The Po-Lice
By Jerry Reynolds
Car Pro
June 29, 2018
Early in my career running dealerships, the first one I worked at was in a somewhat rough part of town in Dallas. There were only two dealerships on the street where the dealership was located: the Ford store I worked at and a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership next door that eventually closed.
We had more than our fair share of thefts, so typically when I had to call the police, our beat officer, Jerry, came to take the report. Jerry and I became very good friends. One of the first lessons he taught me was that in Texas, there were no police officers, they were all the po-lice (po-lease). I suspect it is still that way today.
The year was 1979 and the Dallas Police and Firefighters were upset over their lack of pay and were at odds with the Mayor and City Council. They gathered enough signatures to get a 15% pay raise on the ballot for the citizens to vote on. The city establishment fought them tooth and nail, buying ads and billboards encouraging people to vote no.
At the time, I was doing some writing for a local newspaper called the Suburban Tribune. I got permission to do some ride-alongs with Jerry as well as with the fire department and wrote about my experiences. I saw many things that most people never knew went on.
I was very vocally in support of the pay raise and made a lot of friends with the officers in the area. The election came and the voters approved it. I was elated for them, they deserved it. As a side note, now almost 40 years later, they still haven’t collected all the back pay, but as recently as this month, the City of Dallas agreed to pay out 235 million dollars, but I digress.
One day Jerry called and told me the Dallas Police Southeast Division Police Chief, Don Stafford, wanted to see me in his office at 3:30 one day. My mind raced, wondering if I screwed something up when I was riding with Jerry. In actuality, the Chief wanted to give me a plaque for helping and they presented it to me during a shift change, so all the 3rd shift officers were there for the presentation.
I found the police work to be very rewarding but loved the car business too. Jerry suggested I apply to go through the Dallas Police Academy and become a police Reserve officer. I did that and graduated later that year. It was a great experience. I stayed on for 10 years until I just didn’t have the time for it.
I got a reputation for taking care of Dallas Police Officers’ vehicle needs. Police are clannish; if you take good care of them, they tell everybody. If they get screwed, they tell everyone as well, maybe even more people. I sold hundreds of officers’ cars. When I would go to report for duty as a reserve officer, just about every vehicle in the parking lot was a Ford I sold.
At the next dealership I worked at, many of them followed me there. One evening as I was coming around a Dallas freeway, a motorcycle officer pulled me over. I wasn’t worried about it, this had happened several times. I kept my driver license under my badge holder and took plenty of time digging for it, just to make sure he saw it.
Officer Ron was about 6’5” and much to my surprise, he started writing me a ticket. In amazement, I said: “are you writing me?” to which he simply said: “yep”. I asked around about him and everyone said he’d write his own mother a ticket and I felt better. The Chief of Police in charge of the reserve officers called me a few days later just to talk, and I told him that Ron wrote me a ticket. Somehow the ticket magically went away.
Several years later, a 6’5” guy walked into my office. He said: “I’m Ron, I understand you take good care of the po-lice.” I recognized him, but he didn’t remember me. I said: “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for years!” Yes, it was the Ron who wrote me the ticket. I helped him and we became really good friends and are still today. I helped his ex-wife a couple of times, and then he married another Dallas officer and I have helped her with a number of vehicles.
I made a lot of Dallas Police friends over the years, and with the help of Facebook, I’ve kept in touch with many of them. I have a special admiration for these guys and gals. My experience as a reserve officer gives me a realization that they put their lives on the line every day. Of course, like people in the car business, doctors, engineers, and all other professions, there are good and bad. As I always ask, what do you call the student who finishes last in medical school? A doctor.
As a Reserve Police Officer, we wore the same uniform as regular officers. If a bad person was going to shoot, he or she was as likely to shoot me as the officer I was working with. For that reason, I wisely chose the officers I worked with.
One of my favorites was named Ron Baker (not the one who wrote me the ticket). I learned a lot from Ron. He had a cool head, I never saw him abuse anyone, and you could tell he had compassion in his heart. We made a good team. Ron was only 24 but seemed to have the experience of an officer on the job for 20 years or more.
On May 1, 1983, Ron came to me to get a new vehicle. He and his wife Laurie were expecting their second child, Heather. I got him fixed up, and while he was in the finance office, he had my finance manager page me to his office. Ron said to me: “I don’t need this credit life stuff, do I?” I said: “Ron, you’re a cop with a baby on the way, and it’s a couple of dollars per month. If something happens, the car is paid off.”
On May 2, 1983, I was scheduled to do a shift with Ron, but I wasn’t feeling well and begged off. That day, Ron conducted a traffic stop, was overpowered, and shot and killed with his own gun. If that was not bad enough, the murderers backed over him with a van, then ran over him again. They later died after a shootout.
The haunting question for me was always and still is, whether things had been different if I had been with him. Would he still be alive, or would we both be dead?
The following day, Laurie called me and asked if she could bring the new car back, that she couldn’t afford it. Ron had not explained that he bought the credit life insurance.
All I said was: “Don’t worry about the car, the next thing you’ll see is a clear title”.
This story is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Ronald Dale Baker.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS IMPOSSIBLE LAW
by Bob Walsh
There is a law in the formerly great state of California which prohibits the selling of new model semi-automatic centerfire pistols that do not stamp a unique number into the cartridge as it is fired. This is commonly called microstamping. The courts recognize that this technology is "emerging" (meaning it does not work reliably yet).
Various pro-Second Amendment groups have objected, saying that it effectively bars the sale of many handguns in CA by imposing a requirement that can not under current technology be met.
The court agreed, but believe that an impossible to obey law can be used to prod the gun industry into a socially desirable direction.
There is a law in the formerly great state of California which prohibits the selling of new model semi-automatic centerfire pistols that do not stamp a unique number into the cartridge as it is fired. This is commonly called microstamping. The courts recognize that this technology is "emerging" (meaning it does not work reliably yet).
Various pro-Second Amendment groups have objected, saying that it effectively bars the sale of many handguns in CA by imposing a requirement that can not under current technology be met.
The court agreed, but believe that an impossible to obey law can be used to prod the gun industry into a socially desirable direction.
TRULY REMARKABLE OCCURANCE...CALIFORNIA BLOCKS A TAX
by Bob Walsh
Yes, this is remarkable, but not even remotely altruistic. Numerous cities in CA have recently enacted or attempted to enact taxes on sweetened soda, allegedly in an attempt to curb obesity. It is actually just another move at big-brother control over our lives and a move by the rapacious asswipes who are our political masters to suck more and more and more money from us. But be that as it may.
The REAL problem was that a combination of major soda producers and anti-tax activists got together to back a ballot measure that, if passed, would have made it very difficult for the big government assholes to raise any tax of any kind whatsoever in the formerly great state of California.
So, the greedy cowards got together, bit the bullet and made a deal. The state passed a law to prohibit any new soda taxes for 12 years and the people pushing the ballot initiative agreed to back off. Current taxes in four cities in the bay area would stay in place.
Yes, this is remarkable, but not even remotely altruistic. Numerous cities in CA have recently enacted or attempted to enact taxes on sweetened soda, allegedly in an attempt to curb obesity. It is actually just another move at big-brother control over our lives and a move by the rapacious asswipes who are our political masters to suck more and more and more money from us. But be that as it may.
The REAL problem was that a combination of major soda producers and anti-tax activists got together to back a ballot measure that, if passed, would have made it very difficult for the big government assholes to raise any tax of any kind whatsoever in the formerly great state of California.
So, the greedy cowards got together, bit the bullet and made a deal. The state passed a law to prohibit any new soda taxes for 12 years and the people pushing the ballot initiative agreed to back off. Current taxes in four cities in the bay area would stay in place.
NY FATHER HEINRICH WAS A KIND AND GENTLE MAN WHO LOVED THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Himmler's 'Nazi princess' daughter dead at 88: Holocaust denier who helped war criminals escape justice is revealed to have been a spy for West German government
By Tim Stickings and Reuters
Daily Mail
June 29, 2018
Heinrich Himmler's daughter has died at the age of 88, as Germany's top intelligence service admitted it had employed the Nazi sympathiser during the Cold War.
The BND confirmed today that Gudrun Burwitz had worked for the then-West German spy agency in the 1960s, although she never renounced her father or the Nazi regime.
She remained active in far-right extremism in later life, helping war criminals who worked for her evil father escape justice, and speaking at neo-Nazi rallies, before she died last month in Munich.
Heinrich Himmler, who as commander of the SS was one of the most powerful Nazis and a principal architect of the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, killed himself in British custody in 1945.
'The BND confirms that Ms. Burwitz was a member of the BND for a few years until 1963 under an assumed name,' said Bodo Hechelhammer, the head of the agency's history department.
One German official said Burwitz had a 'genuine love for these men and women who served the worst parts of the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945.'
Burwitz was the leading figure in sinister support group Stille Hilfe, which offered backing and financial help for former SS officers still at large. The group was said to have 25 to 40 members who referred to her as the 'Nazi Princess'.
In one case the organisation helped fight for Klaas Carel Faber, 89, in the former SS killer's attempt to avoid being extradited back to the Netherlands.
The Dutchman served with the SS in Holland where he murdered defenceless Jews in cold blood, but was never extradited and died in 2012
It also helped Anton Malloth, a brutal guard in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, who was sentenced to death in his absence before finding refuge in Germany.
Malloth was put up in an OAP home with Stille Hilfe funds, where Burwitz visited him with fruit and -chocolates, in a residence built on land once owned by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess.
Burwitz lived her later life in a suburb of Munich, just 15 miles from the concentration camp at Dachau where more than 30,000 people died during Hitler's 12-year rule.
As a child she worshipped her father, who called her Püppi.
She wrote in her diary after she visited the camp: 'Today, we went to Dachau. We saw everything we could. We saw the gardening work. We saw the pear trees.
'We saw all the pictures painted by the prisoners. Marvellous. And afterwards we had a lot to eat. It was very nice.'
Burwitz also clung to her belief that her father was murdered by the Allies, who had captured Himmler after he went on the run dressed as a soldier.
Himmler, who had completed his disguise by shaving of his moustache and wearing an eye patch, in fact committed suicide in British custody two weeks after the German surrender.
Following his suicide, four British soldiers took his body from the interrogation centre and buried it in an unmarked grave on Luneburg Heath.
Its precise location kept secret for fear of it becoming a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis, and it has never been found.
Burwitz said: 'I don't believe he swallowed that poison capsule. My mother and I never had official notification of his death. To me, the photo of him dead is a retouched photo of when he was alive.'
She is said to have attended a rally of neo-Nazis she in Ulrichsberg, Austria, several years ago, where she was idolised by SS veterans.
'They were terrified of her,' said Andrea Ropke, an authority on neo-Nazism who was there.
'All these high-ranking former officers lined up and she asked, "Where did you serve?" showing off a vast knowledge of military logistics.'
She and her group were monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which counters neo-Nazi threats.
One official said: 'She is over 80 but pin sharp. She likes it if you think of her as some Mrs Doubtfire figure but that is not the case.
'She has a genuine love for these men and women who served the worst parts of the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945.
'She is a true believer and, like all zealots, that makes her dangerous.'
The BND said the timing of her departure 'coincided with the onset of a change in the understanding and the handling of employees who were involved with the Nazis'
Germany's intelligence services have come under criticism in recent years for failing to root out right-wing extremists in the post-war era.
Critical historians say ex-Nazis and far right sympathisers working inside the security agencies of then-West Germany may have protected others.
At the time Burwitz worked for the BND, it was led by Reinhard Gehlen, a former Nazi military intelligence commander who went on to run West Germany's spy agency until 1968.
Hechelhammer said that because Burwitz was no longer alive, the BND was able to make an exception to its policy of not commenting on active or former employees. The disclosure was part of a process of critically reassessing its own history.
The struggle to bring to justice people with Nazi-tainted pasts has been a perennial theme of Germany's post-war history, as has been the suggestion that supporters of the far right retained positions of influence and power in security agencies.
The issue came to the fore in recent years in a trial of members of a far-right group called the National Socialist Underground, which killed eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.
The trial, which started in 2013 and is considered one of the most significant in post-war Germany, uncovered lingering racist attitudes within the country's domestic spy agency, prompting reforms.
By Tim Stickings and Reuters
Daily Mail
June 29, 2018
Heinrich Himmler's daughter has died at the age of 88, as Germany's top intelligence service admitted it had employed the Nazi sympathiser during the Cold War.
The BND confirmed today that Gudrun Burwitz had worked for the then-West German spy agency in the 1960s, although she never renounced her father or the Nazi regime.
She remained active in far-right extremism in later life, helping war criminals who worked for her evil father escape justice, and speaking at neo-Nazi rallies, before she died last month in Munich.
Heinrich Himmler, who as commander of the SS was one of the most powerful Nazis and a principal architect of the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, killed himself in British custody in 1945.
'The BND confirms that Ms. Burwitz was a member of the BND for a few years until 1963 under an assumed name,' said Bodo Hechelhammer, the head of the agency's history department.
One German official said Burwitz had a 'genuine love for these men and women who served the worst parts of the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945.'
Burwitz was the leading figure in sinister support group Stille Hilfe, which offered backing and financial help for former SS officers still at large. The group was said to have 25 to 40 members who referred to her as the 'Nazi Princess'.
In one case the organisation helped fight for Klaas Carel Faber, 89, in the former SS killer's attempt to avoid being extradited back to the Netherlands.
The Dutchman served with the SS in Holland where he murdered defenceless Jews in cold blood, but was never extradited and died in 2012
It also helped Anton Malloth, a brutal guard in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, who was sentenced to death in his absence before finding refuge in Germany.
Malloth was put up in an OAP home with Stille Hilfe funds, where Burwitz visited him with fruit and -chocolates, in a residence built on land once owned by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess.
Burwitz lived her later life in a suburb of Munich, just 15 miles from the concentration camp at Dachau where more than 30,000 people died during Hitler's 12-year rule.
As a child she worshipped her father, who called her Püppi.
She wrote in her diary after she visited the camp: 'Today, we went to Dachau. We saw everything we could. We saw the gardening work. We saw the pear trees.
'We saw all the pictures painted by the prisoners. Marvellous. And afterwards we had a lot to eat. It was very nice.'
Burwitz also clung to her belief that her father was murdered by the Allies, who had captured Himmler after he went on the run dressed as a soldier.
Himmler, who had completed his disguise by shaving of his moustache and wearing an eye patch, in fact committed suicide in British custody two weeks after the German surrender.
Following his suicide, four British soldiers took his body from the interrogation centre and buried it in an unmarked grave on Luneburg Heath.
Its precise location kept secret for fear of it becoming a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis, and it has never been found.
Burwitz said: 'I don't believe he swallowed that poison capsule. My mother and I never had official notification of his death. To me, the photo of him dead is a retouched photo of when he was alive.'
She is said to have attended a rally of neo-Nazis she in Ulrichsberg, Austria, several years ago, where she was idolised by SS veterans.
'They were terrified of her,' said Andrea Ropke, an authority on neo-Nazism who was there.
'All these high-ranking former officers lined up and she asked, "Where did you serve?" showing off a vast knowledge of military logistics.'
She and her group were monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which counters neo-Nazi threats.
One official said: 'She is over 80 but pin sharp. She likes it if you think of her as some Mrs Doubtfire figure but that is not the case.
'She has a genuine love for these men and women who served the worst parts of the Nazi regime from 1933 until 1945.
'She is a true believer and, like all zealots, that makes her dangerous.'
The BND said the timing of her departure 'coincided with the onset of a change in the understanding and the handling of employees who were involved with the Nazis'
Germany's intelligence services have come under criticism in recent years for failing to root out right-wing extremists in the post-war era.
Critical historians say ex-Nazis and far right sympathisers working inside the security agencies of then-West Germany may have protected others.
At the time Burwitz worked for the BND, it was led by Reinhard Gehlen, a former Nazi military intelligence commander who went on to run West Germany's spy agency until 1968.
Hechelhammer said that because Burwitz was no longer alive, the BND was able to make an exception to its policy of not commenting on active or former employees. The disclosure was part of a process of critically reassessing its own history.
The struggle to bring to justice people with Nazi-tainted pasts has been a perennial theme of Germany's post-war history, as has been the suggestion that supporters of the far right retained positions of influence and power in security agencies.
The issue came to the fore in recent years in a trial of members of a far-right group called the National Socialist Underground, which killed eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.
The trial, which started in 2013 and is considered one of the most significant in post-war Germany, uncovered lingering racist attitudes within the country's domestic spy agency, prompting reforms.
AMERICAN TANKS TO BE PROTECTED BY ISRAEL’S TROPHY SYSTEM
US Army to buys Israeli tank defense system for $193 million
Israel Hayom
June 27, 2018
The U.S. Army plans to purchase Israel's Trophy defense system to shield its Abrams tanks, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced Tuesday.
The contract is worth $193 million, the company said.
Trophy, also known as the Windbreaker defense system, is an active anti-tank missiles and rockets defense system designed to intercept and destroy incoming projectiles with a shotgun-like blast.
The system was declared operational in 2011 and has since been installed on over 1,000 IDF tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Trophy will be supplied by the American defense contractor Leonardo DRS, Inc., which partnered with Rafael to manufacture them.
According to Rafael, under the terms of the contract, "Leonardo DRS will provide the [U.S.] Army with Trophy systems, countermeasures, and maintenance kits."
Aaron Hankins, of Leonardo DRS, said his company "is proud to be a part of this important effort to bring lifesaving technology to our warfighters, and we are actively investing to ensure Trophy provides a solid, American-made foundation for the Army's coming Vehicle Protection Suite program."
Moshe Elazar, executive vice president and head of Rafael's Land and Naval Systems Division, said, "Our company has been providing defense solutions to the U.S. military for more than two decades. We are proud to continue doing so with the Windbreaker [Trophy] system."
Israel Hayom
June 27, 2018
The U.S. Army plans to purchase Israel's Trophy defense system to shield its Abrams tanks, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced Tuesday.
The contract is worth $193 million, the company said.
