How Halloween became the scariest night of the year for anyone not caged in the snowflake prison of political correctness
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
October 31, 2018
RIP Halloween.
In one of life's greatest ironies, an event that celebrates people coming back from the dead has now killed itself.
Its tragic passing was confirmed yesterday when Olympic snowboarder Shaun White made a grovelling public apology for his Halloween costume.
Or rather, he was bullied into making it.
White's crime was to dress up as Simple Jack, the goofy village idiot character depicted by Ben Stiller in 'Tropic Thunder'.
Jack was a deliberate parody of other movie characters like Forrest Gump or Raymond from 'Rain Man'.
Stiller plays actor Tugg Speedman, who purposely takes on the role of gibbering farm hand Simple Jack in a cynical bid to win an Oscar.
I didn't find Jack - or the movie for that matter - particularly funny, but nor did I find him 'offensive'. The film makes a very good point about Hollywood's hypocrisy.
Yet White's decision to go as Simple Jack to a Halloween party, and then post the picture on Instagram, caused outrage.
Soeren Palumbo, co-founder of the Special Olympics' Spread the Word to End the Word campaign said in a statement: 'We are truly disappointed that Shaun White, an acclaimed Olympian, would choose this costume which is so offensive and causes to much pain. Disability is not a joke, nor should it be a punchline. We hope that Shaun White and others learn that this just continues stigma, stereotypes and discrimination.'
Wow.
That's quite a statement, isn't it?
Sportsman dresses up as a parody movie character for a party and is promptly demonised as the offensive, pain-inducing enemy of tolerance.
Really?
Of course, social media immediately frothed itself into 'faux outrage' mode and demanded various forms of punishment for White ranging from public apology to public stoning.
And equally inevitably, he bowed to the mob and deleted the photo.
'I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night,' he said. 'It was a last minute decision. It was the wrong one. The Special Olympics are right to call me out on it, they do great work supporting many tremendous athletes and I am so sorry for being insensitive. Lesson learned.'
Jeez.
What lesson have you learned, Shaun? That nobody is allowed to dress up as an 'inappropriate' movie character on Halloween any more?
Isn't the whole bloody point of Halloween to be inappropriate?
Ben Stiller, who was similarly attacked when the movie came out 10 years ago, explained yesterday: 'It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards.'
Well, of course it was!
As the film's writer Etan Cohen said at the time: 'Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim.'
Exactly.
Yet once people are instructed to believe something's 'offensive' these days, they quickly work themselves into a lather of fury.
We saw a similar outcry last week when Megyn Kelly pondered aloud on her now cancelled NBC show why it's considered so wrong for white people to blacken their faces on Halloween to portray famous black people.
'What is racist?' she asked. 'Because you do get into trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface on Halloween. When I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up like a character.'
She was promptly hounded from all quarters, knifed spectacularly in the back by her own co-workers on air, and fired in abject disgrace.
NBC Nightly News, hosted by black anchor Lester Holt, devoted considerable airtime over several nights to the saga.
Yet a day after Kelly was fired, a photo emerged of the same Lester Holt dressed up as singer Susan Boyle for Halloween, including his face painted white.
Now, I fully understand and accept there is a difference between the two, and that 'blackface' is unacceptable in modern society for all the well-articulated reasons African-Americans rightly feel it is.
But just as I don't think black people should use the N-word, I don't think they should whiteface themselves on Halloween either.
If something is racist and wrong, then nobody should do it.
Not least, because it opens the door to people crying 'double standard'.
As Mike Huckabee tweeted: 'So Megyn Kelly is shown the door for TALKING about something Lester Holt DID?'
What the White and Kelly 'scandals' told me is that Halloween is now officially over.
The event that was supposed to be all about inappropriate, scary and offensive costumes has now been hijacked by the Politically Correct Police and rendered so anodyne that it's pointless.
Every single costume you think about wearing tonight is going to be deemed offensive by someone somewhere – however tame.
Want to go as Cinderella? Forget it – Kiera Knightley will abuse you for endorsing sexism.
Want to go as Caitlyn Jenner? Forget it – the transgender community will erupt with fury.
Want to go as Mother Teresa? Forget it – cultural appropriation.
Bill Maher addressed this Halloween PC nonsense on his Real Time show last week when he said; 'The Office of Scolding Justice Warriors has decreed no Indian chiefs, no hula girls, no Southern belles, no Daniel Boone, no geishas, no ninjas, no gypsies, no mobsters, no terrorists, no Cleopatra. Pirates offend one-eyed people, you can't dress as a hobo because it makes light of the homeless, you can't dress as Quasimodo because it offends hunchbacks, you can't dress as an escaped mental patient because… it offends Kanye.'
In short, you can't go as anyone.
Well, except Donald Trump because the PC rules on offensiveness don't apply to him.
Yet the people screaming about all this stuff are in fact a very small majority.
As Maher said, a recent poll revealed that 80% of Americans hate the new PC culture including most African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans.
So the perpetually whining and outraged 'woke' snowflakes are not speaking for the majority, and they're not even speaking for the people they assume are feeling victimised.
Despite this, their bullying and squealing works.
Last month, an innocuous 'Brave Red Maiden' Handmaid's Tale Halloween costume was pulled by online retailer Yandy after Twitter-led protests that it mocked rape.
'It has become obvious that (the costume) is being seen as a symbol of women's oppression rather than an expression of women's empowerment,' Yandy said.
Obvious to whom, exactly?
Nobody was offended until they were told to be offended.
Sadly, we now live in an era where everyone is told to be offended about absolutely everything, all the time.
The grimly depressing result is that even Halloween, the very epitome of once gloriously unashamed inappropriate offensiveness, has now been hijacked by the 'woke' wastrels intent on sucking all the fun out of life.
It's pathetic.
RIP Halloween – I'll miss you.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
NAZI TRUMP FUCK OFF AND PRESIDENT HATE LEAVE OUR STATE!!
4,000 protesters demonstrated near the Tree of Life synagogue during Trump’s visit
BarkGrowlBite
October 31, 2018
President Trump, wife Melania, Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer visited the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay homage to the 11 worshipers shot dead Saturday morning.
During this solemn moment, the Trumps were greeted by 4,000 jeering protesters some of whom held up signs that read, "Nazi Trump Fuck Off" and “President HATE Leave Our State!!”
What you have here is the President honoring the slain victims while 4,000 jeering protesters dishonored them.
BarkGrowlBite
October 31, 2018
President Trump, wife Melania, Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer visited the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay homage to the 11 worshipers shot dead Saturday morning.
During this solemn moment, the Trumps were greeted by 4,000 jeering protesters some of whom held up signs that read, "Nazi Trump Fuck Off" and “President HATE Leave Our State!!”
What you have here is the President honoring the slain victims while 4,000 jeering protesters dishonored them.
FALSE RAPE COMPLAINT RESULTS IN LAWSUIT
by Bob Walsh
Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (2016) Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire were football players at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Nikki Yovino, of South Setauket, N Y made a rape complaint against them. They were suspended.
They have just filed a civil suit against the school and Ms. Yovino for slander and infliction of emotional distress. Last year Ms. Yovino copped a plea to interfering with police and filing a false report, so their burden of proof is not as high as it might be. It seems that Ms. Yovino voluntarily had sex with both of them at an off-campus party, then lied about it so her wannabe boyfriend wouldn't brush her off for being a skank.
The men are seeking unspecified damages from both Yovino and the school. The school has declined comment, as has Ms. Yovino's lawyer. I somehow feel that the real deep pocket here is the school. I don't know what exposure they have as the girl actually did file a police report, but without knowing the fine details it will be hard to say whether the school acted precipitously at the time.
Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (2016) Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire were football players at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Nikki Yovino, of South Setauket, N Y made a rape complaint against them. They were suspended.
They have just filed a civil suit against the school and Ms. Yovino for slander and infliction of emotional distress. Last year Ms. Yovino copped a plea to interfering with police and filing a false report, so their burden of proof is not as high as it might be. It seems that Ms. Yovino voluntarily had sex with both of them at an off-campus party, then lied about it so her wannabe boyfriend wouldn't brush her off for being a skank.
The men are seeking unspecified damages from both Yovino and the school. The school has declined comment, as has Ms. Yovino's lawyer. I somehow feel that the real deep pocket here is the school. I don't know what exposure they have as the girl actually did file a police report, but without knowing the fine details it will be hard to say whether the school acted precipitously at the time.
CHEATING THE ELECTORATE
by Bob Walsh
As I have noted before California has had a very active direct democracy (voter referendum) system for over 100 years. It has done some very good things in California. But it is open to cheating.
Witness Proposition Six. If approved, Prop 6 would repeal the very large VLF (vehicle license fee) increase and substantial motor fuel increases made by the legislature and the governor at the end of last year (despite Moonbeam's promise that he would do no such thing without voter approval.) It would, in addition, prohibit the raising of taxes or the imposition of new taxes without a vote of the people.
So, here comes the cheat. The ballot description is written by the Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, who is a hard core liberal partisan Democrap. He can title the thing pretty much anything he wants on the ballot, and often the title is the only thing people read. The title only says that the proposition would shitcan road repair funding. The proposition originally polled at a good margin ahead. Unfortunately the Republican party withdrew their support, I guess they want the gravy to spread around as much as the Democraps do. (The money is ALLEGEDLY earmarked for road repair and other transit improvements. It will no doubt be diverted and much of it spent on Jerry's toy train. This has happened regularly in the past.)
The Proposition 6 supporters have announced a recall attempt on Becerra. It has no chance whatsoever of succeeding. They are also threatening court action against Becerra for fucking with the legit ballot description. That has a reasonable chance of going somewhere.
We will find out in six days how it goes. Caltrans have had people out handing out election material in opposition to Proposition 6 at road repair work sites, in violation of state law. The unions are of course pushing the shit out of defeating it as the work supports union jobs, at least until the rapacious bastards in the legislature steal the money to support free health insurance rights for transgender illegal aliens.
I'll keep you posted.
As I have noted before California has had a very active direct democracy (voter referendum) system for over 100 years. It has done some very good things in California. But it is open to cheating.
Witness Proposition Six. If approved, Prop 6 would repeal the very large VLF (vehicle license fee) increase and substantial motor fuel increases made by the legislature and the governor at the end of last year (despite Moonbeam's promise that he would do no such thing without voter approval.) It would, in addition, prohibit the raising of taxes or the imposition of new taxes without a vote of the people.
So, here comes the cheat. The ballot description is written by the Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, who is a hard core liberal partisan Democrap. He can title the thing pretty much anything he wants on the ballot, and often the title is the only thing people read. The title only says that the proposition would shitcan road repair funding. The proposition originally polled at a good margin ahead. Unfortunately the Republican party withdrew their support, I guess they want the gravy to spread around as much as the Democraps do. (The money is ALLEGEDLY earmarked for road repair and other transit improvements. It will no doubt be diverted and much of it spent on Jerry's toy train. This has happened regularly in the past.)
The Proposition 6 supporters have announced a recall attempt on Becerra. It has no chance whatsoever of succeeding. They are also threatening court action against Becerra for fucking with the legit ballot description. That has a reasonable chance of going somewhere.
We will find out in six days how it goes. Caltrans have had people out handing out election material in opposition to Proposition 6 at road repair work sites, in violation of state law. The unions are of course pushing the shit out of defeating it as the work supports union jobs, at least until the rapacious bastards in the legislature steal the money to support free health insurance rights for transgender illegal aliens.
I'll keep you posted.
PENGUINS HONOR PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING VICTINS
Hold moment of silence before game against Islanders, wear special patch on jerseys
by Wes Crosby
NHL.com
October 30, 2018
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins honored victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and their families before facing the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
About 5 miles from the synagogue, where 11 people were killed and six were injured in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday, the Penguins held a moment of silence before their first home game in two weeks. It lasted 11 seconds, one for each person killed, while the victims' names were displayed on the screen.
A video celebrating diversity and inclusion played before the Penguins and Islanders took the ice for the national anthem.
Sue Berman Kress, Bob Silverman and Josh Sayles of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were welcomed onto the ice for the moment of silence and anthem. Chief Scott Schubert and Officers Mike Smidga and Anthony Burke of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police performed a ceremonial puck drop to a standing ovation. Smidga and Burke were among the first responders to the shooting.
A patch with the Penguins logo superimposed on an upside-down triangle, forming a Star of David, with "Stronger than Hate" underneath, was sewn onto the right shoulder of Pittsburgh's jerseys. The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned at treeoflife.givesmart.com.
The proceeds from the jersey auction and the Penguins' other fundraising efforts will go to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and a fund established with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety to benefit the four Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.
The Penguins held a blood drive at PPG Paints Arena from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Monday. The turnout was so large that future appointments had to be made to accommodate everyone wishing to donate.
Vitalant, a nonprofit organization specializing in blood donation, collected 254 units -- enough to save or directly impact 762 lives, the Penguins said on their Twitter account.
The city canceled its annual Halloween celebration scheduled for Tuesday and instead held a collection to benefit the victims and families affected by the shooting.
by Wes Crosby
NHL.com
October 30, 2018
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins honored victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and their families before facing the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
About 5 miles from the synagogue, where 11 people were killed and six were injured in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday, the Penguins held a moment of silence before their first home game in two weeks. It lasted 11 seconds, one for each person killed, while the victims' names were displayed on the screen.
A video celebrating diversity and inclusion played before the Penguins and Islanders took the ice for the national anthem.
Sue Berman Kress, Bob Silverman and Josh Sayles of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were welcomed onto the ice for the moment of silence and anthem. Chief Scott Schubert and Officers Mike Smidga and Anthony Burke of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police performed a ceremonial puck drop to a standing ovation. Smidga and Burke were among the first responders to the shooting.
A patch with the Penguins logo superimposed on an upside-down triangle, forming a Star of David, with "Stronger than Hate" underneath, was sewn onto the right shoulder of Pittsburgh's jerseys. The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned at treeoflife.givesmart.com.
The proceeds from the jersey auction and the Penguins' other fundraising efforts will go to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and a fund established with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety to benefit the four Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.
The Penguins held a blood drive at PPG Paints Arena from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Monday. The turnout was so large that future appointments had to be made to accommodate everyone wishing to donate.
Vitalant, a nonprofit organization specializing in blood donation, collected 254 units -- enough to save or directly impact 762 lives, the Penguins said on their Twitter account.
The city canceled its annual Halloween celebration scheduled for Tuesday and instead held a collection to benefit the victims and families affected by the shooting.
THE PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE
Anti-Semitism and Trump
BY Dennis Prager
Townhall
October 30, 2018
All my life I have reminded fellow Jews in America that we are the luckiest Jews to have ever lived in a non-Jewish country. I know what I'm talking about. I wrote a book on anti-Semitism, taught Jewish history at Brooklyn College and fought anti-Semitism since I was 21, when Israel sent me into the Soviet Union to smuggle in Jewish religious items and smuggle out Jewish names.
Even after the massacre of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, this assessment remains true.
But the greatest massacre of Jews in American history is a unique American tragedy.
It is a tragedy in part because America has finally made the list of countries in which Jews were murdered for being Jews. While this was probably inevitable, given that 330 million people live in America, it is painful -- equally for me as an American and as a Jew.
And second, while there is no difference between the murder of Christians at a church and the murder of Jews in a synagogue with regard to the loss of life and the suffering of loved ones, there is something unique about the murder of Jews for being Jews: Anti-Semitism is exterminationist. Anti-semites don't just want to persecute, enslave or expel Jews; they want to kill them all.
On Passover, Jews read the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish prayer book of the Passover Seder. In it are contained these words: "In every generation, they arise to annihilate us" -- not "persecute" us; not "enslave" us; annihilate us.
So, when the murderer yelled, "All Jews must die," he encapsulated the uniqueness of anti-Semitism.
There is another unique aspect to anti-Semitism: It destroys every society in which it grows. The animating force within Adolf Hitler was Jew-hatred. More than anything else -- desire for German "Lebensraum," hatred of Bolshevism, a view of Slavs as subhuman -- it was anti-Semitism that invigorated him. Anti-Semitism was not a Nazi scapegoat; it was the Nazis' raison d'etre.
The results of German anti-Semitism for Germans alone: more than 5 million dead, including half a million German civilians; 130,000 more civilians murdered by the Nazi regime; 12 million Germans expelled from East Europe, 2 million of whom died; innumerable rapes of German women; Germany divided in two for half a century -- and the loss of a sense of self and reputation.
