginning of his stay, he told his parents the jail gave him anti-depressants and something to help him sleep.
His next court hearing is scheduled on July 25.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hmmm, so he’s bored. To overcome his boredom, I suggest he be moved in with an experienced group of jailbirds. That might make his stay in jail exciting.
I’d also recommend that he have a supply of Vaseline on hand to keep from getting the red ass.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
LIKE HIS GODFATHER TRUMP, THIS NUTJOB HAS TWEET-DIARRHEA
Trump Energy Dept. appointee called Obama a 'Kenyan creampuff,' mocked Megyn Kelly as 'MegOBgyn' and dismissed Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg as a 'self-hating Jew'
By David Martosko
Daily Mail
June 23, 2017
An appointee to a key position in the Department of Energy apologized on Thursday for a history of incendiary remarks on Twitter – including calling former president Barack Obama a 'Kenyan creampuff.'
William 'Brute' Bradford runs the DOE's Office of Indian Energy, but his social media past is coming back to haunt him.
Bradford's other targets included Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, whom he called a 'self-hating Jew,' and NBC host Megyn Kelly – whom he referred to as '“MegOBgyn Kelly' as a slam on her feminist advocacy.
The Washington Post exposed the sensational messages, posted to his since-deleted Twitter account.
Bradford's controversial tweets all came before he joined the Trump administration, but they will still give the White House a new headache at a time when it is slowly filling hundreds of key administration vacancies.
'As a minority and member of the Jewish faith, I sincerely apologize for my disrespectful and offensive comments,' he told the Post.
'These comments are inexcusable and I do not stand by them. Now, as a public servant, I hold myself to a higher standard, and I will work every day to better the lives of all Americans.'
Bradford's comment about Obama came in December, and included an accusation that the former president 'was given his mission in Tehran [a] long time ago, and it suits him just fine.'
'How else can a Kenyan creampuff get ahead?' he asked.
Bradford also tweeted the suggestion that Americans might have to stagte a coup to remove Obama from office if he refused to vacate the White House at the end of his term.
'If Obama won't leave office in January 2017, what will we do? Is a military coup the only answer? Need to think NOW,' he wrote.
That tweet linked to an essay Bradford had written in November 2015 titled: 'Remove Obama: ISIS and the President’s dereliction of duty.'
Bradford wrote that '[i]t is not hyperbolic to suggest that Obama is the single most important figure in the rise of radical Islam and the spread of the Caliphate since the Prophet Muhammad himself.'
He argued that Obama should be impeached, saying that the then-presidnet would likely not lift a finger if 'one million Americans were immolated in a suitcase nuclear attack on New York City.'
Bradford's digital body-slam of Zuckerberg was no less incendiary, following the Facebook guru's plea for Americans to vote against Donald Trump.
'Who is this little arrogant self-hating Jew to tell anyone for whom to vote?' he tweeted.
He offended Japanese-Americans, too, in a February 2015 tweet celebrating the anniversary of the creation of internment camps for that group's citizens during World War II.
'It was necessary,' Bradford tweeted.
He also referred to Kelly, then of Fox News, as 'MegOBgyn,' claiming that he coined the moniker.
And Bradford also weighed in on the trend toward allowing women to serve in U.S. military combat roles, conflating it with the larger issue of women serving in the armed forces.
'Women have no business in combat. Period,' he tweeted.
'Republicans [are] pandering on this issue. Disgusting. I'll shoot anyone who comes for my daughters.'
Bradford is a former faculty member at the U.S. Military Academy, the National Defense University, the Coast Guard Academy and the United Arab Emirates National Defense College.
He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University, law degrees from the University of Miami and Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Florida.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A Ph.D., two law degrees, and an M.B.A.? Just another uber-educated idiot.
By David Martosko
Daily Mail
June 23, 2017
An appointee to a key position in the Department of Energy apologized on Thursday for a history of incendiary remarks on Twitter – including calling former president Barack Obama a 'Kenyan creampuff.'
William 'Brute' Bradford runs the DOE's Office of Indian Energy, but his social media past is coming back to haunt him.
Bradford's other targets included Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, whom he called a 'self-hating Jew,' and NBC host Megyn Kelly – whom he referred to as '“MegOBgyn Kelly' as a slam on her feminist advocacy.
The Washington Post exposed the sensational messages, posted to his since-deleted Twitter account.
Bradford's controversial tweets all came before he joined the Trump administration, but they will still give the White House a new headache at a time when it is slowly filling hundreds of key administration vacancies.
'As a minority and member of the Jewish faith, I sincerely apologize for my disrespectful and offensive comments,' he told the Post.
'These comments are inexcusable and I do not stand by them. Now, as a public servant, I hold myself to a higher standard, and I will work every day to better the lives of all Americans.'
Bradford's comment about Obama came in December, and included an accusation that the former president 'was given his mission in Tehran [a] long time ago, and it suits him just fine.'
'How else can a Kenyan creampuff get ahead?' he asked.
Bradford also tweeted the suggestion that Americans might have to stagte a coup to remove Obama from office if he refused to vacate the White House at the end of his term.