Trophy, also known as the Windbreaker defense system, is an active anti-tank missiles and rockets defense system designed to intercept and destroy incoming projectiles with a shotgun-like blast.
The system was declared operational in 2011 and has since been installed on over 1,000 IDF tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Trophy will be supplied by the American defense contractor Leonardo DRS, Inc., which partnered with Rafael to manufacture them.
According to Rafael, under the terms of the contract, "Leonardo DRS will provide the [U.S.] Army with Trophy systems, countermeasures, and maintenance kits."
Aaron Hankins, of Leonardo DRS, said his company "is proud to be a part of this important effort to bring lifesaving technology to our warfighters, and we are actively investing to ensure Trophy provides a solid, American-made foundation for the Army's coming Vehicle Protection Suite program."
Moshe Elazar, executive vice president and head of Rafael's Land and Naval Systems Division, said, "Our company has been providing defense solutions to the U.S. military for more than two decades. We are proud to continue doing so with the Windbreaker [Trophy] system."
Friday, June 29, 2018
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
by Bob Walsh
It seems to me that there are times when much of the media feels that they are not part of the real world. They feel free, even obliged at times, to comment, poke and prod, sometimes inappropriately. They believe, maybe with some justification, that their freedom to publish gives them freedom to be a pain in the butt.
Yesterday some local yahoo who had a beef with a paper in Annapolis, MD showed up with a shotgun. He left five people dead in his wake and two slightly injured. The cops showed up almost immediately and the chickenshit bastard promptly surrendered. The people in the newsroom had no ability to defend themselves but were left cowering under desks and hoping to not be noticed. Sometimes it worked.
The other media vultures of course were fascinated. Among other questions I heard posed was one reporter absolutely DEMANDING to know if the gun was a warm-and-fuzzy sporting shotgun or an evil tactical shotgun.
I wonder of those staff who survived their ordeal will become better reporters, and better human beings, for having their own mortality and humanity pushed into their faces, or not? If nothing else I expect that physical security will increase in newspaper offices across the country. And they will likely take threatening emails from local looney tunes more seriously.
It seems to me that there are times when much of the media feels that they are not part of the real world. They feel free, even obliged at times, to comment, poke and prod, sometimes inappropriately. They believe, maybe with some justification, that their freedom to publish gives them freedom to be a pain in the butt.
Yesterday some local yahoo who had a beef with a paper in Annapolis, MD showed up with a shotgun. He left five people dead in his wake and two slightly injured. The cops showed up almost immediately and the chickenshit bastard promptly surrendered. The people in the newsroom had no ability to defend themselves but were left cowering under desks and hoping to not be noticed. Sometimes it worked.
The other media vultures of course were fascinated. Among other questions I heard posed was one reporter absolutely DEMANDING to know if the gun was a warm-and-fuzzy sporting shotgun or an evil tactical shotgun.
I wonder of those staff who survived their ordeal will become better reporters, and better human beings, for having their own mortality and humanity pushed into their faces, or not? If nothing else I expect that physical security will increase in newspaper offices across the country. And they will likely take threatening emails from local looney tunes more seriously.
CONFUSING GUILTY BUT NOT GUILTY END TO LAWSUIT AGAINST CHICAGO COP
Conflicting verdict favors Chicago cop in fatal shooting of bat-wielding teen as trial ends in confusion
By Dan Hinkel
Chicago Tribune
June 28, 2018
In a chaotic finish to a high-profile trial, a judge first announced that a jury had found that a Chicago police officer unjustifiably shot and killed a bat-wielding teen, then wiped away the verdict and the $1 million award to the teen’s family after noting that jurors had also found that the officer reasonably feared for his life when he fired.
Confusion abounded at the Daley Center courthouse Wednesday evening after the Cook County jury reached its conflicting verdict after 3½ hours of deliberations, capping an eight-day trial.
Judge Rena Marie Van Tine first announced that jurors had sided in favor of Quintonio LeGrier's parents — who sued the city and Officer Robert Rialmo — awarding them $1.05 million in damages.
Moments later, however, it was revealed that jurors had also signed a special interrogatory — a specific question to a jury — finding that Rialmo fired in the reasonable belief that LeGrier posed the danger of death or great bodily harm to himself or his partner.
Van Tine then found that the answer to the specific question overrode the rest of the verdict. Over the objections of the LeGrier family’s lawyers, the judge entered judgment in favor of Rialmo and the city.
The jury foreman, Dave Fitzsimmons, answered reporters’ questions just after the verdict was read, suggesting he had expected the $1.05 million in damages to be imposed and criticizing the officer’s decision to shoot.
“(I) don’t believe he’s a bad person — just made a bad decision,” Fitzsimmons said.
Even without the conflicting verdict, jurors had awarded an amount that far undershot what the LeGrier family’s lawyers had asked for — as much as $25 million.
The shooting on the West Side also killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones, an innocent bystander. The city avoided a trial with her family by recently reaching a proposed settlement of $16 million.
Rialmo’s lawyer, Joel Brodsky, celebrated the mixed jury decision as vindication for his client. As reporters and other onlookers sorted out the verdict, he talked by phone with Rialmo, who was not in court. Brodsky said the officer felt “wonderful.”
Attorney Basileios Foutris, who represents the LeGrier family, said the city won on a “legal technicality” and said he would be “exploring all our options going forward.”
The situation echoed at least one other case in Cook County over a shooting by Chicago police. In 2015, a jury found that an officer shot and killed a 19-year-old man without justification and awarded $3.5 million in damages. In that case, however, the jury also answered a special interrogatory and said the officer believed his life was in danger when he fired. The judge wiped away the verdict, but the Illinois Appellate Court overturned her decision and reinstated the award in February.
Another element added to the confusion around the LeGrier verdict. Rialmo had made the unusual move of suing LeGrier’s estate, blaming him for the shooting. Jurors found partly in Rialmo’s favor but awarded the officer no money.
The wild ending marked the culmination of 2½ years of legal wrangling over one of the most divisive shootings in the recent history of a Police Department still undergoing reforms aimed at preventing controversial uses of force. The shooting has been politically explosive since it transpired just a month after Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced by a judge to release video of an officer shooting black teen Laquan McDonald 16 times.
LeGrier’s shooting unfolded as Rialmo and his partner responded about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 26, 2015, to a domestic disturbance at an apartment in the 4700 block of West Erie Street where the teen was staying with his father. LeGrier apparently was plagued by mental health problems and had encounters with police while attending Northern Illinois University, records show.
During closing arguments Wednesday, Foutris emphasized the portions of the trial that suggested Rialmo — who has given varying statements about the shooting — stood 10 feet or more from the teen when he fired.
The lawyer argued that the officer’s statements placing him a few feet from LeGrier were concocted to justify a bad shooting.
Like a mantra, Foutris repeated, “Distance matters.”
“Quintonio was not a threat to him, period,” Foutris said.
Defending the city, private attorney Brian Gainer contended that mere seconds passed as the officers reached the building’s front entry and LeGrier bounded down the stairs and rushed at Rialmo and his partner with the bat in his hand. LeGrier presented an immediate lethal threat, Gainer said, whether he was 5 feet or more than 20 feet from Rialmo when he fired.
“It happened like this,” Gainer said, snapping his fingers. “There is no ‘pause’ button.”
Gainer argued that the discrepancies within the officers’ accounts of the shooting actually show their credibility. If the officers conspired to cook up a story, Gainer said, “This is, without a doubt, the worst conspiracy in the history of conspiracies.”
Rialmo made the unconventional move of hiring his own attorney, Brodsky, to represent him alongside the lawyers for the city. Brodsky asked jurors to consider whether they expect officers to run into danger or away from it. He also contended that LeGrier “wanted to be killed by police.”
The trial that led up to Wednesday’s verdict turned largely on two key topics: whether the teen swung the bat at Rialmo, as the officer testified, and the distance that separated the two when the officer fired. The Legrier family attorneys also repeatedly returned to the fact that most of the bullets came from behind.
Experts hired by the city and the LeGrier family voiced conflicting views.
A forensics expert called by the LeGrier family testified that the teen stood at least 10 feet from Rialmo at the time of the shooting. A pathologist hired by the LeGrier family said the teen’s wounds and other evidence contradicted Rialmo’s account of the teen raising the bat before he was shot.
The city’s lawyers, however, called a pathologist who said it was possible that LeGrier had the bat raised when he was shot.
Rialmo himself demonstrated for jurors how he said LeGrier swung the bat downward at him. The officer said the teen came within 2 to 3 feet of him.
The city also called a use-of-force expert who testified that Rialmo was justified in firing — even if LeGrier did not swing the bat — because the teen presented an immediate threat.
That clash of expert opinions mirrors the rift between police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and the city’s officer disciplinary agency, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. COPA ruled the shooting unjustified and recommended that the officer be fired, while Johnson disagreed and ruled that the shooting was warranted.
The Chicago Police Board has yet to decide whether Rialmo should be fired.
Rialmo, who is on paid desk duty, also remains under investigation for a December 2017 bar fight in which he punched two men in the face in an altercation caught on security video. Brodsky has said Rialmo was defending himself.
Only a small portion of the trial focused on Brodsky’s lawsuit against the LeGrier estate. In closing arguments, Foutris called the suit “callous” and pointed out for jurors that Rialmo was not in court. Rialmo did not attend most of the trial, while Brodsky was in court intermittently.
“Apparently, (Rialmo) has got better things to do,” Foutris said.
Brodsky argued that the shooting was “traumatic” and “life-changing” for Rialmo.
“(LeGrier) caused Officer Rialmo to have to take his life, and, unfortunately, tragically, the life of Bettie Jones,” Brodsky said.
“It was Quintonio’s fault.”
By Dan Hinkel
Chicago Tribune
June 28, 2018
In a chaotic finish to a high-profile trial, a judge first announced that a jury had found that a Chicago police officer unjustifiably shot and killed a bat-wielding teen, then wiped away the verdict and the $1 million award to the teen’s family after noting that jurors had also found that the officer reasonably feared for his life when he fired.
Confusion abounded at the Daley Center courthouse Wednesday evening after the Cook County jury reached its conflicting verdict after 3½ hours of deliberations, capping an eight-day trial.
Judge Rena Marie Van Tine first announced that jurors had sided in favor of Quintonio LeGrier's parents — who sued the city and Officer Robert Rialmo — awarding them $1.05 million in damages.
Moments later, however, it was revealed that jurors had also signed a special interrogatory — a specific question to a jury — finding that Rialmo fired in the reasonable belief that LeGrier posed the danger of death or great bodily harm to himself or his partner.
Van Tine then found that the answer to the specific question overrode the rest of the verdict. Over the objections of the LeGrier family’s lawyers, the judge entered judgment in favor of Rialmo and the city.
The jury foreman, Dave Fitzsimmons, answered reporters’ questions just after the verdict was read, suggesting he had expected the $1.05 million in damages to be imposed and criticizing the officer’s decision to shoot.
“(I) don’t believe he’s a bad person — just made a bad decision,” Fitzsimmons said.
Even without the conflicting verdict, jurors had awarded an amount that far undershot what the LeGrier family’s lawyers had asked for — as much as $25 million.
The shooting on the West Side also killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones, an innocent bystander. The city avoided a trial with her family by recently reaching a proposed settlement of $16 million.
Rialmo’s lawyer, Joel Brodsky, celebrated the mixed jury decision as vindication for his client. As reporters and other onlookers sorted out the verdict, he talked by phone with Rialmo, who was not in court. Brodsky said the officer felt “wonderful.”
Attorney Basileios Foutris, who represents the LeGrier family, said the city won on a “legal technicality” and said he would be “exploring all our options going forward.”
The situation echoed at least one other case in Cook County over a shooting by Chicago police. In 2015, a jury found that an officer shot and killed a 19-year-old man without justification and awarded $3.5 million in damages. In that case, however, the jury also answered a special interrogatory and said the officer believed his life was in danger when he fired. The judge wiped away the verdict, but the Illinois Appellate Court overturned her decision and reinstated the award in February.
Another element added to the confusion around the LeGrier verdict. Rialmo had made the unusual move of suing LeGrier’s estate, blaming him for the shooting. Jurors found partly in Rialmo’s favor but awarded the officer no money.
The wild ending marked the culmination of 2½ years of legal wrangling over one of the most divisive shootings in the recent history of a Police Department still undergoing reforms aimed at preventing controversial uses of force. The shooting has been politically explosive since it transpired just a month after Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced by a judge to release video of an officer shooting black teen Laquan McDonald 16 times.
LeGrier’s shooting unfolded as Rialmo and his partner responded about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 26, 2015, to a domestic disturbance at an apartment in the 4700 block of West Erie Street where the teen was staying with his father. LeGrier apparently was plagued by mental health problems and had encounters with police while attending Northern Illinois University, records show.
During closing arguments Wednesday, Foutris emphasized the portions of the trial that suggested Rialmo — who has given varying statements about the shooting — stood 10 feet or more from the teen when he fired.
The lawyer argued that the officer’s statements placing him a few feet from LeGrier were concocted to justify a bad shooting.
Like a mantra, Foutris repeated, “Distance matters.”
“Quintonio was not a threat to him, period,” Foutris said.
Defending the city, private attorney Brian Gainer contended that mere seconds passed as the officers reached the building’s front entry and LeGrier bounded down the stairs and rushed at Rialmo and his partner with the bat in his hand. LeGrier presented an immediate lethal threat, Gainer said, whether he was 5 feet or more than 20 feet from Rialmo when he fired.
“It happened like this,” Gainer said, snapping his fingers. “There is no ‘pause’ button.”
Gainer argued that the discrepancies within the officers’ accounts of the shooting actually show their credibility. If the officers conspired to cook up a story, Gainer said, “This is, without a doubt, the worst conspiracy in the history of conspiracies.”
Rialmo made the unconventional move of hiring his own attorney, Brodsky, to represent him alongside the lawyers for the city. Brodsky asked jurors to consider whether they expect officers to run into danger or away from it. He also contended that LeGrier “wanted to be killed by police.”
The trial that led up to Wednesday’s verdict turned largely on two key topics: whether the teen swung the bat at Rialmo, as the officer testified, and the distance that separated the two when the officer fired. The Legrier family attorneys also repeatedly returned to the fact that most of the bullets came from behind.
Experts hired by the city and the LeGrier family voiced conflicting views.
A forensics expert called by the LeGrier family testified that the teen stood at least 10 feet from Rialmo at the time of the shooting. A pathologist hired by the LeGrier family said the teen’s wounds and other evidence contradicted Rialmo’s account of the teen raising the bat before he was shot.
The city’s lawyers, however, called a pathologist who said it was possible that LeGrier had the bat raised when he was shot.
Rialmo himself demonstrated for jurors how he said LeGrier swung the bat downward at him. The officer said the teen came within 2 to 3 feet of him.
The city also called a use-of-force expert who testified that Rialmo was justified in firing — even if LeGrier did not swing the bat — because the teen presented an immediate threat.
That clash of expert opinions mirrors the rift between police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and the city’s officer disciplinary agency, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. COPA ruled the shooting unjustified and recommended that the officer be fired, while Johnson disagreed and ruled that the shooting was warranted.
The Chicago Police Board has yet to decide whether Rialmo should be fired.
Rialmo, who is on paid desk duty, also remains under investigation for a December 2017 bar fight in which he punched two men in the face in an altercation caught on security video. Brodsky has said Rialmo was defending himself.
Only a small portion of the trial focused on Brodsky’s lawsuit against the LeGrier estate. In closing arguments, Foutris called the suit “callous” and pointed out for jurors that Rialmo was not in court. Rialmo did not attend most of the trial, while Brodsky was in court intermittently.
“Apparently, (Rialmo) has got better things to do,” Foutris said.
Brodsky argued that the shooting was “traumatic” and “life-changing” for Rialmo.
“(LeGrier) caused Officer Rialmo to have to take his life, and, unfortunately, tragically, the life of Bettie Jones,” Brodsky said.
“It was Quintonio’s fault.”
INSREAD OF PROJECT MANAGES, HOW ABOUT HIRING SOME GUYS TO PICK UP THE TRASH?
City of Houston to Begin Charging for Parking in Memorial Park
By Bill King
Big Jolly Times
June 27, 2018
In its never-ending quest to nickel and dime Houstonians out of every last dollar, the City of Houston recently announced that it will begin charging for some of the parking spaces at Memorial Park. The City has said that the revenue will help maintain the park. This is absurd on so many different levels that I hardly know where to start.
First, the numbers. The plan is to meter 572 spaces, about a quarter of the total spaces in the park. The charge will be one dollar for three hours. So, let’s assume all of the spaces were used 12 hours a day, 365 days per year. That would bring in about $800,000. Of course, it will not be anywhere close to that. From my experience going to Memorial Park, I would guess that a third of that time would be a generous guess. If so, that would bring in $200,000-$300,000 per year.
But, of course. all of that is not “profit.” According to the City’s latest budget, it spends about 63 cents for every dollar of parking fees it collects. So, in other words, the City will be lucky if it clears $100,000 per year from this venture.
That is about 2 thousandths of one percent of the City’s annual budget. Eliminating just one of the thousands of bureaucrats at City Hall would save us more than the revenue this incredible inconvenience will net.
Of course, the need for more money to maintain Memorial Park begs the question of where is all the money that the Uptown TIRZ was supposed to kick in as part of the 2013 deal to add ten years to its life (and to the misery of the Galleria residents). Thecurrent City-approved budget for the Uptown TIRZ has a measly $280,000 (less than 1% of its budget) for “Park Project Program Management.” God save us any more City project managers. How about hiring some guys to pick up the trash or maintain the roads and the trails?
Also, charging for parking is incredibly discriminatory against those who do not live close enough to walk or bike to Memorial Park. The City already spends a disproportionate amount of its parks budget on the “Golden Bowl” (a term dubbed by community activists for Buffalo Bayou, Hermann and Memorial parks – more on that in the near future). Charging outlying residents for access to Memorial Park exacerbates the discriminatory effect of City concentrating its park investments in the Golden Bowl.
