Decay In Law Enforcement 29

Liberty In Peril

formerly,

The Llano Ledger

1-10-20

5-25-18

... Hey, Sheriff? Is it true Llano County Attorney Becky Lange has advised you to stay out of the "Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764" fiasco? That right, Bill? Isn't that obstruction of justice? Also true your deputies have advised the Bolens to accept the status quo and not force the no-trespassing issue with Greene? If so, isn't that also obstruction and official oppression? When will you do your job, Bill? As an elected official, you answer to the public, forget? -- No honor? ... No honor at all? If the foregoing allegations are indeed true, didn't you swear an oath to uphold the law and Constitution? Why aren't you doing so? No guts?

Your deputy has been accused of abusing authority. What action have you taken other than ignore the complaint? Why aren't both Rodriguez and the County Attorney under criminal investigation? The County Attorney appears to be obstructing justice, accepting the word of Greene in lieu of two surveyor companies who strongly assert otherwise. Both the County Attorney and District Attorney have ignored complaints. Par for the course in Llano County, isn't it? Failed to do their jobs. No surprise there, right, Bill? Both receiving 'special consideration' up to and/or including a bribe from Greene? Regardless, clearly, no justice in Nazi Llano County. Bottom line? Desperate need for an outside criminal investigation. Conveniently, forget? This County is ruled by men, certainly not rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Precisely, why there is desperate need for a new federal agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, and prosecute criminal law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges in a special court whose only mandate would be to adjudicate such cases. Total independence. Until that happens, the criminal bastards who falsely believe they run and own this hell hole County will continue to do as they please.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... "No justice. Precisely, why there is desperate need for a new federal agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, and prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special court that would adjudicate only these cases. Total independence. The only way to rein in these criminals, particularly the murderers in blue.

Sadly, the achingly clueless bastards in law enforcement don't need a legitimate reason to kill. Enjoy carte blanche to murder on the job. Nearly always, with impunity. ... Right, Sheriff? Sue the living shit out of the jackbooted motherf--kers, the department, and the city. Any officer engaged in, or threatening this kind of unnecessary violence needs to be criminally prosecuted. Not protected and coddled. Not put on paid leave, -- no more than a paid vacation. Not sent home without pay to catch up on his beauty sleep.

Firing is egregiously insufficient. How can the law enforcement community be trusted? No foreign power, no terrorist organization, not even the criminal element presents a greater threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than the criminal jackbooted bastards in law enforcement. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

These are extremely dangerous times for our formerly great country. ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming. -- As our legislators and other government officials figuratively 'fiddle while Rome burns.'

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Short of an unwanted dreaded second American revolution, only one way for these atrocities to end. Again, time for a new federal agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special court whose sole function would be to adjudicate such cases. Total independence.

Local and state authorities are egregiously incapable of handling these cases. Tend to protect their own. ... Right, Sheriff? Goes with the territory, doesn't it, Bill? Precisely, why there is no faith or trust in your criminal jackbooted bastards. Local authorities here in Nazi Llano County have their heads figuratively, securely lodged so far up their clueless ass their eyeballs are turning inside out. Protect and coddle your clueless, out of control officers. Imagine that.

Unadulterated, blatant ongoing horse shit. ... Right, Bill? F--k these jackbooted bastards. Aren't worth a crap. Continually abrogate their oaths of office to protect and defend the United States Constitution. ... Right, Sheriff? Includes not only deputies, but the brass as well. No principles. No honor. Lying, conniving, abusive, murderous jackbooted thieving thugs. The American Civil Liberties Union needs to step up and represent the victims of abusive law enforcement.

To say nothing of innocent civilians all across our formerly great country who are victimized by abusive police. Need far better representation than a public defender. Forget? It's how the bastards in government line government coffers. All too often, looting the innocent. Those on the bottom of the food chain. ... Right, Sheriff?

No justice. The American Way. Nazi America. When is this shit finally going to end? All of it. Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety four weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace.

Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting. Who the hell are they?

When will the goddamned 'law' 'enforcement' community finally stop making excuses for engaging in outrageous criminal activity including blatant murder, violent assault, sexual assault, theft, drug trafficking, etc.? List can go on and on. Protecting its own no matter what it does or doesn't do? Convenient, isn't it, Sheriff? Again, no foreign power, no terrorist organization, not even the criminal element presents a greater threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than all branches and levels of government, -- including law enforcement.

Corruption within law enforcement remains an existential threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. So what else is new? ... Right, Bill? Same old duplicitous, aggressively stupid shit occurs right here in Nazi Llano County. ... Doesn't it, Sheriff?

Think it'll change any time soon? Don't hold your breath, readers. Not how things work in Nazi America, right, Sheriff? Highly reminiscent of how your goons operate though, isn't it, Bill? Forget? 'Stupid is as stupid does.' F--ked up is f--ked up no matter where, no matter how. Problem throughout all law enforcement.

Including right here in Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff? Too many officers clearly have their heads securely lodged where the sun seldom shines. Egregious insanity continues to be perpetrated by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. Ongoing issue. All over our formerly great country.

Not just in Dallas as in the Guyger case, but all over the nation. No end to it. Surprised? Why? In today's increasingly national socialist climate anything goes, right, Bill? Live in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Certainly, a problem here in Nazi Llano County, isn't it, Sheriff? Your goons, however, aren't held accountable when they egregiously f--k up. Ever.

Precisely why you refuse to release information on your deputies to the long-suffering public? That is, employment history, criminal background, results of drug testing, etc.. ... Got to protect your criminal jackbooted thugs preying on the citizenry with virtual impunity, right, sir?

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to a Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property. Why are you protecting this clueless son of a bitch, Sheriff?

Why hasn't he been prosecuted for official oppression? Where is financial compensation for the damage this jackbooted piece of human excrement is responsible for? Ferociously pointedly, why are the District Attorney and the County Attorney continuing to protect this jackbooted piece of shit? He and others like him present an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

Equally to the point, why are your jackbooted pieces of human excrement refusing to enforce Berardi's property rights? Your goons have failed to take action against Theresa Ahrens when she tore down a no trespassing sign and barrier on Berardi's property. Have you, your goons, and/or Madam County Attorney been bribed by Johnny Greene?

Ahrens frequently drives all the way through Berardi's property. Coup de grace? When Berardi complained to Llano County Deputy Idle about the trespassing, the officer's response was insane. Said the Sheriff told him to tell Berardi since Ahrens believes she owns his property she can't be charged with trespassing. Perfect Catch-22, right, Sheriff? You're not fit for office, Bill. Bribed by Johnny Greene?

Why is Theresa Ahrens allowed by your goons to dictate what vehicles can and cannot be parked on Berardi's property? Ahrens claims she has proof the property belongs to her where the vehicle was parked. Has failed to produce it. Surveyors say otherwise. Back up Berardi. Yet, your jackbooted bastards refuse to enforce Berardi's property rights. Why? Somebody lining somebody's pockets, Sheriff?