'If Obama won't leave office in January 2017, what will we do? Is a military coup the only answer? Need to think NOW,' he wrote.
That tweet linked to an essay Bradford had written in November 2015 titled: 'Remove Obama: ISIS and the President’s dereliction of duty.'
Bradford wrote that '[i]t is not hyperbolic to suggest that Obama is the single most important figure in the rise of radical Islam and the spread of the Caliphate since the Prophet Muhammad himself.'
He argued that Obama should be impeached, saying that the then-presidnet would likely not lift a finger if 'one million Americans were immolated in a suitcase nuclear attack on New York City.'
Bradford's digital body-slam of Zuckerberg was no less incendiary, following the Facebook guru's plea for Americans to vote against Donald Trump.
'Who is this little arrogant self-hating Jew to tell anyone for whom to vote?' he tweeted.
He offended Japanese-Americans, too, in a February 2015 tweet celebrating the anniversary of the creation of internment camps for that group's citizens during World War II.
'It was necessary,' Bradford tweeted.
He also referred to Kelly, then of Fox News, as 'MegOBgyn,' claiming that he coined the moniker.
And Bradford also weighed in on the trend toward allowing women to serve in U.S. military combat roles, conflating it with the larger issue of women serving in the armed forces.
'Women have no business in combat. Period,' he tweeted.
'Republicans [are] pandering on this issue. Disgusting. I'll shoot anyone who comes for my daughters.'
Bradford is a former faculty member at the U.S. Military Academy, the National Defense University, the Coast Guard Academy and the United Arab Emirates National Defense College.
He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University, law degrees from the University of Miami and Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Florida.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A Ph.D., two law degrees, and an M.B.A.? Just another uber-educated idiot.
Friday, June 23, 2017
REWARDS OF LEGAL POT
Early experience with traffic crashes in Colorado, Oregon and Washington should give other states eyeing legalization pause
Yes, legalization of marijuana does have its rewards.
1. A bonanza of tax funds for the state and local jurisdictions.
2. A bonanza for the drug cartels through sales to those who do not want to pay those taxes.
3. More traffic accidents, including fatal crashes.
4. Higher auto insurance rates for everyone because of the increase in traffic crashes.
Here is a CBS report on the increase in marijuana related traffic crashes.
LEGAL POT AND CAR CRASHES: YES, THERE’S A LINK
By Ed Leefeldt
CBS Money Watch
June 22, 2017
Does driving while high have any impact on auto accident rates? Legalized recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Oregon and Washington correlates to about a 3 percent increase in auto collision claim frequencies compared to states without such legislation, according to a new Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study. It's the first one the group has conducted since the drug went on sale legally.
"More drivers admit to using marijuana, and it is showing up more frequently among people involved in crashes," the study said.
The HLDI is affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research organization that usually focuses on figuring out which cars are safest. The group is funded by auto insurance companies, which have a vested interest in not having to pay claims and -- of course -- hold a bias against impaired driving of any kind.
According to the HLDI, past researchers haven't been able to "definitively connect marijuana use with real-world crashes," and even a federal study failed to find such a link. "Studies on the effects of legalizing marijuana for medical use have also been inconclusive," said the HLDI.
Instead, the group focused on three states -- Colorado, where legal marijuana retail sales started in 2014, as well as Oregon and Washington, where sales began in 2015 -- and compared them to the collision claims in neighboring states such as Nevada and Utah, parts of which now allow only medical marijuana. It also factored in statistics regarding the three states where recreational use is now legal from before it became available to the general public.
Colorado saw the largest estimated increase in claim frequency -- 14 percent more than its bordering states, while Washington state was 6 percent greater and Oregon had a 4 percent increase. Allowing for the total control group, "the combined effect for the three states was a smaller, but still significant at 3 percent," said HLDI Vice President Matt Moore.
The group used collision claims because they are the most frequent kind insurers receive. Drivers file these claims for damage to their vehicle in a crash with an object or with another vehicle, generally when the driver is at fault, the HLDI said.
The HLDI said it's preparing for more of these studies and has already begun a "large-scale case-control study" in Oregon to find out if usage could be causing automotive injuries.
But the auto insurance industry's position on legalized marijuana is already crystal clear. "Worries that legalized marijuana is increasing crash rates aren't misplaced," said David Zuby, chief research officer of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "The HLDI's findings on the early experience in Colorado, Oregon and Washington should give other states eyeing legalization pause."
Yes, legalization of marijuana does have its rewards.
1. A bonanza of tax funds for the state and local jurisdictions.
2. A bonanza for the drug cartels through sales to those who do not want to pay those taxes.
3. More traffic accidents, including fatal crashes.
4. Higher auto insurance rates for everyone because of the increase in traffic crashes.
Here is a CBS report on the increase in marijuana related traffic crashes.
LEGAL POT AND CAR CRASHES: YES, THERE’S A LINK
By Ed Leefeldt
CBS Money Watch
June 22, 2017
Does driving while high have any impact on auto accident rates? Legalized recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Oregon and Washington correlates to about a 3 percent increase in auto collision claim frequencies compared to states without such legislation, according to a new Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study. It's the first one the group has conducted since the drug went on sale legally.