Lastly, let me just assure you that this is the proverbial nose under the camel’s tent. What do you think the odds are that the City will be back in no time increasing both the number of spaces that will be metered and the hourly rate? And, of course, be prepared to pay a few parking tickets along the way.
The City does not seem to understand that most people have a choice of where they live and open businesses. For the last twenty years, the City’s growth has been declining, outpaced by its suburbs and other major cities in Texas. Last year it virtually ground to a halt, with the City only adding only 7,000 net new residents. And that was before Hurricane Harvey took its toll.
According to the Greater Houston Partnership, Harris County suffered a net domestic out-migration of over 45,000 residents last year.[i]
Obviously, the decision to charge for parking in Houston’s most iconic park is a trivial matter in and of itself. But it is symbolic and symptomatic of a larger issue. When you have high property taxes, widespread drainage problems despite residents paying $100 million per year in drainage fees, a police force that does not patrol most neighborhoods and only solves 6% of the burglary cases, streets that look like they should be in the Third World, ambulances breaking down on the way to the hospital . . . I could go on . . . at some point residents reach a breaking point and decide to vote with their feet. Clearly, for many residents, Houston has already reached that point.
[i] “Net Domestic Migration” is the number of individuals who move to Houston from other areas of the United States. It does not include individuals who moved here from a foreign country. The GHP reports that the net international migration for the County was a positive 34,000, resulting in a negative net migration for the County of just over 10,000. The Census Bureau does not break this down municipalities, so we cannot determine how much of out-migration for the County was attributable to the City only.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ah, but the city, and county too, won’t raise our taxes. Oops! I forgot they keep raising property evaluations, thereby making our taxes go up and up.
By Bill King
Big Jolly Times
June 27, 2018
In its never-ending quest to nickel and dime Houstonians out of every last dollar, the City of Houston recently announced that it will begin charging for some of the parking spaces at Memorial Park. The City has said that the revenue will help maintain the park. This is absurd on so many different levels that I hardly know where to start.
First, the numbers. The plan is to meter 572 spaces, about a quarter of the total spaces in the park. The charge will be one dollar for three hours. So, let’s assume all of the spaces were used 12 hours a day, 365 days per year. That would bring in about $800,000. Of course, it will not be anywhere close to that. From my experience going to Memorial Park, I would guess that a third of that time would be a generous guess. If so, that would bring in $200,000-$300,000 per year.
But, of course. all of that is not “profit.” According to the City’s latest budget, it spends about 63 cents for every dollar of parking fees it collects. So, in other words, the City will be lucky if it clears $100,000 per year from this venture.
That is about 2 thousandths of one percent of the City’s annual budget. Eliminating just one of the thousands of bureaucrats at City Hall would save us more than the revenue this incredible inconvenience will net.
Of course, the need for more money to maintain Memorial Park begs the question of where is all the money that the Uptown TIRZ was supposed to kick in as part of the 2013 deal to add ten years to its life (and to the misery of the Galleria residents). Thecurrent City-approved budget for the Uptown TIRZ has a measly $280,000 (less than 1% of its budget) for “Park Project Program Management.” God save us any more City project managers. How about hiring some guys to pick up the trash or maintain the roads and the trails?
Also, charging for parking is incredibly discriminatory against those who do not live close enough to walk or bike to Memorial Park. The City already spends a disproportionate amount of its parks budget on the “Golden Bowl” (a term dubbed by community activists for Buffalo Bayou, Hermann and Memorial parks – more on that in the near future). Charging outlying residents for access to Memorial Park exacerbates the discriminatory effect of City concentrating its park investments in the Golden Bowl.
Lastly, let me just assure you that this is the proverbial nose under the camel’s tent. What do you think the odds are that the City will be back in no time increasing both the number of spaces that will be metered and the hourly rate? And, of course, be prepared to pay a few parking tickets along the way.
The City does not seem to understand that most people have a choice of where they live and open businesses. For the last twenty years, the City’s growth has been declining, outpaced by its suburbs and other major cities in Texas. Last year it virtually ground to a halt, with the City only adding only 7,000 net new residents. And that was before Hurricane Harvey took its toll.
According to the Greater Houston Partnership, Harris County suffered a net domestic out-migration of over 45,000 residents last year.[i]
Obviously, the decision to charge for parking in Houston’s most iconic park is a trivial matter in and of itself. But it is symbolic and symptomatic of a larger issue. When you have high property taxes, widespread drainage problems despite residents paying $100 million per year in drainage fees, a police force that does not patrol most neighborhoods and only solves 6% of the burglary cases, streets that look like they should be in the Third World, ambulances breaking down on the way to the hospital . . . I could go on . . . at some point residents reach a breaking point and decide to vote with their feet. Clearly, for many residents, Houston has already reached that point.
[i] “Net Domestic Migration” is the number of individuals who move to Houston from other areas of the United States. It does not include individuals who moved here from a foreign country. The GHP reports that the net international migration for the County was a positive 34,000, resulting in a negative net migration for the County of just over 10,000. The Census Bureau does not break this down municipalities, so we cannot determine how much of out-migration for the County was attributable to the City only.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ah, but the city, and county too, won’t raise our taxes. Oops! I forgot they keep raising property evaluations, thereby making our taxes go up and up.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
COP WHO SHOT SUSPECTED TEENAGED DRIVE BY SHOOTER IS CHARGED WITH MURDER
Officer Michael Rosfeld is now facing murder charges for shooting 17-year-old Antwon Rose as he fled on foot following a car stop
BarkGrowlBite
June 28, 2018
On June 19, East Pittsburgh police stopped a car that fit the description of a car used in a drive-by shooting 13 minutes earlier. Antwon Rose, 17, and another passenger took off and fled on foot. After a short chase, Officer Michael Rosfeld fired several shots, three of which hit Rose in the back.
The driver of the car was arrested. The rear window of the car had been shattered. Two guns were found in the back seat. An empty magazine was found on Rose. This makes it very likely that Rose was the shooter in the drive-by shooting.
Officer Rosfeld is white. Rose was black.
The shooting of Rose enraged the black community. There have been mass protests ever since.
Rosfeld has just been charged with criminal homicide. His problem is that at the time he shot Rose, he did not know about the evidence in the car which indicated that the teenager was the drive-by shooter. Thus he cannot claim Rose posed a serious threat to the public if he were to escape.
Rosfeld did not help his cause either because at first he said that Rose had a gun, but then he changed his story to say the fleeing youth did not have a gun. Welcome to the Graybar Hotel, Michael.
I suspect that if Rose had been white, there would have been no mass protests and Rosfeld would not be facing a murder charge.
BarkGrowlBite
June 28, 2018
On June 19, East Pittsburgh police stopped a car that fit the description of a car used in a drive-by shooting 13 minutes earlier. Antwon Rose, 17, and another passenger took off and fled on foot. After a short chase, Officer Michael Rosfeld fired several shots, three of which hit Rose in the back.
The driver of the car was arrested. The rear window of the car had been shattered. Two guns were found in the back seat. An empty magazine was found on Rose. This makes it very likely that Rose was the shooter in the drive-by shooting.
Officer Rosfeld is white. Rose was black.
The shooting of Rose enraged the black community. There have been mass protests ever since.
Rosfeld has just been charged with criminal homicide. His problem is that at the time he shot Rose, he did not know about the evidence in the car which indicated that the teenager was the drive-by shooter. Thus he cannot claim Rose posed a serious threat to the public if he were to escape.
Rosfeld did not help his cause either because at first he said that Rose had a gun, but then he changed his story to say the fleeing youth did not have a gun. Welcome to the Graybar Hotel, Michael.
I suspect that if Rose had been white, there would have been no mass protests and Rosfeld would not be facing a murder charge.
DUTCH BAN BURQUAS
by Bob Walsh
The Dutch have approved a ban on full-face coverings worn in public, such as niquabs or burkas but also including ski masks and full-face motorcycle helmets. It is estimated that only a few hundred Muslim women in Holland wear full-face covering clothing, and I am guessing very few ski or ride motorcycles.
Presumably the ski masks and motorcycle helmets would be permissible while actually skiing or riding a motorcycle.
The Dutch have approved a ban on full-face coverings worn in public, such as niquabs or burkas but also including ski masks and full-face motorcycle helmets. It is estimated that only a few hundred Muslim women in Holland wear full-face covering clothing, and I am guessing very few ski or ride motorcycles.
Presumably the ski masks and motorcycle helmets would be permissible while actually skiing or riding a motorcycle.
PROTESTSAGAINST THE RULERS OF GAZA AND THE WEST BANK AS ISRAEL DEFANGS TERROR KITES
Israel Finds Solution to Gaza Terror Kites, But There's More Trouble Brewing
By Yochanan Visser
Israel Today
June 27, 2018
The Israeli army has finally found an effective solution to the so-called ‘kite terror’ that has already destroyed hundreds of acres of agricultural land and forests in southern Israel.
This solution was initially developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to counter the growing threat of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) that are used by Hamas and Hezbollah to spy on Israel or to carry out terror attacks against the Jewish state.
Hadashot, a state-funded broadcaster in Israel, reported on Thursday that the IDF has begun using the ‘electronic eye’ to identify where the incendiary kites and balloons are launched from in Gaza, and to track them down before they reach Israel.
The system, called Sky Spotter, enables the IDF to determine the trajectory of the terror kites and balloons and to predict where exactly they will land. A group of IDF operators is now able to provide early warning to firefighters, who then arrive on the spot where the balloons and kites land before they can cause a large blaze.
Sky Spotter is also able to direct small Israeli UAV’s, which are used to bring down the kites and balloons mid-flight.
The system will probably prevent a large-scale military operation in Gaza to stop the ‘kite terror,’ though the Israel Air Force and the IDF continue to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in response to the organized attempts to scorch southern Israel.
On Tuesday night, the IAF bombed a car belonging to a kite terror cell, after which Hamas responded by firing 12 rockets into Israel. Three of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile shield, while no casualties or damages were reported.
The Israeli army last week revealed that “the launching of arson and explosive device-laden kites and balloons is now a deliberate activity, planned and executed by the Hamas terror organization, targeting Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.”
The IDF added that “arson kites are made by Hamas terror operatives in large quantities and in an organized manner.”
Hamas, meanwhile, has to cope with growing unrest in Gaza as a result of its failure to bring Israel to its knees via the ‘Great March of Return,’ and to improve the ailing economy of the coastal enclave.
A number of residents of the impoverished Gaza Strip last week took the streets to demand Palestinian unity, meaning reconciliation between Hamas and the central Fatah-led PA government in Ramallah. The protest was organized by disgruntled Palestinian Arabs who served jail-time in Israel for terror-related activities. About a year ago, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas stopped paying monthly stipends to these ex-prisoners, who now demand Hamas relinquishes control over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.
The protest was violently dispersed by Hamas members wearing kaffiyehs and white baseball caps who came out of a mosque, according to eye-witnesses. The plainclothes Hamas agents carried signs and shouted slogans against PA-leader Mahmoud Abbas who, they said, must be removed from power. When the protesters refused to back down, the Hamas agents destroyed their stage and confiscated video footage and photos of the violent crackdown.
Hamas later denied it had put a violent end to the protest, which came a week after similar demonstrations in the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, where they were oddly condoned and even encouraged by the PA police. These protests were more directed at Abbas’ ruling clan, which has totally failed to bring prosperity to the territories under its control and is blamed for the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
“According to reports on Palestinian news sites, the protesters (in Ramallah and Bethlehem) praised Mohammed Def, the head of Hamas’ military wing, called for an end to the security cooperation with Israel, and shouted slogans disparaging the nonviolent struggle and favoring a return to the armed struggle,” the Israeli paper Ha’aretz reported last week.
By Yochanan Visser
Israel Today
June 27, 2018
The Israeli army has finally found an effective solution to the so-called ‘kite terror’ that has already destroyed hundreds of acres of agricultural land and forests in southern Israel.
This solution was initially developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to counter the growing threat of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) that are used by Hamas and Hezbollah to spy on Israel or to carry out terror attacks against the Jewish state.
Hadashot, a state-funded broadcaster in Israel, reported on Thursday that the IDF has begun using the ‘electronic eye’ to identify where the incendiary kites and balloons are launched from in Gaza, and to track them down before they reach Israel.
The system, called Sky Spotter, enables the IDF to determine the trajectory of the terror kites and balloons and to predict where exactly they will land. A group of IDF operators is now able to provide early warning to firefighters, who then arrive on the spot where the balloons and kites land before they can cause a large blaze.
Sky Spotter is also able to direct small Israeli UAV’s, which are used to bring down the kites and balloons mid-flight.
The system will probably prevent a large-scale military operation in Gaza to stop the ‘kite terror,’ though the Israel Air Force and the IDF continue to target Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in response to the organized attempts to scorch southern Israel.
On Tuesday night, the IAF bombed a car belonging to a kite terror cell, after which Hamas responded by firing 12 rockets into Israel. Three of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile shield, while no casualties or damages were reported.
The Israeli army last week revealed that “the launching of arson and explosive device-laden kites and balloons is now a deliberate activity, planned and executed by the Hamas terror organization, targeting Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.”
The IDF added that “arson kites are made by Hamas terror operatives in large quantities and in an organized manner.”
Hamas, meanwhile, has to cope with growing unrest in Gaza as a result of its failure to bring Israel to its knees via the ‘Great March of Return,’ and to improve the ailing economy of the coastal enclave.
A number of residents of the impoverished Gaza Strip last week took the streets to demand Palestinian unity, meaning reconciliation between Hamas and the central Fatah-led PA government in Ramallah. The protest was organized by disgruntled Palestinian Arabs who served jail-time in Israel for terror-related activities. About a year ago, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas stopped paying monthly stipends to these ex-prisoners, who now demand Hamas relinquishes control over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.
The protest was violently dispersed by Hamas members wearing kaffiyehs and white baseball caps who came out of a mosque, according to eye-witnesses. The plainclothes Hamas agents carried signs and shouted slogans against PA-leader Mahmoud Abbas who, they said, must be removed from power. When the protesters refused to back down, the Hamas agents destroyed their stage and confiscated video footage and photos of the violent crackdown.
Hamas later denied it had put a violent end to the protest, which came a week after similar demonstrations in the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, where they were oddly condoned and even encouraged by the PA police. These protests were more directed at Abbas’ ruling clan, which has totally failed to bring prosperity to the territories under its control and is blamed for the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
“According to reports on Palestinian news sites, the protesters (in Ramallah and Bethlehem) praised Mohammed Def, the head of Hamas’ military wing, called for an end to the security cooperation with Israel, and shouted slogans disparaging the nonviolent struggle and favoring a return to the armed struggle,” the Israeli paper Ha’aretz reported last week.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
MAXINE WATERS IS A NO-CLASS RABBLE ROUSER WHO CALLS FOR THE HARASSMENT OF TRUMP’S CABINET MEMBERS
Congress has two members who suffer from motor mouth disease, Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters, with Waters being a no-class rabble rouser
BarkGrowlBite
June 27, 2018
Last week protesters confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen inside a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., yelling “shame” at Nielsen and “End Texas concentration camps.” On Friday a mob blared audio of crying migrant children who allegedly had been separated from their parents.
Recently in Lexington, Va., White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service and told to leave the Red Hen by the restaurant’s co-owner because of her position in the Trump Administration.
In the wake of these incidents, Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Saturday urged a Los Angeles group protesting the separation of illegal immigrant families to personally harass members of Trump’s cabinet in public places like restaurants, department stores and gas stations. Waters said:
“I have no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it is wrong what they're doing on so many fronts but they tend to not want to confront this president. For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president 'no I can't hang with you, this is wrong this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children.”
It is hard to believe that a member of Congress would urge anyone to personally harass another person, but then Waters is a no-class rabble rouser who has no shame. The shit-for-brains congresswoman should know that sooner or later someone is going to get hurt or even killed during such confrontations.
Even Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer condemned Waters for her inflammatory statement. Waters than tried to defend herself by stating she was calling for peaceful protests. Nice try Max, but you know that isn’t true.
Congress has two members who suffer from motor mouth disease, Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters. Sheila has long been an embarrassment to Houston but she is no rabble rouser and you can’t accuse her of having no class. She just can’t keep her big mouth shut. Waters can’t keep her big mouth shut either and she is a no-class rabble rouser to boot.
BarkGrowlBite
June 27, 2018
Last week protesters confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen inside a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., yelling “shame” at Nielsen and “End Texas concentration camps.” On Friday a mob blared audio of crying migrant children who allegedly had been separated from their parents.
Recently in Lexington, Va., White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service and told to leave the Red Hen by the restaurant’s co-owner because of her position in the Trump Administration.
In the wake of these incidents, Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Saturday urged a Los Angeles group protesting the separation of illegal immigrant families to personally harass members of Trump’s cabinet in public places like restaurants, department stores and gas stations. Waters said:
“I have no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it is wrong what they're doing on so many fronts but they tend to not want to confront this president. For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they're not going to be able to shop at a department store, the people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they're going to tell the president 'no I can't hang with you, this is wrong this is unconscionable and we can't keep doing this to children.”
It is hard to believe that a member of Congress would urge anyone to personally harass another person, but then Waters is a no-class rabble rouser who has no shame. The shit-for-brains congresswoman should know that sooner or later someone is going to get hurt or even killed during such confrontations.
Even Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer condemned Waters for her inflammatory statement. Waters than tried to defend herself by stating she was calling for peaceful protests. Nice try Max, but you know that isn’t true.
Congress has two members who suffer from motor mouth disease, Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters. Sheila has long been an embarrassment to Houston but she is no rabble rouser and you can’t accuse her of having no class. She just can’t keep her big mouth shut. Waters can’t keep her big mouth shut either and she is a no-class rabble rouser to boot.
CELEBRITY RUG-RAT GETS EIGHT YEARS
by Bob Walsh
Grace Pauline Kelley is the daughter of C&W star Wynonna Judd. It seems she is also pretty messed up. The 22-year old was just sentenced to eight years as a guest of the people of Tennessee after a conviction for violation of probation for bailing out on a drug treatment program last year.