Ms. Ahrens micro-mini portable 'house' is parked on an unused unmarked Llano County road. Imagine that. Madam County Attorney well-aware. Has done nothing. Shit squat. Egregiously ignored her oath of office. Someone bribing you, Becky? Lining your pockets, Counselor? Paying you not to sell the unused unmarked County road to Berardi? Doesn't the County want and need the sale money, to say nothing of the resultant tax income?

No question, County and State agencies remain determinedly, concertedly, achingly incapable of criminal investigation of their own. Precisely, why a new federal agency desperately needs to be created whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special court whose sole function would be to adjudicate only such cases. Total independence. Certainly, go a long, long way to cleaning up this cess pool County. Rein in the outrageously corrupt, abusive, achingly inept, self-serving assholes who run and own this hell hole.

Sheriff, you falsely claim the Kingsland County Commissioner has the authority to resolve this ongoing property rights issue. Clearly, doesn't. You, Madam County Attorney, and "Sonny Boy" are certainly an egregious impediment, continue to determinedly stonewall. Someone's pockets are being lined. Again, where's financial compensation for the damage Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 is directly responsible for to the Pace Arrow? Why hasn't he been prosecuted for this damage, to say nothing of infringement of Berardi's property rights? -- Just getting started, Sheriff. Far more to come.

-- You're not doing your jobs, Sheriff. You've got a loose vicious dog problem in Kingsland, Bill. When will you and the troops finally do something about this ongoing issue? Certainly, a recurring problem on Skyline, particularly on occasion at the intersection of Odessa. Pedestrians, runners, and cyclists are at risk. Too busy lining County coffers with bogus tickets?"

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

The enclosed emails were sent to the Llano County Attorney and Sheriff, respectively, vis a vis the above matter. Remain unanswered. The County Attorney appears to be protecting and defending the deputy at behest of Kingsland property owner Johnny Greene. May have received some consideration from Greene up to and including a bribe. Are the County Attorney, Greene, and the Deputy under criminal investigation? If not, why not?

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

As you're well aware, we have an outrageously corrupt, abusive, achingly inept Llano County Sheriff's Office here in Nazi Llano County. Worse, you and your office aid and abet these SS jackbooted bastards in black. The issue at the moment is the same it's been the last six months.

How is it two surveyor companies, the Appraisal District, the Tax Office, the Precinct 3 Commissioner, even the goddamned Sheriff himself now states Kingsland resident James Berardi owns the lots in contention all these months?

Yet, you ludicrously assert that's not the County's legal position. It's not? Why not? You claim you're not a real estate expert. Rather than accept the advice of two surveyor companies, the Precinct 3 Commissioner, the Appraisal District, the Tax Office, and even the Sheriff himself, you've inexplicably chosen to follow the advice of property owner Johnny Greene, -- who conveniently happens to be reportedly in the oil industry.

Question to be asked. Could you have received any 'consideration' in return, -- up to and including a bribe? Only way to know for sure is for the District Attorney to conduct a criminal investigation. Apparently, there has been none. If not, why not?

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Our achingly useless, worthless, gutless Sheriff has ignored an email vis a vis the damage this jackbooted thug is responsible for. Interestingly, his fellow officers believe him to be an idiot. Yet, the Sheriff continued to defend this piece of human excrement until he realized this entire fiasco would not be swept under the carpet.

Rodriguez is indeed an idiot. Would you believe this piece of crap ordered the motor home to be moved on to an unmarked unused Llano County road? That motor home has indeed been moved back to where it was parked before Rodriguez forced it to be moved. Why hasn't the County paid for the cost of moving it back? To say nothing of the damage.

Equally pointedly, why is it the County has allowed Theresa Ahrens to park and live in her tiny cottage on that very same road? Why hasn't she been evicted by the County? Why was she assessed taxes on an adjacent improvement she doesn't own?

Why is it, Counselor, Johnny Greene is paying for the attorney retained by Ms. Ahrens? Is Greene attempting to make this all go away by bribery? Greene has also informed Berardi he is going to sue. For what? Has Greene lost his mind?

What about Wells who installed a $4500 septic system on a lot turns out he does not own as a result of Greene, an outrageously inept County, to say nothing of the Llano County Attorney who remains equally determinedly clueless?

How about Bolen who hasn't a pot to piss in, but was nonetheless f--ked over by Greene to say nothing of an egregiously inept County, to say nothing of you and your goddamned equally incompetent office?

None of this is going away, Counselor, -- any time soon. Will not be swept under the carpet as all the other crap going on in this hell hole County. Not a chance. Expect a full expose in this publication whether or not this outrageous fiasco finally gets resolved. Including full public exposure of both the Sheriff and his jackbooted thug.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Archive and retain all reports vis a vis damage to the Pace Arrow resulting from egregious abuse of authority perpetrated by Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764, on the Berardi property in Kingsland on 8-16-17.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Highly reminiscent of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors, Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following. It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly great country once stood for. No longer.

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

"The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission recognized District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee on August 22 for his efforts in prosecuting natural and cultural resource violations as well as environmental crimes. The commission named the 33rd and 424th district attorney the 2019 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Prosecutor of the Year. McAfee serves Burnet, Llano, Blanco, and San Saba counties. Elected in November 2012 and taking office on January 1, 2013, he has been instrumental in a number of high-profile cases involving Texas game wardens and Texas State Park police officers."

The District Attorney has ignored a complaint filed earlier by this publication regarding special treatment accorded Texas oil man Johnny Greene by the Llano County Attorney and Sheriff vis a vis a property dispute involving a local banker, three other local property owners with homes encroaching on land they don't own, one of which is on an unused Llano County road. To say nothing of damage to a Pace Arrow motorhome on that property. All a result of egregious abuse of authority by Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764. The circumstances of this fiasco can be found above in each and every edition of this publication since this happened two years ago. The Sheriff, the County Attorney, and the District Attorney have all determinedly, concertedly ignored this ongoing, unresolved fiasco raising one ferociously pointed question. How much were they bribed?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-10-20

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety four weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred ninety four weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred ninety four weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

Readers, this is but one of about four other highly questionable killings by law enforcement in Llano County in the last decade or so. There was one within the City of Llano, another in a field near Fuzzy's Corner, Buchanan Dam, yet another in Point Tella, Buchanan Dam, still another in Tow. If there are any others I may have neglected to mention, kindly email.

It's time the public be fully informed. -- Know what we're dealing with here and how 'law' 'enforcement' operates in this hell hole County. If these jackbooted bastards are not reined in, the life lost could be yours courtesy of a law enforcement system that is no longer accountable to anyone. ... Right, Sheriff? TL? "Sonny Boy?" Madam County Attorney?

The Sheriff seems to have no clue the people who pay him and his goons are entitled to know whom is killing whom and why. This shit always seems to be swept under the carpet. Ignored. The attitude of these jackbooted sons of bitches is trust us. They can't be. They've lied too many times. Refuse to be accountable to anyone. We live in a goddamned fascist police-state where law enforcement does as it pleases. Usually, with impunity. That has to change.