"More drivers admit to using marijuana, and it is showing up more frequently among people involved in crashes," the study said.
The HLDI is affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research organization that usually focuses on figuring out which cars are safest. The group is funded by auto insurance companies, which have a vested interest in not having to pay claims and -- of course -- hold a bias against impaired driving of any kind.
According to the HLDI, past researchers haven't been able to "definitively connect marijuana use with real-world crashes," and even a federal study failed to find such a link. "Studies on the effects of legalizing marijuana for medical use have also been inconclusive," said the HLDI.
Instead, the group focused on three states -- Colorado, where legal marijuana retail sales started in 2014, as well as Oregon and Washington, where sales began in 2015 -- and compared them to the collision claims in neighboring states such as Nevada and Utah, parts of which now allow only medical marijuana. It also factored in statistics regarding the three states where recreational use is now legal from before it became available to the general public.
Colorado saw the largest estimated increase in claim frequency -- 14 percent more than its bordering states, while Washington state was 6 percent greater and Oregon had a 4 percent increase. Allowing for the total control group, "the combined effect for the three states was a smaller, but still significant at 3 percent," said HLDI Vice President Matt Moore.
The group used collision claims because they are the most frequent kind insurers receive. Drivers file these claims for damage to their vehicle in a crash with an object or with another vehicle, generally when the driver is at fault, the HLDI said.
The HLDI said it's preparing for more of these studies and has already begun a "large-scale case-control study" in Oregon to find out if usage could be causing automotive injuries.
But the auto insurance industry's position on legalized marijuana is already crystal clear. "Worries that legalized marijuana is increasing crash rates aren't misplaced," said David Zuby, chief research officer of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "The HLDI's findings on the early experience in Colorado, Oregon and Washington should give other states eyeing legalization pause."
SENTENCED: THE LAST OF FIVE BANK BURGLARS WHO GAINED ENTRY BY CUTTING THEOUGH ROOFS AND WERE NOT CAUGHT FOR DECADES
Sophisticated bank burglary crew stole millions of dollars, decades of heists finally end
By Toni McAllister
MyNewsLA.com
June 21, 2017
he fifth and final member of an Inland Empire bank burglary crew that stole millions of dollars by using power tools to cut though building roofs to gain access to cement bank vaults was sentenced Wednesday in Los Angeles to about four years behind bars.
Lucian Gabriel Isaia of Beaumont, 36, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer to pay a share of $12 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release following his 51-month federal prison sentence.
The five men linked to the crimes were arrested in April 2013, following a year-long investigation that involved a surveillance operation by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who were on hand when the suspects tried to rob a Citibank branch in Diamond Bar.
Recovered evidence included a portion of the bank’s roof, roofing material, two-way radios, tools, gloves and ski masks.
The leader of the crew, Alceu Johnny Andreis of Banning, was sentenced in March to 20 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of bank burglary charges.
Wearing the same-size shoes and identical clothing, the robbers developed a coded language to use on walkie-talkies, making several dry runs before cutting and sealing holes in bank rooftops and returning later.
Andreis, 48, had special knowledge of how to break into bank vaults through the roof, a method perfected during nearly two decades of cutting holes in roofs and burglarizing businesses, including a branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles and a church.
The men “knew how to select a bank with a penetrable roof; locate the vault from overhead using a sonar device; cut a hole in the roof and install braces to keep the removed section in place until their subsequent return,” a prosecutor wrote.
The burglary crew scouted banks to determine optimal conditions, including prime lookout spots, easy getaway routes and secluded rooftops; purchased all necessary construction equipment, later wiping it down for fingerprints and DNA; and trained together and conducted surveillance.
In a brief statement to the court, Isaia apologized to the victims and pledged to repay his share of their losses, although Fischer indicated he had no means to do so.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joanna M. Curtis commended Isaia for his “extraordinary” cooperation in the government’s investigation.
In interviews with prosecutors, Isaia was able to recall “with precision” where and when heists took place and how much was taken, Curtis said.
Isaia pleaded guilty to involvement in the robbery of an East West Bank branch in Rowland Heights in 2011 in which $1 million in cash was stolen and safety deposit boxes containing $14 million in valuables were emptied.
A Preferred Bank location in Diamond Bar was hit a few months later, but the job was abandoned, prosecutors said. In September 2012, thieves broke into the vault of the BBCN Bank branch in Diamond Bar, taking $2.43 million in valuables.
As part of his plea agreement, Isaia forfeited to the government several luxury vehicles, a boat and a motorcycle.
The other members of the crew have been sentenced to federal prison terms. Daniel Soto of Riverside, 40, is serving nearly four years after pleading guilty and cooperating with authorities. Laurentiu Penescu of Yucaipa, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and attempted bank burglary and was sentenced to a three-year term for the failed Diamond Bar heist. Dean “Dino” Muniz of Fontana, 49, is serving 10 years after pleading guilty to bank burglary.