Ms. Kelley was busted originally about three years ago for possession of gear commonly used to cook meth. About a year later she was busted in Alabama, and fled to avoid prosecution. In May of 2017 she pleaded guilty to cooking and selling meth and was supposed to do a year her sentence was suddenly reduced to 30 days and probation. She quickly broke probation and was arrested on December 16, 2017.
Her current sentence will take her to 2025 though she will be eligible for consideration for parole in 2019.
You can pick your friends, you can't pick your family. Unfortunately for some people the power, prestige and to some extend insulation that comes with family fame can be more of a curse than a blessing.
Grace Pauline Kelley is the daughter of C&W star Wynonna Judd. It seems she is also pretty messed up. The 22-year old was just sentenced to eight years as a guest of the people of Tennessee after a conviction for violation of probation for bailing out on a drug treatment program last year.
Ms. Kelley was busted originally about three years ago for possession of gear commonly used to cook meth. About a year later she was busted in Alabama, and fled to avoid prosecution. In May of 2017 she pleaded guilty to cooking and selling meth and was supposed to do a year her sentence was suddenly reduced to 30 days and probation. She quickly broke probation and was arrested on December 16, 2017.
Her current sentence will take her to 2025 though she will be eligible for consideration for parole in 2019.
You can pick your friends, you can't pick your family. Unfortunately for some people the power, prestige and to some extend insulation that comes with family fame can be more of a curse than a blessing.
THIS GUY NEEDS TO FIRE HIS MAID
by Bob Walsh
Janoris Jenkins plays cornerback for the N. Y. Giants and lives in a nice house about 10 miles from the stadium in Fair Lawn, N.J.
It seems that somebody "found" a dead body laying around the house. The cops have declined to say who the head guy is and where Jenkins was when the body was found or when the death is believed to have occurred.
The Giant's team operation has declined comment other than to say they are monitoring the situation.
Remember, a friend will help you move. A GOOD friend will help you move the body. Lacking a good friend, a good maid should have at least shoved the guy under a couch or something. It's hard to find good help these days..
Janoris Jenkins plays cornerback for the N. Y. Giants and lives in a nice house about 10 miles from the stadium in Fair Lawn, N.J.
It seems that somebody "found" a dead body laying around the house. The cops have declined to say who the head guy is and where Jenkins was when the body was found or when the death is believed to have occurred.
The Giant's team operation has declined comment other than to say they are monitoring the situation.
Remember, a friend will help you move. A GOOD friend will help you move the body. Lacking a good friend, a good maid should have at least shoved the guy under a couch or something. It's hard to find good help these days..
BLM THUGS LEAD TO JAIL LOCKDOWN
by Bob Walsh
The Black Lives Matter thugs led a protest outside of the downtown Sacramento CA jail on Monday, causing the jail to be locked down for a couple of hours.
About 50 "demonstrators" many of them carrying signs saying YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL US TO APPREHEND US stood in front of the door, chanting the names Stephon Clark and Brandon Smith, two local black criminals.
Clark was shot to death while fleeing the cops and attempting to break into houses. He turned on the cops holding a cell phone which they mistook for a gun and terminally rehabilitated him. Smith died of acute meth poisoning while being transported. The coroner found a burst baggie in his stomach.
The Black Lives Matter thugs led a protest outside of the downtown Sacramento CA jail on Monday, causing the jail to be locked down for a couple of hours.
About 50 "demonstrators" many of them carrying signs saying YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL US TO APPREHEND US stood in front of the door, chanting the names Stephon Clark and Brandon Smith, two local black criminals.
Clark was shot to death while fleeing the cops and attempting to break into houses. He turned on the cops holding a cell phone which they mistook for a gun and terminally rehabilitated him. Smith died of acute meth poisoning while being transported. The coroner found a burst baggie in his stomach.
FENTANYL USED TO ASSAULT COPS IN HOUSTON
Fentanyl-laced flyers placed on Harris County sheriff’s fleet vehicles in east Houston
By Jay R. Jordan
Houston Chronicle
June 26, 2018
A sergeant with the Harris County Sheriff's Office was hospitalized Tuesday after coming in contact with a fentanyl-laced paper flyer, authorities said.
The flyer was one of several placed on nearly a dozen sheriff's office vehicles at HCSO's recruitment and criminal investigations center at 601 Lockwood Drive in east Houston, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
At least one of the flyers tested positive for fentanyl, a sometimes-deadly opioid. Other flyers, as well as the sergeant herself, are being tested for fentanyl, as well.
So far, authorities have tested one of the 15 to 20 flyers, said Jason Spencer, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. The remaining flyers were sent to Harris County Institute of Forensic Science for analysis, he said.
The sergeant came across the flyer on her windshield Tuesday afternoon as she left work, Gonzalez said. She initially did not think anything of it but soon started to feel light-headed and showed other fentanyl-related symptoms.
She was rushed to the hospital and is expected to survive as authorities investigate the flyers' origination. She was released around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
"She caught it quickly," Gonzalez said. "We do know from our experience with fentanyl is that it can be very deadly. It's 100 times more potent than morphine."
The flyers could have been placed on the vehicles as early as 8 a.m. Tuesday, Gonzalez said.
"We hope this is an isolated incident," Gonzalez said.
The flyers promoted the organization Targeted Individuals, an organization which believes that the "Deep State" targets certain individuals.
The group believes the FBI and CIA purposefully inflict mental, physical and emotional stress on enemies of the "Deep State," in part, by shooting microwave technology at their heads in order to cause brain damage, according to the group's website.
The organization could not be reached for comment.
Authorities with HCSO are asking anyone who sees the flyers to maintain caution and contact authorities.
By Jay R. Jordan
Houston Chronicle
June 26, 2018
A sergeant with the Harris County Sheriff's Office was hospitalized Tuesday after coming in contact with a fentanyl-laced paper flyer, authorities said.
The flyer was one of several placed on nearly a dozen sheriff's office vehicles at HCSO's recruitment and criminal investigations center at 601 Lockwood Drive in east Houston, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
At least one of the flyers tested positive for fentanyl, a sometimes-deadly opioid. Other flyers, as well as the sergeant herself, are being tested for fentanyl, as well.
So far, authorities have tested one of the 15 to 20 flyers, said Jason Spencer, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. The remaining flyers were sent to Harris County Institute of Forensic Science for analysis, he said.
The sergeant came across the flyer on her windshield Tuesday afternoon as she left work, Gonzalez said. She initially did not think anything of it but soon started to feel light-headed and showed other fentanyl-related symptoms.
She was rushed to the hospital and is expected to survive as authorities investigate the flyers' origination. She was released around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
"She caught it quickly," Gonzalez said. "We do know from our experience with fentanyl is that it can be very deadly. It's 100 times more potent than morphine."
The flyers could have been placed on the vehicles as early as 8 a.m. Tuesday, Gonzalez said.
"We hope this is an isolated incident," Gonzalez said.
The flyers promoted the organization Targeted Individuals, an organization which believes that the "Deep State" targets certain individuals.
The group believes the FBI and CIA purposefully inflict mental, physical and emotional stress on enemies of the "Deep State," in part, by shooting microwave technology at their heads in order to cause brain damage, according to the group's website.
The organization could not be reached for comment.
Authorities with HCSO are asking anyone who sees the flyers to maintain caution and contact authorities.
LAW AND ORDER MEXICAN STYLE
Entire Mexican police force arrested after mayoral candidate’s murder
By Tamar Lapin
New York Post
June 25, 2018
A Mexican town’s entire police force has been arrested in connection with the slaying of a mayoral candidate.
The 28 officers from the town of Ocampo in the western state of Michoacan were arrested Sunday on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Fernando Angeles Juarez.
Juarez, 64, was running as the candidate for the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution in Ocampo, before being shot dead June 21.
State officials took the cops in for having alleged ties with criminal groups possibly involved in the candidate’s killing, El Universal reported.
Public Security Director Venancio Colin was chased out by 16 Ocampo cops in a hail of bullets when he first tried to arrest them Saturday, sources told the paper.
He came back Sunday with reinforcements and arrested the entire force, who were cuffed and taken to the state capital for questioning.
Juarez, a successful businessman with little previous political experience, was the third politician to be killed in Michoacan in just over a week, the BBC reported.
“He couldn’t stand seeing so much poverty, inequality and corruption and so he decided to run,” one of his closest friends, Miguel Malagón, told El Universal.
Mexico will vote for a new president July 1, alongside more than 3,000 federal, state and municipal posts.
More than 1,000 candidates have dropped out of local races ahead of the elections because they fear being gunned down.
Drug cartels are suspected in many murders of politicians and the 2018 campaign has been a bloody one — with dozens of politicians, candidates and activists murdered by gangsters.
On June 12, congressional candidate Fernando Purón was shot in the head point-blank as he posed for a selfie after an election debate in Piedras Negras.
By Tamar Lapin
New York Post
June 25, 2018
A Mexican town’s entire police force has been arrested in connection with the slaying of a mayoral candidate.
The 28 officers from the town of Ocampo in the western state of Michoacan were arrested Sunday on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Fernando Angeles Juarez.
Juarez, 64, was running as the candidate for the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution in Ocampo, before being shot dead June 21.
State officials took the cops in for having alleged ties with criminal groups possibly involved in the candidate’s killing, El Universal reported.
Public Security Director Venancio Colin was chased out by 16 Ocampo cops in a hail of bullets when he first tried to arrest them Saturday, sources told the paper.
He came back Sunday with reinforcements and arrested the entire force, who were cuffed and taken to the state capital for questioning.
Juarez, a successful businessman with little previous political experience, was the third politician to be killed in Michoacan in just over a week, the BBC reported.
“He couldn’t stand seeing so much poverty, inequality and corruption and so he decided to run,” one of his closest friends, Miguel Malagón, told El Universal.
Mexico will vote for a new president July 1, alongside more than 3,000 federal, state and municipal posts.
More than 1,000 candidates have dropped out of local races ahead of the elections because they fear being gunned down.
Drug cartels are suspected in many murders of politicians and the 2018 campaign has been a bloody one — with dozens of politicians, candidates and activists murdered by gangsters.
On June 12, congressional candidate Fernando Purón was shot in the head point-blank as he posed for a selfie after an election debate in Piedras Negras.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
MAYBE YOU SHOULD LEAVE YOUR GOD AT HOME WHEN YOU GO TO WORK
by Bob Walsh
Port Allen, Louisiana is kind of unusual in the U. S. in that their Chief of Police is elected. He is now on the receiving end of a civil suit by a former officer for prosletyzing on the job.
Patrick Marshall asserts that Chief Esdron Brown violated his constitutional rights by DEMANDING that he attend religious counselling with the department chaplain, and threatened to fire or suspend him if he refused. He also allegedly passed Marshall over for promotion in favor of less qualified applicants who went to the same church as Chief Brown. The Chief is alleged to have regular said that he wanted a "SAVED" department.
When Marshall complained to the Mayor the Mayor allegedly ordered him to attend anger management classes and suspended his Thanksgiving vacation. Marshall had worked for Port Allen since 2006 and is currently employed by another department in the area.
Brown has been the Chief since 2013 and was elected to a second four-year term in 2016. The department has a very high turn-over rate. In the last five years they have hired 28 officers, 14 of whom have since left that department.
Port Allen, Louisiana is kind of unusual in the U. S. in that their Chief of Police is elected. He is now on the receiving end of a civil suit by a former officer for prosletyzing on the job.
Patrick Marshall asserts that Chief Esdron Brown violated his constitutional rights by DEMANDING that he attend religious counselling with the department chaplain, and threatened to fire or suspend him if he refused. He also allegedly passed Marshall over for promotion in favor of less qualified applicants who went to the same church as Chief Brown. The Chief is alleged to have regular said that he wanted a "SAVED" department.
When Marshall complained to the Mayor the Mayor allegedly ordered him to attend anger management classes and suspended his Thanksgiving vacation. Marshall had worked for Port Allen since 2006 and is currently employed by another department in the area.
Brown has been the Chief since 2013 and was elected to a second four-year term in 2016. The department has a very high turn-over rate. In the last five years they have hired 28 officers, 14 of whom have since left that department.
IDIOTIC CIVIL SUIT PROCEEDING
by Bob Walsh
SCOTUS is allowing an idiotic civil suit to move ahead against a Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy and his department. The lack of action by SCOTUS will allow the suit to proceed.
Anthony Lopez, 13, was shot to death by Sonoma County Deputy Erick Gelhaus who was, at the time, carrying a very realistic looking AK-47 that was actually an air-soft gun. If I recall correctly he also had a pretty realistic fake pistol in the waist band of his trousers, but I am not 100% sure on that.
With luck the federal jury will have their shit together more than the federal courts do.
SCOTUS is allowing an idiotic civil suit to move ahead against a Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy and his department. The lack of action by SCOTUS will allow the suit to proceed.
Anthony Lopez, 13, was shot to death by Sonoma County Deputy Erick Gelhaus who was, at the time, carrying a very realistic looking AK-47 that was actually an air-soft gun. If I recall correctly he also had a pretty realistic fake pistol in the waist band of his trousers, but I am not 100% sure on that.
With luck the federal jury will have their shit together more than the federal courts do.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING
But First Take Your Head Out Of Your Ass
by Bob Walsh
There are actually some decent places to live in Oakland, CA. Mostly up in the hills. Since the people who live up there have actual jobs with actual incomes and buy their drugs from reliable drug-dealers rather than street-corner hood-rats some of these neighborhoods are actually full of nice houses and nice cars. The nice houses were helped by a very nasty urban fire storm some years ago that destroyed hundreds of houses in the Oakland hills. Since these people actually have some shit worth stealing they sort-of keep their eyes open, and call the cops when they see suspicious loiterers.
This particular lurker who had the cops called on him was very clever. He was disguised as a fire fighter, with a full set of turn-outs and equipment. He had even gone so far as to drive to the scene in a big red fire truck. He had several conspirators with him, also having driven into the area in a big red fire truck which was parked at the scene of the lurking. They were also dressed in accoutrements and attire suitable for an Oakland fire fighter, hence the Oakland Fire Dept. insignia on the fire truck and on the uniforms.
Also, of course, the suspicious lurker was black.
He was, of course, actually a fire fighter who was, along with his colleagues, doing a perfectly legal and laudable fire safety check in the neighborhood because they don't want another urban fire storm destroying their tax base.
Come on people, get your heads out of your butts.
by Bob Walsh
There are actually some decent places to live in Oakland, CA. Mostly up in the hills. Since the people who live up there have actual jobs with actual incomes and buy their drugs from reliable drug-dealers rather than street-corner hood-rats some of these neighborhoods are actually full of nice houses and nice cars. The nice houses were helped by a very nasty urban fire storm some years ago that destroyed hundreds of houses in the Oakland hills. Since these people actually have some shit worth stealing they sort-of keep their eyes open, and call the cops when they see suspicious loiterers.
This particular lurker who had the cops called on him was very clever. He was disguised as a fire fighter, with a full set of turn-outs and equipment. He had even gone so far as to drive to the scene in a big red fire truck. He had several conspirators with him, also having driven into the area in a big red fire truck which was parked at the scene of the lurking. They were also dressed in accoutrements and attire suitable for an Oakland fire fighter, hence the Oakland Fire Dept. insignia on the fire truck and on the uniforms.
Also, of course, the suspicious lurker was black.
He was, of course, actually a fire fighter who was, along with his colleagues, doing a perfectly legal and laudable fire safety check in the neighborhood because they don't want another urban fire storm destroying their tax base.
Come on people, get your heads out of your butts.
OFFICER STACY SHERIDAN BADLY NEEDS SGT. T. J. HOOKER’S GUIDANCE
Heather Locklear arrested AGAIN for punching a cop and kicking an EMT while 'heavily intoxicated' just days after she was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold for choking her mom
By Chris Spargo
Daily Mail
June 25, 2018
Heather Locklear has once again found herself in trouble with the law, just days after she was released from an involuntary psychiatric hold.
Police arrested the actress on Sunday night after the 56-year-old actress allegedly attacked an officer and an EMT.
She previously had an altercation with law enforcement in February which also led to an arrest.
Authorities were twice called to Locklear’s residence on Sunday, first around 6pm and then again at 11pm. Those were both were dispatched as 'disturbance' calls per the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies determined no crime had occurred after responding to the first call and left the scene.
It was when responding to the second call that deputies made contact with Locklear, who allegedly attacked an officer when he tried to separate her from other parties at the residence.
The dispatcher can be heard telling officers that a woman was cursing in the background while a man stated 'get the police here now' during that second call.
'There was a physical earlier with female. There are no weapons inside the residence. No one else is there,' says the dispatcher.
Locklear 'battered that officer by kicking him' according to a fellow member of the force, at which point she was arrested.
That same officer described Locklear as 'extremely intoxicated and uncooperative,' noting that while being checked at the scene she also kicked one of the EMS personnel examining her.
Ventura County Sheriff's Office records show that Locklear was taken into custody at 11:30pm and later booked just after 2am on Monday on two misdemeanor counts of battery. Locklear was first taken to the hospital to be cleared for booking according to the Sheriff's Office.
She is currently being held on $20,000 bail and due in court on Tuesday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Locklear's reps for comment. She is currently on a hiatus with the firm that handles her public relations.
The actress had already been facing four counts of battery upon an officer and emergency personnel along with a single count of resist, obstruct, delay of peace officer or EMT for an incident that occurred earlier this year.
Locklear was arrested on suspicion of injuring a partner and fighting with sheriff’s officers at her home in Thousand Oaks on the night of February 25.
She had just returned from a trip to Boston at the time when she and boyfriend Chris Heisser began to fight.
Locklear's daughter Ava, 20, was also in the house at the time.
A search warrant that was executed at her home by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office revealed that during her February arrest, Locklear told deputies she would shoot them if they ever came to her house again.
Investigators had learned that Locklear had a gun registered in her name, and after hearing this went to seize the weapon.
The warrant states that officers were not able to locate the gun.
On the night of her arrest, Locklear screamed at one officer: 'Get the fuck out of my house!'