I have no idea if, outside the universities and the Israel-hating left, there has been an increase in anti-Semitism in America. I wish I could trust the Anti-Defamation League, other Jewish organizations and Jewish community newspapers. Sadly, only Jews on the left do, because most of these organizations have a left-wing, anti-Trump agenda.
Here's a perfect example:
The mainstream left-wing media, along with left-wing Jewish organizations and media, told us every day for months after Trump's election that anti-Semitism had greatly increased. They cited the great number of Jewish Community Centers that received bomb threats. It turned out, however, that about 90 percent of those threats were called in by a mentally disturbed American Jewish teenager living in Israel, and the other 10 percent were made by a black radical seeking to frame his ex-girlfriend. So, the claim eventually vanished from the news -- with not one Jewish or non-Jewish organization or media outlet apologizing for crying anti-Semitic "fire" in a crowded theater.
The dishonest now have the Pittsburgh massacre to blame on Trump. But that's as big a falsehood as blaming Trump for the bomb threats. In reality, the Pittsburgh murderer criticized Trump for his close connections to Jews and Israel.
For Jews to blame the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman -- the only president with a Jewish child and Jewish grandchildren, moreover -- for increasing anti-Semitism is another example of a truism this Jew has known all his life: Unlike Jewish liberals, who get most of their values from Judaism, Jewish leftists are ethnically Jewish but get their values from leftism.
The biggest increase in anti-Semitism in the last 10 or so years has come from the left. Just ask young Jews who wear yarmulkes or are vocally pro-Israel on most American college campuses. And this generation's threat of Jewish annihilation comes from Israel's Iranian and Arab enemies.
As a Jew who attends synagogue every Shabbat, and as an advocate for the carrying of concealed weapons, I fervently pray we will not need armed guards at American synagogues. America's uniqueness has been exemplified by the fact that Jews do not need armed guards in their synagogues.
May it always be so.
Even if you don't love Jews -- if you only love America -- you need to fight anti-Semites. As the Jews go, so goes the fate of the nation in which they live.
BY Dennis Prager
Townhall
October 30, 2018
All my life I have reminded fellow Jews in America that we are the luckiest Jews to have ever lived in a non-Jewish country. I know what I'm talking about. I wrote a book on anti-Semitism, taught Jewish history at Brooklyn College and fought anti-Semitism since I was 21, when Israel sent me into the Soviet Union to smuggle in Jewish religious items and smuggle out Jewish names.
Even after the massacre of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, this assessment remains true.
But the greatest massacre of Jews in American history is a unique American tragedy.
It is a tragedy in part because America has finally made the list of countries in which Jews were murdered for being Jews. While this was probably inevitable, given that 330 million people live in America, it is painful -- equally for me as an American and as a Jew.
And second, while there is no difference between the murder of Christians at a church and the murder of Jews in a synagogue with regard to the loss of life and the suffering of loved ones, there is something unique about the murder of Jews for being Jews: Anti-Semitism is exterminationist. Anti-semites don't just want to persecute, enslave or expel Jews; they want to kill them all.
On Passover, Jews read the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish prayer book of the Passover Seder. In it are contained these words: "In every generation, they arise to annihilate us" -- not "persecute" us; not "enslave" us; annihilate us.
So, when the murderer yelled, "All Jews must die," he encapsulated the uniqueness of anti-Semitism.
There is another unique aspect to anti-Semitism: It destroys every society in which it grows. The animating force within Adolf Hitler was Jew-hatred. More than anything else -- desire for German "Lebensraum," hatred of Bolshevism, a view of Slavs as subhuman -- it was anti-Semitism that invigorated him. Anti-Semitism was not a Nazi scapegoat; it was the Nazis' raison d'etre.
The results of German anti-Semitism for Germans alone: more than 5 million dead, including half a million German civilians; 130,000 more civilians murdered by the Nazi regime; 12 million Germans expelled from East Europe, 2 million of whom died; innumerable rapes of German women; Germany divided in two for half a century -- and the loss of a sense of self and reputation.
I have no idea if, outside the universities and the Israel-hating left, there has been an increase in anti-Semitism in America. I wish I could trust the Anti-Defamation League, other Jewish organizations and Jewish community newspapers. Sadly, only Jews on the left do, because most of these organizations have a left-wing, anti-Trump agenda.
Here's a perfect example:
The mainstream left-wing media, along with left-wing Jewish organizations and media, told us every day for months after Trump's election that anti-Semitism had greatly increased. They cited the great number of Jewish Community Centers that received bomb threats. It turned out, however, that about 90 percent of those threats were called in by a mentally disturbed American Jewish teenager living in Israel, and the other 10 percent were made by a black radical seeking to frame his ex-girlfriend. So, the claim eventually vanished from the news -- with not one Jewish or non-Jewish organization or media outlet apologizing for crying anti-Semitic "fire" in a crowded theater.
The dishonest now have the Pittsburgh massacre to blame on Trump. But that's as big a falsehood as blaming Trump for the bomb threats. In reality, the Pittsburgh murderer criticized Trump for his close connections to Jews and Israel.
For Jews to blame the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman -- the only president with a Jewish child and Jewish grandchildren, moreover -- for increasing anti-Semitism is another example of a truism this Jew has known all his life: Unlike Jewish liberals, who get most of their values from Judaism, Jewish leftists are ethnically Jewish but get their values from leftism.
The biggest increase in anti-Semitism in the last 10 or so years has come from the left. Just ask young Jews who wear yarmulkes or are vocally pro-Israel on most American college campuses. And this generation's threat of Jewish annihilation comes from Israel's Iranian and Arab enemies.
As a Jew who attends synagogue every Shabbat, and as an advocate for the carrying of concealed weapons, I fervently pray we will not need armed guards at American synagogues. America's uniqueness has been exemplified by the fact that Jews do not need armed guards in their synagogues.
May it always be so.
Even if you don't love Jews -- if you only love America -- you need to fight anti-Semites. As the Jews go, so goes the fate of the nation in which they live.
ARABS APPEAR TO BE WARMING UP TO ISRAEL
Claiming Israel is 'Isolated' Just Got a Whole Lot Harder
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 28, 2018
Israel? Isolated? Not really.
The claim by Palestinian nationalists and their sympathizers that Israel is globally ostracized for failing to as of yet facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state is easily debunked. As it so happens, Israel isn't even all that isolated within the Arab world.
For decades, the rest of the Middle East did indeed boycott the Jewish state. But that has been changing of late, and a couple of examples just this past week indicated a rapid acceleration of the normalization process.
Israelis were surprised over the weekend to wake up to newspaper headlines informing us that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just returned from an official state visit to Oman.
Netanyahu was personally invited to the Omani capital of Muscat by the country's leader, Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said, to discuss regional issues.
A day later, Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi addressed a security summit in Bahrain, where he urged the rest of the Arab Middle East to likewise embrace the Jewish state.
"Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations," bin Alawi told the IISS Manama Dialogue conference.
Also over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates hosted its annual Abu Dhadi Judo Grand Slam, and, for the first time ever, Israeli judokas were permitted to compete under their national flag.
Three Israelis won bronze medals, and the Israeli flag was on display as they were awarded by the Arab hosts.
More than that, Israel Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was invited to attend the competition in her official capacity. Photos of Regev making friendly with UAE President Mohamed Bin Tha'loob Al Derai quickly made waves across the region.
These more recent encounters happened amid a general warming of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. While Jerusalem still has no official relations with any of these Arab countries, their willingness to publicly cuddle up to the Jewish state and its leaders represents a sea change since September 1, 1967, when these same countries joined the rest of the Arab world in signing the Khartoum Resolution outlawing any and all ties with Israel.
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 28, 2018
Israel? Isolated? Not really.
The claim by Palestinian nationalists and their sympathizers that Israel is globally ostracized for failing to as of yet facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state is easily debunked. As it so happens, Israel isn't even all that isolated within the Arab world.
For decades, the rest of the Middle East did indeed boycott the Jewish state. But that has been changing of late, and a couple of examples just this past week indicated a rapid acceleration of the normalization process.
Israelis were surprised over the weekend to wake up to newspaper headlines informing us that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just returned from an official state visit to Oman.
Netanyahu was personally invited to the Omani capital of Muscat by the country's leader, Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said, to discuss regional issues.
A day later, Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi addressed a security summit in Bahrain, where he urged the rest of the Arab Middle East to likewise embrace the Jewish state.
"Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations," bin Alawi told the IISS Manama Dialogue conference.
Also over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates hosted its annual Abu Dhadi Judo Grand Slam, and, for the first time ever, Israeli judokas were permitted to compete under their national flag.
Three Israelis won bronze medals, and the Israeli flag was on display as they were awarded by the Arab hosts.
More than that, Israel Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was invited to attend the competition in her official capacity. Photos of Regev making friendly with UAE President Mohamed Bin Tha'loob Al Derai quickly made waves across the region.
These more recent encounters happened amid a general warming of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. While Jerusalem still has no official relations with any of these Arab countries, their willingness to publicly cuddle up to the Jewish state and its leaders represents a sea change since September 1, 1967, when these same countries joined the rest of the Arab world in signing the Khartoum Resolution outlawing any and all ties with Israel.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
SHAME, SHAME ON JEWISH LIBERALS WHO HAVE SHAMED AMERICA’S JEWS BY SHAMING PRESIDENT TRUMP
Bend the Arc, a left-wing Jewish organization, told the President he is not welcome in Pittsburgh
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 29, 2018
Bend the Arc claims to be “a movement of progressive Jews across the country who are fighting for justice and equality for all.” Of course, progressive equates to liberal. And ironically, among those liberal Jews are some of Israel's harshest critics. You could call them Israel-hating Jews. They loved Obama’s hatred of Netanyahu and they hate Trump for his friendship with Israel.
When Trump announced he planned to visit the Tree of Life synagogue, the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend the Arc sent him an open letter denouncing his words and policies and telling him he is not welcome in Pittsburgh. The letter all but accused him of being directly responsible for the synagogue massacre.
Here is that Bend the Arc letter:
President Trump:
Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.
For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.
Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.
The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.
The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
This means all of us.
In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God. While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.
Signed,
Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh Steering Committee
This organization has no shame! It has shamed me, a Jew. It has shamed all of America’s Jews, both the liberal and the conservative Jews. It has used the synagogue massacre as a means to further its left-wing political agenda. Bend the Arc makes me want to puke.
What the jerks at Bend the Arc don’t seem to realize is that all their shameful letter does is fuel more anti-Semitism.
At least Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading prayers in the main sanctuary of the Tree of Life synagogue when the gunman burst in, had the decency to welcome a visit by the President.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 29, 2018
Bend the Arc claims to be “a movement of progressive Jews across the country who are fighting for justice and equality for all.” Of course, progressive equates to liberal. And ironically, among those liberal Jews are some of Israel's harshest critics. You could call them Israel-hating Jews. They loved Obama’s hatred of Netanyahu and they hate Trump for his friendship with Israel.
When Trump announced he planned to visit the Tree of Life synagogue, the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend the Arc sent him an open letter denouncing his words and policies and telling him he is not welcome in Pittsburgh. The letter all but accused him of being directly responsible for the synagogue massacre.
Here is that Bend the Arc letter:
President Trump:
Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.
For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.
Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.
The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.
The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
This means all of us.
In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God. While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.
Signed,
Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh Steering Committee
This organization has no shame! It has shamed me, a Jew. It has shamed all of America’s Jews, both the liberal and the conservative Jews. It has used the synagogue massacre as a means to further its left-wing political agenda. Bend the Arc makes me want to puke.
What the jerks at Bend the Arc don’t seem to realize is that all their shameful letter does is fuel more anti-Semitism.
At least Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading prayers in the main sanctuary of the Tree of Life synagogue when the gunman burst in, had the decency to welcome a visit by the President.
THE OLDEST HATRED
All good Americans stand in solidarity against anti-Semitism.
By The Editorial Board
The Wall Street Journal
October 28, 2018
The massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh is an awful reminder that there are human hatreds far more virulent and ancient than those that animate our current political divisions. The killer of 11 human beings on the Sabbath Saturday morning was an anti-Semite who was out to kill Jews.
“All Jews must die,” alleged killer Robert Bowers yelled as he burst into a religious service and opened fire. As our friends at the New York Sun note, anti-Semitism is not aimed at Jewish behavior, or support for Jewish immigration, or support for Israel. Robert Bowers simply hated Jews.
This irrational hatred is one of humanity’s oldest and manifests itself in murder almost daily in the Middle East. Jews are killed simply because they are Jews, as they have been throughout history. This is why millions have sought refuge in a Jewish state, Israel, and also in the religious protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States.
The outpouring of support and grief for the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre is a reminder of America’s unique role as a refuge for the world’s religious. Muslim states often persecute non-Muslims as well as Muslims who do not share their brand of Islam. China persecutes people of all faiths. America protects them.
The U.S. has seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League. But there are still fewer in America than in most of the rest of world, and the sources of anti-Semitism range across the political spectrum, including some on the right like Robert Bowers but also from the pro-Palestinian left, especially on university campuses.
In America the most stalwart supporters of Israel and the Jewish people are evangelical Christians and orthodox Catholics. Perhaps this is because as people of faith themselves they know what it is like to be mocked and shunned in a popular culture that is increasingly secular, often aggressively so.
President Trump says he’ll visit Pittsburgh, and well he should. That trip would be a statement of national solidarity with the victims and against anti-Semitism. This being 2018 in America, the political left nonetheless jumped immediately to shift blame for the murders from the killer to Mr. Trump. The Washington Post ran off multiple pieces on the theme. No matter that Mr. Trump’s daughter has converted to Judaism and she and her husband are raising their children in the faith.
Americans would do well to ignore this toxic habit of political blame for murderous acts by the racist, anti-Semitic or mentally disturbed. We are all responsible for our rhetoric, and that includes Mr. Trump, as well as Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder.
But the blame artists are distracting attention from the real sickness, which in this case is anti-Semitism, a hatred that goes back millennia. That is the toxin to banish as much as possible from American life, even if it can’t be purged entirely from human souls.
By The Editorial Board
The Wall Street Journal
October 28, 2018
The massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh is an awful reminder that there are human hatreds far more virulent and ancient than those that animate our current political divisions. The killer of 11 human beings on the Sabbath Saturday morning was an anti-Semite who was out to kill Jews.
“All Jews must die,” alleged killer Robert Bowers yelled as he burst into a religious service and opened fire. As our friends at the New York Sun note, anti-Semitism is not aimed at Jewish behavior, or support for Jewish immigration, or support for Israel. Robert Bowers simply hated Jews.
This irrational hatred is one of humanity’s oldest and manifests itself in murder almost daily in the Middle East. Jews are killed simply because they are Jews, as they have been throughout history. This is why millions have sought refuge in a Jewish state, Israel, and also in the religious protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States.
The outpouring of support and grief for the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre is a reminder of America’s unique role as a refuge for the world’s religious. Muslim states often persecute non-Muslims as well as Muslims who do not share their brand of Islam. China persecutes people of all faiths. America protects them.
The U.S. has seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League. But there are still fewer in America than in most of the rest of world, and the sources of anti-Semitism range across the political spectrum, including some on the right like Robert Bowers but also from the pro-Palestinian left, especially on university campuses.
In America the most stalwart supporters of Israel and the Jewish people are evangelical Christians and orthodox Catholics. Perhaps this is because as people of faith themselves they know what it is like to be mocked and shunned in a popular culture that is increasingly secular, often aggressively so.
President Trump says he’ll visit Pittsburgh, and well he should. That trip would be a statement of national solidarity with the victims and against anti-Semitism. This being 2018 in America, the political left nonetheless jumped immediately to shift blame for the murders from the killer to Mr. Trump. The Washington Post ran off multiple pieces on the theme. No matter that Mr. Trump’s daughter has converted to Judaism and she and her husband are raising their children in the faith.
Americans would do well to ignore this toxic habit of political blame for murderous acts by the racist, anti-Semitic or mentally disturbed. We are all responsible for our rhetoric, and that includes Mr. Trump, as well as Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder.
But the blame artists are distracting attention from the real sickness, which in this case is anti-Semitism, a hatred that goes back millennia. That is the toxin to banish as much as possible from American life, even if it can’t be purged entirely from human souls.
MAYBE THE FIRST FAKE NEWS ??
by Bob Walsh
Eighty years ago tonight Martians did NOT land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, but a fair number of people thought they did. Orson Welle's broadcast of the War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater On The Air by CBS caused a bit of panic here and there when people thought the one hour radio show was an actual news broadcast.