The Texas Rangers have become rubber stamp to atrocities committed by law enforcement. This also has to change. No one is holding law enforcement accountable any longer. No one. No one in state or federal government. This is precisely why Ferguson triggered such an uproar. There was no justice there. None here. None anywhere. Officers are abusive, corrupt, inept.

Falsely ticket and arrest the innocent to line County coffers. Court fees charged continue to be horrendous. -- Aren't taxpayers already looted to pay these costs? Aren't you boys not only double f--king those falsely accused, but taxpayers also hellaciously looted to pay the very same costs? Yet, the criminal bastards in power in Llano continue to pile on the fees. This is nothing more than goddamned bullshit. This money finds its way into the pockets of the corrupt, abusive bastards who falsely believe they run and own this hell hole.

Would you believe the last time the Sheriff's Office happened to be 'audited' during the Garrett regime, reportedly, auditors couldn't figure out what went where and why? Yet, surprise, surprise. Nothing was done. There has to be transparency. There is none. Why would these thieving bastards want any? ... Right, Sheriff? TL? How else could they so easily steal and loot with virtual impunity? Worse, this reinforces jackbooted power in this goddamned, godforsaken hell hole County.

The public has a right to know the histories of the Sheriff's goons. Clearly, the Sheriff doesn't think so. That is, where they came from. Why they left where they were. What is happening here is the Sheriff is using 'personnel matters' as a convenient excuse to deny the public access to the history of outrageously corrupt, abusive, inept officers who are no more than criminals themselves.

He's protecting his outrageously corrupt, abusive, inept jackbooted bastards. Worse, the standards imposed by sheriff's offices statewide with the exception of metropolitan counties are well below those of DPS and city police departments. Why? So the corruption, abuse, ineptness, and outright stealing can continue unabated? This has to change. ... Can't have that, can we? Sheriff? TL?

The public should understand Llano County authorities have it all sewn up. Did you know the Texas Attorney General does not have the authority to investigate and prosecute County authorities on his own? The District Attorney has to call for an investigation by the Texas Rangers. Then, the State can prosecute if it so chooses.

Consequently? Guess what? Nothing will happen. Nothing ever does. The goddamned corruption continues unabated until you, the public, pressure authorities. Precisely, why we all enjoy the 'best' government money can buy. Literally. Without question, the corrupt, abusive, inept sons of bitches are all bought and paid for. Firmly clamped to the taxpayer tit. Dependent on money looted from innocent citizens caught in their web. Phony fines and court costs cleverly designed to f--k the innocent and enrich the pieces of shit who falsely believe they run and own Llano County. Right, Sheriff? TL? "Sonny Boy?" Madam County Attorney?

Interestingly, the former Sheriff and District Attorney were reportedly forced to retire after an outrageous scandal involving a drunk driving police officer from out of town. Including special treatment of the drunken son of a bitch that no other citizen caught doing the same would have been afforded. An honest, honorable Llano County Deputy suffered the consequences. Forget? Great officers do not last in this hell hole County. ... Right, Sheriff? TL? "Sonny Boy?" Madam County Attorney?

With all ongoing abuse in this goddamned County, one thing remains for damned sure. We're just getting started, Sheriff. You will continue to be exposed for whom and what you and your corrupt, abusive, inept jackbooted bastards have become, truly are, not what you phonies purport to be, that is, how you continue to f--k over a public you've falsely sworn to protect and defend. -- Exposure, the only way short of an unwanted dreaded revolution to force desperately needed change in a goddamned fascist police-state. The Fourth Reich.

Have your jackbooted thugs been tested for steroids, Sheriff? If you've nothing to hide, Bill, release the results of all drug testing. 'Personnel matters?' Bullshit. Looted taxpayers have the right to know. They're footing the bill for all this goddamned corruption, abuse, ineptness. When will you and the boys end the shakedowns? Looting of the innocent to line County coffers? No honor at all?

Where are your swastika armbands, you fascist son of a bitch? You and your thugs remain out of uniform. Once again, Sheriff, and ad nauseum, did you and/or your goons pressure Schilling to exit the race? Did you steal the election? If so, an aggressively stupid, achingly gutless public gets what it truly deserves. One of the most corrupt, abusive, inept 'law' 'enforcement' agencies in our formerly great country.

1-10-20

Have any information, knowledge of, experience with a purportedly non-profit volunteer clean-up group called Looking Forward In Llano County affiliated with the Llano County Attorney's Office? Email this publication at libertyinperil@protonmail.com to provide information and/or arrange a meeting to discuss this matter. If requested, your identity will be protected. The question is quite simple. Is this group what it claims to be and on the level?

1-10-20

As always, when law enforcement does something heroic, and/or of exceptional benefit to the community, it leads. Always. Uncommon Valor. ABC News reports:

"Police in California have released some harrowing body camera footage of two deputies braving blinding, choking smoke and red-hot flames to rescue an elderly couple from a house fire."

Uncommon Valor. Best in policing:

"On Dec. 18 around 1:36 a.m., Kern County Sheriff's Deputies Diego Gonzalez and Kenneth Muller were among the first to respond to reports of a blaze on the 5200 block of Montecito Drive in Bakersfield. "When deputies arrived, the residence was fully engulfed in flames and smoke. They learned the elderly couple living there may not have left the burning house. Deputies found an elderly woman in a wheelchair holding a dog outside the residence next to the front door. There was smoke surrounding her, and she did not appear able to move. Deputies brought her and the dog to safety," the sheriff's office said in a Dec. 18 post on its Facebook page."

Uncommon Valor. Stood tall:

"The department included two dramatic images, including one of a person pushing someone in a wheelchair down a driveway as flames rose high in the sky behind them as well as another shot of a person running away from the fire. In Gonzalez's body camera footage, which was released by the sheriff's office on Thursday, he could be heard asking the woman in the wheelchair whether she had any other dogs and then pushing her away from the fire. "Just hold on, OK? I'm holding onto your shirt," he tells the frightened woman. "Is there anybody else inside the house?" The woman asks him and Muller whether her husband has made it out of the burning home. The deputies then ask a bystander to hold onto the woman's wheelchair so they can locate and get help to her husband."

Horrendous circumstances. Extreme danger. Uncommon Valor:

"Both deputies can be seen stepping into the house, yelling "Greg," the husband's name, and then running around the side of the building. Their cameras capture the loud popping sounds of the burning fire as the deputies hop a fence to reach the man. "The deputies then went to the backyard and located the elderly man outside the house, who appeared to be disoriented. They were able to escort him to safety," the department said in its Facebook post. With one side of the home completely engulfed in fire and unable to pass through, the deputies and the husband were able to find a way out on the opposite side. "Come this way here," Gonzalez tells the man. "We got your wife. She's in the front. ... Let me just make sure there's nobody else back here, bro." Minutes later, he could be heard saying that the house had been completely evacuated. "We knew that we had to make a decision, we had to act, because the fire was going very fast," Muller said in an interview with ABC News affiliate KERO-TV in Bakersfield recently."

Most stunning of all?