She did this while trying to slam a door on the man inside her home according to the Probable Cause Affidavit, which resulted in the five charges she is currently facing in the case.
Another officer reported that Locklear screamed: 'You fucking deserve your kids to die! You fucking deserve it! And when you find yourself in that position, think of me!'
Locklear told officers that Heisser had been choking her to the point where she believed she was about to lose consciousness and pass out.
Heisser told a different story, claiming it was Locklear who attacked him, and had red mark on his chest and blood on his nose according to the report.
Locklear checked herself into rehab after the incident, and in late May was seen smiling with Heisser as the two walked hand-in-hand into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in California.
Things took a turn again however just last week, when the actress allegedly battered her parents and threatened to take her own life.
That landed her in the hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold on June 17, and she had just been released when this latest incident occurred on Sunday.
It was her mother who called police.
It is unclear now how these new misdemeanors might impact Locklear's parole given her previous arrest for the same offense.
She was on probation and due in court later this summer for her February arrest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Heather appears to be in need of some serious head shrinking and a prolonged stay at a drug rehab center. What a shame.
__________
SELF-ENTITLED ASSHOLE ARRESTED FOR ASSHOLEISH BEHAVIOR...AGAIN
by Bob Walsh
Heather Locklear is a one-time famous actress, primarily known for her work on Melrose Place. Last night the cops showed up in response to a call to her home in Ventura County. She was stinking drunk and attacked a cop and an EMT.
Ms. Locklear was taken to the hospital, and then to the county slammer facing a battery charge.
By Chris Spargo
Daily Mail
June 25, 2018
Heather Locklear has once again found herself in trouble with the law, just days after she was released from an involuntary psychiatric hold.
Police arrested the actress on Sunday night after the 56-year-old actress allegedly attacked an officer and an EMT.
She previously had an altercation with law enforcement in February which also led to an arrest.
Authorities were twice called to Locklear’s residence on Sunday, first around 6pm and then again at 11pm. Those were both were dispatched as 'disturbance' calls per the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies determined no crime had occurred after responding to the first call and left the scene.
It was when responding to the second call that deputies made contact with Locklear, who allegedly attacked an officer when he tried to separate her from other parties at the residence.
The dispatcher can be heard telling officers that a woman was cursing in the background while a man stated 'get the police here now' during that second call.
'There was a physical earlier with female. There are no weapons inside the residence. No one else is there,' says the dispatcher.
Locklear 'battered that officer by kicking him' according to a fellow member of the force, at which point she was arrested.
That same officer described Locklear as 'extremely intoxicated and uncooperative,' noting that while being checked at the scene she also kicked one of the EMS personnel examining her.
Ventura County Sheriff's Office records show that Locklear was taken into custody at 11:30pm and later booked just after 2am on Monday on two misdemeanor counts of battery. Locklear was first taken to the hospital to be cleared for booking according to the Sheriff's Office.
She is currently being held on $20,000 bail and due in court on Tuesday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Locklear's reps for comment. She is currently on a hiatus with the firm that handles her public relations.
The actress had already been facing four counts of battery upon an officer and emergency personnel along with a single count of resist, obstruct, delay of peace officer or EMT for an incident that occurred earlier this year.
Locklear was arrested on suspicion of injuring a partner and fighting with sheriff’s officers at her home in Thousand Oaks on the night of February 25.
She had just returned from a trip to Boston at the time when she and boyfriend Chris Heisser began to fight.
Locklear's daughter Ava, 20, was also in the house at the time.
A search warrant that was executed at her home by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office revealed that during her February arrest, Locklear told deputies she would shoot them if they ever came to her house again.
Investigators had learned that Locklear had a gun registered in her name, and after hearing this went to seize the weapon.
The warrant states that officers were not able to locate the gun.
On the night of her arrest, Locklear screamed at one officer: 'Get the fuck out of my house!'
She did this while trying to slam a door on the man inside her home according to the Probable Cause Affidavit, which resulted in the five charges she is currently facing in the case.
Another officer reported that Locklear screamed: 'You fucking deserve your kids to die! You fucking deserve it! And when you find yourself in that position, think of me!'
Locklear told officers that Heisser had been choking her to the point where she believed she was about to lose consciousness and pass out.
Heisser told a different story, claiming it was Locklear who attacked him, and had red mark on his chest and blood on his nose according to the report.
Locklear checked herself into rehab after the incident, and in late May was seen smiling with Heisser as the two walked hand-in-hand into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in California.
Things took a turn again however just last week, when the actress allegedly battered her parents and threatened to take her own life.
That landed her in the hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold on June 17, and she had just been released when this latest incident occurred on Sunday.
It was her mother who called police.
It is unclear now how these new misdemeanors might impact Locklear's parole given her previous arrest for the same offense.
She was on probation and due in court later this summer for her February arrest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Heather appears to be in need of some serious head shrinking and a prolonged stay at a drug rehab center. What a shame.
__________
SELF-ENTITLED ASSHOLE ARRESTED FOR ASSHOLEISH BEHAVIOR...AGAIN
by Bob Walsh
Heather Locklear is a one-time famous actress, primarily known for her work on Melrose Place. Last night the cops showed up in response to a call to her home in Ventura County. She was stinking drunk and attacked a cop and an EMT.
Ms. Locklear was taken to the hospital, and then to the county slammer facing a battery charge.
WE’VE BEEN LIED TO ABOUT POT BEING NON-ADDICTIVE
Marijuana addiction is real but many users don’t realize that
by Christine Vestal
The Washington Post
June 24, 2018
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — For as long as most residents can remember, smoking marijuana has been a part of life here. The fact that California legalized the practice in January went practically unnoticed in this quiet town a half-hour’s drive north of San Francisco, where some say the normalization of America’s marijuana culture got its start.
For Quintin Pohl and other teenagers before him, smoking pot was a rite of passage. It was a diversion from the loneliness he felt at home when his parents were splitting up and a salve for middle-school angst. It was his entire social life in seventh and eighth grades, he said, when social life is everything.
Even though nearly all his friends were using marijuana and seeming to enjoy it, Pohl said, at some point his marijuana use took a turn he never saw coming: He became addicted.
Many people are unaware of marijuana addiction. But in the public health and medical communities, it is a well-defined disorder that includes physical withdrawal symptoms, cravings and psychological dependence. Many say it is on the rise, perhaps because of the increasing potency of genetically engineered plants and the use of concentrated products, or because more users are partaking multiple times a day.
“There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction,” said David Smith, a physician who has been treating addiction since he opened a free clinic in San Francisco’s drug-drenched Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the 1960s. “We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people.”
Although estimates of the number of people who use marijuana vary, the federal government and the marijuana industry tend to agree that total marijuana use has remained relatively constant over the past decade. Increased use in the past three years has been slight, despite increased commercial availability in states that have legalized it.
The percentage of people who become addicted to marijuana — estimated at about 9 percent of all users, and about 17 percent of those who start in adolescence — also has been stable. Some studies report that even higher proportions of marijuana users develop a dependence, which means they experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using the drug.
Yet here in Northern California, some addiction treatment practitioners say they’re seeing a surge in demand for help, particularly among adolescents.
Marijuana’s estimated rate of addiction is lower than that of cocaine and alcohol (15 percent) and heroin (24 percent). Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user’s life.
There are no known reports of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose or of the drug’s common withdrawal symptoms: chills, sweats, cravings, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety and irritability.
According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 2.7 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence, second only to alcohol dependence.
Smith, a visiting physician at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, a treatment center for boys where Pohl eventually got help, speculates that the potency of today’s pot is causing a higher prevalence of problematic marijuana use.
“Back in the day when kids were sitting around smoking a joint, the THC levels found in marijuana averaged from 2 to 4 percent,” Smith said. “That’s what most parents think is going on today. And that’s why society thinks marijuana is harmless.”
But selective breeding has resulted in an average potency of 20 percent THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. Some strains exceed 30 percent.
Marijuana concentrates and extracts, much more commonly used in the past five years, have THC levels that range from 40 percent to more than 80 percent, according to marijuana industry promotional information and Drug Enforcement Administration reports.
Susan Weiss, who directs research on the health effects of marijuana at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told a group of addiction doctors at the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine in April that the federal government is trying to get the message out that marijuana can be addictive.
“But believe it or not,” she told the group, “we’re having a hard time convincing people that addiction exists.”
The National Cannabis Industry Association’s chief spokesman, Morgan Fox, said he’s not surprised the federal government is having a hard time convincing the public that marijuana can be addictive.
“It’s their own fault,” he said of the government. “When people find out they’ve been lied to by the federal government about the relative harms of marijuana for decades, they are much less likely to believe anything they have to say going forward, even if that information is accurate.”
Fox said his organization has no disagreement with the finding that about 9 percent of people who use marijuana become addicted, and his organization urges its members to make that clear in their marketing information. But he disagrees that more-potent forms of marijuana may be causing an increase in addiction. “It just means people need to consume less to achieve the desired effect,” he said.
So far, no scientific studies have shown that stronger pot increases the likelihood of addiction, and large swaths of the general public continue to question the existence of marijuana addiction. But for Quintin Pohl, addiction was real.
Quintin's story
Pohl said his marijuana addiction took years to develop. His mother, Kimberly Thomas, said that once she realized her son was using marijuana frequently, “it was like a roller coaster chugging uphill, chugging, chugging, chugging. You know something is happening,” she said, “and then just within a couple of days, you reach the peak and zoom downhill. It was awful, awful.”
Scott Sowle, executive director of the Muir Wood rehabilitation center, said he gets the same call from parents nearly every day.
“They call and say, ‘My 16-year-old son was doing really well in school. He was interested in sports and involved in extracurricular activities. But suddenly, he’s just not the same kid anymore.’ ”
Pohl recalled that he drank a little, off and on, but that marijuana was his constant obsession. After middle school, he got involved in rowing for a couple of years and took a break from his group of marijuana friends. But after he decided competitive rowing wasn’t for him, Pohl said he started smoking pot again, this time with new friends who smoked all the time.
And then the roller coaster plunged.
His grades plummeted. He stopped going home most of the time and was couch surfing for a while. Finally, he said, his mom called the police on him for stealing her car. “At that point, I was heartless, emotionless,” he said. “I was just kind of a blob taking up space. I was baked 24/7.”
Pohl’s mother said she saw that he was in trouble and demanded that he stay at home every moment he wasn’t in school. (Pohl’s father was living in San Francisco.)
“She told me to come back home. So I did,” Pohl said. “At the time, I wasn’t sure why she did that. I was still in that whole miserable phase, smoking at least an ounce of weed a week — two ounces on a good week.” (One ounce is enough to smoke four to eight joints every day for a week, depending on their size.)
Then early one morning before school, Pohl recalled, two private investigators his mother had hired appeared and took him to Muir Wood.
Pohl said he went through a week of pure misery at the rehab center: angry, in denial and suffering. “I couldn’t sleep for a week. I was cold, and then I was sweating. I hated everything,” he said. “And then the sun hit my face one morning, and it felt great. Things tasted good, smelled better, everything was just enhanced.”
During his six weeks there, Pohl took intensive classes with about 10 other boys and talked to his therapist frequently. His mother spent eight hours a week there, attending parent classes, sharing meals with her son and working with him and his therapist to address the underlying issues that had led him to self-medicate with marijuana.
Pohl says he hasn’t smoked marijuana since he left Muir Wood last July. For the rest of the summer and after school in the fall, he attended classes at a Muir Wood outpatient clinic in San Rafael.
Wearing black pants, a black sweatshirt and a pink skull cap on a cool but sunny day in late May, Pohl smiles broadly when he talks about his future. After his June graduation, he says, he plans to start working full time at the grocery store where he’s had a part-time job for the last year.
He’s thinks he can start smoking marijuana again some day — socially, when he’s an adult.
by Christine Vestal
The Washington Post
June 24, 2018
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — For as long as most residents can remember, smoking marijuana has been a part of life here. The fact that California legalized the practice in January went practically unnoticed in this quiet town a half-hour’s drive north of San Francisco, where some say the normalization of America’s marijuana culture got its start.
For Quintin Pohl and other teenagers before him, smoking pot was a rite of passage. It was a diversion from the loneliness he felt at home when his parents were splitting up and a salve for middle-school angst. It was his entire social life in seventh and eighth grades, he said, when social life is everything.
Even though nearly all his friends were using marijuana and seeming to enjoy it, Pohl said, at some point his marijuana use took a turn he never saw coming: He became addicted.
Many people are unaware of marijuana addiction. But in the public health and medical communities, it is a well-defined disorder that includes physical withdrawal symptoms, cravings and psychological dependence. Many say it is on the rise, perhaps because of the increasing potency of genetically engineered plants and the use of concentrated products, or because more users are partaking multiple times a day.
“There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction,” said David Smith, a physician who has been treating addiction since he opened a free clinic in San Francisco’s drug-drenched Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the 1960s. “We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people.”
Although estimates of the number of people who use marijuana vary, the federal government and the marijuana industry tend to agree that total marijuana use has remained relatively constant over the past decade. Increased use in the past three years has been slight, despite increased commercial availability in states that have legalized it.
The percentage of people who become addicted to marijuana — estimated at about 9 percent of all users, and about 17 percent of those who start in adolescence — also has been stable. Some studies report that even higher proportions of marijuana users develop a dependence, which means they experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using the drug.
Yet here in Northern California, some addiction treatment practitioners say they’re seeing a surge in demand for help, particularly among adolescents.
Marijuana’s estimated rate of addiction is lower than that of cocaine and alcohol (15 percent) and heroin (24 percent). Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user’s life.
There are no known reports of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose or of the drug’s common withdrawal symptoms: chills, sweats, cravings, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety and irritability.
According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 2.7 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence, second only to alcohol dependence.
Smith, a visiting physician at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, a treatment center for boys where Pohl eventually got help, speculates that the potency of today’s pot is causing a higher prevalence of problematic marijuana use.
“Back in the day when kids were sitting around smoking a joint, the THC levels found in marijuana averaged from 2 to 4 percent,” Smith said. “That’s what most parents think is going on today. And that’s why society thinks marijuana is harmless.”
But selective breeding has resulted in an average potency of 20 percent THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. Some strains exceed 30 percent.
Marijuana concentrates and extracts, much more commonly used in the past five years, have THC levels that range from 40 percent to more than 80 percent, according to marijuana industry promotional information and Drug Enforcement Administration reports.
Susan Weiss, who directs research on the health effects of marijuana at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told a group of addiction doctors at the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine in April that the federal government is trying to get the message out that marijuana can be addictive.
“But believe it or not,” she told the group, “we’re having a hard time convincing people that addiction exists.”
The National Cannabis Industry Association’s chief spokesman, Morgan Fox, said he’s not surprised the federal government is having a hard time convincing the public that marijuana can be addictive.
“It’s their own fault,” he said of the government. “When people find out they’ve been lied to by the federal government about the relative harms of marijuana for decades, they are much less likely to believe anything they have to say going forward, even if that information is accurate.”
Fox said his organization has no disagreement with the finding that about 9 percent of people who use marijuana become addicted, and his organization urges its members to make that clear in their marketing information. But he disagrees that more-potent forms of marijuana may be causing an increase in addiction. “It just means people need to consume less to achieve the desired effect,” he said.
So far, no scientific studies have shown that stronger pot increases the likelihood of addiction, and large swaths of the general public continue to question the existence of marijuana addiction. But for Quintin Pohl, addiction was real.
Quintin's story
Pohl said his marijuana addiction took years to develop. His mother, Kimberly Thomas, said that once she realized her son was using marijuana frequently, “it was like a roller coaster chugging uphill, chugging, chugging, chugging. You know something is happening,” she said, “and then just within a couple of days, you reach the peak and zoom downhill. It was awful, awful.”
Scott Sowle, executive director of the Muir Wood rehabilitation center, said he gets the same call from parents nearly every day.
“They call and say, ‘My 16-year-old son was doing really well in school. He was interested in sports and involved in extracurricular activities. But suddenly, he’s just not the same kid anymore.’ ”
Pohl recalled that he drank a little, off and on, but that marijuana was his constant obsession. After middle school, he got involved in rowing for a couple of years and took a break from his group of marijuana friends. But after he decided competitive rowing wasn’t for him, Pohl said he started smoking pot again, this time with new friends who smoked all the time.
And then the roller coaster plunged.
His grades plummeted. He stopped going home most of the time and was couch surfing for a while. Finally, he said, his mom called the police on him for stealing her car. “At that point, I was heartless, emotionless,” he said. “I was just kind of a blob taking up space. I was baked 24/7.”
Pohl’s mother said she saw that he was in trouble and demanded that he stay at home every moment he wasn’t in school. (Pohl’s father was living in San Francisco.)
“She told me to come back home. So I did,” Pohl said. “At the time, I wasn’t sure why she did that. I was still in that whole miserable phase, smoking at least an ounce of weed a week — two ounces on a good week.” (One ounce is enough to smoke four to eight joints every day for a week, depending on their size.)
Then early one morning before school, Pohl recalled, two private investigators his mother had hired appeared and took him to Muir Wood.
Pohl said he went through a week of pure misery at the rehab center: angry, in denial and suffering. “I couldn’t sleep for a week. I was cold, and then I was sweating. I hated everything,” he said. “And then the sun hit my face one morning, and it felt great. Things tasted good, smelled better, everything was just enhanced.”
During his six weeks there, Pohl took intensive classes with about 10 other boys and talked to his therapist frequently. His mother spent eight hours a week there, attending parent classes, sharing meals with her son and working with him and his therapist to address the underlying issues that had led him to self-medicate with marijuana.
Pohl says he hasn’t smoked marijuana since he left Muir Wood last July. For the rest of the summer and after school in the fall, he attended classes at a Muir Wood outpatient clinic in San Rafael.
Wearing black pants, a black sweatshirt and a pink skull cap on a cool but sunny day in late May, Pohl smiles broadly when he talks about his future. After his June graduation, he says, he plans to start working full time at the grocery store where he’s had a part-time job for the last year.
He’s thinks he can start smoking marijuana again some day — socially, when he’s an adult.