It is not likely that such a simplistic thing would sucker in people today over the age of 13, but audiences were less technically sophisticated back then. The international zeitgeist no doubt contributed to people being suckered. The documentary style without commercials had a certain feel to it. The fact that the time compression was clearly way, way off did not register on people. It caused a huge stink and a congressional inquiry. It also made Orson Welles, the director and chief actor, a star.
It could have been much worse. In Quito, Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio station broadcast the same play, altered as appropriate for the local residents. When they found out it was a "hoax" they rioted and burned down the radio station, killing seven people.
Every October 30 I play back a recording of it (it is available on DVD) just for my own amusement.
Eighty years ago tonight Martians did NOT land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, but a fair number of people thought they did. Orson Welle's broadcast of the War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater On The Air by CBS caused a bit of panic here and there when people thought the one hour radio show was an actual news broadcast.
It is not likely that such a simplistic thing would sucker in people today over the age of 13, but audiences were less technically sophisticated back then. The international zeitgeist no doubt contributed to people being suckered. The documentary style without commercials had a certain feel to it. The fact that the time compression was clearly way, way off did not register on people. It caused a huge stink and a congressional inquiry. It also made Orson Welles, the director and chief actor, a star.
It could have been much worse. In Quito, Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio station broadcast the same play, altered as appropriate for the local residents. When they found out it was a "hoax" they rioted and burned down the radio station, killing seven people.
Every October 30 I play back a recording of it (it is available on DVD) just for my own amusement.
BLUE TSUNAMI TO BLUE WAVE TO BLUE FIZZLE ?
by Bob Walsh
In one week the most important off-year election (IMHO) in living memory will take place. A few weeks ago the Democraps were openly bragging that they reasonably expected to take the senate and were going to steamroller the house.
They have since been backpeddling. Not even hard-core Democrap idiots now believe they will take the senate and in fact they are almost certainly to lose 1-3 additional seats to the Reeps.
The house in now 23 seats in favor of the Republicans. Traditionally the party in power loses seats. Trump, however, is hardly a tradition.
Regular readers will remember two years ago. While I acknowledged that Hillary was likely to win I also said it was far from certain and that I expected there would be a significant and possibly a very large closet Trump vote. Turns out I was right about that. Will it happen again?
If the Republicans can hold onto the house by even ONE seat that means committee chair positions and real power. They still might not be able to get anything passed, but they will be able to prevent the Democraps from tying the government in knots with a never ending stream of bullshit investigations, drowning the government in subpoenas. All things considered that would not be a good thing.
So, one week out and the pundits are now openly speculating that the Republicans may be able to hold onto the house by a handful of votes. Literally a handful. That's fine, all you need is one. Judging by the avalanche of money the Democraps are pouring into house races that are even in the same time zone as being winnable they are aware of the situation.
I will be spending election eve in front of the TV with my lady friend, her collie and my golden retriever, some pizza and a 12-pack of mad dog, watching the returns and hoping the party of truth (after a fashion), justice and the American way pulls it out and leaves the Democraps face down in the dirt, metaphorically speaking.
It was so much fun watching them have a hissy fit after Hillary bit the big weenie, with luck this will be a four-star blast. Maybe Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi will both stroke out. I am not counting on it, but I am hopeful.
In one week the most important off-year election (IMHO) in living memory will take place. A few weeks ago the Democraps were openly bragging that they reasonably expected to take the senate and were going to steamroller the house.
They have since been backpeddling. Not even hard-core Democrap idiots now believe they will take the senate and in fact they are almost certainly to lose 1-3 additional seats to the Reeps.
The house in now 23 seats in favor of the Republicans. Traditionally the party in power loses seats. Trump, however, is hardly a tradition.
Regular readers will remember two years ago. While I acknowledged that Hillary was likely to win I also said it was far from certain and that I expected there would be a significant and possibly a very large closet Trump vote. Turns out I was right about that. Will it happen again?
If the Republicans can hold onto the house by even ONE seat that means committee chair positions and real power. They still might not be able to get anything passed, but they will be able to prevent the Democraps from tying the government in knots with a never ending stream of bullshit investigations, drowning the government in subpoenas. All things considered that would not be a good thing.
So, one week out and the pundits are now openly speculating that the Republicans may be able to hold onto the house by a handful of votes. Literally a handful. That's fine, all you need is one. Judging by the avalanche of money the Democraps are pouring into house races that are even in the same time zone as being winnable they are aware of the situation.
I will be spending election eve in front of the TV with my lady friend, her collie and my golden retriever, some pizza and a 12-pack of mad dog, watching the returns and hoping the party of truth (after a fashion), justice and the American way pulls it out and leaves the Democraps face down in the dirt, metaphorically speaking.
It was so much fun watching them have a hissy fit after Hillary bit the big weenie, with luck this will be a four-star blast. Maybe Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi will both stroke out. I am not counting on it, but I am hopeful.
US ARMED FORCES INVADE ICELAND, WIPE OUT ALL THE BEER IN NATION’S CAPITAL
Iceland’s bars ran out of beer trying to serve drunk US sailors and Marines
By J.D. Simkins
Military Times
October 28, 2018
Founding Father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, once quipped, “Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.”
The military never got that memo.
A national crisis hit Iceland this week when a force of 7,000 American sailors and Marines who know nothing about the third president’s propensity for alcoholic self-restraint invaded the country’s capital city of Reykjavík, flexed an unquenchable thirst for frosty suds and swiftly drained much of the city’s beer supply.
Upon arrival, sailors and Marines taking part in NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise wasted no time getting wasted, Iceland Magazine reported, with most making a beeline straight from the ship to the closest bar to locate, close with and destroy beers.
Bar owners tried to accommodate the onslaught of American patrons, but “they were fighting an overwhelming force,” said local blogger, Eiríkur Jónsson.
Give me your tired, your thirsty, your huddled masses yearning to drink beer.
Wave after wave of dehydrated sailors and Marines strolled into town, filling local establishments for four days straight in search of that old, familiar embrace of sweet inebriation.
One restaurant, Sæta Svínið — good luck pronouncing that — was one of the first to run out of beer. Bar owners tried borrowing from other businesses that were better stocked, but the Americans were too many.
As other bars quickly began drying up, owners who said they had never experienced such an alcoholic assault put out a beer distress signal.
One of Iceland’s local breweries, Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar, answered the call and immediately began working overtime to distribute emergency beer shipments that could furnish the parched Americans with sustenance. Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar — the king in the North.
When the ships finally departed Reykjavík, the city with a population of about 120,000 in a country with just under 340,000 was finally able to breathe.
Iceland had survived the assault, the Americans had drank their fill and there have yet to be any reports of overindulgent debauchery — a true success story.
By J.D. Simkins
Military Times
October 28, 2018
Founding Father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, once quipped, “Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.”
The military never got that memo.
A national crisis hit Iceland this week when a force of 7,000 American sailors and Marines who know nothing about the third president’s propensity for alcoholic self-restraint invaded the country’s capital city of Reykjavík, flexed an unquenchable thirst for frosty suds and swiftly drained much of the city’s beer supply.
Upon arrival, sailors and Marines taking part in NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise wasted no time getting wasted, Iceland Magazine reported, with most making a beeline straight from the ship to the closest bar to locate, close with and destroy beers.
Bar owners tried to accommodate the onslaught of American patrons, but “they were fighting an overwhelming force,” said local blogger, Eiríkur Jónsson.
Give me your tired, your thirsty, your huddled masses yearning to drink beer.
Wave after wave of dehydrated sailors and Marines strolled into town, filling local establishments for four days straight in search of that old, familiar embrace of sweet inebriation.
One restaurant, Sæta Svínið — good luck pronouncing that — was one of the first to run out of beer. Bar owners tried borrowing from other businesses that were better stocked, but the Americans were too many.
As other bars quickly began drying up, owners who said they had never experienced such an alcoholic assault put out a beer distress signal.
One of Iceland’s local breweries, Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar, answered the call and immediately began working overtime to distribute emergency beer shipments that could furnish the parched Americans with sustenance. Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar — the king in the North.
When the ships finally departed Reykjavík, the city with a population of about 120,000 in a country with just under 340,000 was finally able to breathe.
Iceland had survived the assault, the Americans had drank their fill and there have yet to be any reports of overindulgent debauchery — a true success story.
Monday, October 29, 2018
TRUMP’S INFLAMMATORY RHETORIC BLAMED FOR SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING
It didn’t take a New York minute for the media to put the blame of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting on Trump
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 28, 2018
Saturday morning’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh left 11 worshipers dead and six wounded, including four police officers. It didn’t take a New York minute for the media to put the blame of the synagogue shooting on Trump for his inflammatory rhetoric.
President Trump is being blamed for fomenting the toxic divisiveness that now permeates our country. According to the media, Trump’s bombastic speeches have not only energized his base, but they have also energized white supremacists. In addition to the synagogue shooting, the shooting of blacks in a Kentucky Kroger supermarket on Wednesday and the pipe bomb mailings are cited as examples.
Trump was also criticized for continuing to go on the campaign trail during a period of mourning.
As can be expected, the synagogue shooting has also reenergized the debate on gun control. The anti-gunners are once more calling for a ban on AR-15 and other military style rifles. The pro-gunners are chiming in with “if only one of those worshipers had been armed.”
A ban on military-style rifles will not prevent mass shootings. The nutjobs will merely use pistols instead of rifles. And as a former FBI agent said about one of the worshipers being armed, they are “not combat trained” and are likely to shoot themselves or others rather than the shooter.
Robert Bowers, the synagogue shooter, has a long history of making anti-Semitic statements on social media. He is a Holocaust denier. Bowers also slammed Trump for doing nothing to stop an “infestation” of the United States by Jews.
Police sources said Bowers walked into the synagogue and yelled “All Jews must die.” According to an FBI affidavit, when captured, Bowers told a SWAT officer, “They're committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.”
Trump’s rhetoric may well be inflaming the divisiveness and hatred that has always existed in this country. But not so fast there! The anti-Trump rhetoric by Democrats like Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Maxine Waters and now Barack Obama are just as inflammatory as Trump’s bombastic speeches.
There is plenty of blame to go around. But the shootings by white supremacists cannot be blamed on either Trump or his Democratic antagonists. Nor can they be blamed on the Trump-hating media.
Blame for the atrocities that occurred at the Kroger supermarket and the Pittsburgh synagogue rests solely on the shoulders of the white supremacists who committed the shootings and on no one else. And what about those pipe bombs? Just because they were mailed by a pro-Trump nutjob, the President cannot be blamed for that either.
Update
Now, in the wake of the synagogue shooting, Trump is even being accused of anti-Semitism because he calls out George Soreass by name on the campaign trail.
Soreass, the anti-Israel billionaire, has been contributing millions and millions of dollars to Democratic candidates, to the left-wing opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and to far-left organizations. He makes no secret of his disdain for Trump and is doing everything he can to give the Democrats control of both houses of congress.
I’m Jewish and have been a vocal critic of Soreass for years. Does that make me anti-Semitic? Does slamming one of his enemies who happens to be Jewish make Trump anti-Semitic? It does in the minds of the anti-Trumpers.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 28, 2018
Saturday morning’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh left 11 worshipers dead and six wounded, including four police officers. It didn’t take a New York minute for the media to put the blame of the synagogue shooting on Trump for his inflammatory rhetoric.
President Trump is being blamed for fomenting the toxic divisiveness that now permeates our country. According to the media, Trump’s bombastic speeches have not only energized his base, but they have also energized white supremacists. In addition to the synagogue shooting, the shooting of blacks in a Kentucky Kroger supermarket on Wednesday and the pipe bomb mailings are cited as examples.
Trump was also criticized for continuing to go on the campaign trail during a period of mourning.
As can be expected, the synagogue shooting has also reenergized the debate on gun control. The anti-gunners are once more calling for a ban on AR-15 and other military style rifles. The pro-gunners are chiming in with “if only one of those worshipers had been armed.”
A ban on military-style rifles will not prevent mass shootings. The nutjobs will merely use pistols instead of rifles. And as a former FBI agent said about one of the worshipers being armed, they are “not combat trained” and are likely to shoot themselves or others rather than the shooter.
Robert Bowers, the synagogue shooter, has a long history of making anti-Semitic statements on social media. He is a Holocaust denier. Bowers also slammed Trump for doing nothing to stop an “infestation” of the United States by Jews.
Police sources said Bowers walked into the synagogue and yelled “All Jews must die.” According to an FBI affidavit, when captured, Bowers told a SWAT officer, “They're committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.”
Trump’s rhetoric may well be inflaming the divisiveness and hatred that has always existed in this country. But not so fast there! The anti-Trump rhetoric by Democrats like Corey Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Maxine Waters and now Barack Obama are just as inflammatory as Trump’s bombastic speeches.
There is plenty of blame to go around. But the shootings by white supremacists cannot be blamed on either Trump or his Democratic antagonists. Nor can they be blamed on the Trump-hating media.
Blame for the atrocities that occurred at the Kroger supermarket and the Pittsburgh synagogue rests solely on the shoulders of the white supremacists who committed the shootings and on no one else. And what about those pipe bombs? Just because they were mailed by a pro-Trump nutjob, the President cannot be blamed for that either.
Update
Now, in the wake of the synagogue shooting, Trump is even being accused of anti-Semitism because he calls out George Soreass by name on the campaign trail.
Soreass, the anti-Israel billionaire, has been contributing millions and millions of dollars to Democratic candidates, to the left-wing opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and to far-left organizations. He makes no secret of his disdain for Trump and is doing everything he can to give the Democrats control of both houses of congress.
I’m Jewish and have been a vocal critic of Soreass for years. Does that make me anti-Semitic? Does slamming one of his enemies who happens to be Jewish make Trump anti-Semitic? It does in the minds of the anti-Trumpers.
BEING RICH IS NOT WITHOUT ITS PROBLEMS
by Bob Walsh
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is, or more correctly was, a rich guy. A billionaire. He owned, among other things, the Leicester City Football Club, a Premier League team in the U.K.. He was helicoptering away from the stadium on Saturday when the helicopter had a difference of opinion with gravity. Gravity won, fairly spectacularly. All aboard, including the guy with the long, unpronounceable name, were killed in the crash.
If he had just taken an Uber, or even a limo, he would probably still be alive.
Shit happens, even to rich people.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is, or more correctly was, a rich guy. A billionaire. He owned, among other things, the Leicester City Football Club, a Premier League team in the U.K.. He was helicoptering away from the stadium on Saturday when the helicopter had a difference of opinion with gravity. Gravity won, fairly spectacularly. All aboard, including the guy with the long, unpronounceable name, were killed in the crash.
If he had just taken an Uber, or even a limo, he would probably still be alive.
Shit happens, even to rich people.
AWW, I'M GONNA FEEL BAD ABOUT THAT FOR ABOUT EIGHT SECONDS
by Bob Walsh
James Alex Fields, Jr. is a guest of the county in Charlottesville. He is the man who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and bystanders at a white separatist rally about 14 months ago. One person died in that mess.
In any event it seems that Fields got thumped by Timothy Brown, Jr. Allegedly Brown knew and was in the company of the dead woman when she was ploughed under by Fields.
Fields was not seriously injured. Depending on how you interpret the news articles Fields may have been under escort by custody staff when the attack occurred. Assuming that is true, somebody screwed the pooch or they need more observant staff.
Not that I give a fuck about Fields, but once you put someone in the slammer you have a duty to reasonably ensure their safety. The Albermarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail failed in that duty, or at least so it would appear.
James Alex Fields, Jr. is a guest of the county in Charlottesville. He is the man who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and bystanders at a white separatist rally about 14 months ago. One person died in that mess.
In any event it seems that Fields got thumped by Timothy Brown, Jr. Allegedly Brown knew and was in the company of the dead woman when she was ploughed under by Fields.
Fields was not seriously injured. Depending on how you interpret the news articles Fields may have been under escort by custody staff when the attack occurred. Assuming that is true, somebody screwed the pooch or they need more observant staff.
Not that I give a fuck about Fields, but once you put someone in the slammer you have a duty to reasonably ensure their safety. The Albermarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail failed in that duty, or at least so it would appear.
EL MENCHO HAS REPLACED EL CHAPO ….. DEA OFFERING $10 MILLION REWARD FOR HIS CAPTURE
'New' El Chapo's Mexican drug cartel makes Australia their top target as they look to crack into the lucrative ice market with the help of bikie gangs
By Adam McCleery
Daily Mail
October 26, 2018
After the arrest of the notorious cartel leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, a new narco is poised to take up the void in the drug market - and he has his sights set on Australia.