Andreis, Isaia and Penescu were convicted a decade ago of several Riverside County rooftop thefts. In those heists, more than $3.5 million in cash and gems were stolen from jewelers and other businesses in Palm Springs and Temecula.
By Toni McAllister
MyNewsLA.com
June 21, 2017
he fifth and final member of an Inland Empire bank burglary crew that stole millions of dollars by using power tools to cut though building roofs to gain access to cement bank vaults was sentenced Wednesday in Los Angeles to about four years behind bars.
Lucian Gabriel Isaia of Beaumont, 36, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer to pay a share of $12 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release following his 51-month federal prison sentence.
The five men linked to the crimes were arrested in April 2013, following a year-long investigation that involved a surveillance operation by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who were on hand when the suspects tried to rob a Citibank branch in Diamond Bar.
Recovered evidence included a portion of the bank’s roof, roofing material, two-way radios, tools, gloves and ski masks.
The leader of the crew, Alceu Johnny Andreis of Banning, was sentenced in March to 20 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of bank burglary charges.
Wearing the same-size shoes and identical clothing, the robbers developed a coded language to use on walkie-talkies, making several dry runs before cutting and sealing holes in bank rooftops and returning later.
Andreis, 48, had special knowledge of how to break into bank vaults through the roof, a method perfected during nearly two decades of cutting holes in roofs and burglarizing businesses, including a branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles and a church.
The men “knew how to select a bank with a penetrable roof; locate the vault from overhead using a sonar device; cut a hole in the roof and install braces to keep the removed section in place until their subsequent return,” a prosecutor wrote.
The burglary crew scouted banks to determine optimal conditions, including prime lookout spots, easy getaway routes and secluded rooftops; purchased all necessary construction equipment, later wiping it down for fingerprints and DNA; and trained together and conducted surveillance.
In a brief statement to the court, Isaia apologized to the victims and pledged to repay his share of their losses, although Fischer indicated he had no means to do so.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joanna M. Curtis commended Isaia for his “extraordinary” cooperation in the government’s investigation.
In interviews with prosecutors, Isaia was able to recall “with precision” where and when heists took place and how much was taken, Curtis said.
Isaia pleaded guilty to involvement in the robbery of an East West Bank branch in Rowland Heights in 2011 in which $1 million in cash was stolen and safety deposit boxes containing $14 million in valuables were emptied.
A Preferred Bank location in Diamond Bar was hit a few months later, but the job was abandoned, prosecutors said. In September 2012, thieves broke into the vault of the BBCN Bank branch in Diamond Bar, taking $2.43 million in valuables.
As part of his plea agreement, Isaia forfeited to the government several luxury vehicles, a boat and a motorcycle.
The other members of the crew have been sentenced to federal prison terms. Daniel Soto of Riverside, 40, is serving nearly four years after pleading guilty and cooperating with authorities. Laurentiu Penescu of Yucaipa, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and attempted bank burglary and was sentenced to a three-year term for the failed Diamond Bar heist. Dean “Dino” Muniz of Fontana, 49, is serving 10 years after pleading guilty to bank burglary.
Andreis, Isaia and Penescu were convicted a decade ago of several Riverside County rooftop thefts. In those heists, more than $3.5 million in cash and gems were stolen from jewelers and other businesses in Palm Springs and Temecula.
ISIS FIGHTER KILLED BY 2.14-MILE SNIPER SHOT
Canadian elite special forces sniper makes record-breaking kill shot in Iraq
By Robert Fife
The Globe and Mail
June 22, 2017
A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.
Sources say a member of Joint Task Force 2 killed an Islamic State insurgent with a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.
“The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces,” said a military source, who stressed the operation fell within the strictures of the government’s advise and assist mission. “Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn’t have a clue what was happening.”
The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.
“Hard data on this. It isn’t an opinion. It isn’t an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was,” another military source said.
A military insider told The Globe: “This is an incredible feat. It is a world record that might never be equalled.”
The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner with a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle from 2,475 metres away in 2009.
Previously, Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong had set the world record in 2002 at 2,430 metres when he gunned down an Afghan insurgent carrying an RPK machine gun during Operation Anaconda.
Weeks before, Canadian Master Cpl. Arron Perry briefly held the world’s best sniper record after he fatally shot an insurgent at 2,310 metres during the same operation. Both soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
JTF2 special forces are primarily tasked with counterterrorism, sniper operations and hostage rescue. Much of the information about this elite organization is classified and not commented on by the government. The unit’s snipers and members of Canadian Special Operations Regiment, who are carrying out the main task of training Kurdish forces, have been operating in tough conditions in Iraq.
The Trudeau government pulled CF-18 fighter jets out of Iraq in 2016 but expanded the military mission, which will see the number of Canadian special forces trainers climb to 207 from 69 in an assist, train and advise mission. Canadian commandos are not supposed to be involved in direct combat, but are authorized to go up to the front lines on training missions with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and to paint targets for coalition air strikes.
For operational security reasons, sources would not reveal the names of the elite Canadian sniper and his partner, nor the location where the action took place.