Monday, June 25, 2018
IT IS GETTING TO BE WHERE COPS MUST LET A BLACK MAN GET OFF THE FIRST SHOT BEFORE THEY CAN SHHOT AT HIM
Angry protests erupt in Minneapolis after cops shoot armed black man
BarkGrowlBite
June 25, 2018
A week ago cops in East Pittsburgh shot an unarmed black youth who had been involved in a drive by shooting 13 minutes earlier. The death of Antwon Rose sparked outrage in the black community and has led to mass protests. And now protests have broken out in Minneapolis over the police shooting of an armed black man.
On Saturday night, Minneapolis cops responded to a report of a man firing a gun into the air and into the ground. Officers spotted the man, and as they got out of their squad car, he fled on foot carrying a handgun. After a foot chase of several blocks the two cops fired at 31-year-old Thurman J. Blevins, 31, a black man. The handgun was found next to his body.
Once again the black community erupted into outrage with angry street protests in Minneapolis. The fact that Blevins was armed made no difference.
California State Senator Steven Bradford accuses the police of shooting blacks as a form of oppression. He says:
“It always blows me away when law enforcement fear for their life, only when they're facing black and brown people. We don't have a problem with law enforcement, we got a problem with racism in this country.”
“The use of deadly force was only enacted in this country after slavery as another way of suppressing black people in this country. And that mindset has not changed to this day.”
So in order to deal with his perceived racism of cops, Bradford has introduced a bill that is working its way through the California legislature which if passed and signed by the governor would severely restrict the use of deadly force by that state’s law enforcement officers. It raises California's standard for use of deadly force by changing wording in existing law, removing “reasonable force” and changing it to “necessary force.” That will only allow officers to use deadly force if they had no other option.
That’s almost like saying officers would be justified in shooting at someone only after that person got off the first shot at them.
The proposed California bill notwithstanding, with the protests erupting almost every time cops shoot a black man, it’s getting to be where they must let that man get off the first shot before they can shoot at him.
College criminal justice graduates, welcome to today’s world of more dangerous policing.
BarkGrowlBite
June 25, 2018
A week ago cops in East Pittsburgh shot an unarmed black youth who had been involved in a drive by shooting 13 minutes earlier. The death of Antwon Rose sparked outrage in the black community and has led to mass protests. And now protests have broken out in Minneapolis over the police shooting of an armed black man.
On Saturday night, Minneapolis cops responded to a report of a man firing a gun into the air and into the ground. Officers spotted the man, and as they got out of their squad car, he fled on foot carrying a handgun. After a foot chase of several blocks the two cops fired at 31-year-old Thurman J. Blevins, 31, a black man. The handgun was found next to his body.
Once again the black community erupted into outrage with angry street protests in Minneapolis. The fact that Blevins was armed made no difference.
California State Senator Steven Bradford accuses the police of shooting blacks as a form of oppression. He says:
“It always blows me away when law enforcement fear for their life, only when they're facing black and brown people. We don't have a problem with law enforcement, we got a problem with racism in this country.”
“The use of deadly force was only enacted in this country after slavery as another way of suppressing black people in this country. And that mindset has not changed to this day.”
So in order to deal with his perceived racism of cops, Bradford has introduced a bill that is working its way through the California legislature which if passed and signed by the governor would severely restrict the use of deadly force by that state’s law enforcement officers. It raises California's standard for use of deadly force by changing wording in existing law, removing “reasonable force” and changing it to “necessary force.” That will only allow officers to use deadly force if they had no other option.
That’s almost like saying officers would be justified in shooting at someone only after that person got off the first shot at them.
The proposed California bill notwithstanding, with the protests erupting almost every time cops shoot a black man, it’s getting to be where they must let that man get off the first shot before they can shoot at him.
College criminal justice graduates, welcome to today’s world of more dangerous policing.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MOMMIE PEES ON THE PARADE
by Bob Walsh
Chad Jackson is a guest of the people of the state of Florida at the Martin Correctional Institution. HE is now in the hole, not because of anything he did but because his mother is a pain in the ass.
Geraldine Harriel showed up at the prison to protest living conditions there. She wasn't alone. Prison staff issued her and some of her road dogs trespass warnings. She is now barred from seeing her son, at least temporarily. Sonny boy is in until 2020 on drug charges.
Mommie and her friends are fairly serious shit stirrers. Their actions have been linked (kind of interesting word there) to at least one prison riot and one state-wide lockdown. Prison officials say the shit stirrers have been inciting prisoners to violence.
The local S O's records seem to back up the protesters version of where they were (not on prison grounds) and what they were doing (peacefully being bozos). The protesters assert they are being threatened by prison staff and are being told that their family members who are guests of the state will be retaliated against for the protests.
Maybe it's just me and I am only seeing a very small piece of the picture, but it seems to me that the people at the Florida DOC in general and Martin C.I. in particular are a whole lot more worried about people protesting allegedly deficient living conditions than they should be, assuming of course the living conditions are in fact decent.
Chad Jackson is a guest of the people of the state of Florida at the Martin Correctional Institution. HE is now in the hole, not because of anything he did but because his mother is a pain in the ass.
Geraldine Harriel showed up at the prison to protest living conditions there. She wasn't alone. Prison staff issued her and some of her road dogs trespass warnings. She is now barred from seeing her son, at least temporarily. Sonny boy is in until 2020 on drug charges.
Mommie and her friends are fairly serious shit stirrers. Their actions have been linked (kind of interesting word there) to at least one prison riot and one state-wide lockdown. Prison officials say the shit stirrers have been inciting prisoners to violence.
The local S O's records seem to back up the protesters version of where they were (not on prison grounds) and what they were doing (peacefully being bozos). The protesters assert they are being threatened by prison staff and are being told that their family members who are guests of the state will be retaliated against for the protests.
Maybe it's just me and I am only seeing a very small piece of the picture, but it seems to me that the people at the Florida DOC in general and Martin C.I. in particular are a whole lot more worried about people protesting allegedly deficient living conditions than they should be, assuming of course the living conditions are in fact decent.
DISAPPEARING IN BAJA CALIFORNIA
Men and women keep disappearing without a trace in Tijuana, Ensenada and other locations in Baja California
BarkGrowlBite
June 25, 2018
Baja California used to be a pleasant place to visit. You could frolic on the beaches with little fear of being harmed. And men could have a fucking good time in seedy Tijuana. Apparently not any more. Men and women keep disappearing in BC without a trace.
A report in Borderland Beat notes that 14 women and 40 men have vanished, with most of the disappearances occurring in Tijuana. The ages of the women range between 18 and 24 years. The report gives a time frame of from May to date. There were 89 disappearances in Ensenada, but with no time frame given.
The report also notes that about 4,500 people have been dumped into mass graves without their DNA being registered. The report does not state whether those mass graves are only in BC or whether they are throughout Mexico. And again, no time frame is given. The vast majority of those bodies remain unclaimed because even in those cases where relatives do find a loved one buried in a mass grave, they do not have the ability to pay for the body’s exhumation.
Bienvenido a Baja California ….. tu Gringo tonto culo!
BarkGrowlBite
June 25, 2018
Baja California used to be a pleasant place to visit. You could frolic on the beaches with little fear of being harmed. And men could have a fucking good time in seedy Tijuana. Apparently not any more. Men and women keep disappearing in BC without a trace.
A report in Borderland Beat notes that 14 women and 40 men have vanished, with most of the disappearances occurring in Tijuana. The ages of the women range between 18 and 24 years. The report gives a time frame of from May to date. There were 89 disappearances in Ensenada, but with no time frame given.
The report also notes that about 4,500 people have been dumped into mass graves without their DNA being registered. The report does not state whether those mass graves are only in BC or whether they are throughout Mexico. And again, no time frame is given. The vast majority of those bodies remain unclaimed because even in those cases where relatives do find a loved one buried in a mass grave, they do not have the ability to pay for the body’s exhumation.
Bienvenido a Baja California ….. tu Gringo tonto culo!
Sunday, June 24, 2018
MORE FASCISM FROM THE LEFT
by Bob Walsh
It is a basic truism of life. Conservatives believe that Liberals are wrong. Liberals believe that Conservatives are EVIL and that any means to destroy them is acceptable for the greater good.
Sarah Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant in Lexington, VA a couple of nights ago for the sole crime of working for the Trump administration. This follows similar unsettling incidents with Trump advisor Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen (who presumably travels with a security detail).
Liberals, it would seem, are often nasty assholes.
It is a basic truism of life. Conservatives believe that Liberals are wrong. Liberals believe that Conservatives are EVIL and that any means to destroy them is acceptable for the greater good.
Sarah Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant in Lexington, VA a couple of nights ago for the sole crime of working for the Trump administration. This follows similar unsettling incidents with Trump advisor Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen (who presumably travels with a security detail).
Liberals, it would seem, are often nasty assholes.
SORRY ABOUT THAT
Gang leader 'apologized' after Bronx boy, 15, was dragged out of a bodega and butchered in a case of MISTAKEN IDENTITY because attackers confused him for a man in a sex video
By Snejana Farberov
Daily Mail
June 23, 2018
The 15-year-old who was dragged out of a Bronx bodega and brutally slashed to death with a machete may have been the victim of a tragic case of mistaken identity involving a sex video, according to cops - and now gang leaders are apologizing via social media.
Investigators believe Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, 15, could have been mistaken for a man in an online sex tape with a relative of one of the attackers before he was butchered outside the Zesarina Grocery at 11.40pm on Wednesday.
It came as his mother, Leandra Feliz, 48, described her son as a 'sweet' kid with no connections to gangs who had enrolled on an NYPD program to become a police officer.
'His dream in the future was to be a detective,' she told the New York Post. 'Since he was five years old, he told me, "Mommy, I want to be a police".'
The victim's brother in law Derek Grullon, 19, told the New York Daily News that he's received messages on Facebook from men claiming to be part of Trinitarios, a Dominican gang known for violence.
'They said, ‘We had the wrong person",' according to Grullon, who said his wife - the victim's sister - received similar messages.
She got a two-minute video mea culpa via Snapchat, he told the NY Post, in which the gang leader 'said they kicked all of them out of the gang.'
Upon getting the message, 'We cried', Grullon told the Post. 'He was innocent.'
According to the News, the sex tape that started the fracas showed one man rapping while another had sex with a woman whose face was covered in a shirt. It's not clear which of the two men Guzman-Feliz may have been mistaken for.
CCTV video posted by Facebook user Riichy Rich on Friday shows the pack of men forcibly dragging Guzman-Feliz by the hood of his jacket out of the bodega and frantically stabbing and slashing him with a machete before fleeing on foot.
After a few seconds, Guzman-Feliz is seen standing on the street corner with blood pouring from a wound in his neck.
He then runs across the street, heading towards the nearby St Barnabas Hospital.
According to police, the mortally wounded boy never reached the hospital and collapsed a block away.
Another extremely graphic video posted on social media by a different user shows Guzman-Feliz drenched in blood from head to toe, sitting on the sidewalk with his back against the wall.
A woman tries to apply pressure to his neck before police officers and paramedics surround him. Guzman-Feliz succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Officers said with his dying breath, the 15-year-old asked for some water, according to ABC 7 New York.
Investigators said he had told his mother he was going to the bodega a block away from his house to either repay a debt, or lend $5 to a friend. He never made it home that night.
The victim's sister, Genesis Collado-Feliz, 17, said her younger brother loved playing video games and would come to her for advice about girls. She said Lesandro had recently become friends with a group of older boys, but she insisted he was not in a gang.
'He tried to run into the store because he thought he'd be safe. They dragged him from the store like a dog,' Collado-Feliz told the New York Post. 'They were grown men and he was only 15.'
Guzman-Feliz was a student at the Dr Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School. News 12 The Bronx reported that he had aspired to become a police detective.
Police are searching for at least six suspects in connection to the vicious killing. They were last seen driving away in a white sedan and a dark sedan.
By Snejana Farberov
Daily Mail
June 23, 2018
The 15-year-old who was dragged out of a Bronx bodega and brutally slashed to death with a machete may have been the victim of a tragic case of mistaken identity involving a sex video, according to cops - and now gang leaders are apologizing via social media.
Investigators believe Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, 15, could have been mistaken for a man in an online sex tape with a relative of one of the attackers before he was butchered outside the Zesarina Grocery at 11.40pm on Wednesday.
It came as his mother, Leandra Feliz, 48, described her son as a 'sweet' kid with no connections to gangs who had enrolled on an NYPD program to become a police officer.
'His dream in the future was to be a detective,' she told the New York Post. 'Since he was five years old, he told me, "Mommy, I want to be a police".'
The victim's brother in law Derek Grullon, 19, told the New York Daily News that he's received messages on Facebook from men claiming to be part of Trinitarios, a Dominican gang known for violence.
'They said, ‘We had the wrong person",' according to Grullon, who said his wife - the victim's sister - received similar messages.
She got a two-minute video mea culpa via Snapchat, he told the NY Post, in which the gang leader 'said they kicked all of them out of the gang.'
Upon getting the message, 'We cried', Grullon told the Post. 'He was innocent.'
According to the News, the sex tape that started the fracas showed one man rapping while another had sex with a woman whose face was covered in a shirt. It's not clear which of the two men Guzman-Feliz may have been mistaken for.
CCTV video posted by Facebook user Riichy Rich on Friday shows the pack of men forcibly dragging Guzman-Feliz by the hood of his jacket out of the bodega and frantically stabbing and slashing him with a machete before fleeing on foot.
After a few seconds, Guzman-Feliz is seen standing on the street corner with blood pouring from a wound in his neck.
He then runs across the street, heading towards the nearby St Barnabas Hospital.
According to police, the mortally wounded boy never reached the hospital and collapsed a block away.
Another extremely graphic video posted on social media by a different user shows Guzman-Feliz drenched in blood from head to toe, sitting on the sidewalk with his back against the wall.
A woman tries to apply pressure to his neck before police officers and paramedics surround him. Guzman-Feliz succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Officers said with his dying breath, the 15-year-old asked for some water, according to ABC 7 New York.
Investigators said he had told his mother he was going to the bodega a block away from his house to either repay a debt, or lend $5 to a friend. He never made it home that night.
The victim's sister, Genesis Collado-Feliz, 17, said her younger brother loved playing video games and would come to her for advice about girls. She said Lesandro had recently become friends with a group of older boys, but she insisted he was not in a gang.
'He tried to run into the store because he thought he'd be safe. They dragged him from the store like a dog,' Collado-Feliz told the New York Post. 'They were grown men and he was only 15.'
Guzman-Feliz was a student at the Dr Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School. News 12 The Bronx reported that he had aspired to become a police detective.
Police are searching for at least six suspects in connection to the vicious killing. They were last seen driving away in a white sedan and a dark sedan.
DISPARITY IN THE SHOOTING OF BLACKS BY COPS IS DUE TO HIGHER CRIME RATES BY BLACKS
Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force? Analyses of Officer-Involved Fatal Shootings in 2015–2016
By Joseph Cesario, David J. Johnson, William Terrill
Sage Journals
June 13, 2018
Abstract
Is there evidence of a Black–White disparity in death by police gunfire in the United States? This is commonly answered by comparing the odds of being fatally shot for Blacks and Whites, with odds benchmarked against each group’s population proportion. However, adjusting for population values has questionable assumptions given the context of deadly force decisions.
We benchmark 2 years of fatal shooting data on 16 crime rate estimates. When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-Black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless objects. Multiverse analyses showed only one significant anti-Black disparity of 144 possible tests.
Exposure to police given crime rate differences likely accounts for the higher per capita rate of fatal police shootings for Blacks, at least when analyzing all shootings.
For unarmed shootings or misidentification shootings, data are too uncertain to be conclusive.
__________
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ABOUT COPS SHOOTING BLACK MEN
6 Facts From New Study Finding NO RACIAL BIAS Against Blacks In Police Shootings
By James Barrett
Daily Wire
July 11, 2016
A new study of over a thousand police-involved shootings found what researcher Harvard Prof. Roland G. Fryer Jr. calls "the most surprising result of my career": There is no racial bias in police-involved shootings. Not only are blacks not more likely to be fired upon by police than whites in tense moments, the study found that, if anything, they are less likely to be shot at.
In what is one of the most comprehensive studies on the issue to date, Fryer — an African-American economist who says he began the study in response to his anger over the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray — examined 1,332 shootings that occurred between 2000 and 2015 in 10 major police departments. By the end of the exhaustive research, Fryer and his teams spent an estimated 3,000 hours poring over the data from Los Angeles, Ca., three cities in Texas (Houston, Austin, and Dallas), and four counties and two cities in Florida (Orlando and Jacksonville).
Rather than a superficial study of statistics, Fryer's team probed deeper into each case to make sure they were conducting an apples to apples investigation. In its summary of the study, the New York Times provides some of the key details of cases the study incorporated in its analysis, including, "How old was the suspect? How many police officers were at the scene? Were they mostly white? Was the officer at the scene for a robbery, violent activity, a traffic stop or something else? Was it nighttime? Did the officer shoot after being attacked or before a possible attack?" Some of the study's driving questions included was a black suspect more likely to be fired upon — in cases where lethal force was justified and when it was unjustified — and did the officer shoot more quickly at black suspects?
To his admitted "surprise," Fryer concluded that the racial bias narrative is demonstrably false when it comes to police-involved shootings. Here are six takeaways from Fryer's study.
1. Police are not more likely to fire on blacks than whites. In fact, blacks are 20% less likely to be fired on.
When Fryer and his team dug into the details of the 1,332 officer-involved shootings, they found that officers were actually less likely to fire on black suspects without having been attacked.
Fryer found the same to be true when he examined cases that did not result in shootings. Using data from the Houston Police Department, Fryer looked at arrests where lethal force might have been justified — where suspects were arrested for serious offenses, like resisting arrest, fleeing, or attack an officer — and found that if a suspect was black, officers were about 20% less likely to shoot. His findings included that blacks were about 24-22% less likely to be shot at when police "might plausibly have fired."