The next generation of narco on the rise in Mexico is former policeman, Ruben Nemesio Oseguera 'El Mencho' Cervantes, one of the founders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, News Corp reported.
The Australian Federal Police have honed in on the new narco, who they allege has targeted the Australian drug market.
'Mexico has been a weakness for us in the past as we didn't have a presence there but since (October 2017) last year that changed when we opened up a post there as we saw what was happening,' a senior AFP law enforcer said.
It's believed at the height of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel's stranglehold on the drug trade, he had control of at least 60 per cent of the Australian market.
El Chapo left behind a void upon his re-arrest and subsequent extradition to the United States, which has already filled.
AFP officials believe El Mencho could be responsible for as much as 75 per cent of all meth being trafficked into Australia.
Now Colombian, Mexican and Australian authorities are working together to prevent El Mencho from gaining a stronger foothold.
'The comprehensive counter drug strategy has three pillars, harm reduction, supply reduction and demand reduction. Law enforcement is about supply reduction … that's what we are responding to and working closely with overseas authorities, like in Mexico with the Mexican Federal Police,' the AFP spokesman said.
'It's complex. For us critically it's about sharing intelligence on the organised crime level to disrupt their criminal activities and that's already paying off.'
Australia presents an opportunity to the cartel because it is the second highest user of methamphetamine in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) world.
Australia is also one of the highest users of cocaine per capita.
DEA and Mexican drug authorities said the rapid rise of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was partly because of the drug trade in Australia.
Despite this they said they were still shocked at how quickly El Mencho and his cartel were able to consolidate power, already building up a $20billion drug empire.
They also theorise that while US and Mexican authorities targeted El Chapo, El Mencho was able to move toward trafficking drugs into Australia while under the radar.
In 2017 and 2018 alone, seizures of meth in Australia have tripled from previous years, with 3762kg seized in the last year.
Authorities will continue to hunt El Mencho and his cartel, however his exact location is not known. It is believed he is holed up in the Mexican mountains of Michoacan.
As a former police officer El Mencho knew the value of getting law enforcement on side and Mexican authorities allege he managed to bribe a number of officers and justice officials.
The United States is currently offering a US$10million reward for his capture.
While Mexican authorities are offering MXN$30 million for any information that would lead to his capture.
And in 2015 the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control added El Mencho to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, or 'Kingpin Act'.
A White House statement outlined the 'Kingpin Act' as an effective tool against cartel leaders.
'Its purpose is to deny significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their related businesses, and their operatives access to the U.S. financial system and to prohibit all trade and transactions between the traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals,' the statement read.
'The Kingpin Act authorizes the President to take these actions when he determines that a foreign person plays a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.'
By Adam McCleery
Daily Mail
October 26, 2018
After the arrest of the notorious cartel leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, a new narco is poised to take up the void in the drug market - and he has his sights set on Australia.
The next generation of narco on the rise in Mexico is former policeman, Ruben Nemesio Oseguera 'El Mencho' Cervantes, one of the founders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, News Corp reported.
The Australian Federal Police have honed in on the new narco, who they allege has targeted the Australian drug market.
'Mexico has been a weakness for us in the past as we didn't have a presence there but since (October 2017) last year that changed when we opened up a post there as we saw what was happening,' a senior AFP law enforcer said.
It's believed at the height of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel's stranglehold on the drug trade, he had control of at least 60 per cent of the Australian market.
El Chapo left behind a void upon his re-arrest and subsequent extradition to the United States, which has already filled.
AFP officials believe El Mencho could be responsible for as much as 75 per cent of all meth being trafficked into Australia.
Now Colombian, Mexican and Australian authorities are working together to prevent El Mencho from gaining a stronger foothold.
'The comprehensive counter drug strategy has three pillars, harm reduction, supply reduction and demand reduction. Law enforcement is about supply reduction … that's what we are responding to and working closely with overseas authorities, like in Mexico with the Mexican Federal Police,' the AFP spokesman said.
'It's complex. For us critically it's about sharing intelligence on the organised crime level to disrupt their criminal activities and that's already paying off.'
Australia presents an opportunity to the cartel because it is the second highest user of methamphetamine in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) world.
Australia is also one of the highest users of cocaine per capita.
DEA and Mexican drug authorities said the rapid rise of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was partly because of the drug trade in Australia.
Despite this they said they were still shocked at how quickly El Mencho and his cartel were able to consolidate power, already building up a $20billion drug empire.
They also theorise that while US and Mexican authorities targeted El Chapo, El Mencho was able to move toward trafficking drugs into Australia while under the radar.
In 2017 and 2018 alone, seizures of meth in Australia have tripled from previous years, with 3762kg seized in the last year.
Authorities will continue to hunt El Mencho and his cartel, however his exact location is not known. It is believed he is holed up in the Mexican mountains of Michoacan.
As a former police officer El Mencho knew the value of getting law enforcement on side and Mexican authorities allege he managed to bribe a number of officers and justice officials.
The United States is currently offering a US$10million reward for his capture.
While Mexican authorities are offering MXN$30 million for any information that would lead to his capture.
And in 2015 the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control added El Mencho to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, or 'Kingpin Act'.
A White House statement outlined the 'Kingpin Act' as an effective tool against cartel leaders.
'Its purpose is to deny significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their related businesses, and their operatives access to the U.S. financial system and to prohibit all trade and transactions between the traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals,' the statement read.
'The Kingpin Act authorizes the President to take these actions when he determines that a foreign person plays a significant role in international narcotics trafficking.'
BRITISH RESTAURANT OWNERS BETTER PAY ATTENTION TO SPECIAL NOTES FOR TAKEOUT ORDERS
Two restaurant bosses guilty of manslaughter after girl, 15, dies from allergic reaction to takeaway
Independent
October 26, 2018
Two restaurant bosses have been convicted of manslaughter after a 15-year-old girl died of an allergic reaction to an Indian takeaway.
Megan Lee fell ill immediately after eating the meal from from the Royal Spice in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, on 30 December 2016.
She suffered irreversible brain damage from an asthma attack due to her nut allergy and died at Royal Blackburn hospital two days later on New Year’s Day 2017.
Owner Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and manager Harun Rashid, 38, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence by a jury at Manchester Crown Court.
The judge, Mrs Justice Yip, warned the pair they faced going to jail when they return to court for sentencing on 7 November by Mrs Justice Yip.
She said: “The fact that I am granting bail shouldn’t be taken as any indication there should be a non-custodial sentence. You need to prepare yourselves for a custodial sentence.”
Megan’s family were in tears in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced.
The court heard one of Megan’s friends ordered the meal of an onion bhaji, a seekh kebab and a Peshwari naan, using the Just Eat website.
She wrote “prawns, nuts” in the comments and notes section to alert staff to allergies.
The meal was later found to have the “widespread presence” of peanut protein.
Following Megan’s death the restaurant was closed down by Trading Standards and environmental hygiene officers. It has since reopened under new ownership.
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the court her death was a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Jurors heard there was a “litany of failings” in the kitchen including poor hygiene and no records of ingredients.
Rashid, of Rudd Street, Haslingden, was convicted of manslaughter, failing to discharge a general duty of employers under the Health and Safety at Work Act and breaching European Union food safety regulations. He had claimed he was merely a delivery driver at the restaurant at the time.
Kuddus, of Belper Street, Blackburn, was convicted of manslaughter. He had already pleaded guilty to the two other charges on behalf of himself and of behalf of the Royal Spice Takeaway Ltd.
Megan’s parents Adam and Gemma Lee said in a statement outside court: “Our lives will never be the same. The loss of our beautiful daughter has completely devastated us.
“Megan’s positive presence and infectious smile will forever be missed.
“It breaks our hearts that Megan didn’t get the chance to sit her GCSE exams, something she had worked so incredibly hard for, to celebrate her 16th birthday or go to the school prom with her friends.
“Megan didn’t get the opportunity to fulfil her ambition of working in musical theatre, to explore the world, fall in love or have children of her own.
“It’s these thoughts that cause great sadness, because nobody deserved it more than Megan.”
Mr Lee said: “Megan’s legacy is to be kind, considerate, to be helpful to others.
“We will continue to work with the Anaphylaxis Campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of allergies.
“Whilst we may have received some justice with today’s verdicts, we live in hope that today’s result is a warning to other food businesses operating in such a deplorable and ignorant manner to learn from this and improve their standards with immediate effect.
“We urge all food businesses to improve their standards in food safety and take allergies seriously.”
He added: “Do not guess, do not play ignorant, do not play Russian roulette with precious lives.”
Independent
October 26, 2018
Two restaurant bosses have been convicted of manslaughter after a 15-year-old girl died of an allergic reaction to an Indian takeaway.
Megan Lee fell ill immediately after eating the meal from from the Royal Spice in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, on 30 December 2016.
She suffered irreversible brain damage from an asthma attack due to her nut allergy and died at Royal Blackburn hospital two days later on New Year’s Day 2017.
Owner Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and manager Harun Rashid, 38, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence by a jury at Manchester Crown Court.
The judge, Mrs Justice Yip, warned the pair they faced going to jail when they return to court for sentencing on 7 November by Mrs Justice Yip.
She said: “The fact that I am granting bail shouldn’t be taken as any indication there should be a non-custodial sentence. You need to prepare yourselves for a custodial sentence.”
Megan’s family were in tears in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced.
The court heard one of Megan’s friends ordered the meal of an onion bhaji, a seekh kebab and a Peshwari naan, using the Just Eat website.
She wrote “prawns, nuts” in the comments and notes section to alert staff to allergies.
The meal was later found to have the “widespread presence” of peanut protein.
Following Megan’s death the restaurant was closed down by Trading Standards and environmental hygiene officers. It has since reopened under new ownership.
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the court her death was a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Jurors heard there was a “litany of failings” in the kitchen including poor hygiene and no records of ingredients.
Rashid, of Rudd Street, Haslingden, was convicted of manslaughter, failing to discharge a general duty of employers under the Health and Safety at Work Act and breaching European Union food safety regulations. He had claimed he was merely a delivery driver at the restaurant at the time.
Kuddus, of Belper Street, Blackburn, was convicted of manslaughter. He had already pleaded guilty to the two other charges on behalf of himself and of behalf of the Royal Spice Takeaway Ltd.
Megan’s parents Adam and Gemma Lee said in a statement outside court: “Our lives will never be the same. The loss of our beautiful daughter has completely devastated us.
“Megan’s positive presence and infectious smile will forever be missed.
“It breaks our hearts that Megan didn’t get the chance to sit her GCSE exams, something she had worked so incredibly hard for, to celebrate her 16th birthday or go to the school prom with her friends.
“Megan didn’t get the opportunity to fulfil her ambition of working in musical theatre, to explore the world, fall in love or have children of her own.
“It’s these thoughts that cause great sadness, because nobody deserved it more than Megan.”
Mr Lee said: “Megan’s legacy is to be kind, considerate, to be helpful to others.
“We will continue to work with the Anaphylaxis Campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of allergies.
“Whilst we may have received some justice with today’s verdicts, we live in hope that today’s result is a warning to other food businesses operating in such a deplorable and ignorant manner to learn from this and improve their standards with immediate effect.
“We urge all food businesses to improve their standards in food safety and take allergies seriously.”
He added: “Do not guess, do not play ignorant, do not play Russian roulette with precious lives.”
Sunday, October 28, 2018
‘THIS IS DISGUSTING AND A WASTE OF THE COURT’S TIME AND RESOURCES,’ JUDGE SAYS IN DISMISSING CHARGES FILED AGAINST BLACK URBAN FARMER BY THREE WHITE WOMEN
How ‘Gardening While Black’ in Detroit Almost Landed Marc Peeples in Jail
By Audra D. S. Burch
The New York Times
October 26, 2018
DETROIT — For nearly two years, a man tilled an overgrown park in a half-abandoned Detroit neighborhood into a tiny urban farm, filling the earth with the seeds of kale and spinach and radishes. He was black.
For half of that time, the man, Marc Peeples, 32, was the subject of dozens of calls to the police — the allegations growing more serious with each call — by three women who lived on a street facing the park. They were white.
Mr. Peeples said he returned to the neighborhood where he grew up to create a garden that could help feed residents, chip away at food deserts and teach children about urban horticulture — a personal redemptive mission after three years in prison on drug charges.
What happened next was something else: gardening while black, as his lawyer described it, another example of white people calling the police on a black person for everyday activities.
In many of these cases, the caller is mocked with whimsical, alliterative nicknames like BBQ Becky, Cornerstore Caroline and Permit Patty. A cellphone video of the caller goes viral. Sometimes they lose their jobs.
This time was different. Mr. Peeples was arrested and went to trial. But a judge intervened and last week dismissed the case against him.
The women who complained said Mr. Peeples had terrorized the neighborhood, about 20 minutes north of downtown, by repeatedly threatening to burn down their houses and ordering them to leave because they were white.
They accused him of illegally painting trees and vandalizing houses. And in the most serious allegation, one neighbor falsely accused him of sexual misconduct.
The multiple police calls and reports made by the three women — Deborah Nash, Martha Callahan and her granddaughter, Jennifer Morris — eventually led to three stalking charges against Mr. Peeples and a trial. In a case first reported by The Detroit Metro Times, State District Judge E. Lynise Bryant threw the charges out at the trial, calling them fabricated and rooted in racism.
“At the heart of this case is a kind of inseparable mix of race and power,” Mr. Peeples’s lawyer, Robert Burton-Harris, said adding that the women had their own plans for the park, which fed their hostility. “They knew they could use the police as their own personal henchman to get him removed from this area just based on their allegations.”
In some ways, the story hints at the unsteady, culture-clashing path of gentrification, the ubiquitous lens of race and the social role of law enforcement. Absent race, the women insisted, this is a dispute between residents about rebuilding a neighborhood that had largely been written off.
“You see people giving these nicknames. That is letting them off the hook,” Mr. Peeples said. “These are serious allegations. They tried to have me go down for a hate crime.”
Days after the verdict, Ms. Nash sat outside in her car, giving her first interview about the case.
“I am not a racist. I was all for the garden and even helped with supplies at first, but he threatened me several times, in person to my face, that I needed to leave my neighborhood or I would be put out one way or another,” said Ms. Nash, 49, a part-time art teacher who moved to the neighborhood in 2014. “I called the police because he was destroying property in the neighborhood and painting graffiti. No one had the right to paint park trees.”
In spring of 2017, Mr. Peeples, the great-great grandson of a South Carolina farmer and third-generation community member, began planting seeds in Hunt Playground, a city-owned park near the old State Fairgrounds. He described the neighborhood where deer still roam, as desolate and desperate but in its own way, full of promise.
“I like to say farming is in my DNA. I remember reading articles about how Detroit was a food desert and thinking, I don’t have the money to buy a supermarket, so what can I do to combat it?” he said.
The trouble started in the summer of 2017 with the colors red, black and green. Mr. Peeples painted the color bands on a tree and on the porch of a gutted home facing the park. He said they were the colors of liberation, of Pan Africanism. The women said they were the colors of a gang.
It wasn’t long before the three women were calling the police.
“We were like, ‘You can’t paint them trees.’ That’s when the threats started. He yelled it out from the field. He said he would kill us, burn down our homes and kill our dogs too, so we went and filed the police reports,” Ms. Morris, 37, said in an interview. “We went down to the prosecuting attorney’s office and told our story and it went to court. We didn’t want it to go that far. We just wanted the threats to stop.”
Until that point, the two sides mostly stayed away from each other. But in March, just as the weather broke and Mr. Peeples returned to the garden for another season, the police received a report that he had a gun. Six officers in three cars responded. It turned out that Mr. Peeples had a rake, for gathering leaves. The police soon left.
“Now I know these women are calling the police on me all the time, but I didn’t know how deep it was, that they were accusing me of threatening to burn the house down, threatening to kill the dogs,” Mr. Peeples said.
Two months later, Mr. Peeples hosted a group of home-school children at the garden. As they planted cabbage, carrots and wildflowers, the police showed up once again. During cross-examination at the trial, Ms. Callahan admitted that she called 911 and told the police that Mr. Peeples had been convicted of sexual misconduct, according to Mr. Burton-Harris and Judge Bryant.
Ms. Callahan, 74, testified that she had called the principals of nearby schools to warn them about Mr. Peeples, but offered no evidence to corroborate her testimony.
Shortly after, Mr. Peeples was arrested on three counts of stalking charges based on the earlier claims that he had threatened the women. Each count carried a sentence of up to a year in jail.