A sniper and his observer partner are often sent to remote and dangerous locations to hunt down insurgents while having to carry heavy equipment. Once they have located the target, snipers follow the same methodical approach before each shot. Breathe in, out, in, out, find a natural pause and then squeeze the trigger.
Canada has a reputation among Western military forces for the quality of its snipers, despite the small size of the Canadian Armed Forces compared to the United States and Britain.
“Canada has a world-class sniper system. It is not just a sniper. They work in pairs. There is an observer,” a military source said. “This is a skill set that only a very few people have.”
The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,540 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.
“It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling,” said a source with expertise in training Canadian special forces.
“You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth.”
U.S. Sergeant Bryan Kremer has the longest confirmed sniper kill shot by a U.S. soldier. He killed an Iraqi insurgent with his Barrett M82A1 rifle at 2,300 metres in 2004.
By Robert Fife
The Globe and Mail
June 22, 2017
A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.
Sources say a member of Joint Task Force 2 killed an Islamic State insurgent with a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.
“The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces,” said a military source, who stressed the operation fell within the strictures of the government’s advise and assist mission. “Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn’t have a clue what was happening.”
The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.
“Hard data on this. It isn’t an opinion. It isn’t an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was,” another military source said.
A military insider told The Globe: “This is an incredible feat. It is a world record that might never be equalled.”
The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner with a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle from 2,475 metres away in 2009.
Previously, Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong had set the world record in 2002 at 2,430 metres when he gunned down an Afghan insurgent carrying an RPK machine gun during Operation Anaconda.
Weeks before, Canadian Master Cpl. Arron Perry briefly held the world’s best sniper record after he fatally shot an insurgent at 2,310 metres during the same operation. Both soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
JTF2 special forces are primarily tasked with counterterrorism, sniper operations and hostage rescue. Much of the information about this elite organization is classified and not commented on by the government. The unit’s snipers and members of Canadian Special Operations Regiment, who are carrying out the main task of training Kurdish forces, have been operating in tough conditions in Iraq.
The Trudeau government pulled CF-18 fighter jets out of Iraq in 2016 but expanded the military mission, which will see the number of Canadian special forces trainers climb to 207 from 69 in an assist, train and advise mission. Canadian commandos are not supposed to be involved in direct combat, but are authorized to go up to the front lines on training missions with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and to paint targets for coalition air strikes.
For operational security reasons, sources would not reveal the names of the elite Canadian sniper and his partner, nor the location where the action took place.
A sniper and his observer partner are often sent to remote and dangerous locations to hunt down insurgents while having to carry heavy equipment. Once they have located the target, snipers follow the same methodical approach before each shot. Breathe in, out, in, out, find a natural pause and then squeeze the trigger.
Canada has a reputation among Western military forces for the quality of its snipers, despite the small size of the Canadian Armed Forces compared to the United States and Britain.
“Canada has a world-class sniper system. It is not just a sniper. They work in pairs. There is an observer,” a military source said. “This is a skill set that only a very few people have.”
The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,540 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.
“It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling,” said a source with expertise in training Canadian special forces.
“You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth.”
U.S. Sergeant Bryan Kremer has the longest confirmed sniper kill shot by a U.S. soldier. He killed an Iraqi insurgent with his Barrett M82A1 rifle at 2,300 metres in 2004.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
FELONS TO OVERSEE THE DISCIPLINING OF OAKLAND COPS
The new police commission that oversees the disciplining of Oakland, California cops is open to felons as well as law abiding citizens.
BarkGrowlBite
June 22, 2017
Last November, Oakland, California voters approved a measure that would establish a nine-member police commission which would oversee the disciplining of the city’s cops and hire or fire its police chief. The measure specified that members of the community who’ve had frequent contact with police be included on the commission. Conversely, former or current police officers are banned from serving on the commission.
The city is now taking applications with ads saying, “formerly incarcerated individuals encouraged to apply.” There will be no background checks conducted in order not to discourage persons with criminal records from applying.
The Oakland Police Officers’ Association is understandably far from overjoyed.
The police “should be welcoming the viewpoint and participation of all members of the city of Oakland,” says Tal Klement, one of eight panelists who will select the commission members, “and that includes people with criminal backgrounds. That’s the population that has had the most contact with police.”
This is not exactly new. Back in the ’70s, Riverside County Sheriff Ben Cark set up a police advisory committee which included a couple of the county’s worst ex-cons because he believed their viewpoints were important too. But that was only an advisory body with no powers over the sheriff’s department.
If Oakland wants to have a commission to hire or fire the police chief, that’s fine. But to give the commission power to oversee the disciplining of the city’s cops, even if the commission were to consist only of sterling citizens, well ….. that’s why I call it Kookfornia!
__________
FOXES BEING ENCOURAGED TO JOIN HEN HOUSE POLICE
by Bob Walsh
The crime-ridden, gang-infested PC haven shithole known as Oakland, CA is now actively encouraging ex-felons to join the police oversight commission there.
The nine member commission was approved overwhelmingly by voters last November. It did NOT sate that ex-felons would be allowed to sign up (thought it did not specify that they would not be allowed to either). Current or former members of the Oakland police department are specifically barred from serving on the commission.