2. Blacks and whites involved in police shootings were equally likely to be carrying a weapon.
As the New York Times highlights, Fryer also found that black and white civilians involved in police shootings "were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon." This conclusion likewise directly undermines the assumption that racial bias is a major factor in officers' use of lethal force, as some have posited that a disproportionate number of blacks were unarmed in police shootings as compared to whites.
3. Blacks are more likely to be treated worse by officers when it comes to physical contact.
While the study found that black men and women were not more likely to be fired upon by officers, according to a study of NYPD stop-and-frisk records from 2003-2013, they were treated worse by officers when it came to physical contact, including "use of hands" (17% more often), being pushed to the wall (18% more), use of handcuffs (16%), having weapons drawn on them (19%), being pushed to the ground (18%), and having a weapon pointed at them (24%), and being pepper sprayed (25% more, though they only assessed 9 cases).
4. The notion that police officers' accounts are biased and unreliable is largely a myth.
Fryer's research revealed that concerns about the reliability of police reports were also largely unfounded, his results being about the same whether or not he referred to the recounting of events provided by officers.
5. Use of mobile video to document alleged police brutality is not impacting policing practices.
Another conclusion of the study was that the use of cell phones and social media to document alleged police brutality does not appear to have changed policing practices, a question that many have posed in recent years following high-profile videos of police encounters.
6. Fryer's study aligns with other research.
Fryer's findings align with other studies that have found that the narrative of racial bias in use of lethal force by police is largely based on de-contextualized data and false assumptions. In 2015, for example, 50% of the victims of police shootings were white, while 26% were black. Some have tried to argue that this is evidence of racial bias against blacks because they represent only 15% of the population; however, as Heather Mac Donald points out, blacks account for a disproportionate percentage of major crimes, including 62% of robberies, 57% of murders and 45% of assaults. Another example of de-contextualized data is that showing a higher percent of unarmed blacks who are shot than unarmed whites, but as both Mac Donald and Fryer found, when the details of the cases are included, such statistics turn out to be misleading.
The reality, as Prof. Fryer and others have found, is that our law enforcement is largely composed of men and women doing their best to protect the lives of citizens, handling what are often life and death situations as fairly and safely as they can.
By Joseph Cesario, David J. Johnson, William Terrill
Sage Journals
June 13, 2018
Abstract
Is there evidence of a Black–White disparity in death by police gunfire in the United States? This is commonly answered by comparing the odds of being fatally shot for Blacks and Whites, with odds benchmarked against each group’s population proportion. However, adjusting for population values has questionable assumptions given the context of deadly force decisions.
We benchmark 2 years of fatal shooting data on 16 crime rate estimates. When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-Black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless objects. Multiverse analyses showed only one significant anti-Black disparity of 144 possible tests.
Exposure to police given crime rate differences likely accounts for the higher per capita rate of fatal police shootings for Blacks, at least when analyzing all shootings.
For unarmed shootings or misidentification shootings, data are too uncertain to be conclusive.
__________
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ABOUT COPS SHOOTING BLACK MEN
6 Facts From New Study Finding NO RACIAL BIAS Against Blacks In Police Shootings
By James Barrett
Daily Wire
July 11, 2016
A new study of over a thousand police-involved shootings found what researcher Harvard Prof. Roland G. Fryer Jr. calls "the most surprising result of my career": There is no racial bias in police-involved shootings. Not only are blacks not more likely to be fired upon by police than whites in tense moments, the study found that, if anything, they are less likely to be shot at.
In what is one of the most comprehensive studies on the issue to date, Fryer — an African-American economist who says he began the study in response to his anger over the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray — examined 1,332 shootings that occurred between 2000 and 2015 in 10 major police departments. By the end of the exhaustive research, Fryer and his teams spent an estimated 3,000 hours poring over the data from Los Angeles, Ca., three cities in Texas (Houston, Austin, and Dallas), and four counties and two cities in Florida (Orlando and Jacksonville).
Rather than a superficial study of statistics, Fryer's team probed deeper into each case to make sure they were conducting an apples to apples investigation. In its summary of the study, the New York Times provides some of the key details of cases the study incorporated in its analysis, including, "How old was the suspect? How many police officers were at the scene? Were they mostly white? Was the officer at the scene for a robbery, violent activity, a traffic stop or something else? Was it nighttime? Did the officer shoot after being attacked or before a possible attack?" Some of the study's driving questions included was a black suspect more likely to be fired upon — in cases where lethal force was justified and when it was unjustified — and did the officer shoot more quickly at black suspects?
To his admitted "surprise," Fryer concluded that the racial bias narrative is demonstrably false when it comes to police-involved shootings. Here are six takeaways from Fryer's study.
1. Police are not more likely to fire on blacks than whites. In fact, blacks are 20% less likely to be fired on.
When Fryer and his team dug into the details of the 1,332 officer-involved shootings, they found that officers were actually less likely to fire on black suspects without having been attacked.
Fryer found the same to be true when he examined cases that did not result in shootings. Using data from the Houston Police Department, Fryer looked at arrests where lethal force might have been justified — where suspects were arrested for serious offenses, like resisting arrest, fleeing, or attack an officer — and found that if a suspect was black, officers were about 20% less likely to shoot. His findings included that blacks were about 24-22% less likely to be shot at when police "might plausibly have fired."
2. Blacks and whites involved in police shootings were equally likely to be carrying a weapon.
As the New York Times highlights, Fryer also found that black and white civilians involved in police shootings "were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon." This conclusion likewise directly undermines the assumption that racial bias is a major factor in officers' use of lethal force, as some have posited that a disproportionate number of blacks were unarmed in police shootings as compared to whites.
3. Blacks are more likely to be treated worse by officers when it comes to physical contact.
While the study found that black men and women were not more likely to be fired upon by officers, according to a study of NYPD stop-and-frisk records from 2003-2013, they were treated worse by officers when it came to physical contact, including "use of hands" (17% more often), being pushed to the wall (18% more), use of handcuffs (16%), having weapons drawn on them (19%), being pushed to the ground (18%), and having a weapon pointed at them (24%), and being pepper sprayed (25% more, though they only assessed 9 cases).
4. The notion that police officers' accounts are biased and unreliable is largely a myth.
Fryer's research revealed that concerns about the reliability of police reports were also largely unfounded, his results being about the same whether or not he referred to the recounting of events provided by officers.
5. Use of mobile video to document alleged police brutality is not impacting policing practices.
Another conclusion of the study was that the use of cell phones and social media to document alleged police brutality does not appear to have changed policing practices, a question that many have posed in recent years following high-profile videos of police encounters.
6. Fryer's study aligns with other research.
Fryer's findings align with other studies that have found that the narrative of racial bias in use of lethal force by police is largely based on de-contextualized data and false assumptions. In 2015, for example, 50% of the victims of police shootings were white, while 26% were black. Some have tried to argue that this is evidence of racial bias against blacks because they represent only 15% of the population; however, as Heather Mac Donald points out, blacks account for a disproportionate percentage of major crimes, including 62% of robberies, 57% of murders and 45% of assaults. Another example of de-contextualized data is that showing a higher percent of unarmed blacks who are shot than unarmed whites, but as both Mac Donald and Fryer found, when the details of the cases are included, such statistics turn out to be misleading.
The reality, as Prof. Fryer and others have found, is that our law enforcement is largely composed of men and women doing their best to protect the lives of citizens, handling what are often life and death situations as fairly and safely as they can.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
MORE ON NEWLY SWORN-IN COP OPPRESSES BLACK PEOPLE
Antwon Rose was very probably the shooter in the drive by shooting
By Dave Freeman
I am reading on the PoliceOne website, that the officer has 8 years of experience as a police officer with other departments.
After the drive by shooting and the stop, two guns were found in the car which fit the description of the vehicle used in the earlier shooting, and that the back window of the vehicle was shot out. (This is known as a clue.)
Additionally, the dead thug [Antwon Rose], who ran as soon as the car was stopped, had an empty magazine – and no it wasn’t Newsweek – in one of his pockets. This young punk was very probably the shooter in the drive by shooting and certainly was an accomplice in the prior incident.
The question for the courts and the East Pittsburgh police department will be, did the officer have enough information to reasonably assume that he was legally justified in shooting the dirt bag at the time he did so.
In any event the mob doesn’t care if this black punk was the shooter in the drive by. They see an opportunity to riot and to vilify a cop. That’s all they care about.
By Dave Freeman
I am reading on the PoliceOne website, that the officer has 8 years of experience as a police officer with other departments.
After the drive by shooting and the stop, two guns were found in the car which fit the description of the vehicle used in the earlier shooting, and that the back window of the vehicle was shot out. (This is known as a clue.)
Additionally, the dead thug [Antwon Rose], who ran as soon as the car was stopped, had an empty magazine – and no it wasn’t Newsweek – in one of his pockets. This young punk was very probably the shooter in the drive by shooting and certainly was an accomplice in the prior incident.
The question for the courts and the East Pittsburgh police department will be, did the officer have enough information to reasonably assume that he was legally justified in shooting the dirt bag at the time he did so.
In any event the mob doesn’t care if this black punk was the shooter in the drive by. They see an opportunity to riot and to vilify a cop. That’s all they care about.
BUT IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD DAMNIT
by Bob Walsh
A new proposal making its way thru the legislature of the formerly great state of California would, if passed into law, make it illegal for restaurants to "market" sugared drinks to rugrats. Thinks like child's meals would be REQUIRED to be presented with water, milk, almond milk, etc. Sugared soda would be available on request only, and could not be advertised as being available.
A similar proposal is moving thru the legislature that would declare membership in the Republican party to be illegal as Republicans are known to be mean, stupid and nasty. (I am just making this one up. I think.)
A new proposal making its way thru the legislature of the formerly great state of California would, if passed into law, make it illegal for restaurants to "market" sugared drinks to rugrats. Thinks like child's meals would be REQUIRED to be presented with water, milk, almond milk, etc. Sugared soda would be available on request only, and could not be advertised as being available.
A similar proposal is moving thru the legislature that would declare membership in the Republican party to be illegal as Republicans are known to be mean, stupid and nasty. (I am just making this one up. I think.)
MOM FAILED TO SHOW DAUGHTER THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ACCELERATOR AND BRAKE PEDAL
Teen learning to drive crashes SUV into George Junior High School, police say
By Cory McCord
Click2Houston
June 22, 2018
RICHMOND, Texas - An SUV crashed into George Junior High School on Friday around 8:30 p.m., according to police.
Police said a mother was teaching her teenage daughter how to drive when the teen got the pedals confused and hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.
The SUV crashed through a glass wall and went into the cafeteria, police said.
No one was injured.
By Cory McCord
Click2Houston
June 22, 2018
RICHMOND, Texas - An SUV crashed into George Junior High School on Friday around 8:30 p.m., according to police.
Police said a mother was teaching her teenage daughter how to drive when the teen got the pedals confused and hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.
The SUV crashed through a glass wall and went into the cafeteria, police said.
No one was injured.
ISRAEL MADE A ‘FOOLISH MISTAKE’ BY ITS DISENGAGEMENT FROM GAZA
Israel deploys cutting-edge lasers, sensors to combat kite terrorism
By Nikki Guttman, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Israel HAYOM
June 22, 2018
Tensions on the Israel-Gaza Strip border ran high Friday, in the wake of Wednesday's rocket salvo on southern Israel and ahead of yet another Hamas-orchestrated demonstration on the security fence.
Hamas officials urged Gazans to amass at the fence in honor of those killed and wounded in the border riots campaign since it was launched on March 30. Organizers said they plan to hold memorials for the 120 Palestinians killed near the security fence over the past three months.
The Israeli military deployed additional troops near the border, including special forces, snipers and sappers and, for the first time, it plans to use cutting-edge lasers and sensors to combat the kite terrorism that has been wreaking havoc on the Gaza-vicinity communities for weeks.
The new sensors are designed to spot particularly small targets like incendiary kites and balloon, which usually evade the radar systems deployed in the area.
Once a sensor identifies a flaming object, military drones will be launched to intercept it.
The IDF's Southern Command and GOC Army Headquarters are collaborating with several defense contractors in their effort to devise a solution for kite terrorism.
Palestinian arson terrorism continued to rage Thursday, as 20 fires erupted as a result of incendiary kites and balloons sent over the border.
Authorities say that over 8,000 acres of forest and agricultural land on the Israeli side of the border have been reduced to ash over the past six weeks, causing tens of millions of shekels in damage.
With incendiary kites and balloons posing a growing threat to the safety and livelihoods of residents in Israeli communities near the border, as well as to local wildlife and vegetation, there has been a growing demand from the residents for the IDF to intensify its response against terrorist kite cells.
While some politicians and defense officials have advocated surgical strikes against such cells – a policy the IDF employs against terrorists firing rockets at Israel – the military has cautioned that targeting kite flyers, most of whom are teenagers, would lead to a rapid security escalation opposite the Gaza Strip that, in turn, is likely to lead to a full-fledged military campaign.
Also on Thursday, the Katif Center in the border-adjacent community of Nitzan dedicated an electronic memorial commemorating soldiers and civilians killed in the area.
Deputy Defense Minister Eliyahu Ben-Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi) spoke at the ceremony, saying that the tensions on the border prove that the 2005 disengagement from Gaza was a mistake.
"Anyone in their right mind that looks at what is happening now can see that we made a foolish mistake. We may have thought we were promoting a new Middle East, but today we see exactly how untrue that assumption was."
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid visited the Gaza-vicinity communities Thursday and said, "It's not just the fields that are burning here, it's Israeli deterrence. Hamas has to be made to pay a price."
Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, for their part, warned Thursday that any Israeli strike on the coastal enclave will be met with rocket fire on Israel.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It would be even much more foolish for Israel to disengage itself from the West Bank.
By Nikki Guttman, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Israel HAYOM
June 22, 2018
Tensions on the Israel-Gaza Strip border ran high Friday, in the wake of Wednesday's rocket salvo on southern Israel and ahead of yet another Hamas-orchestrated demonstration on the security fence.
Hamas officials urged Gazans to amass at the fence in honor of those killed and wounded in the border riots campaign since it was launched on March 30. Organizers said they plan to hold memorials for the 120 Palestinians killed near the security fence over the past three months.
The Israeli military deployed additional troops near the border, including special forces, snipers and sappers and, for the first time, it plans to use cutting-edge lasers and sensors to combat the kite terrorism that has been wreaking havoc on the Gaza-vicinity communities for weeks.
The new sensors are designed to spot particularly small targets like incendiary kites and balloon, which usually evade the radar systems deployed in the area.
Once a sensor identifies a flaming object, military drones will be launched to intercept it.
The IDF's Southern Command and GOC Army Headquarters are collaborating with several defense contractors in their effort to devise a solution for kite terrorism.
Palestinian arson terrorism continued to rage Thursday, as 20 fires erupted as a result of incendiary kites and balloons sent over the border.
Authorities say that over 8,000 acres of forest and agricultural land on the Israeli side of the border have been reduced to ash over the past six weeks, causing tens of millions of shekels in damage.
With incendiary kites and balloons posing a growing threat to the safety and livelihoods of residents in Israeli communities near the border, as well as to local wildlife and vegetation, there has been a growing demand from the residents for the IDF to intensify its response against terrorist kite cells.
While some politicians and defense officials have advocated surgical strikes against such cells – a policy the IDF employs against terrorists firing rockets at Israel – the military has cautioned that targeting kite flyers, most of whom are teenagers, would lead to a rapid security escalation opposite the Gaza Strip that, in turn, is likely to lead to a full-fledged military campaign.
Also on Thursday, the Katif Center in the border-adjacent community of Nitzan dedicated an electronic memorial commemorating soldiers and civilians killed in the area.
Deputy Defense Minister Eliyahu Ben-Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi) spoke at the ceremony, saying that the tensions on the border prove that the 2005 disengagement from Gaza was a mistake.
"Anyone in their right mind that looks at what is happening now can see that we made a foolish mistake. We may have thought we were promoting a new Middle East, but today we see exactly how untrue that assumption was."
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid visited the Gaza-vicinity communities Thursday and said, "It's not just the fields that are burning here, it's Israeli deterrence. Hamas has to be made to pay a price."
Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, for their part, warned Thursday that any Israeli strike on the coastal enclave will be met with rocket fire on Israel.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It would be even much more foolish for Israel to disengage itself from the West Bank.
SHARIA
Basic Features of Islamic Criminal Law
By Prof. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher
Europe News
January 19, 2016
Islamic theology regards Sharia law as perfect, God-given legislation not of human origin and therefore beyond question. Muslim apologists claim the world-wide application of the Sharia would result in universal freedom and justice. God’s commands were communicated to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel and recorded in the Koran and traditional Islamic texts. The relevant legal texts have been interpreted by renowned theologians, among whom the lawyers of the early centuries of Islam are regarded as particularly authoritative.
The Sharia covers the whole spectrum of Islamic jurisprudence: laws regulating religious practice (the daily ritual prayers, fasting in Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, the ceremonies at religious feast days, and more), marriage, family and inheritance law, property laws, the criminal code and laws covering religious foundations. The Sharia thus determines a person’s relationships to God, to his family and to society.
An important part of the Sharia is undoubtedly that dealing with family and inheritance law. Sharia law forms the main if not sole basis of family law and therefore of civil jurisprudence not only in all Muslim countries (with a few exceptions), but also in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. One outstanding exception is Turkey. When the Ottoman empire gave way to the Turkish Republic under Kemal Atatürk in 1926, laws pertaining to marriage and the family were modelled on the Swiss Civil Code and the Sharia was completely abolished as a basis of law. A kind of shadow jurisprudence nevertheless remains in that, for instance, polygamy, forbidden under Turkish law, continues to be practised in rural areas, and the issue of such “clerical marriages” is regularly declared legitimate and the marriages themselves are retroactively granted State recognition.