In court last week, Judge Bryant described the women’s testimony as inconsistent, without credibility and part of a strategic campaign against Mr. Peeples. In one example that came out in court, Ms. Nash admitted she hired Mr. Peeples to paint a house after she accused him of threatening her.
“This is disgusting and a waste of the court’s time and resources,” Judge Bryant said, who added that she found the case upsetting.
“These ladies testified they made the initial contact with him, not the other way around,” she said in an interview. “They testified that they called the police and the parks and recreation department and they followed him to the bus stop and said he was in a gang and had a gun. That is the definition of harassment.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I believe race was a motivating factor and an injustice has been done to this man,” Judge Bryant said.
The three women say they were not allowed to present evidence and they have since been threatened on social media. Clutching a walker outside her home, Ms. Callahan said she planned to move from her home of 15 years.
Because of the charges, Mr. Peeples said he stopped getting temporary jobs with a janitorial service, lost business opportunities and had to hire a lawyer. He spent about $4,500. A fund-raising campaign on his behalf has generated about $27,000.
“These women are racist, plain and simple. They don’t want me here. They wanted to do this garden without me,” Mr. Peeples said. “I am boarding up houses, cutting grass, planting a garden, trying to keep riffraff out of here and they are a filing false reports against me. They did a lot of damage to me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I hope Peeples sues the supreme shit out of those three white racist bitches.
By Audra D. S. Burch
The New York Times
October 26, 2018
DETROIT — For nearly two years, a man tilled an overgrown park in a half-abandoned Detroit neighborhood into a tiny urban farm, filling the earth with the seeds of kale and spinach and radishes. He was black.
For half of that time, the man, Marc Peeples, 32, was the subject of dozens of calls to the police — the allegations growing more serious with each call — by three women who lived on a street facing the park. They were white.
Mr. Peeples said he returned to the neighborhood where he grew up to create a garden that could help feed residents, chip away at food deserts and teach children about urban horticulture — a personal redemptive mission after three years in prison on drug charges.
What happened next was something else: gardening while black, as his lawyer described it, another example of white people calling the police on a black person for everyday activities.
In many of these cases, the caller is mocked with whimsical, alliterative nicknames like BBQ Becky, Cornerstore Caroline and Permit Patty. A cellphone video of the caller goes viral. Sometimes they lose their jobs.
This time was different. Mr. Peeples was arrested and went to trial. But a judge intervened and last week dismissed the case against him.
The women who complained said Mr. Peeples had terrorized the neighborhood, about 20 minutes north of downtown, by repeatedly threatening to burn down their houses and ordering them to leave because they were white.
They accused him of illegally painting trees and vandalizing houses. And in the most serious allegation, one neighbor falsely accused him of sexual misconduct.
The multiple police calls and reports made by the three women — Deborah Nash, Martha Callahan and her granddaughter, Jennifer Morris — eventually led to three stalking charges against Mr. Peeples and a trial. In a case first reported by The Detroit Metro Times, State District Judge E. Lynise Bryant threw the charges out at the trial, calling them fabricated and rooted in racism.
“At the heart of this case is a kind of inseparable mix of race and power,” Mr. Peeples’s lawyer, Robert Burton-Harris, said adding that the women had their own plans for the park, which fed their hostility. “They knew they could use the police as their own personal henchman to get him removed from this area just based on their allegations.”
In some ways, the story hints at the unsteady, culture-clashing path of gentrification, the ubiquitous lens of race and the social role of law enforcement. Absent race, the women insisted, this is a dispute between residents about rebuilding a neighborhood that had largely been written off.
“You see people giving these nicknames. That is letting them off the hook,” Mr. Peeples said. “These are serious allegations. They tried to have me go down for a hate crime.”
Days after the verdict, Ms. Nash sat outside in her car, giving her first interview about the case.
“I am not a racist. I was all for the garden and even helped with supplies at first, but he threatened me several times, in person to my face, that I needed to leave my neighborhood or I would be put out one way or another,” said Ms. Nash, 49, a part-time art teacher who moved to the neighborhood in 2014. “I called the police because he was destroying property in the neighborhood and painting graffiti. No one had the right to paint park trees.”
In spring of 2017, Mr. Peeples, the great-great grandson of a South Carolina farmer and third-generation community member, began planting seeds in Hunt Playground, a city-owned park near the old State Fairgrounds. He described the neighborhood where deer still roam, as desolate and desperate but in its own way, full of promise.
“I like to say farming is in my DNA. I remember reading articles about how Detroit was a food desert and thinking, I don’t have the money to buy a supermarket, so what can I do to combat it?” he said.
The trouble started in the summer of 2017 with the colors red, black and green. Mr. Peeples painted the color bands on a tree and on the porch of a gutted home facing the park. He said they were the colors of liberation, of Pan Africanism. The women said they were the colors of a gang.
It wasn’t long before the three women were calling the police.
“We were like, ‘You can’t paint them trees.’ That’s when the threats started. He yelled it out from the field. He said he would kill us, burn down our homes and kill our dogs too, so we went and filed the police reports,” Ms. Morris, 37, said in an interview. “We went down to the prosecuting attorney’s office and told our story and it went to court. We didn’t want it to go that far. We just wanted the threats to stop.”
Until that point, the two sides mostly stayed away from each other. But in March, just as the weather broke and Mr. Peeples returned to the garden for another season, the police received a report that he had a gun. Six officers in three cars responded. It turned out that Mr. Peeples had a rake, for gathering leaves. The police soon left.
“Now I know these women are calling the police on me all the time, but I didn’t know how deep it was, that they were accusing me of threatening to burn the house down, threatening to kill the dogs,” Mr. Peeples said.
Two months later, Mr. Peeples hosted a group of home-school children at the garden. As they planted cabbage, carrots and wildflowers, the police showed up once again. During cross-examination at the trial, Ms. Callahan admitted that she called 911 and told the police that Mr. Peeples had been convicted of sexual misconduct, according to Mr. Burton-Harris and Judge Bryant.
Ms. Callahan, 74, testified that she had called the principals of nearby schools to warn them about Mr. Peeples, but offered no evidence to corroborate her testimony.
Shortly after, Mr. Peeples was arrested on three counts of stalking charges based on the earlier claims that he had threatened the women. Each count carried a sentence of up to a year in jail.
In court last week, Judge Bryant described the women’s testimony as inconsistent, without credibility and part of a strategic campaign against Mr. Peeples. In one example that came out in court, Ms. Nash admitted she hired Mr. Peeples to paint a house after she accused him of threatening her.
“This is disgusting and a waste of the court’s time and resources,” Judge Bryant said, who added that she found the case upsetting.
“These ladies testified they made the initial contact with him, not the other way around,” she said in an interview. “They testified that they called the police and the parks and recreation department and they followed him to the bus stop and said he was in a gang and had a gun. That is the definition of harassment.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I believe race was a motivating factor and an injustice has been done to this man,” Judge Bryant said.
The three women say they were not allowed to present evidence and they have since been threatened on social media. Clutching a walker outside her home, Ms. Callahan said she planned to move from her home of 15 years.
Because of the charges, Mr. Peeples said he stopped getting temporary jobs with a janitorial service, lost business opportunities and had to hire a lawyer. He spent about $4,500. A fund-raising campaign on his behalf has generated about $27,000.
“These women are racist, plain and simple. They don’t want me here. They wanted to do this garden without me,” Mr. Peeples said. “I am boarding up houses, cutting grass, planting a garden, trying to keep riffraff out of here and they are a filing false reports against me. They did a lot of damage to me.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: I hope Peeples sues the supreme shit out of those three white racist bitches.
WHAT THE HELL ARE WE COMING TO WHEN IT BECOMES OFFICIALLY OK FOR PROBATIONERS AND PAROLEES TO BREAK THE LAW
Five former probation commissioners urge officials to stop testing parolees for marijuana
By Reuven Blau
New York Daily News
October 16, 2018
People on parole and probation should no longer be tested for marijuana if the drug is legalized in New York State, five former city probation commissioners said Tuesday.
The call for a more relaxed supervision comes as the number of parole violators ordered back to city jails has spiked over the past few years.
“Our public tenures and a growing body of research suggest that, in terms of community corrections, less is often more,” Vincent Schiraldi, a former city probation commissioner, testified before a state Assembly committee hearing on “allowing adult use of marijuana.”
The average number of parole violators tossed in city jails has gone up by 9.5% over the past four years, from 773 in 2014 to 847 in 2017, according to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
That population is the only group of people behind bars that has gone up in recent years, records show.
But that’s never how parole and probation were intended when they were created as diversions from jail in the 1800s, Schiraldi testified at the lower Manhattan hearing.
“So, probation and parole have become much larger than originally intended, with burdensome conditions that serve as trip wires to incarceration rather than as alternatives,” Schiraldi said.
There’s no evidence that shows marijuana use “threatens public safety,” he added.
“Likewise there is no public safety justification for routine testing for marijuana for probation or parole,” he said.
New York currently allows people to use marijuana for medical purposes. State lawmakers are considering fully legalizing the drug for recreational use.
“Revocations for marijuana use made little sense before,” Schiraldi said, “and will make no sense once marijuana use is legal for the adult population.”
At the hearing, Schiraldi spoke on behalf of four other former probation commissioners, Martin Horn, Michael Jacobson, James Payne and Raul Russi.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The conditions for probation and parole universally prohibit the use of drugs, association with criminals and the violation of any laws.
This is crazy! I can think of a number of reasons why this is a terrible proposal. First and foremost though, probationers and parolees will have to associate with criminals in order to purchase pot since recreational use of marijuana has not been legalized in New York yet. And many of the probationers will not have enough money to buy pot. So how are they going to afford it? By committing thefts, burglaries and other crimes.
Even the kooks in California haven’t proposed this … yet.
By Reuven Blau
New York Daily News
October 16, 2018
People on parole and probation should no longer be tested for marijuana if the drug is legalized in New York State, five former city probation commissioners said Tuesday.
The call for a more relaxed supervision comes as the number of parole violators ordered back to city jails has spiked over the past few years.
“Our public tenures and a growing body of research suggest that, in terms of community corrections, less is often more,” Vincent Schiraldi, a former city probation commissioner, testified before a state Assembly committee hearing on “allowing adult use of marijuana.”
The average number of parole violators tossed in city jails has gone up by 9.5% over the past four years, from 773 in 2014 to 847 in 2017, according to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
That population is the only group of people behind bars that has gone up in recent years, records show.
But that’s never how parole and probation were intended when they were created as diversions from jail in the 1800s, Schiraldi testified at the lower Manhattan hearing.
“So, probation and parole have become much larger than originally intended, with burdensome conditions that serve as trip wires to incarceration rather than as alternatives,” Schiraldi said.
There’s no evidence that shows marijuana use “threatens public safety,” he added.
“Likewise there is no public safety justification for routine testing for marijuana for probation or parole,” he said.
New York currently allows people to use marijuana for medical purposes. State lawmakers are considering fully legalizing the drug for recreational use.
“Revocations for marijuana use made little sense before,” Schiraldi said, “and will make no sense once marijuana use is legal for the adult population.”
At the hearing, Schiraldi spoke on behalf of four other former probation commissioners, Martin Horn, Michael Jacobson, James Payne and Raul Russi.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The conditions for probation and parole universally prohibit the use of drugs, association with criminals and the violation of any laws.
This is crazy! I can think of a number of reasons why this is a terrible proposal. First and foremost though, probationers and parolees will have to associate with criminals in order to purchase pot since recreational use of marijuana has not been legalized in New York yet. And many of the probationers will not have enough money to buy pot. So how are they going to afford it? By committing thefts, burglaries and other crimes.
Even the kooks in California haven’t proposed this … yet.
ERDOGAN IS USING THE MURDER OF KHASHOGGI TO SETTLE A SCORE WITH THE SAUDI REGIME
Khashoggi’s murder could impact a number of relationships in the region and across the globe
BY Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror
Israel Hayom
October 26, 2018
The assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey is interesting on three levels: gossip, regional implications, and the Israeli angle.
It is a fascinating event from a gossip perspective, like a chapter in a suspense novel. To a large extent, it's similar to the assassination of the Russian spy in Britain – agents are dispatched on a murder mission, the perpetrators successfully flee the scene. Technology comes into play as local law enforcement agencies are able to identify the route the killers used to enter and leave the country. Even in the case of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's assassination in Dubai, which was attributed to Israel's Mossad, photographs of the alleged killers were published and their modus operandi was retraced using hotel security cameras.
The incident could impact a number of relationships in the region and across the globe. No one should be surprised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's fiery response. The person who has ordered the arrests of dozens of Turkish journalists isn't actually bothered by the murder; rather he is using it to settle a score with the Saudi regime, due to severe disagreements between them. The Saudis loath the Turkish dictator who dreams of resurrecting the Ottoman Empire – and the feeling is mutual. For Erdogan, this is also an opportunity to divert his public's attention from Turkey's economic crisis.
The Western world's relationship with Saudi Arabia is also cast into doubt. The Americans are having a hard time accepting that a man who had recently lived in the U.S. was despicably murdered in his own consulate. On the other side of the scale are America's economic and diplomatic interests in the Persian Gulf, where Saudi Arabia is its main ally. Weakening Saudi Arabia will directly strengthen Iran, America's main adversary in the area, which is another reason for Trump's efforts to ease tensions. The Europeans are also deeply disgusted about the incident and what it represents, although they are less tethered to Saudi Arabia by large trade deals and are less worried about Iran.
It's still unclear how the affair will affect the standing of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The transfer of power from his father is a critical juncture for him. When he was appointed by his father, his path as the inevitable heir to the throne had seemed relatively effortless, and that future control of the kingdom would assuredly pass to his offspring while keeping his many cousins at arm's length from the crown. Now his throne is wobbling and it isn't obvious how the debacle in Istanbul will impact the stability of his rule, which the 33-year-old crown prince had appeared to have consolidated.
In the wider lens, it's important to note the Sunni world is currently leaderless in its fight with Shiite Iran. Saudi Arabia tried assuming that mantle on the basis of its wealth and control of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, but as a consequence of the murder it has apparently squandered this legitimacy and as a result – with no visible leadership on the horizon – the Sunni world will be weaker.
Lastly, there's the Israeli angle. Against Iran, their common enemy, Israeli-Saudi relations have quietly become stronger behind the scenes. Presently, it isn't clear how the assassination in Turkey will affect domestic stability within the kingdom and consequently its relations with the world, but perhaps with Israel they will actually be bolstered amid the turmoil. Israel's under-the-table ties with Jordan, with whom it also has open diplomatic relations, are robust, yet the Jordanian king decided not to extend the special land lease with Israel.
The two cases are different but lead to a harsh conclusion: Israel's relations with Arab countries must still be taken with a grain of salt. The character of these regimes and the way their leaders think and act prevents true rapprochement. Some of these regimes are veritable sand castles sitting atop shifting dunes; things can change quickly. In any endeavor, whether diplomatic or intelligential, public or clandestine, we should always remember: Nothing lasts forever.
BY Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror
Israel Hayom
October 26, 2018
The assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey is interesting on three levels: gossip, regional implications, and the Israeli angle.
It is a fascinating event from a gossip perspective, like a chapter in a suspense novel. To a large extent, it's similar to the assassination of the Russian spy in Britain – agents are dispatched on a murder mission, the perpetrators successfully flee the scene. Technology comes into play as local law enforcement agencies are able to identify the route the killers used to enter and leave the country. Even in the case of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's assassination in Dubai, which was attributed to Israel's Mossad, photographs of the alleged killers were published and their modus operandi was retraced using hotel security cameras.
The incident could impact a number of relationships in the region and across the globe. No one should be surprised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's fiery response. The person who has ordered the arrests of dozens of Turkish journalists isn't actually bothered by the murder; rather he is using it to settle a score with the Saudi regime, due to severe disagreements between them. The Saudis loath the Turkish dictator who dreams of resurrecting the Ottoman Empire – and the feeling is mutual. For Erdogan, this is also an opportunity to divert his public's attention from Turkey's economic crisis.
The Western world's relationship with Saudi Arabia is also cast into doubt. The Americans are having a hard time accepting that a man who had recently lived in the U.S. was despicably murdered in his own consulate. On the other side of the scale are America's economic and diplomatic interests in the Persian Gulf, where Saudi Arabia is its main ally. Weakening Saudi Arabia will directly strengthen Iran, America's main adversary in the area, which is another reason for Trump's efforts to ease tensions. The Europeans are also deeply disgusted about the incident and what it represents, although they are less tethered to Saudi Arabia by large trade deals and are less worried about Iran.