"The Kern County Sheriff's Office said neither the residents nor the deputies were injured during the fire. "Most of the time, we have to put ourselves aside and think about why we're working every single night -- it's to keep people safe," Gonzalez told ABC News affiliate KERO-TV. "In order to do that, we have to think quick, fast and take decisions that sometimes seem like we're trying to be heroes but it's just what we're trained to do." The cause of the fire was still unknown, according to authorities."

Hat's off. Magnificent job. Uncommon Valor.

1-10-20

In follow up to last week's edition, CBS News reports:

"A Kansas police chief has apologized for a former officer who concocted a story about being targeted by a slur at a local McDonald's. Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday said in a news release Wednesday that he is "truly sorry for all unnecessary, negative attention and pain that this incident has brought to every person who was affected."

Wake up, Chief. Need to go, sir. Backed up the jackass before conducting an investigation. He's gone. You're still part of the problem.

"The apology comes after Hornaday announced Monday that the viral story was "fabricated" by a police officer, who no longer works for the department. The officer alleged that he was handed the coffee cup with the expletive at a McDonald's drive-thru. Hornaday said then that the officer told him the incident was "meant to be a joke" and resigned. In his statement, Hornaday apologized to McDonald's and all the company's employees worldwide, and "specifically those who work at the two Junction City locations." He also apologized to Junction City residents and law enforcement nationwide."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. You're not fit for the job. You backed an officer without first conducting an investigation. Where is your judgment?

The following is bullshit. Rings hollow:

"We hope that this is always remembered as the act of one person and not that of the chosen few men and women who have the courage to boldly protect and serve the citizens of this great Nation."

You refuse to take responsibility for your failure to conduct an investigation before protecting and coddling the son of a bitch. Only when confronted with the truth did you finally hold the sick bastard accountable.

"The alleged incident gained national attention after Hornaday said in a Facebook post, which has since been removed, that one of his officers was handed the cup at a McDonald's drive through in Junction City. The officer originally claimed he had been given a coffee cup in a drive-thru that had "f***ing pig" written on it. Hornaday posted a picture of the cup and wrote that the officer was offered a "free lunch" but "A Big Mac and large fries doesn't make up for it. "This behavior has been, is and always will be wrong," Hornaday said in the post. But the story quickly unraveled. The owner of the McDonald's said the restaurant has security video that proves none of its employees wrote the words. Hornaday held a press conference on Monday exonerating the store. "We found that McDonald's and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident. This was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency," Hornaday said then."

Too little, too late. The following is galling:

"After the discovery, Hornaday said he would be more careful with how he uses social media in the future."

How about taking personal responsibility for your f--kup by resigning in disgrace?

"I sincerely hope it doesn't ever happen again, but I assure you that I assure you that I will often question my decision about posting anything on social media because of the impact that it could have, mostly because everything we do, everything we say in the public eye is always brought into question," he said."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. How many other cases did you take the word of your jackbooted bastard without first conducting an investigation?

"The 23-year-old officer, who has not been identified, was with the Herington Police Department for only two months, Hornaday said. He added that his investigation concluded the accusation "was meant to be a joke," and said the officer "should have come forward immediately ... prior to this becoming a nationwide incident."

Why are you protecting this jackass, Chief? Why haven't you disclosed his identity? The public is entitled to this information. That is, to know who did what to whom and why so they can protect themselves in the future. What action have you taken to ensure this piece of shit is never again employed in law enforcement?

"This is absolutely a black eye on law enforcement," Hornaday said. "I hope [the former officer] understands the magnitude of the black eye that this gives the law enforcement profession from coast to coast. None of us can be excluded from that."

What about the black eye you, as Chief, gave law enforcement by backing this piece of shit without first conducting an investigation?

"Dana Cook, the owner of a McDonald's in Junction City, Kansas, said in a written statement after the allegation was made that the store had video showing it couldn't have been an employee. Cook did not speculate at the time about who may have written the words. "My McDonald's have the utmost respect for all members of law enforcement and the military and were troubled by the accusation made," Cook wrote in the statement. "We thoroughly reviewed our security video from every angle, which clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees. We look forward to working with Chief Hornaday as he continues his investigation." Other restaurant chains have also attracted scrutiny over claims that police officers were mistreated. Earlier this month, Starbucks apologized after two police officers in Riverside, California, were allegedly refused service at one of its cafes. In November, Starbucks also apologized after a server in Glenpool, Oklahoma, allegedly wrote "PIG" on a police officer's cups."

Readers are reminded those incidents were also reported in this publication and elsewhere.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-10-20

Savagery. NBC News reports:

"A white officer with the New York City Police Department who broke into a black woman's home in Tennessee and threatened her and her sons with a racist slur has resigned from the force.

"Michael J. Reynolds, who was on modified-duty status subject to an investigation of the incident, was informed Monday that he was to report to police headquarters so the NYPD could begin its disciplinary case against him Thursday, the agency said in a statement. Instead, the NYPD said, Reynolds quit, effective immediately. "He will receive no pension or health benefits, nor will he be allowed to carry a firearm," the NYPD statement said."

Get this:

"Reynolds was in Tennessee with two other police officers, who have not been identified, in July 2018 for a bachelor party. He forced his way into a home — doors away from the Airbnb that he and several other men, including the two other officers, had rented — where Conese Halliburton lived with her children, according to court documents. Video surveillance taken from a neighbor's security camera captured Reynolds threatening the family and using racial slurs. "I'll break every f---ing bone in your f---ing neck," Reynolds said in a rant, according to investigators. He can also be heard calling the victims "f---ing n------." Reynolds left only after Halliburton said police were nearby, according to court documents."

No justice. Received special treatment:

"Last month, Reynolds was sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years’ probation after pleading no contest to one count of aggravated criminal trespassing and three counts of assault, court records show. Halliburton had called on the NYPD to fire Reynolds. "Michael Reynolds is a violent and dangerous racist who has no business carrying either a badge or a gun," her attorney, Daniel Horwitz, said in an email to NBC News on Wednesday. "Ms. Halliburton wants the NYPD to fire him immediately so that he can't hurt anyone else, and we are all frankly dumbfounded that that has not happened already."

Needs to be permanently banned from all law enforcement. Why aren't there provisions and a database to ensure this happens?

"More than 12,000 people signed a petition advocating that he be fired and on Wednesday, a group of protesters and activists gathered in New York to demand accountability from the city's police department. Halliburton, through her attorney, said Wednesday she deeply appreciated "the outpouring of support that she has received from people across the country who agree that Michael Reynolds needs to be fired and should no longer be able to work as a police officer."

No justice. Precisely, why there is desperate need for a new federal agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, and prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special court that would adjudicate only these cases. Total independence. The only way to rein in these criminals, particularly the murderers in blue.

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1-10-20

We live in an increasingly sick society. CBS News reports:

"Maryland police are seeking information on a suspect they say purchased popcorn at a Maryland dollar store, emptied it in the parking lot to "intentionally" lure a group of seagulls and then ran over the birds with their car. The authorities said the person killed "at least" 10 birds in a social media post announcing the incident. On Saturday, the Laurel, Maryland police department announced the alleged incident on its official Facebook page, with the header "ANIMAL CRUELTY: INFORMATION NEEDED."