Tai Klement, one of the people who will be picking the nine members of the commission, said that they were encouraging ex-felons to apply because they were the citizens who had the most contact with the police. There will be no background checks of any kind done for members of the commission so it could contain drug dealers, child molesters, Democrats, Christians and all sorts of undesirable people when all is said and done.
If I remember correctly this commission will have the specific authority to fire the Chief of Police, though not to take personnel actions against other officers in the department. They are primarily supposed to be an oversight-intimidation and harassment-PC feel good body. I wonder how long it will be before the first one of them is arrested?
BarkGrowlBite
June 22, 2017
Last November, Oakland, California voters approved a measure that would establish a nine-member police commission which would oversee the disciplining of the city’s cops and hire or fire its police chief. The measure specified that members of the community who’ve had frequent contact with police be included on the commission. Conversely, former or current police officers are banned from serving on the commission.
The city is now taking applications with ads saying, “formerly incarcerated individuals encouraged to apply.” There will be no background checks conducted in order not to discourage persons with criminal records from applying.
The Oakland Police Officers’ Association is understandably far from overjoyed.
The police “should be welcoming the viewpoint and participation of all members of the city of Oakland,” says Tal Klement, one of eight panelists who will select the commission members, “and that includes people with criminal backgrounds. That’s the population that has had the most contact with police.”
This is not exactly new. Back in the ’70s, Riverside County Sheriff Ben Cark set up a police advisory committee which included a couple of the county’s worst ex-cons because he believed their viewpoints were important too. But that was only an advisory body with no powers over the sheriff’s department.
If Oakland wants to have a commission to hire or fire the police chief, that’s fine. But to give the commission power to oversee the disciplining of the city’s cops, even if the commission were to consist only of sterling citizens, well ….. that’s why I call it Kookfornia!
__________
FOXES BEING ENCOURAGED TO JOIN HEN HOUSE POLICE
by Bob Walsh
The crime-ridden, gang-infested PC haven shithole known as Oakland, CA is now actively encouraging ex-felons to join the police oversight commission there.
The nine member commission was approved overwhelmingly by voters last November. It did NOT sate that ex-felons would be allowed to sign up (thought it did not specify that they would not be allowed to either). Current or former members of the Oakland police department are specifically barred from serving on the commission.
Tai Klement, one of the people who will be picking the nine members of the commission, said that they were encouraging ex-felons to apply because they were the citizens who had the most contact with the police. There will be no background checks of any kind done for members of the commission so it could contain drug dealers, child molesters, Democrats, Christians and all sorts of undesirable people when all is said and done.
If I remember correctly this commission will have the specific authority to fire the Chief of Police, though not to take personnel actions against other officers in the department. They are primarily supposed to be an oversight-intimidation and harassment-PC feel good body. I wonder how long it will be before the first one of them is arrested?
CANADIAN GOAT FUCKER ATTACKS COP AT AIRPORT IN BUTTCRACK, MICHIGAN
by Bob Walsh
A knife-wielding jihadi goat fucker (redundancy in terminology there) stabbed a cop in the back and the neck at the airport in Buttcrack (also known as Flint), Michigan early on Wednesday. The cops is in stable condition in a local hospital. The goat fucker was arrested at the scene. The attack occurred in the non-secure area of the airport. The goat fucker went into a restroom with some luggage, took a small goat out of the luggage and fucked it in the restroom, then came out with a knife, yelled ALLAHU AKBAR and stabbed the cop.
To my pleasant surprise the FBI pretty much immediately announced that it was being investigated as a terrorist incident.
It isn't completely clear why the goat fucker didn't attack a cop on the Canadian side, but maybe he couldn't buy a knife or a small goat on the Canadian side. Fortunately he survived being arrested so it is possible we will find out, though he might be so brain-fried that we will never know.
(I actually made up the part about him fucking the goat in the restroom. Probably. Maybe.)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Reports say that he came to the U.S. to avenge the killing of Jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A knife-wielding jihadi goat fucker (redundancy in terminology there) stabbed a cop in the back and the neck at the airport in Buttcrack (also known as Flint), Michigan early on Wednesday. The cops is in stable condition in a local hospital. The goat fucker was arrested at the scene. The attack occurred in the non-secure area of the airport. The goat fucker went into a restroom with some luggage, took a small goat out of the luggage and fucked it in the restroom, then came out with a knife, yelled ALLAHU AKBAR and stabbed the cop.
To my pleasant surprise the FBI pretty much immediately announced that it was being investigated as a terrorist incident.
It isn't completely clear why the goat fucker didn't attack a cop on the Canadian side, but maybe he couldn't buy a knife or a small goat on the Canadian side. Fortunately he survived being arrested so it is possible we will find out, though he might be so brain-fried that we will never know.
(I actually made up the part about him fucking the goat in the restroom. Probably. Maybe.)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Reports say that he came to the U.S. to avenge the killing of Jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
COLORADO NOT COMPLETELY OVERRUN BY PC IDIOTS
Those that are still sane believe that schools are essentially "victim zones" in the United States
by Bob Walsh
It is my understanding that many parts of Colorado are populated by people who are basically reasonable, normal people. That's a good thing, and I'll bet it driver the PC California transplants crazy.