It's still unclear how the affair will affect the standing of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The transfer of power from his father is a critical juncture for him. When he was appointed by his father, his path as the inevitable heir to the throne had seemed relatively effortless, and that future control of the kingdom would assuredly pass to his offspring while keeping his many cousins at arm's length from the crown. Now his throne is wobbling and it isn't obvious how the debacle in Istanbul will impact the stability of his rule, which the 33-year-old crown prince had appeared to have consolidated.
In the wider lens, it's important to note the Sunni world is currently leaderless in its fight with Shiite Iran. Saudi Arabia tried assuming that mantle on the basis of its wealth and control of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, but as a consequence of the murder it has apparently squandered this legitimacy and as a result – with no visible leadership on the horizon – the Sunni world will be weaker.
Lastly, there's the Israeli angle. Against Iran, their common enemy, Israeli-Saudi relations have quietly become stronger behind the scenes. Presently, it isn't clear how the assassination in Turkey will affect domestic stability within the kingdom and consequently its relations with the world, but perhaps with Israel they will actually be bolstered amid the turmoil. Israel's under-the-table ties with Jordan, with whom it also has open diplomatic relations, are robust, yet the Jordanian king decided not to extend the special land lease with Israel.
The two cases are different but lead to a harsh conclusion: Israel's relations with Arab countries must still be taken with a grain of salt. The character of these regimes and the way their leaders think and act prevents true rapprochement. Some of these regimes are veritable sand castles sitting atop shifting dunes; things can change quickly. In any endeavor, whether diplomatic or intelligential, public or clandestine, we should always remember: Nothing lasts forever.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
GOING THE EXTRA MILE ….. NOT MILE, BUT 200 EXTRA YARDS
Japanese runner, 19, crawls on a BROKEN LEG to complete her relay marathon stage after falling with 200 yards to go
BY Sara Malm
Daily Mail
October 26, 2018
This is the amazing moment when a teenage runner who broke her leg during a relay marathon, finished the race on her hands and knees.
Rei Iida, 19, fell and fractured her leg with just 200 yards to go of her 2.2mile stage of a relay marathon in Fukoka, Japan.
Despite what would have been a painful injury, the university student was determined to finish her stretch of the race.
Video footage shows Ms Iida crawling on the tarmac as fast as her broken leg can carry her, with volunteers and bystanders cheering her on.
She appears determined to continue, despite sustaining injuries to her hands and knees, and leaving a train of blood on the road behind her.
With her team-mate reportedly waiting for her in tears to take over the sash, Ms Iida made it to the end with blood pouring out of her knees.
The head judge later told local news: 'I struggled to decide whether I should stop her, but I felt she could do it as she was almost at her goal'.
The teenage amateur runner had reportedly refused to quit when she was approached on the tarmac, asking 'how many meter are left until my goal?', according to Runners World
Runners World reported that Ms Iida was sent to a nearby hospital after crossing the finish line, and was found to have suffered a fracture which will take months to heal.
BY Sara Malm
Daily Mail
October 26, 2018
This is the amazing moment when a teenage runner who broke her leg during a relay marathon, finished the race on her hands and knees.
Rei Iida, 19, fell and fractured her leg with just 200 yards to go of her 2.2mile stage of a relay marathon in Fukoka, Japan.
Despite what would have been a painful injury, the university student was determined to finish her stretch of the race.
Video footage shows Ms Iida crawling on the tarmac as fast as her broken leg can carry her, with volunteers and bystanders cheering her on.
She appears determined to continue, despite sustaining injuries to her hands and knees, and leaving a train of blood on the road behind her.
With her team-mate reportedly waiting for her in tears to take over the sash, Ms Iida made it to the end with blood pouring out of her knees.
The head judge later told local news: 'I struggled to decide whether I should stop her, but I felt she could do it as she was almost at her goal'.
The teenage amateur runner had reportedly refused to quit when she was approached on the tarmac, asking 'how many meter are left until my goal?', according to Runners World
Runners World reported that Ms Iida was sent to a nearby hospital after crossing the finish line, and was found to have suffered a fracture which will take months to heal.
CJNG IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER ….. FOR WOMEN RELATED TO THE BIG BOSS
US Treasury Dept: González Valencia Sisters Lead CJNG
Translated by Yaqui from: Vanguardia
Borderland Beat
October 25, 2018
The United States Department of the Treasury has designated eight women who are laundering money for the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación (CJNG).
The González Valencia sisters who appear as operators in the drug trafficking network led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, ''El Mencho '', are: Rosalinda (or Rosalía), Noemí, Berenice, Marisa Ivette, María Elena, Érika and Abigaíl; as well as his half sister Estela Valencia Farías.
In addition to money laundering, women have a leading role in the most dangerous criminal organization, since according to the United States, they are responsible for the transfer of drugs from Mexico to that country.
Rosalinda González Valencia belongs to a family originally from Aguililla, Michoacán, and is known as "La Jefa" within the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG). She is "Mencho's" wife.
She, Rosalinda, the wife of ''El Mencho'' and the person in charge of money laundering for the Jalisco Cartel New Generation.
Rosalinda, was released on September 6 after spending almost four months in prison for being the administrator of the resources of the CJNG. Reports from the authorities consider women as ''La Jefa'' ; but they also mention that their daughter Jessica Johana Oseguera González , serves as the operator of the criminal group. The heiress of "El Mencho" protected herself to avoid being arrested as happened to be her mother. ( Above photo from the night of Rosalinda's arrest )
Reports from federal authorities have identified that the 16 brothers who make up that family are the founders of that criminal organization. In total there are six men and six women, the leader of them is Rosalinda .
Among the brothers are Édgar, Arnulfo, Elvis, Mauricio, Ulises, Gerardo, Luis Ángel and José. In addition to María Elena, Érika, Berenice, Marisa Ivette and Noemí, these last ones indicated by the Department of the Treasure of the United States as responsible in the transfer of drugs to that country.
In 1996, Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia married the man who would become the strong man of the New Generation Cartel Jalisco, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes , "El Mencho" considered by the Treasury Department as a "fugitive" from the US authorities since April 2015. The couple's children are Jessica Johanna and Rubén Oseguera González.
Rubén, "El Menchito" , was arrested in January 2014 in Zapopan, Jalisco, in possession of 25 million pesos and firearms. In that year he was released twice: the first in October, after the intervention of a judge, who determined his freedom from the federal prison located in the Altiplano, in the absence of evidence against him. After his recapture and shipment to the Cereso de Puente Grande, he was released in December of that year.
The trial of guarantees was registered under file number 38/2018 before the Sixth Unitary Court of the Third Circuit.
The daughter , ie Jessica Johanna , of "El Mencho" is accused of the crimes of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin. Jessica was born in Michoacán and is in the cross hairs of authorities in Mexico and the United States as she owns a series of companies allegedly used to launder the profits of the cartel.
In 2015, the US Treasury Department placed its restaurant Mizu Sushi Lounge and its Tequila brand Onze Black on the blacklist of businesses suspected of having a relationship with drug trafficking.
Oseguera González tried to defend herself against any order of apprehension, summons, presentation, appearance and reaprehension that could be issued by any of the criminal judges in the state.
The business side of Jessica also extended to the tourism sector with a tourist complex of five rest houses in the municipality of Tapalpa, Jalisco, named Las Flores Cabañas.
Jessica, appears in the organization chart of the CJNG and is now one of the new objectives of the governments of Mexico and the US.
Another woman who was a factor for the creation of the CJNG is Inés Oseguera, who had an affair with Carlos Rosales, alias ''El Tísico'' , one of the founders of La Familia Michoacana and operator of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén in Michoacán. The affair had dire consequences.
"El Tísico" and Inés Oseguera's romance with the cousin of "El Mencho" managed to seal a union between the Gulf and the Millennium cartels, but apparently the young woman cheated on her boyfriend with Armando Valencia , which provoked the violent war that ended with the exile of the González Valencia .
Osiel Cárdenas supported Rosales and put at his disposal a legion of hitmen from Los Zetas to shoot down the Valencia family, who in turn made a pact with the Sinaloa Cartel. And it was just this approach that empowered the Millennium Cartel, and gave rise to the CJNG.
Translated by Yaqui from: Vanguardia
Borderland Beat
October 25, 2018
The United States Department of the Treasury has designated eight women who are laundering money for the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación (CJNG).
The González Valencia sisters who appear as operators in the drug trafficking network led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, ''El Mencho '', are: Rosalinda (or Rosalía), Noemí, Berenice, Marisa Ivette, María Elena, Érika and Abigaíl; as well as his half sister Estela Valencia Farías.
In addition to money laundering, women have a leading role in the most dangerous criminal organization, since according to the United States, they are responsible for the transfer of drugs from Mexico to that country.
Rosalinda González Valencia belongs to a family originally from Aguililla, Michoacán, and is known as "La Jefa" within the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG). She is "Mencho's" wife.
She, Rosalinda, the wife of ''El Mencho'' and the person in charge of money laundering for the Jalisco Cartel New Generation.
Rosalinda, was released on September 6 after spending almost four months in prison for being the administrator of the resources of the CJNG. Reports from the authorities consider women as ''La Jefa'' ; but they also mention that their daughter Jessica Johana Oseguera González , serves as the operator of the criminal group. The heiress of "El Mencho" protected herself to avoid being arrested as happened to be her mother. ( Above photo from the night of Rosalinda's arrest )
Reports from federal authorities have identified that the 16 brothers who make up that family are the founders of that criminal organization. In total there are six men and six women, the leader of them is Rosalinda .
Among the brothers are Édgar, Arnulfo, Elvis, Mauricio, Ulises, Gerardo, Luis Ángel and José. In addition to María Elena, Érika, Berenice, Marisa Ivette and Noemí, these last ones indicated by the Department of the Treasure of the United States as responsible in the transfer of drugs to that country.
In 1996, Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia married the man who would become the strong man of the New Generation Cartel Jalisco, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes , "El Mencho" considered by the Treasury Department as a "fugitive" from the US authorities since April 2015. The couple's children are Jessica Johanna and Rubén Oseguera González.
Rubén, "El Menchito" , was arrested in January 2014 in Zapopan, Jalisco, in possession of 25 million pesos and firearms. In that year he was released twice: the first in October, after the intervention of a judge, who determined his freedom from the federal prison located in the Altiplano, in the absence of evidence against him. After his recapture and shipment to the Cereso de Puente Grande, he was released in December of that year.
The trial of guarantees was registered under file number 38/2018 before the Sixth Unitary Court of the Third Circuit.
The daughter , ie Jessica Johanna , of "El Mencho" is accused of the crimes of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin. Jessica was born in Michoacán and is in the cross hairs of authorities in Mexico and the United States as she owns a series of companies allegedly used to launder the profits of the cartel.
In 2015, the US Treasury Department placed its restaurant Mizu Sushi Lounge and its Tequila brand Onze Black on the blacklist of businesses suspected of having a relationship with drug trafficking.
Oseguera González tried to defend herself against any order of apprehension, summons, presentation, appearance and reaprehension that could be issued by any of the criminal judges in the state.
The business side of Jessica also extended to the tourism sector with a tourist complex of five rest houses in the municipality of Tapalpa, Jalisco, named Las Flores Cabañas.
Jessica, appears in the organization chart of the CJNG and is now one of the new objectives of the governments of Mexico and the US.
Another woman who was a factor for the creation of the CJNG is Inés Oseguera, who had an affair with Carlos Rosales, alias ''El Tísico'' , one of the founders of La Familia Michoacana and operator of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén in Michoacán. The affair had dire consequences.
"El Tísico" and Inés Oseguera's romance with the cousin of "El Mencho" managed to seal a union between the Gulf and the Millennium cartels, but apparently the young woman cheated on her boyfriend with Armando Valencia , which provoked the violent war that ended with the exile of the González Valencia .
Osiel Cárdenas supported Rosales and put at his disposal a legion of hitmen from Los Zetas to shoot down the Valencia family, who in turn made a pact with the Sinaloa Cartel. And it was just this approach that empowered the Millennium Cartel, and gave rise to the CJNG.
Friday, October 26, 2018
HEIL TRUMP! SIEG HEIL! AMERICA UBER ALLES!
Democrats are comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler because he said he is a nationalist
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 25, 2018
I have on occasion criticized President Trump for some of the dumb things he has said. This is not one of those times.
President Trump has said he is a nationalist. The Democrats, with the help of the media, immediately denounced him, comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Comparing Trump to Hitler is absolutely absurd and downright insulting. Trump was merely pointing out that he puts America first. Unlike Obama, Trump is not going around apologizing to countries for any grievances they might have against us.
Obama’s disgraceful apologies made him look like Neville Chamberlain who in 1938 waved a piece of paper signed by Herr Hitler while shouting, “Peace for our time.” You won’t see Trump kowtowing to any foreign leader who happens to be envious of America’s greatness.
The Democrats are also blaming Trump’s divisive rhetoric for the explosive devices mailed to the Clintons, Obamas, Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, John Brennan (mailed to CNN instead of NBC) and George Soreass.
You can hardly blame Trump for some nutjob’s idiotic and dangerous behavior. It’s not Trump’s rhetoric that’s responsible. It’s the harsh anti-Trump rhetoric by the recipients of the explosive devices that is to blame.
I’m with Trump. America uber alles!
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 25, 2018
I have on occasion criticized President Trump for some of the dumb things he has said. This is not one of those times.
President Trump has said he is a nationalist. The Democrats, with the help of the media, immediately denounced him, comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Comparing Trump to Hitler is absolutely absurd and downright insulting. Trump was merely pointing out that he puts America first. Unlike Obama, Trump is not going around apologizing to countries for any grievances they might have against us.
Obama’s disgraceful apologies made him look like Neville Chamberlain who in 1938 waved a piece of paper signed by Herr Hitler while shouting, “Peace for our time.” You won’t see Trump kowtowing to any foreign leader who happens to be envious of America’s greatness.
The Democrats are also blaming Trump’s divisive rhetoric for the explosive devices mailed to the Clintons, Obamas, Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, John Brennan (mailed to CNN instead of NBC) and George Soreass.
You can hardly blame Trump for some nutjob’s idiotic and dangerous behavior. It’s not Trump’s rhetoric that’s responsible. It’s the harsh anti-Trump rhetoric by the recipients of the explosive devices that is to blame.
I’m with Trump. America uber alles!
COACH AND GYMNAST ARRESTED FOR BANGING IN PUBLIC
by Bob Walsh
The assistant coach and a member of the women's gymnastic team from the University of Michigan were both arrested for engaging in sex in public in a parked car on October 8.
The assistant coach, Scott Vetere, 39, and the 18-year old team member were both arrested and cited for misdemeanor indecent conduct in public.
Vetere was suspended immediately as soon as the school found out because school policy strictly prohibits sexual contact between staff and team members. He resigned during an administrative review. He has not yet entered a plea on the criminal beef. He is married and has three daughters. I am sure they are all very proud of him. I also suspect he may have a problem finding work in the future, at least in this field. Stupid bastard.
The gymnast, as yet not publicly named, will be arraigned on November 5. It is not clear what penalty, if any, she faces with the school.
The penalty for the conduct by both participants is a $500 find and 6 months as a guest of the county.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Too cheap to get a motel room. That would have cost a helluva lot less than what the cost of bail and lawyers will add up to, not to speak of the coach's lost income.
The assistant coach and a member of the women's gymnastic team from the University of Michigan were both arrested for engaging in sex in public in a parked car on October 8.
The assistant coach, Scott Vetere, 39, and the 18-year old team member were both arrested and cited for misdemeanor indecent conduct in public.
Vetere was suspended immediately as soon as the school found out because school policy strictly prohibits sexual contact between staff and team members. He resigned during an administrative review. He has not yet entered a plea on the criminal beef. He is married and has three daughters. I am sure they are all very proud of him. I also suspect he may have a problem finding work in the future, at least in this field. Stupid bastard.
The gymnast, as yet not publicly named, will be arraigned on November 5. It is not clear what penalty, if any, she faces with the school.
The penalty for the conduct by both participants is a $500 find and 6 months as a guest of the county.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Too cheap to get a motel room. That would have cost a helluva lot less than what the cost of bail and lawyers will add up to, not to speak of the coach's lost income.
TRUMP DOES SOMETHING BIZARRE AND AGAIN KEEPS HIS WORD
by Bob Walsh
On Thursday President Trump ordered close to 1,000 active duty troops to the southern border in preparation of "dealing with" the army of "migrants" heading our way.