"ANIMAL CRUELTY: INFORMATION NEEDED Please help us find the person responsible by sharing this. On 01/04/2020 at...
Posted by Laurel Police Department on Saturday, January 4, 2020"

Sad, isn't it?

"Authorities said they responded to a report of animal cruelty at a local shopping center parking lot Saturday morning to discover "a group of deceased seagulls all in extremely close proximity to one another." Through an investigation, police said they learned a suspect bought a bag of pre-popped popcorn from the center's Dollar Tree store and emptied the bag in the parking lot to attract the birds. Then, the police alleged the individual ran over the seagulls with their vehicle, killing at least 10 of them. The suspect then fled the scene."

Think this sick individual incapable of presenting a threat to the human species?

"Police said the incident is believed to have occurred sometime between 9-10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. They urged witnesses, or anyone with information about the alleged event, to contact the department. If caught, the alleged perpetrator could face some very real consequences. President Trump signed a bipartisan bill into law in November, making animal cruelty a federal crime. The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, or PACT Act, bans abusive behavior including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling and other bodily injury toward any non-human mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians. Violators of the PACT Act now face criminal penalties of a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both."

From the perspective of the birds, exceptionally perverse getting killed simply because you're hungry, isn't it? Perpetrator was not a hunter. Killed for the sake of killing, perverse 'pleasure' of the kill.

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1-3-20

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

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1-3-20

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety three weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred ninety three weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred ninety three weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

1-3-20

Nazi justice. In follow up to a case covered repeatedly in this publication and elsewhere, CBS News reports:

"A federal judge has ruled the city of Dallas is not liable for an off-duty police officer fatally shooting a man in his own apartment last year. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn dismissed the city from a civil lawsuit that the family of Botham Jean brought after he was shot and killed by Amber Guyger."

Goddamned nazi justice rubber stamped by a federal judge who egregiously abrogated her oath of office to uphold the United States Constitution.

"The ruling leaves the 31-year-old former officer as the sole defendant in the suit, which argues she used excessive force and that better police training could have prevented Jean's death. It makes a large financial settlement unlikely."

The officer was in full uniform when she murdered Botham Jean. Acting in her capacity as a police officer.

The following is galling horse shit:

"In her brief ruling, Lynn wrote that she was upholding a magistrate judge's decision and dismissing the city from the case because the suit failed "to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."

Jesus Christ. Nazi justice. An innocent man was murdered in his own apartment by this piece of shit in uniform. Yet, taxpayers, the department, and city are let financially off the hook? This officer was acting in her capacity as a police officer on behalf of the department, city, and taxpayers. Yet, only the former officer is held financially accountable? Both the U.S. District Judge and the Magistrate Judge need to be criminally investigated to determine whether or not they had received any remuneration or other consideration for their rulings.

"Guyger was found guilty of murder for Jean's death and sentenced to a decade in prison in October."

Nazi justice. Kill an officer even in self-defense in Texas, guess what? Get executed. Yet, officers are not held to the same standard. Protected and coddled.

"Botham Jean, 26, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, had been eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his home and shot him. Guyger gave tearful testimony at trial saying she mistook Jean's apartment for her own, one floor below, and thought he was an intruder. The family's lawsuit claimed better training on the part of the Dallas Police Department could have spared Jean's life, accusing the department of adopting a protocol of "shoot first and ask questions later," reported the Dallas Morning News. "Essentially, Officer Guyger was ill-trained, and as a result, defaulted to the defective DPD policy: to use deadly force even when there existed no immediate threat of harm to themselves or others," the lawsuit stated."

More on all this as it becomes available.

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1-3-20

Incarcerated, a prisoner becomes ward of the state. That is, the state is responsible for providing food, healthcare, security within the institution, etc. Government is increasingly abrogating this responsibility. Prisons have become gulags. Determinedly, so. NBC News reports:

"Nevada inmate Elizabeth Carley had experienced liver damage, fatigue and stomach pain from hepatitis C by the time she filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections in 2017. Carley, 42, entered prison in 2012 after she was convicted of theft and forgery and sentenced to up to 215 months. Two years later, she was diagnosed with hepatitis C, a bloodborne virus that can be fatal if left untreated. Like several other Nevada inmates who filed similar suits, she pleaded with medical staff and prison officials to provide her with hepatitis C medications — costly but effective drugs known to cure 90 percent of patients — in at least three grievance reports. But each time, officials denied her requests, stating that her condition had not progressed enough to meet the criteria for treatment, according to those reports filed with the court as part of her lawsuit."

Why the hell should she have had to sue? Forget? She was sentenced to prison for her crimes. Not the death penalty. Why is the state now, in effect, changing her sentence? -- Without benefit of a criminal proceeding in a court of law. Nazi justice. ... In a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"Nevada is one of at least a dozen states where prison officials, citing the high cost of hepatitis C medication, have denied or limited access to the drugs, and have been challenged by inmates suffering from the disease. A round of treatment can cost up to $30,000."

Tough shit. While she is rightfully in prison for her crimes, ferociously pointedly, why is the sentence now, in effect, changing to the death penalty?

“As the disease is allowed to attack my liver, over time, my liver will fail to work properly causing me serious bodily harm,” Carley, who is housed at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in Las Vegas, wrote to prison officials in an Oct. 21, 2016, grievance. “It is not medically accurate or proper treatment procedure to wait until hep C gets worse before treating it.” Nevada prison officials, who have faced several similar complaints, revised their hepatitis C treatment policies last month, telling legislators it was an effort to improve them. However, a federal class-action suit filed Dec. 9 by eight inmates, including Carley, claims the prison system is still denying or delaying thousands of Nevada inmates suffering from hepatitis C access to the life-saving treatment. “The point is to provide treatment to the inmates for a treatable disease before it worsens to the point that they have irreparable damage to their bodies,” said Adam Hosmer-Henner, a partner in the Nevada law firm McDonald Carano, who is representing the inmates in the class-action suit. Nevada prison officials made the recent revisions to the hepatitis C policy after a federal judge’s order consolidated the Nevada inmates’ suits, raising the potential for a class-action suit. Under the previous policy, hepatitis C patients like Carley were excluded from treatment if tests indicated they did not have severe enough liver damage."

"Similar class-action suits have been filed in at least a dozen other states since 2013, when direct-acting antiviral, or DAA, medications, a course of pills recognized as the standard of care for hepatitis C, became available. In recent months, inmates in Texas and Maine have filed lawsuits claiming they are being denied the drugs. Inmates in Massachusetts, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Minnesota have settled class-action suits resulting in policy changes that give prisoners access to the treatment. In at least one state, Tennessee, a federal judge sided with the state Department of Corrections’ hepatitis C treatment policies."

Needless to say, as more information becomes available, it will be posted.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

No honor. No dignity. No integrity. A boldfaced liar. The Washington Post reports:

"Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday, enraged by what he described as an insult to one of his newly minted officers, wanted a viral moment."