On Tuesday the state launched a 3-day training course for teachers in Weld County. This course, when completed, will allow teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms in order to protect their students. (A fair number do already on the basis of CCW permits.) There are 17 staff members who have signed up for the first class.
The course was set up by parents, law enforcement personnel and emergency medical experts who believe that schools are essentially "victim zones" in the United States.
An anti-gun psycho group known as Safe Campus Colorado is screaming like a pack of mashed cats. Fuck them.
The class consists of firearms training and emergency medical training to allow the staff members to reasonably function as first responders in the event of a school shooting. Many areas of Colorado outside of major metropolitan areas have longer response times than the parents, students and administrators are comfortable with.
by Bob Walsh
It is my understanding that many parts of Colorado are populated by people who are basically reasonable, normal people. That's a good thing, and I'll bet it driver the PC California transplants crazy.
On Tuesday the state launched a 3-day training course for teachers in Weld County. This course, when completed, will allow teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms in order to protect their students. (A fair number do already on the basis of CCW permits.) There are 17 staff members who have signed up for the first class.
The course was set up by parents, law enforcement personnel and emergency medical experts who believe that schools are essentially "victim zones" in the United States.
An anti-gun psycho group known as Safe Campus Colorado is screaming like a pack of mashed cats. Fuck them.
The class consists of firearms training and emergency medical training to allow the staff members to reasonably function as first responders in the event of a school shooting. Many areas of Colorado outside of major metropolitan areas have longer response times than the parents, students and administrators are comfortable with.
MOM OFFERS SEX FOR BEER WHILE BREASTFEEDING IN FANT AT THE WILD BEAVER SALOON
Alabama couple partied with infant at Indiana bar, police say
News 06460
June 16, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- A mom and dad from Alabama were arrested after allegedly taking their infant daughter to party at an Indiana bar — as witnesses said the mother drank and smoked while breastfeeding her child.
Michael Trosclair, 45 and Shari Tremba, 42, were taken into custody and charged with neglect of a dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent. They were also hit with a public intoxication charge.
"Partying was more important than their child," a detective wrote in an affidavit. The suspects reportedly were in town for a work conference.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the Wild Beaver Saloon early Friday morning following reports of a woman asking customers for beer, according to the probable cause affidavit obtained by AL.com.
Police confronted Tremba while she was standing near a stroller. When police asked her who the baby belonged to she said the baby girl was hers. Police said that Tremba’s “breath and person” smelled like alcohol. She allegedly had to be asked several times who she was and where she was from.
A witness at the bar told the officer that Tremba had been offering sex to individuals who would go inside the establishment and get her a beer. The witness also told police that he had watched Tremba drink while simultaneously breastfeeding. Other witnesses told police that Tremba had previously chained the stroller – with the baby still in it – to a chain outside the bar and went inside to buy a drink.
Tremba allegedly informed police that she was with her husband and friends from his job.
Her Breath Alcohol Content at the time of her arrest was .193.
Trosclair allegedly became angry after Tremba was confronted by police. "Mr. Trosclair became belligerent and started demanding to talk to a lawyer and telling us we weren’t going to do anything,” according to the affidavit. "It was at this time, due to Mr. Trosclair’s behavior, I put him in cuffs for fear he may fight us with the baby right there."
The baby would be checked out by medics, officers told Tremba. They also called Child Protective Services and a child abuse investigator to the location at the time of the incident.
Trosclair and Tremba have since been released from Marion County Jail 1 in Indianapolis.
News 06460
June 16, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- A mom and dad from Alabama were arrested after allegedly taking their infant daughter to party at an Indiana bar — as witnesses said the mother drank and smoked while breastfeeding her child.
Michael Trosclair, 45 and Shari Tremba, 42, were taken into custody and charged with neglect of a dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent. They were also hit with a public intoxication charge.
"Partying was more important than their child," a detective wrote in an affidavit. The suspects reportedly were in town for a work conference.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the Wild Beaver Saloon early Friday morning following reports of a woman asking customers for beer, according to the probable cause affidavit obtained by AL.com.
Police confronted Tremba while she was standing near a stroller. When police asked her who the baby belonged to she said the baby girl was hers. Police said that Tremba’s “breath and person” smelled like alcohol. She allegedly had to be asked several times who she was and where she was from.
A witness at the bar told the officer that Tremba had been offering sex to individuals who would go inside the establishment and get her a beer. The witness also told police that he had watched Tremba drink while simultaneously breastfeeding. Other witnesses told police that Tremba had previously chained the stroller – with the baby still in it – to a chain outside the bar and went inside to buy a drink.
Tremba allegedly informed police that she was with her husband and friends from his job.
Her Breath Alcohol Content at the time of her arrest was .193.
Trosclair allegedly became angry after Tremba was confronted by police. "Mr. Trosclair became belligerent and started demanding to talk to a lawyer and telling us we weren’t going to do anything,” according to the affidavit. "It was at this time, due to Mr. Trosclair’s behavior, I put him in cuffs for fear he may fight us with the baby right there."