Unless a LOT of these people start getting more transportation they will NOT get here before the election. I am guessing the initial idea was to arrive about 2-3 days before our midterm in order to get maximum impact. A young, healthy male with good footwear who does not need to worry about getting food or a place to sleep can make 10 miles a day for a LONG time and 20 miles a day for a reasonable period of time. Once you add women, old folks and small children that number goes way down. Once you allow a lot of these people are wearing flip-flops or other substandard footwear that number goes way down.
A second "caravan" is allegedly being put together in central America to head our way.
I still refuse to believe that this thing is not being stage managed, though the management is obviously not so great or a lot of these people, especially women and children, would be at our border right about now. Whoever put it together clearly had a bad follow-thru or unrealistic expectations.
Right now the military being sent by Trump is, I understand, JAG lawyers, medical and technical support personnel and such. Of course I am not sure that actually putting real soldiers on the border would be helpful. Guns are USELESS if the people on the other side know you are not going to use them. It makes you look like a chump if push comes to shove and I can't imagine American soldiers are going to fire on women and children trying to cross the border illegally.
Right now it is hard to say if the immigrant invasion, the bombs, or the midterm election is going to be the big story in ten days. My GUESS is that the bomb situation will be worked out by then. Of course CNN has it figured out already. It's all Trump's fault.
On Thursday President Trump ordered close to 1,000 active duty troops to the southern border in preparation of "dealing with" the army of "migrants" heading our way.
Unless a LOT of these people start getting more transportation they will NOT get here before the election. I am guessing the initial idea was to arrive about 2-3 days before our midterm in order to get maximum impact. A young, healthy male with good footwear who does not need to worry about getting food or a place to sleep can make 10 miles a day for a LONG time and 20 miles a day for a reasonable period of time. Once you add women, old folks and small children that number goes way down. Once you allow a lot of these people are wearing flip-flops or other substandard footwear that number goes way down.
A second "caravan" is allegedly being put together in central America to head our way.
I still refuse to believe that this thing is not being stage managed, though the management is obviously not so great or a lot of these people, especially women and children, would be at our border right about now. Whoever put it together clearly had a bad follow-thru or unrealistic expectations.
Right now the military being sent by Trump is, I understand, JAG lawyers, medical and technical support personnel and such. Of course I am not sure that actually putting real soldiers on the border would be helpful. Guns are USELESS if the people on the other side know you are not going to use them. It makes you look like a chump if push comes to shove and I can't imagine American soldiers are going to fire on women and children trying to cross the border illegally.
Right now it is hard to say if the immigrant invasion, the bombs, or the midterm election is going to be the big story in ten days. My GUESS is that the bomb situation will be worked out by then. Of course CNN has it figured out already. It's all Trump's fault.
EU AND US SHOULD STOP PROVIDING FINANCIAL AID TO PALESTIINIAN POLICE STATE
Palestine: Authorities Crush Dissent
Human Rights Watch
October 23, 2018
RAMALLAH -- The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas authorities in Gaza routinely arrest and torture peaceful critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. As the Palestinian Authority-Hamas feud has deepened, each has targeted the other’s supporters.
The 149-page report, “‘Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent:’ Arbitrary Arrest and Torture Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas,” evaluates patterns of arrest and detention conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 25 years after the Oslo Accords granted Palestinians a degree of self-rule over these areas and more than a decade after Hamas seized effective control over the Gaza Strip. Human Rights Watch detailed more than two dozen cases of people detained for no clear reason beyond writing a critical article or Facebook post or belonging to the wrong student group or political movement.
“Twenty-five years after Oslo, Palestinian authorities have gained only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet, where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states,” said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “Calls by Palestinian officials to safeguard Palestinian rights ring hollow as they crush dissent.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 147 witnesses, including former detainees and their relatives, lawyers, and representatives of nongovernmental groups, and reviewed photographic evidence, medical reports, and court documents. The report reflects substantive responses to the findings from the main security agencies implicated in the underlying abuses.
Systematic arbitrary arrests and torture violate major human rights treaties to which Palestine recently acceded. Few security officers have been prosecuted and none have been convicted for wrongful arrest or torture, as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine.
The European Union, the United States, and other governments that financially support the Palestinian Authority and Hamas should suspend aid to the specific units or agencies implicated in widespread arbitrary arrests and torture until the authorities curb those practices and hold those responsible for abuse accountable.
“The fact that Israel systematically violates Palestinians’ most basic rights is no reason to remain silent in the face of the systematic repression of dissent and the torture Palestinian security forces are perpetrating,” said Shawan Jabarin, executive director of the Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq and a member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee.
Human Rights Watch met with the Palestinian Authority Intelligence Services in Ramallah, but was unable to accept an offer from Hamas authorities to meet in Gaza because Israel refused to grant permits for senior Human Rights Watch officials to enter the Gaza Strip for this purpose. Israeli authorities also rejected Human Rights Watch’s request for senior representatives to enter Gaza during October 2018 to present this report at a news conference.
Both authorities deny that abuses amount to more than isolated cases that are investigated and for which wrongdoers are held to account. The evidence that Human Rights Watch collected contradicts these claims.
Palestinian authorities often rely on overly broad laws that criminalize insulting “higher authorities,” creating “sectarian strife,” or “harming the revolutionary unity” to detain dissidents for days or weeks, only to release most of them without referring them to trial, but often leaving charges outstanding. Palestinian Authority security forces also held 221 Palestinians for various periods between January 2017 and August 2018 in administrative detention without charge or trial under a regional governor’s order, according to the Palestinian statutory watchdog Independent Commission for Human Rights.
A number of former Palestinian Authority detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch had also been detained by Israel, which coordinates with Palestinian Authority forces on security issues. In Gaza, Hamas authorities sometimes condition release on the detainee signing a commitment to halt criticism or protests.
On September 27, the Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that Hamas security forces in Gaza had arrested more than 50 people affiliated with Fatah and that Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank had detained more than 60 affiliated with Hamas, in the span of just a few days.
In the cases documented, Palestinian forces often threatened, beat, and forced detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, including using cables or ropes to hoist up arms behind the back. Police often used similar tactics to obtain confessions by people detained on drug or other criminal charges. Security forces also routinely coerced detainees into providing access to their cellphones and social media accounts. These measures appear aimed at punishing dissidents and deterring them and others from further activism.
While the authorities regularly receive citizen complaints and have systems to investigate them, only a minority have resulted in a finding of wrongdoing, according to data provided by the agencies. Even fewer led to an administrative sanction or referral for criminal prosecution.
Palestinian authorities should abide by the international human rights treaties they acceded to over the last five years. Hamas authorities said in a letter to Human Rights Watch that it considered itself committed to uphold all international treaties ratified by the State of Palestine. Compliance requires Palestinian authorities to ensure that an independent body inspects detention sites and that the authorities investigate complaints credibly and impose appropriate sanctions if warranted.
The systematic practice of torture by Palestinian authorities may amount to a crime against humanity prosecutable at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Human Rights Watch has long encouraged the ICC prosecutor to open a formal probe into Israeli and Palestinian conduct in Palestine, which is a party to the ICC.
The US and European states provide support to Palestinian Authority security forces. While the US in 2018 slashed funding for health and education services for Palestinians, including all its support for the United Nations Relief Works and Agency (UNRWA), it continued to set aside funding for security forces, including allocating US $60 million in International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) nonlethal assistance to Palestinian Authority security forces for the 2018 fiscal year and $35 million for the 2019 fiscal year. Qatar, Iran, and Turkey financially support Hamas authorities. All of these countries should suspend assistance to agencies that routinely torture dissidents – including, for the Palestinian Authority, the Intelligence Services, Preventive Security, and Joint Security Committee, and, for Hamas, Internal Security – as long as systematic torture and other serious abuses continue.
“The attacks by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on dissidents and demonstrators, reporters and bloggers, are both systematic and unpunished,” Porteous said. “Governments that want to help the Palestinian people develop the rule of law should not support security forces that actively undermine it.”
Human Rights Watch
October 23, 2018
RAMALLAH -- The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas authorities in Gaza routinely arrest and torture peaceful critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. As the Palestinian Authority-Hamas feud has deepened, each has targeted the other’s supporters.
The 149-page report, “‘Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent:’ Arbitrary Arrest and Torture Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas,” evaluates patterns of arrest and detention conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 25 years after the Oslo Accords granted Palestinians a degree of self-rule over these areas and more than a decade after Hamas seized effective control over the Gaza Strip. Human Rights Watch detailed more than two dozen cases of people detained for no clear reason beyond writing a critical article or Facebook post or belonging to the wrong student group or political movement.
“Twenty-five years after Oslo, Palestinian authorities have gained only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet, where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states,” said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. “Calls by Palestinian officials to safeguard Palestinian rights ring hollow as they crush dissent.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 147 witnesses, including former detainees and their relatives, lawyers, and representatives of nongovernmental groups, and reviewed photographic evidence, medical reports, and court documents. The report reflects substantive responses to the findings from the main security agencies implicated in the underlying abuses.
Systematic arbitrary arrests and torture violate major human rights treaties to which Palestine recently acceded. Few security officers have been prosecuted and none have been convicted for wrongful arrest or torture, as far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine.
The European Union, the United States, and other governments that financially support the Palestinian Authority and Hamas should suspend aid to the specific units or agencies implicated in widespread arbitrary arrests and torture until the authorities curb those practices and hold those responsible for abuse accountable.
“The fact that Israel systematically violates Palestinians’ most basic rights is no reason to remain silent in the face of the systematic repression of dissent and the torture Palestinian security forces are perpetrating,” said Shawan Jabarin, executive director of the Palestinian human rights organization al-Haq and a member of the Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee.
Human Rights Watch met with the Palestinian Authority Intelligence Services in Ramallah, but was unable to accept an offer from Hamas authorities to meet in Gaza because Israel refused to grant permits for senior Human Rights Watch officials to enter the Gaza Strip for this purpose. Israeli authorities also rejected Human Rights Watch’s request for senior representatives to enter Gaza during October 2018 to present this report at a news conference.
Both authorities deny that abuses amount to more than isolated cases that are investigated and for which wrongdoers are held to account. The evidence that Human Rights Watch collected contradicts these claims.
Palestinian authorities often rely on overly broad laws that criminalize insulting “higher authorities,” creating “sectarian strife,” or “harming the revolutionary unity” to detain dissidents for days or weeks, only to release most of them without referring them to trial, but often leaving charges outstanding. Palestinian Authority security forces also held 221 Palestinians for various periods between January 2017 and August 2018 in administrative detention without charge or trial under a regional governor’s order, according to the Palestinian statutory watchdog Independent Commission for Human Rights.
A number of former Palestinian Authority detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch had also been detained by Israel, which coordinates with Palestinian Authority forces on security issues. In Gaza, Hamas authorities sometimes condition release on the detainee signing a commitment to halt criticism or protests.
On September 27, the Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that Hamas security forces in Gaza had arrested more than 50 people affiliated with Fatah and that Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank had detained more than 60 affiliated with Hamas, in the span of just a few days.
In the cases documented, Palestinian forces often threatened, beat, and forced detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, including using cables or ropes to hoist up arms behind the back. Police often used similar tactics to obtain confessions by people detained on drug or other criminal charges. Security forces also routinely coerced detainees into providing access to their cellphones and social media accounts. These measures appear aimed at punishing dissidents and deterring them and others from further activism.
While the authorities regularly receive citizen complaints and have systems to investigate them, only a minority have resulted in a finding of wrongdoing, according to data provided by the agencies. Even fewer led to an administrative sanction or referral for criminal prosecution.
Palestinian authorities should abide by the international human rights treaties they acceded to over the last five years. Hamas authorities said in a letter to Human Rights Watch that it considered itself committed to uphold all international treaties ratified by the State of Palestine. Compliance requires Palestinian authorities to ensure that an independent body inspects detention sites and that the authorities investigate complaints credibly and impose appropriate sanctions if warranted.
The systematic practice of torture by Palestinian authorities may amount to a crime against humanity prosecutable at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Human Rights Watch has long encouraged the ICC prosecutor to open a formal probe into Israeli and Palestinian conduct in Palestine, which is a party to the ICC.
The US and European states provide support to Palestinian Authority security forces. While the US in 2018 slashed funding for health and education services for Palestinians, including all its support for the United Nations Relief Works and Agency (UNRWA), it continued to set aside funding for security forces, including allocating US $60 million in International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) nonlethal assistance to Palestinian Authority security forces for the 2018 fiscal year and $35 million for the 2019 fiscal year. Qatar, Iran, and Turkey financially support Hamas authorities. All of these countries should suspend assistance to agencies that routinely torture dissidents – including, for the Palestinian Authority, the Intelligence Services, Preventive Security, and Joint Security Committee, and, for Hamas, Internal Security – as long as systematic torture and other serious abuses continue.
“The attacks by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on dissidents and demonstrators, reporters and bloggers, are both systematic and unpunished,” Porteous said. “Governments that want to help the Palestinian people develop the rule of law should not support security forces that actively undermine it.”
Thursday, October 25, 2018
FROM MAPLE LEAF TO MARIJUANA LEAF
Canada's new flag (left), old Canadian flag (right)
Canada Marijuana Legalization Puts Spotlight on LatAm Drug Policy
by Parker Asmann
InSight Crime
October 17, 2018
Recreational marijuana in Canada is now officially legal, and while the change is unlikely to have a significant impact on Latin America’s black market, it could trigger a shift towards more progressive international drug policies.
On October 17, Canada became the largest country in the world to fully legalize the use of recreational marijuana.
Lawmakers in the North American nation passed in June 2018 Bill-C45 before marijuana legalization officially went into effect this October. Canada is the second country in the region to legalize recreational marijuana consumption after Uruguay became the first to do so in December 2013 before beginning legal sales in December 2017. Several US states have also legalized marijuana despite federal prohibition and other countries in the region are currently debating proposals to allow for medicinal use or decriminalize personal use.
After the bill was passed, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a statement that it regretted Canada’s decision to legalize recreational marijuana use as it “undermines the international legal drug control framework.”
On the other hand, Canada Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould called the decision a “historic milestone” in a June tweet.
“This legislation will help protect our youth from the risks of cannabis while keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime,” she added.
Latin America Black Market Impact
Marijuana legalization in Canada is not likely to have a major effect on Latin America’s black market, particularly in Mexico and Colombia, historically two of the region’s main suppliers of marijuana in North America.
Mexican marijuana traditionally fed US market demand amid the drug’s prohibition at the federal level before states started moving towards legalization. In contrast, much of Canada’s black market marijuana comes from home growers in the country and more recently from northern US states along or near the US-Canada border, such as Washington and Oregon, that have legalized marijuana.
“Cannabis legalization in Canada will not have any significant effect on black markets in Mexico because most of the Mexican cannabis going north stays in the United States,” Lisa Sánchez, Latin America Program Manager at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told InSight Crime. “I’m not sure we’ll see a reduction in illicit crops or violence in Mexico.”
Organized crime groups in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, have adjusted to declining demand for marijuana north of the border as more US states legalize the drug. Criminal groups are now increasingly involved in trafficking heroin and synthetic drugs like fentanyl to meet demand for opioids in the United States, in addition to trafficking cocaine to meet US demand as coca production booms in Colombia. The amount of marijuana seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has also declined in recent years.
A Move Towards Changing International Drug Treaties
Marijuana legalization in Canada may not have an immediate impact on Latin America’s drug market, but it could help lead a shift towards modifying international drug treaties to be more progressive and in line with evolving global thinking on drugs, which could over time impact the region’s organized crime groups.
“Inter se modification” of international drug treaties regarding marijuana is one such option. This is when two or more countries join together and allow for the “production, trade and consumption” of marijuana for recreational purposes while “minimizing the impact” on other countries and international drug conventions, according to a March 2018 joint-report from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Transnational Institute (TNI) and Global Drug Policy Observatory (GDPO).
Canada has the potential to play a very important role in exploring the feasibility and desirability of this option for countries in Latin America. Its reputation as a strong global citizen could help other countries in the region make a push for more forward-thinking drug policies, according to John Walsh, WOLA’s Director for Drug Policy, who co-authored the 2018 report.
“I think different counties are coming to a similar conclusion [as Canada], that cannabis prohibition just doesn’t work for them,” Walsh said. “It’s an unworkable policy because you have a market that exists … and attempting to ban it doesn’t make it go away, but increases the harm the market generates.”
If more countries band together and opt for the inter se option to enact progressive drug policies, this wrestles the marijuana market away from illegal actors and deprives them of a revenue stream that’s been fairly easy picking so far, which could over time have an impact on their relative strength and wherewithal.