Certainly, got one. ... But not the one he wanted.

"A McDonald’s employee had written “f---ing pig” on the officer’s coffee cup, Hornaday said in a Facebook post Saturday, and when confronted, the restaurant offered a free meal to the rookie cop. “A Big Mac and large fries doesn’t make up for it,” Hornaday wrote. “Please share!” he added. People did, and intense controversy rippled nationwide from the small Kansas town west of Topeka, emblematic, some believed, of the idea police officers are besieged by disrespect and hatred in their communities."

Wake up. Week after week, month after month, year after year for almost twenty one years, example after example of corruption, abuse, all kinds of criminal activity by law enforcement officers have been posted in this publication. Policing is, and remains, out of control. This particular example should serve as a wake up call to those of you who delusionally believe all officers are beyond reproach, do no wrong. Read on:

"The tale unraveled, bit by bit, following an investigation by McDonald’s and the department, revealing a conclusion that went viral a second time — and not in the way Hornaday first intended in his now-deleted post."

The officer lied.

“This was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed by our agency,” Hornaday said at a news conference Monday, telling reporters the 23-year-old officer resigned after he “confessed” to staging the incident. The officer, whom Hornaday did not name, was making a “joke.” But in a nod to the brush fire nature of social media that can spin a narrative out of control, the chief admonished the officer for not coming forward after the story made national news."

Wake up, Chief. A 'joke?' Where was the bastard's judgment? Don't you carefully vet your officers? -- Not only before hiring, but throughout employment? Ferociously pointedly, where the hell is your judgment, Chief? Had he stepped forward and admitted the lie after it had gone viral, you would have retained him?

Why haven't you released his identity? The public is entitled to this information. What about all the tickets and arrests this bastard issued and/or made? Have they been reviewed? How can you be sure he didn't lie, falsify evidence, abuse authority? Delusionally believe his firing ends the controversy and unanswered questions?

“We can see how something so serious can get so out of control very, very quickly,” he said. Earlier Monday, Hornaday deleted his original Facebook post, which revealed the store’s address."

Your head remains figuratively securely lodged up you clueless ass, Chief. Time for you to go.

Here are the consequences:

"The attention prompted threats to the store in nearby Junction City, he said, and advocates rallied in the officer’s defense. Law Enforcement Today, an online publication written by and for officers, said it sent care packages of coffee after it identified the officer before the ruse was revealed. “Incidents like this are what hurts officers’ credibility, and their trust from their communities,” the site wrote in a follow-up post."

Destroys all faith and trust in law enforcement.

Readers will recall a recent edition of this publication covered the Starbucks event mentioned in the next quote:

"The incident mirrored an actual event at a Starbucks in Oklahoma last month, when a barista was fired after the company concluded the employee wrote “pig” on a cup for an officer. But in this instance, the local McDonald’s dug in and reviewed video surveillance of its employees, and it “clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees,” store owner Dana Cook told KSNT on Monday."

The former officer was stupid. Should have known video surveillance is ubiquitous.

"Hornaday praised the store’s investigative process, which mirrored his, he said."

Too little, too late, Chief. Should have conducted the investigation first, before shooting off your mouth. Time for you to go.

The following rings hollow:

"In his deleted post, he called the original, fabricated incident a “black eye” for Junction City but conceded the embarrassment was rooted elsewhere. “I hope [the former officer] understands the magnitude of the black eye this gives the law enforcement profession from coast to coast,” he said. “None of this can be excluded from that.” The officer who resigned was on the force for only about two months, Hornaday said, and he joined the department after serving as an Army military police soldier."

Hard to believe a former military MP would have been so stupid, so inexperienced, so undisciplined. Had he received an honorable discharge? A general discharge? Worse, was he kicked out with a dishonorable discharge? Need to disclose all this to the public, Chief. Forget? -- The public who pays your salary and that of your officers.

The following lacks credibility:

"The screening process is rigorous, with a focus on integrity, the chief said."

The Chief is an idiot. Caught in an act of abject stupidity. Along with his former officer. The following is certainly demonstrative of the old comedic adage 'can fix ignorant, can't fix stupid:'

"Herington, with a population north of 2,000, is now left with only five full-time officers, including himself, Hornaday said. He predicted the incident would become a teachable moment at police academies."

Jesus Christ. Give me a break. LOL.

Gets worse. LOL. Get this:

"Then he explained he was about to break bread at a McDonald’s following the news conference. “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got a Quarter Pounder with cheese on my mind, and I’m going to go get it,” he said."

ABC News reports:

"The officer, a member of the Herington Police force for just two months, claimed that one of the employees wrote the words "F------ pig" on his receipt, which he turned over as evidence to the Geary County Sheriff's Department for investigation, authorities said. The sheriff's department immediately launched a probe and released a statement saying it was "saddened by seeing this incident in our community." Hornaday said that at first, the McDonald's workers felt so bad about the incident they offered the officer a free lunch, prompting the chief to initially say, "a Big Mac and large fries doesn't make up for it."

"Sensing something was off about the officer's complaint, McDonald's initiated its own investigation that suggested the incident was a hoax, said Lenor Brazzi, director of operations for the McDonald's franchise owner Dana Cook. "We're glad that the evidence confirmed our evaluation that the McDonald's and our employees, crew members, were absolutely not involved," Brazzi said at the joint news conference with Hornaday. "We stand with our community in being disappointed about these actions."

Abject bullshit:

"While he said he wanted to release the former officer's name, he explained that he was advised not to do so "due to the matter being a personnel issue."

An issue the public is entitled to be informed of. -- Forget they paid the salary of an officer who made a false report?

More abject bullshit:

"Hornaday said he discussed the case with Dickinson County Attorney Andrea Purvis and that based on the information she believes no criminal charges are warranted."

Jesus Christ. This 'prosecutor' is protecting a former officer who made a false report. Do so as a civilian? Get charged and prosecuted. Why no equal treatment?

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1-3-20

Clueless, blatant callousness.

"A controversial photo of two Mobile, Alabama police officers holding up what one dubbed a "quilt" made of panhandling signs has gone viral, reports the CBS affiliate there, WKRG-TV. The city's police chief is apologizing for it. Lawrence Battiste said the image in the Facebook post isn't indicative of the department as a whole and the officers took things to a level they shouldn't have. He told the station their behavior was "insensitive." The incident is under administrative review and a decision on what, if any, disciplinary action will be taken against the officers will be made once the review is complete, Battiste said. Outrage spread across social media Monday as the photo was shared across the country. Mobile police say the post was immediately brought to Battiste's attention. Panhandling is illegal in downtown Mobile, and on private property, as is aggressive panhandling. WKRG said the officers in the picture were from the 4th Precinct, and Battiste confirmed the majority of the signs were taken from the 4th Precinct. "I take full responsibility for making sure we have an aggressive stance on dealing with panhandlers because it impacts the safety of our community. … (But) we do not intend to police o[u]r way out of homelessness," Battiste said. The department has made 63 arrests this year involving illegal panhandling, he said. WKRG showed the picture to people downtown. "I just honestly find that post kind of sickening, and yeah, I mean that an apology was a good thing to do. (But) if they're not really going to change anything about how they think, it's really not going to do much," said Lauren Ainsworth."