The baby would be checked out by medics, officers told Tremba. They also called Child Protective Services and a child abuse investigator to the location at the time of the incident.
Trosclair and Tremba have since been released from Marion County Jail 1 in Indianapolis.
DAAYCARE CHILDREN WERE VICTIMS OF AN ALIEN JEWISH/DEMONIC INTERPLANETARY PLOT
Texas Daycare Operators Found "Actually Innocent" of Satanic Child Abuse After 25 Years
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press
June 21, 2017
Twenty-five years ago, Austin daycare operators Dan and Fran Keller were convicted of sexually abusing three children as part of satanic rituals.
On Tuesday, two years after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the couples' convictions, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore announced that she was finding them "actually innocent" of the allegations.
The Kellers, who operated a daycare out of their home, were convicted toward the tail end of the Satanic Panic craze, where seemingly no accusation — no matter how preposterous or coached — was accepted without question. They were sentenced to 48 years in prison.
Among other bizarre allegations, the Kellers supposedly flew a plane full of children from the daycare to Mexico, where they were raped by soldiers, and then flown back the same day, in time for their parents to pick them up. They supposedly dragged kids to a cemetery and forced them to participate in the ritual chainsawing of a body thrown into an open grave by a cop. All this, after the kids were allegedly forced to drink blood-laced Kool-Aid.
Keith Hampton, the attorney for the Kellers — who's worked pro bono, as hist clients say they're destitute — sought an "actual innocence" finding in 2013, after a physician who testified for the state at trial recanted his finding that a girl under the care of the Kellers showed signs of sexual abuse.
The Kellers were subsequently released on bond, but it wasn't until 2015 that the appeals court overturned the convictions. However, the high court denied the motion for a finding of actual innocence, citing an "independent review of the record."
That record, by the way, included testimony from state expert Randy Noblitt, who Hampton described in the 2015 motion as a "self-professed ritual abuse 'expert'...[who] has long enlisted himself in the exposure of an alien Jewish/demonic interplanetary plot to conduct thousands of human sacrifices and enslave humanity through various government agencies."
Apparently, Moore, the Travis County DA, found this and other so-called evidence insufficient for a retrial, so she filed a motion to dismiss the charges and find the Kellers actually innocent. In a press release Tuesday, Moore said:
"In making this very difficult decision, I personally read the trial and post-conviction transcripts and viewed the evidence introduced at trial. I take seriously my responsibility under Texas law to see that justice is done. Given the current state of law on actual innocence and the evidence remaining in this case, I believe this to be a just outcome."
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the Kellers are each eligible "to apply for $80,000 for every year mistakenly spent in prison."
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Kellers spent more than 21 years in prison. At $80,000 per year that comes to $1.68 million for each of the Kellers.
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press
June 21, 2017
Twenty-five years ago, Austin daycare operators Dan and Fran Keller were convicted of sexually abusing three children as part of satanic rituals.
On Tuesday, two years after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the couples' convictions, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore announced that she was finding them "actually innocent" of the allegations.
The Kellers, who operated a daycare out of their home, were convicted toward the tail end of the Satanic Panic craze, where seemingly no accusation — no matter how preposterous or coached — was accepted without question. They were sentenced to 48 years in prison.
Among other bizarre allegations, the Kellers supposedly flew a plane full of children from the daycare to Mexico, where they were raped by soldiers, and then flown back the same day, in time for their parents to pick them up. They supposedly dragged kids to a cemetery and forced them to participate in the ritual chainsawing of a body thrown into an open grave by a cop. All this, after the kids were allegedly forced to drink blood-laced Kool-Aid.
Keith Hampton, the attorney for the Kellers — who's worked pro bono, as hist clients say they're destitute — sought an "actual innocence" finding in 2013, after a physician who testified for the state at trial recanted his finding that a girl under the care of the Kellers showed signs of sexual abuse.
The Kellers were subsequently released on bond, but it wasn't until 2015 that the appeals court overturned the convictions. However, the high court denied the motion for a finding of actual innocence, citing an "independent review of the record."
That record, by the way, included testimony from state expert Randy Noblitt, who Hampton described in the 2015 motion as a "self-professed ritual abuse 'expert'...[who] has long enlisted himself in the exposure of an alien Jewish/demonic interplanetary plot to conduct thousands of human sacrifices and enslave humanity through various government agencies."
Apparently, Moore, the Travis County DA, found this and other so-called evidence insufficient for a retrial, so she filed a motion to dismiss the charges and find the Kellers actually innocent. In a press release Tuesday, Moore said:
"In making this very difficult decision, I personally read the trial and post-conviction transcripts and viewed the evidence introduced at trial. I take seriously my responsibility under Texas law to see that justice is done. Given the current state of law on actual innocence and the evidence remaining in this case, I believe this to be a just outcome."
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the Kellers are each eligible "to apply for $80,000 for every year mistakenly spent in prison."
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Kellers spent more than 21 years in prison. At $80,000 per year that comes to $1.68 million for each of the Kellers.
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