The Sharia has remained an ideal law which has never actually been completely and consistently applied. The “return to Sharia” proclaimed by some countries today in fact means little more than that marriage and family law are being more closely modelled on Koranic precedent. Modern jurisprudence in Muslim countries tends to be a composite of Koranic commandments, elements of Islamic traditions, customary law, vestiges of pre-Islamic Persian or Roman codes and elements of European legal provisions let over from the colonial period. The rapid expansion of the Islamic empire in the centuries following Muhammad’s death saw the need to expand the relatively few decisions he made in the early Islamic community and recorded in the Koran and traditional texts, into a workable legal corpus based on Islamic principles. As a result various schools of jurisprudence emerged, four of which, the Shafi’i, Hanbali, Hanafi und Maliki schools, achieved permanent status. These four schools agree on the basic features of Islamic criminal law, which is binding for contemporary orthodox Sunni Islam.
Three classes of crimes are usually distinguished, differing substantially as to rules of evidence and the penalties inflicted.: capital crimes, crimes of retaliation and discretionary crimes.
The most serious cases, denoted capital (Arabic hadd) crimes, comprise those classed by the Koran or tradition as capital offences and for which they prescribe a fixed penalty. Since Islam regards such crimes as committed against God and not man, a charge may no longer be dropped once has been brought, nor is an amicable out of court settlement permitted until punishment has been inflicted on the guilty. Hadd-crimes comprise:
(1) Adultery and immorality: Surah 24:2-3 prescribes 100 lashes for both man and woman. In Islamic law the idea has come to prevail that whereas unmarried women should be whipped, married women deserve death by stoning in accordance with Islamic tradition. The Koran warns explicitly against pity for offenders. However the testimony of four (usually male) witnesses or a confession is required as evidence of guilt. It is not customary to admit circumstantial evidence, which is regarded as furnishing insufficient grounds for a conviction, unlike the pregnancies cited as evidence against unmarried women recently accused in Nigeria and the Sudan of offences punishable by stoning.
The requirement of four male witnesses makes it virtually impossible for women in countries like Pakistan to establish a case of rape, since such witnesses will never be never forthcoming. Not a few women, mainly from the underprivileged Christian minority who are virtually deprived of recourse to due process, have tried to bring cases of rape and have subsequently been themselves charged with bringing a slanderous accusation of adultery (cf. 2) against the man involved and punished by lashes.
(2) Slanderous accusation of adultery: Surah 24:4 prescribes 80 lashes for those found guilty.
(3) Serious theft: According to Surah 5.33:38 this is punishable by amputation of the right hand and, for a second offence, of the left foot. Islamic lawyers have specified certain conditions to be fulfilled before a case of theft can be included in this category, such as a minimum value, safe custody and an undisputed title of the stolen goods, but amputation still affords the victim no compensation whatsoever and turns the offender into a cripple, who, generally unable to find employment, ends up as a burden to the community.
(4) Armed or highway robbery is punished, depending on the severity of offence, by a prison term, amputation, execution or crucifixion.
(5) Use of alcohol: the Koran does not mention a specific penalty but the tradition lays down 40 to 80 lashes for anyone found partaking of intoxicating liquor. The second category, crimes of retaliation (Arabic qisas) are those in which the offender or his family are required to make reparation. The most important crimes in this category are doubtless grievous bodily harm and manslaughter. The victim’s family can insist on a comparable injury (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) or the death of a equivalent member, where possible, of the offender’s family (a man for a man, a slave for a slave). In lieu of the offender’s death, the victim’s family may accept financial compensation and the performance of a religious penance such as a supplementary fast. By far the most numerous offences fall into the third discretionary (Arabic ta’zir) category, where the penalty is imposed at the judge’s discretion and which include cases of embezzlement, blackmail, forgery etc.
Islamic law originated in the legal precedents of Muhamad’s early Muslim community on the Arabian peninsula in the 7th Century AD, a jurisprudence shaped by specific circumstances and therefore limited to individual cases. Not only is it scarcely compatible with the requirements of a modern, technological society, although still regarded by many theologians as divinely given and therefore beyond question, but a consistent application of its drastic forms of corporal punishment (amputation, lashing, execution, crucifixion, retribution) results in torture, crippling or inhuman forms of execution. The application of the Sharia is particularly nefarious where inbuilt curbs such as the requirement of four witnesses or due process are set aside and influential potentates employ it as a means of repression against impotent, often Christian, minorities.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I especially like the part that says theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand and, for a second offence, of the left foot. I also like the stoning of women. Just kidding!
By Prof. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher
Europe News
January 19, 2016
Islamic theology regards Sharia law as perfect, God-given legislation not of human origin and therefore beyond question. Muslim apologists claim the world-wide application of the Sharia would result in universal freedom and justice. God’s commands were communicated to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel and recorded in the Koran and traditional Islamic texts. The relevant legal texts have been interpreted by renowned theologians, among whom the lawyers of the early centuries of Islam are regarded as particularly authoritative.
The Sharia covers the whole spectrum of Islamic jurisprudence: laws regulating religious practice (the daily ritual prayers, fasting in Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, the ceremonies at religious feast days, and more), marriage, family and inheritance law, property laws, the criminal code and laws covering religious foundations. The Sharia thus determines a person’s relationships to God, to his family and to society.
An important part of the Sharia is undoubtedly that dealing with family and inheritance law. Sharia law forms the main if not sole basis of family law and therefore of civil jurisprudence not only in all Muslim countries (with a few exceptions), but also in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. One outstanding exception is Turkey. When the Ottoman empire gave way to the Turkish Republic under Kemal Atatürk in 1926, laws pertaining to marriage and the family were modelled on the Swiss Civil Code and the Sharia was completely abolished as a basis of law. A kind of shadow jurisprudence nevertheless remains in that, for instance, polygamy, forbidden under Turkish law, continues to be practised in rural areas, and the issue of such “clerical marriages” is regularly declared legitimate and the marriages themselves are retroactively granted State recognition.
The Sharia has remained an ideal law which has never actually been completely and consistently applied. The “return to Sharia” proclaimed by some countries today in fact means little more than that marriage and family law are being more closely modelled on Koranic precedent. Modern jurisprudence in Muslim countries tends to be a composite of Koranic commandments, elements of Islamic traditions, customary law, vestiges of pre-Islamic Persian or Roman codes and elements of European legal provisions let over from the colonial period. The rapid expansion of the Islamic empire in the centuries following Muhammad’s death saw the need to expand the relatively few decisions he made in the early Islamic community and recorded in the Koran and traditional texts, into a workable legal corpus based on Islamic principles. As a result various schools of jurisprudence emerged, four of which, the Shafi’i, Hanbali, Hanafi und Maliki schools, achieved permanent status. These four schools agree on the basic features of Islamic criminal law, which is binding for contemporary orthodox Sunni Islam.
Three classes of crimes are usually distinguished, differing substantially as to rules of evidence and the penalties inflicted.: capital crimes, crimes of retaliation and discretionary crimes.
The most serious cases, denoted capital (Arabic hadd) crimes, comprise those classed by the Koran or tradition as capital offences and for which they prescribe a fixed penalty. Since Islam regards such crimes as committed against God and not man, a charge may no longer be dropped once has been brought, nor is an amicable out of court settlement permitted until punishment has been inflicted on the guilty. Hadd-crimes comprise:
(1) Adultery and immorality: Surah 24:2-3 prescribes 100 lashes for both man and woman. In Islamic law the idea has come to prevail that whereas unmarried women should be whipped, married women deserve death by stoning in accordance with Islamic tradition. The Koran warns explicitly against pity for offenders. However the testimony of four (usually male) witnesses or a confession is required as evidence of guilt. It is not customary to admit circumstantial evidence, which is regarded as furnishing insufficient grounds for a conviction, unlike the pregnancies cited as evidence against unmarried women recently accused in Nigeria and the Sudan of offences punishable by stoning.
The requirement of four male witnesses makes it virtually impossible for women in countries like Pakistan to establish a case of rape, since such witnesses will never be never forthcoming. Not a few women, mainly from the underprivileged Christian minority who are virtually deprived of recourse to due process, have tried to bring cases of rape and have subsequently been themselves charged with bringing a slanderous accusation of adultery (cf. 2) against the man involved and punished by lashes.
(2) Slanderous accusation of adultery: Surah 24:4 prescribes 80 lashes for those found guilty.
(3) Serious theft: According to Surah 5.33:38 this is punishable by amputation of the right hand and, for a second offence, of the left foot. Islamic lawyers have specified certain conditions to be fulfilled before a case of theft can be included in this category, such as a minimum value, safe custody and an undisputed title of the stolen goods, but amputation still affords the victim no compensation whatsoever and turns the offender into a cripple, who, generally unable to find employment, ends up as a burden to the community.
(4) Armed or highway robbery is punished, depending on the severity of offence, by a prison term, amputation, execution or crucifixion.
(5) Use of alcohol: the Koran does not mention a specific penalty but the tradition lays down 40 to 80 lashes for anyone found partaking of intoxicating liquor. The second category, crimes of retaliation (Arabic qisas) are those in which the offender or his family are required to make reparation. The most important crimes in this category are doubtless grievous bodily harm and manslaughter. The victim’s family can insist on a comparable injury (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) or the death of a equivalent member, where possible, of the offender’s family (a man for a man, a slave for a slave). In lieu of the offender’s death, the victim’s family may accept financial compensation and the performance of a religious penance such as a supplementary fast. By far the most numerous offences fall into the third discretionary (Arabic ta’zir) category, where the penalty is imposed at the judge’s discretion and which include cases of embezzlement, blackmail, forgery etc.
Islamic law originated in the legal precedents of Muhamad’s early Muslim community on the Arabian peninsula in the 7th Century AD, a jurisprudence shaped by specific circumstances and therefore limited to individual cases. Not only is it scarcely compatible with the requirements of a modern, technological society, although still regarded by many theologians as divinely given and therefore beyond question, but a consistent application of its drastic forms of corporal punishment (amputation, lashing, execution, crucifixion, retribution) results in torture, crippling or inhuman forms of execution. The application of the Sharia is particularly nefarious where inbuilt curbs such as the requirement of four witnesses or due process are set aside and influential potentates employ it as a means of repression against impotent, often Christian, minorities.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I especially like the part that says theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand and, for a second offence, of the left foot. I also like the stoning of women. Just kidding!
Friday, June 22, 2018
NEWLY SWORN-IN COP OPPRESSES BLACK PEOPLE
East Pittsburgh cop shoots unarmed fleeing black youth hours after being sworn in
BarkGrowlBite
June 22, 2018
California State Senator Steven Bradford calls the use of deadly force by police a form of oppression of black people. On Tuesday evening, an East Pittsburgh cop oppressed black people only hours after being sworn in. He shot and killed an unarmed black youth who was fleeing from a car suspected in a drive-by shooting.
East Pittsburgh police stopped a vehicle that fit the description of a car from which nine shots were fired at a man in North Bradford borough. 17-year-old Antwon Rose II jumped out of the car and fled. One of the cops chased Rose and fired a volley of shots at the fleeing black youth. Rose was hit three times and died. He was unarmed, but two guns were found in the car. The shooting has sparked outrage and led to mass protests.
SCOTUS ruled long ago that police cannot shoot a fleeing suspect – and here is the catch – unless that suspect poses a serious threat to the public if he escapes.
The problem here is that at the time Rose was shot, the cops had no proof that this was actually the car involved in the drive-by shooting. Thus the oppressor of black people had no reason to believe Rose posed a serious threat to the public if he escaped.
Reports do not say if this was a rookie cop or if he had just been sworn in after serving on another police department. In any event, look for this cop to end up in the Graybar Hotel.
BarkGrowlBite
June 22, 2018
California State Senator Steven Bradford calls the use of deadly force by police a form of oppression of black people. On Tuesday evening, an East Pittsburgh cop oppressed black people only hours after being sworn in. He shot and killed an unarmed black youth who was fleeing from a car suspected in a drive-by shooting.
East Pittsburgh police stopped a vehicle that fit the description of a car from which nine shots were fired at a man in North Bradford borough. 17-year-old Antwon Rose II jumped out of the car and fled. One of the cops chased Rose and fired a volley of shots at the fleeing black youth. Rose was hit three times and died. He was unarmed, but two guns were found in the car. The shooting has sparked outrage and led to mass protests.
SCOTUS ruled long ago that police cannot shoot a fleeing suspect – and here is the catch – unless that suspect poses a serious threat to the public if he escapes.
The problem here is that at the time Rose was shot, the cops had no proof that this was actually the car involved in the drive-by shooting. Thus the oppressor of black people had no reason to believe Rose posed a serious threat to the public if he escaped.
Reports do not say if this was a rookie cop or if he had just been sworn in after serving on another police department. In any event, look for this cop to end up in the Graybar Hotel.
NOTABLE DEATH(S)
by Bob Walsh
Both Charles Krauthammer and Koko the gorilla died yesterday. Charles Krauthammer was one of the great minds of his time. He was paralyzed from the neck down as a young man in a diving accident. He went on to graduate from Harvard medical school and became a practicing psychiatrist. He was a bright, articulate man who had a great sense of humor and was unfailingly civil. He was a regular on various FOX news programs.
Koko was a gorilla who liked kittens and could communicate tolerably well with sign language.
I wonder which one will get the most exposure in the MSM. (Actually, I don't wonder.)
Both Charles Krauthammer and Koko the gorilla died yesterday. Charles Krauthammer was one of the great minds of his time. He was paralyzed from the neck down as a young man in a diving accident. He went on to graduate from Harvard medical school and became a practicing psychiatrist. He was a bright, articulate man who had a great sense of humor and was unfailingly civil. He was a regular on various FOX news programs.
Koko was a gorilla who liked kittens and could communicate tolerably well with sign language.
I wonder which one will get the most exposure in the MSM. (Actually, I don't wonder.)
YET MORE STUPIDITY FROM THE FORMERLY GREAT STATE OF CALIFORNIA
by Bob Walsh
There is a proposal making its way thru the legislature that would, if passed into law, require a licensing of vendors and a background check on persons who purchase gun parts other than receivers (which are serially numbered, considered to be a gun and already regulated).
It would seem that the state is pushing closer and closer to regulating the ownership of firearms out of existence, which is of course exactly what they are trying to do.
There is a proposal making its way thru the legislature that would, if passed into law, require a licensing of vendors and a background check on persons who purchase gun parts other than receivers (which are serially numbered, considered to be a gun and already regulated).
It would seem that the state is pushing closer and closer to regulating the ownership of firearms out of existence, which is of course exactly what they are trying to do.
ATTACK OF THE KILLER OYSTERS
Will Texans soon find ourselves overrun by malicious mollusks, wicked whelks, or calumnious clams?
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
June 20, 2018
What counts as a separate crime may depend on the eye of the holder, and distinctions are inevitably subsumed within whatever (inevitably somewhat arbitrary) nomenclature and categorizations which drive the analysis.
To think about this, let's consider oyster-related felonies. A few years ago, Politifact fact-checked a statement I'd made that there were eleven felonies in Texas you could commit with an oyster. They rated it "Mostly True," commenting, "He could have said 16." But three of them appeared to be duplicates, so the reporter estimated 13. Politifact also found a lawyer from the Parks and Wildlife Department who said there were, broadly, seven distinct oyster felonies.
Which leads us to ask, how many felonies can Texans commit with an oyster under the Texas Legislative Council’s nomenclature? A measly 3!
What's going on? Has Texas suddenly gone soft on crustacean-related crime? How will the state respond to the threat of felonious bivalve behavior rising like a tide upon our shores? Will Texans soon find ourselves overrun by malicious mollusks, wicked whelks, or calumnious clams? Perhaps the Governor should respond with a DPS "surge" along the beaches on the Gulf?
Fear not! Two of the TLC's oyster categories are "certain oyster license offenses," and thus subsume multiple different violations which were spelled out in more detail in the other counts.
Indeed, when we speak of "license" violations, that gets us to the criminalization of regulatory violations, which are more common in the federal system but also something that occurs under Texas law.
Some of what's going on here may be explained by Texas' historical antipathy to business regulation. Nobody in the Legislature wants to create new government agencies or responsibilities, much less fund enforcement. So when business practices arise that they dislike, Texas legislators typically react by passing a criminal law that punishes business violators with the same sanctions faced by people who rape or rob.
Whether there are eleven felonies Texans can commit with an oyster ... Or sixteen. Or thirteen. Or seven. Or three ... matters less than the fact that there probably shouldn't be nearly so many criminal penalties related to shellfish at all.
By Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
June 20, 2018
What counts as a separate crime may depend on the eye of the holder, and distinctions are inevitably subsumed within whatever (inevitably somewhat arbitrary) nomenclature and categorizations which drive the analysis.
To think about this, let's consider oyster-related felonies. A few years ago, Politifact fact-checked a statement I'd made that there were eleven felonies in Texas you could commit with an oyster. They rated it "Mostly True," commenting, "He could have said 16." But three of them appeared to be duplicates, so the reporter estimated 13. Politifact also found a lawyer from the Parks and Wildlife Department who said there were, broadly, seven distinct oyster felonies.
Which leads us to ask, how many felonies can Texans commit with an oyster under the Texas Legislative Council’s nomenclature? A measly 3!
What's going on? Has Texas suddenly gone soft on crustacean-related crime? How will the state respond to the threat of felonious bivalve behavior rising like a tide upon our shores? Will Texans soon find ourselves overrun by malicious mollusks, wicked whelks, or calumnious clams? Perhaps the Governor should respond with a DPS "surge" along the beaches on the Gulf?
Fear not! Two of the TLC's oyster categories are "certain oyster license offenses," and thus subsume multiple different violations which were spelled out in more detail in the other counts.
Indeed, when we speak of "license" violations, that gets us to the criminalization of regulatory violations, which are more common in the federal system but also something that occurs under Texas law.
Some of what's going on here may be explained by Texas' historical antipathy to business regulation. Nobody in the Legislature wants to create new government agencies or responsibilities, much less fund enforcement. So when business practices arise that they dislike, Texas legislators typically react by passing a criminal law that punishes business violators with the same sanctions faced by people who rape or rob.
Whether there are eleven felonies Texans can commit with an oyster ... Or sixteen. Or thirteen. Or seven. Or three ... matters less than the fact that there probably shouldn't be nearly so many criminal penalties related to shellfish at all.
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