“It would be naive to think the legal regulation of cannabis alone is in and of itself going to allow governments to tame organized crime and related corruption, that takes other ingredients of effective governance,” Walsh said. “But you can also make the case that legalization provides a way for governments to deprive criminal groups of significant revenues, which might make taming organized crime easier [in the long-term].”
That said, marijuana is not at the center of organized crime groups and their proceeds as it once was. Today, organized crime groups throughout the region partake in a multitude of criminal activities, from arms and contraband trafficking to illegal gold mining and oil theft. Some of these illicit industries are potentially more profitable than the drug trade.
The Future of International Drug Policy
While marijuana legalization alone is not likely to severely weaken organized crime groups in the region, the push for legalization falls in line with calls from authorities across the world for new and more innovative policies to curb the growing global drug market. Current efforts focused on repressing production have failed to suppress the black market or protect drug users.
“Legalization is a harm reduction measure that makes problems created by the black market more manageable and safer,” Sanho Tree, the Director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, told InSight Crime.
Reaching a global consensus to “revise or amend” the UN drug control conventions to accommodate for marijuana legalization doesn’t seem to be a “viable political option in the foreseeable future.” Walsh argues that the polarized nature of the debate makes the inter se option more attractive, and provides a “coordinated and collective response” to the global drug problem.
“Inter se is explicitly a collective response and allows room to maneuver,” Walsh said. “It was designed so countries couldn’t just turn their back on other treaty partners and leave them in the dark and not abide by commitments. There’s protection in there for other countries.”
Still, while countries in Latin America are increasingly exploring the legalization or decriminalization of some drugs, the overall consensus on the global drug problem still very much leans towards prohibition. A special session held by the UNODC in 2016 on the world drug problem revealed that the “one size fits all” UN drug conventions that were agreed upon decades ago — which critics say are outdated and in need of revision — “constitute the cornerstone of the international drug control system.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The cartels will find it easier to traffick heroin , cocaine, meth and fentanyl because those drugs are easier to conceal than pot. Besides that, the cartels have gone into the lucrative oil business, pilfered oil that is. And then there are the kidnappings and extortion. The cartels are far from going out of business.
A TITANIC BLUNDER ?
by Bob Walsh
Work has begun again on the Titanic II, a ocean liner being financed by Clive Palmer, a rich Aussie, and being built in China.
The new ship will be substantially more massive than the original, 56,000 tons as opposed to 46,000 tons. It will be 13 feet wider in the beam and will have stabilizers. It will carry 2,400 passengers and 900 crew, very similar to the original ship. It is being built with a welded hull rather than a riveted hull like the original, and presumably with better steel. High sulfur content steel which got brittle in cold water and second-rate rivets are believed to have contributed to the demise of the original Titanic. The new vessel will also have plenty of life boats. It will also feature diesel-electric propulsion rather than steam. It should be cheaper per mile to operate and cost a mere $500 million to build.
The maiden voyage will be from Dubai to Southampton, from where it will attempt to duplicate the intended course of the original, hopefully without icebergs.
Theoretically the thing will be ready to sail in 2022. Don't hold your breath on that.
As an interesting historical note I bring to your attention Violet Jessop, who died of natural causes in 1971 at the age of 83. Ms. Jessop was a stewardess on board the Titanic and was 24 years old when the ship sank. She was a demonstrator during the evacuation, showing non-English speakers how to get into the life jackets and life boats. She boarded boat 16 and was (allegedly) given a baby to take care of.
In November of 1916 she was as stewardess with the British Red Cross on board the Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic that had been converted by the government to a hospital ship. The ship was either hit by a torpedo and hit a mine, there is no conclusive proof either way. It sank in the Aegean Sea (much nicer place to sink rather than the North Atlantic) with a loss of only 30 of the 1,066 people on board. She was nearly killed when she had to abandon her lifeboat as the ships propellers will still spinning and sucked several life boats under the stern of the boat.
She went back to work for White Star in 1920 and continued that line of work for White Star, Blue Star and the Royal Mail Line until she retired.
Work has begun again on the Titanic II, a ocean liner being financed by Clive Palmer, a rich Aussie, and being built in China.
The new ship will be substantially more massive than the original, 56,000 tons as opposed to 46,000 tons. It will be 13 feet wider in the beam and will have stabilizers. It will carry 2,400 passengers and 900 crew, very similar to the original ship. It is being built with a welded hull rather than a riveted hull like the original, and presumably with better steel. High sulfur content steel which got brittle in cold water and second-rate rivets are believed to have contributed to the demise of the original Titanic. The new vessel will also have plenty of life boats. It will also feature diesel-electric propulsion rather than steam. It should be cheaper per mile to operate and cost a mere $500 million to build.
The maiden voyage will be from Dubai to Southampton, from where it will attempt to duplicate the intended course of the original, hopefully without icebergs.
Theoretically the thing will be ready to sail in 2022. Don't hold your breath on that.
As an interesting historical note I bring to your attention Violet Jessop, who died of natural causes in 1971 at the age of 83. Ms. Jessop was a stewardess on board the Titanic and was 24 years old when the ship sank. She was a demonstrator during the evacuation, showing non-English speakers how to get into the life jackets and life boats. She boarded boat 16 and was (allegedly) given a baby to take care of.
In November of 1916 she was as stewardess with the British Red Cross on board the Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic that had been converted by the government to a hospital ship. The ship was either hit by a torpedo and hit a mine, there is no conclusive proof either way. It sank in the Aegean Sea (much nicer place to sink rather than the North Atlantic) with a loss of only 30 of the 1,066 people on board. She was nearly killed when she had to abandon her lifeboat as the ships propellers will still spinning and sucked several life boats under the stern of the boat.
She went back to work for White Star in 1920 and continued that line of work for White Star, Blue Star and the Royal Mail Line until she retired.
NOTE TO NUTTERS
by Bob Walsh
People under Secret Service protection do not open their own mail. I doubt that George Soros has opened his own mail in 50 years. I don't know what sort of arrangement CNN has but I suspect that they have some sort of decent professional operation to sort out suspicious mail, once they remove the porn for closer inspection.
So, assuming these "suspicious packages" were actually the work of somebody intending harm to the Clintons, Obamas, etc.a word of advice. You are an idiot. Get your head out of your ass.
There is, of course, a second possible explanation for these "suspicious packages." I am not enough of a conspiracy theorist to buy into it. Yet.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Those suspicious packages turned out to be explosive devices - crude pipe bombs.
People under Secret Service protection do not open their own mail. I doubt that George Soros has opened his own mail in 50 years. I don't know what sort of arrangement CNN has but I suspect that they have some sort of decent professional operation to sort out suspicious mail, once they remove the porn for closer inspection.
So, assuming these "suspicious packages" were actually the work of somebody intending harm to the Clintons, Obamas, etc.a word of advice. You are an idiot. Get your head out of your ass.
There is, of course, a second possible explanation for these "suspicious packages." I am not enough of a conspiracy theorist to buy into it. Yet.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Those suspicious packages turned out to be explosive devices - crude pipe bombs.
MURDERER GETS XBOX IN PRISON AFTER LEADING POLICE TO WIFE’S REMAINS
For the past eight years, Doug Stewart was likely the only person who knew the location of his estranged wife's remains
By Brad Devereaux
Kalamazoo Gazette
October 24, 2018
WAKESHMA TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- For the past eight years, Doug Stewart was likely the only person who knew the location of his estranged wife's remains.
That changed on Monday, Oct. 22, when Stewart, in prison for the murder of Venus Stewart, led police to the grave where he buried her body, according to Michigan State Police officials.
Police found remains they believe are those of Venus Stewart buried in a five-foot-deep hole at the location Doug Stewart described in Wakeshma Township, in the southern part of Kalamazoo County, Detective Sgt. Todd Petersen said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections agreed to honor some requests from the convicted murder, including providing Xbox gaming systems for use by him and other inmates at the Saginaw Correctional Facility.
Venus Stewart and Doug Stewart both grew up in the area and lived in Schoolcraft after they married in 2002. They moved to Newport News, Virginia in 2009, and Venus Stewart returned to Michigan in February 2010.
Venus Stewart was reported missing by her parents April 26, 2010.
In June 2010, Doug Stewart was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder in connection with Venus Stewart's disappearance and alleged killing.
Doug Stewart was convicted in 2011 with the murder of his estranged wife, Venus Stewart. He is serving life in prison, currently at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland.
Petersen, who was first assigned to work on the case as a trooper, has continued to investigate Stewart's disappearance as a detective for the better part of a decade.
He and Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Chuck Christensen have visited Stewart at least once a year since he was imprisoned -- and more frequently recently -- traveling to state prisons in Carson City, Ionia and Saginaw.
Stewart's mood changed over the years, Petersen said. On Oct. 12, after years of claiming innocence in the murder, Stewart admitted to police that he killed his estranged wife in 2010.
Several factors contributed to the murderer's willingness to lead officers to the burial site, police said.
Both families, including the woman's daughters, wanted to know where Venus Stewart's body was, Petersen said.
"They wanted to know where there mother is at," he said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections also approved some requests for Doug Stewart in exchange for the information, Petersen said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections is adding three Xbox consoles to the veterans unit at the Saginaw Correctional Facility, where inmates with permission to use them will be allowed to play 30 minutes at a time, MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said. He said inmates will be allowed to play sports games on the gaming consoles, which were donated. The Xbox consoles will not be connected to the internet, Gautz said.
Stewart, a U.S. military veteran, will also be allowed to participate in a program to train dogs while incarcerated, and will also be allowed to teach a class at the prison.
Gautz said the MDOC did not give Stewart a number of other things he asked for, and said the things he was given was not special treatment.
Stewart declined a request for an interview with MLive and the Kalamazoo Gazette, an MDOC official said on Oct. 23.
Petersen said he spoke with Stewart numerous times on the phone as well as in person. Stewart started talking mostly about hypothetical situations, and eventually was ready to tell them where he hid the body.
"I was skeptical right up until yesterday," Petersen said, noting that every time he talks to family members of Stewart, it drags them back to the day she disappeared.
"It was nice to be able to say, 'Hey it actually worked, and we found her,'" he said.
Detectives are still waiting for an official confirmation from the medical examiner's office identifying the remains found by police Monday.
Stewart's account of the killing differs somewhat from the version of the story presented in court on which a jury convicted him, Petersen said. That new version of events included that he killed Venus at the burial site, and in a different manner than the strangulation theory presented in court.
"I think sometimes he makes things up or embellishes things for no particular reason," Petersen said.
Interviewing Stewart was different than an interrogation or criminal suspect interview, he said.
"I'm not coming from a place as an adversary. It was more of, hey, I'm on the same side as your family," Petersen said.
Christensen said the case was at the top of the ones for which he wanted to find answers. He thanked the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office and St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office for assistance and using their equipment during efforts to find Stewart. Detectives are indebted to the director of the MDOC and the warden of Saginaw's prison for their help, Christensen said.
Christensen said he believes Stewart made the decision to share the information in part for his own peace of mind, and also because of pressure from both families to do the right thing.
"The truth is, without his cooperation and pointing out the location to us, we wouldn't have found it any other way," Christensen said.
The inmate was extremely nervous and anxious as he brought to police to two locations within feet of each other, where they found the remains, Christensen said.
Stewart was familiar with the location because he worked in the area cutting wood when he was 15 or 16, Christensen said.
Christensen said he sensed relief in Stewart when, after more than eight years of looking, police were standing at the site of the missing woman's grave.
Petersen said Stewart's demeanor changed over the years, from denying having any involvement in the killing, to talking about it hypothetically and dropping hints about his guilt, to admitting responsibility for her killing earlier this month.
"I think he had come to the realization that he wasn't leaving, this is what he had to deal with in his future," Petersen said.
Christensen and Petersen both said their focus all along has been on getting answers for family members.
"The family deserves to have her back," Petersen said.
By Brad Devereaux
Kalamazoo Gazette
October 24, 2018
WAKESHMA TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- For the past eight years, Doug Stewart was likely the only person who knew the location of his estranged wife's remains.
That changed on Monday, Oct. 22, when Stewart, in prison for the murder of Venus Stewart, led police to the grave where he buried her body, according to Michigan State Police officials.
Police found remains they believe are those of Venus Stewart buried in a five-foot-deep hole at the location Doug Stewart described in Wakeshma Township, in the southern part of Kalamazoo County, Detective Sgt. Todd Petersen said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections agreed to honor some requests from the convicted murder, including providing Xbox gaming systems for use by him and other inmates at the Saginaw Correctional Facility.
Venus Stewart and Doug Stewart both grew up in the area and lived in Schoolcraft after they married in 2002. They moved to Newport News, Virginia in 2009, and Venus Stewart returned to Michigan in February 2010.
Venus Stewart was reported missing by her parents April 26, 2010.
In June 2010, Doug Stewart was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder in connection with Venus Stewart's disappearance and alleged killing.
Doug Stewart was convicted in 2011 with the murder of his estranged wife, Venus Stewart. He is serving life in prison, currently at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland.
Petersen, who was first assigned to work on the case as a trooper, has continued to investigate Stewart's disappearance as a detective for the better part of a decade.
He and Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Chuck Christensen have visited Stewart at least once a year since he was imprisoned -- and more frequently recently -- traveling to state prisons in Carson City, Ionia and Saginaw.
Stewart's mood changed over the years, Petersen said. On Oct. 12, after years of claiming innocence in the murder, Stewart admitted to police that he killed his estranged wife in 2010.
Several factors contributed to the murderer's willingness to lead officers to the burial site, police said.
Both families, including the woman's daughters, wanted to know where Venus Stewart's body was, Petersen said.
"They wanted to know where there mother is at," he said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections also approved some requests for Doug Stewart in exchange for the information, Petersen said.
The Michigan Department of Corrections is adding three Xbox consoles to the veterans unit at the Saginaw Correctional Facility, where inmates with permission to use them will be allowed to play 30 minutes at a time, MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said. He said inmates will be allowed to play sports games on the gaming consoles, which were donated. The Xbox consoles will not be connected to the internet, Gautz said.
Stewart, a U.S. military veteran, will also be allowed to participate in a program to train dogs while incarcerated, and will also be allowed to teach a class at the prison.
Gautz said the MDOC did not give Stewart a number of other things he asked for, and said the things he was given was not special treatment.
Stewart declined a request for an interview with MLive and the Kalamazoo Gazette, an MDOC official said on Oct. 23.
Petersen said he spoke with Stewart numerous times on the phone as well as in person. Stewart started talking mostly about hypothetical situations, and eventually was ready to tell them where he hid the body.
"I was skeptical right up until yesterday," Petersen said, noting that every time he talks to family members of Stewart, it drags them back to the day she disappeared.
"It was nice to be able to say, 'Hey it actually worked, and we found her,'" he said.
Detectives are still waiting for an official confirmation from the medical examiner's office identifying the remains found by police Monday.
Stewart's account of the killing differs somewhat from the version of the story presented in court on which a jury convicted him, Petersen said. That new version of events included that he killed Venus at the burial site, and in a different manner than the strangulation theory presented in court.
"I think sometimes he makes things up or embellishes things for no particular reason," Petersen said.
Interviewing Stewart was different than an interrogation or criminal suspect interview, he said.
"I'm not coming from a place as an adversary. It was more of, hey, I'm on the same side as your family," Petersen said.
Christensen said the case was at the top of the ones for which he wanted to find answers. He thanked the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office and St. Joseph County Sheriff's Office for assistance and using their equipment during efforts to find Stewart. Detectives are indebted to the director of the MDOC and the warden of Saginaw's prison for their help, Christensen said.
Christensen said he believes Stewart made the decision to share the information in part for his own peace of mind, and also because of pressure from both families to do the right thing.
"The truth is, without his cooperation and pointing out the location to us, we wouldn't have found it any other way," Christensen said.
The inmate was extremely nervous and anxious as he brought to police to two locations within feet of each other, where they found the remains, Christensen said.
Stewart was familiar with the location because he worked in the area cutting wood when he was 15 or 16, Christensen said.
Christensen said he sensed relief in Stewart when, after more than eight years of looking, police were standing at the site of the missing woman's grave.
Petersen said Stewart's demeanor changed over the years, from denying having any involvement in the killing, to talking about it hypothetically and dropping hints about his guilt, to admitting responsibility for her killing earlier this month.
"I think he had come to the realization that he wasn't leaving, this is what he had to deal with in his future," Petersen said.
Christensen and Petersen both said their focus all along has been on getting answers for family members.
"The family deserves to have her back," Petersen said.
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