No livable minimum wage mandated by law. No affordable housing. This problem will not be solved any time soon. Forget? Greed rules.

"Battiste's full statement: "As a police department entrusted with serving and protecting our community, we offer our sincerest apology for the insensitive gesture of a Facebook post by two of our officers where they are holding up a homeless "quilt" made of panhandling signs. Although we do not condone panhandling and must enforce the city ordinances that limit panhandling, it is never our intent or desire as a police department to make light of those who find themselves in a homeless state. Rather, our position has always been to partner with community service providers to help us help those faced with homelessness with hope to improve their quality of life."

Empty rhetoric. Rings hollow.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

In follow up to a recent edition of this publication, NPR reports:

"West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday he has approved recommendations to fire all of the correctional officer cadets who participated in an apparent Nazi salute during a class photo. "As I said from the beginning, I condemn the photo of Basic Training Class 18 in the strongest possible terms," Justice said in a statement. "I also said that this act needed to result in real consequences — terminations and dismissals," he added. "This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch in any agency of State government." Two academy trainers and a cadet were fired after the photo was first released by the state's Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety on Dec. 5. Thirty-four others were put on unpaid leave."

Should have been immediately fired. What took so long?

"A third staff member who failed to report the contents of the photograph will also be fired, bringing the total number of staff terminations to three. Additionally, four academy instructors who are known to have seen the picture and failed to report it will also be suspended without pay. In the image, nearly all members of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Basic Training Class #18 — 31 cadets — are giving what appears to be a Nazi salute. The others are posing with a clenched fist in the air. The photo, which was included in graduation packets, carries the state seal and the official symbol of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It is captioned "Hail Byrd," a reference, officials say, to instructor Karrie Byrd, who was responsible for teaching cultural diversity, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported."

What could these jackasses possibly been thinking?

The following is insane:

"According to the executive summary report drafted by Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner Betsy Jividen, the hand gesture started in the second or third week of the academy session as a sign of respect for Byrd. "The investigation disclosed that she encouraged it, reveled in it, and at times reciprocated the gesture," the documents state."

Jesus Christ. Where, when did we lose ourselves? Hundreds of thousands of our best and brightest died fighting this scourge. Second World War European Theater.

"The picture was apparently taken at the request of Byrd. Multiple cadets allege it was taken several times because not everyone agreed to participate in the gesture. In the end, in an effort to comply with Byrd's order of the salute, seven people opted to hold up a closed fist. Byrd told investigators she was unaware of the "historical or racial implications of the gesture." She insisted it was "simply a greeting," according to the report. But her statement was contradicted by multiple sources, the report says."

Byrd is a liar.

"When questioned about the photo by a secretary who expressed concern, Byrd allegedly explained the cadets did it "because I'm a hard-a** like Hitler."

A goddamned nazi.

An insane nazi:

"She added that there was nothing wrong with the photo because "we have people of all colors and backgrounds in the picture and every one of them are participating." The secretary and two other instructors separately approached Capt. Annette Daniels-Watts who, according to the investigation, said: "Well, this is going to bite us in the a**." While Daniels-Watts admitted she found the picture "horrible," the captain "never addressed Byrd, had the pictures pulled from the packets, or reported the situation to her supervisor."

No equal treatment. Get this:

"With the exception of Byrd, the names of the cadets and other members of the department have not been released. As Dave Mistich of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported, Military Affairs and Public Safety secretary Jeff Sandy said they were being withheld after threats to harm those involved began to surface."

Why were Byrd and Daniels-Watts apparently the only two who had their identity disclosed? Why are all the others protected and coddled?

The following is ludicrous:

"The final report on the West Virginia incident determined that while the gesture captured in the photo was "highly offensive," it did not reveal any overt motivation or intent that this was a discriminatory act towards any racial, religious, or ethnic group."

Bullshit. Simply, not credible. All were well aware of the cultural significance of the salute. Could have refused.

"The participants were instead motivated by "poor judgment, ignorance, peer pressure, and fear of reprisal."

No question, the above was certainly a factor, but not the bottom line. The cadets knew the significance. Yet, participated. Unfit to be correctional officers. What's to prevent them from seeking similar employment in corrections elsewhere, or worse yet, in law enforcement?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

In follow up to last week's edition, CBS News reports:

"The FBI is looking into controversial pardons made by Kentucky's former Republican Governor Matt Bevin, federal law enforcement sources confirmed. Lawmakers from both major political parties say they're concerned that some pardons Bevin issued just before he left office were favors to supporters. The Louisville Courier-Journal first reported the FBI probe. Bevin granted hundreds of pardons and commutations in his last act as governor. A majority went to low-level drug offenders, but some went to convicted murderers and rapists. One was Micah Schoettle, a man who served less than two years for raping a 9-year-old girl who was a close relative. The mother of that child, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her family, told CBS News correspondent Don Dahler she wishes she'd been warned that her daughter's rapist was going free. "It just felt like a slap in the face. It felt like a ton of bricks hit me. I just kind of collapsed to the floor sobbing and crying," she said. "I wish Bevin would have come talk to me first before he gave Micah a pardon, and that was never done." Schoettle served just 19 months of a 23-year sentence. "I was shocked to hear that he was even considering a pardon for Micah Schoettle, much less granting one," said Kentucky public prosecutor Rob Sanders, who helped put Schoettle behind bars. "This was a very, very lengthy case that was litigated heavily. ... To hear that he was basically erasing all the work that we had done was just shocking."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

In follow up to last week's edition, The Washington Post reports:

"New York police officers on Thursday found a teen suspect in the slaying of Tessa Majors, an 18-year old Barnard College student stabbed to death in a park on Dec. 11. The department’s chief of detectives, Rodney Harrison, said the suspect was detained and questioned with his attorneys present and later released into their custody. Multiple NYPD spokespeople declined to provide any additional information, including the suspect’s age. But the New York Times reported he is a 14-year old detained in the Bronx and questioned in a precinct in Manhattan near Morningside Park, where Majors was killed. He was released without charges, the Times reported, though the paper said investigators are exploring evidence with prosecutors that may link him to the killing. Police have said as many as three people attacked Majors in an evening robbery, but they believe the 14-year old was the one who stabbed her, the Times reported. Majors was able to stagger up stairs leading out of Morningside Park. A campus security officer called 911, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital that night."

CBS News reports:

"The New York City Police Department says it has located a teen they were seeking in connection with the stabbing death of Barnard College student Tessa Majors. The department announced the update Thursday morning on Twitter. New York City Police Department Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison called it "a significant development in the investigative process." In a series of tweets, Harrison said the teen was taken into custody and later released. "His attorneys were present at the 26 precinct for the entire investigative process," he said. "Although he has since been released to the custody of his attorneys, the investigation remains very active," Harrison added. The 14-year-old boy is considered a suspect in Majors' murder December 11 in Morningside Park. He bolted from a car in Harlem on the way to meet police last week, a law enforcement source told CBS News' Pat Milton. Police posted photos of the teen and asked for the public's help in finding him. Police say another boy, just 13, has already confessed to being a part of a group who tried to rob Majors in the park near the school's Manhattan campus. CBS New York reported the boy said he watched as his two friends stabbed and choked Majors. The younger boy is in custody, charged as a juvenile."

NBC News reports:

"Many Barnard College faculty and staff members have received racist robocalls from a white supremacist group in the wake of first-year student Tessa Majors' slaying, according to the schools. "We have become aware that robocall messages from a white supremacist group were received on many faculty and staff landlines at Barnard and may have been received by a small number of Columbia faculty and staff as well," a statement from university officials said. Majors attended Barnard, a women's college affiliated with Columbia University. "The contents of this message, related to Tess Majors’ recent death, are abhorrent and viciously racist," the statement said.

"The university statement on the racist robocall messages said school officials are working with the NYPD to block the caller. Faculty and staff who receive the calls are encouraged to report them. "We take this attack on our values extremely seriously," the statement said."

Sad, isn't it? Despicable, as well.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

Time for law enforcement to smarten up. Do far more than what it's doing to combat 'swatting.' -- No pun intended. NBC News reports:

"Ijeoma Oluo was boarding an early morning flight at Boston’s Logan Airport when she got a call from a number she didn’t recognize. A 911 dispatcher from Washington state was on the line: someone had reported a double murder at the author and activist’s home. Oluo was almost certain she’d just been “swatted,” meaning someone had made a false report of extreme violence at her residence to prompt an overwhelming response by law enforcement. The term comes from the acronym for the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams that deal with active shootings, armed robberies or hostage scenarios."

All too often, out of control, jackbooted, murderous, nazi storm troopers.

"Oluo told the dispatcher her 17-year-old son was home alone, and that no guns were in the house. Even so, she panicked. Having written about encounters between police and people of color, she was acutely aware of what could go wrong. “I was terrified they were going to come in guns blazing. I was bawling,” she said. “To send cops to the home of a black person — expecting dead bodies and guns — is really risking someone’s life.”

Here's the problem:

"Anyone with a grudge and someone’s address can make a ‘swatting’ call, but what was once a niche prank played by gamers has become a favored means of terrorizing famous, controversial and vulnerable people. It has also become more organized in recent years, with online forums and chat rooms dedicated to targeted attacks on individuals, including YouTube personalities, tech executives, activists, authors and journalists."

To date, law enforcement has egregiously, repeatedly, abused power. Gutlessly embraces a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality resulting in needless loss of life. Vis-a-vis desperately needed change in tactics? Done far too little, way too late, far too ineffectively, incompetently, with no due regard for safety of innocent, unarmed civilians these criminal jackbooted bastards are murdering in incident after incident.

Conveniently, forget? No let up in multiple occasions where innocent, unarmed civilians have been murdered by these brutally aggressive, out of control jackbooted thugs in military-style combat attire. Seem to have cluelessly forgotten they're law enforcement officers, not combat soldiers. The following remains achingly insufficient:

"Law enforcement agencies and city officials around the country have responded with anti-swatting procedures and tools to blunt this weaponization of the 911 system. In Seattle, the police department has launched a three-pronged approach that includes special training for officers and 911 operators and — a first for the U.S. — a registry for residents who think they may become swatting targets. The registry gives first responders a warning that an emergency call about a violent situation may be a hoax."

Egregiously, insufficient:

"After a year of honing these procedures, Seattle police are sharing their know-how with law enforcement agencies throughout the country, while calling on lawmakers to make swatting a federal crime. “This is not an accident. It’s intentional behavior intended to punish people for who they are, where they work, the color of their skin,” said Seattle PD’s public affairs director, Sean Whitcomb. “It’s happening every day in America. It’s awful for us and it’s awful for the community.”

Only you criminal jackbooted bastards in law enforcement can resolve this issue. Clearly, 'shoot first, ask questions later' remains the police mentality all across our formerly great nation. Throughout all law enforcement, including street patrols.

"Swatting is not only a safety risk for targets, but also to police, both in terms of reputation damage and the costly waste of police time. “Swatting can really tie up city resources,” said Seattle resident Naveed Jamali, a former intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve who now co-chairs Seattle Police Department’ Swatting Mitigation Advisory Committee. “Then from a human perspective, there’s a huge risk of violence. So there’s a huge liability potential to the city and it’s also weaponizing a police force against private citizens.”

Precisely, why there is desperate need for change. Before too late. ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms. Time to wake up. Before too late.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

White supremacy is a growing problem within the military as well as law enforcement. ABC News reports:

"Two men have been kicked out of the Army National Guard after liberal activists uncovered their membership in a religious group with white supremacist ties. Brandon Trent East told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Alabama National Guard sent him a separation notice on Dec. 14. A spokeswoman for the Georgia National Guard said Dalton Woodward is no longer a member. She declined to comment on the terms of Woodward's separation. Woodward didn't respond to a request for comment left with his friend East. Earlier in 2019, the Atlanta Antifacists group published a report saying East and Woodward were leaders of the Norse pagan group Ravensblood Kindred. The group is part of the Asatru Folk Assembly, which researchers say endorses white supremacy."

White supremacy is the issue, not religion.

"Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon earlier forced East to resign as a jailer."

Certainly, can't have a jailer who is a white supremacist. Would result in racial violence.

"When the report was published, Woodward was on active duty in Afghanistan. Woodward’s unit returned from deployment in June and an investigation into his connections with white supremacy concluded in October. The military has struggled in recent years to root out members of white supremacist organizations or sympathizers with white power causes."

For damned good reason. The military is multi-racial. Depends on unit cohesion to accomplish its mission.

"A spokesman for the Alabama National Guard said East has 45 days to contest the findings. East said the Army recommends a general discharge. That's a step down from a traditional honorable discharge, indicating unacceptable conduct not in accord with military standards."

Not only that, may certainly affect future employment with a civilian employer.

The following is highly questionable for damned good reason:

"East contends he is not a racist, and is just interested in worshiping the way his ancestors did centuries ago. “The whole race thing started with me finding Asatru or Odinism or whatever you want to call it and seeing that as a better option than Christianity as a spirituality," he said. East and Woodward attended a 2017 speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at Auburn University. Photos show the men carrying signs. “The existence of our people is not negotiable,” East’s sign read. Woodward’s sign read, “We have a right to exist.” Both echo the so-called “14 words” motto popular among white supremacists who say non-white groups are displacing whites."

Crock of shit.

“I just went there because at the time I heard he was talking about the recent removal of Confederate monuments. That’s something I wanted to hear," East said. “And it turned into a something a little worse obviously.” Along with his jailer job, East said the resulting attention has cost him other jobs, as well as friends and family members. He minimized his contact on social media with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. He said he stays away from those that are “Hitler worshipy.”

Time to smarten up. Remain one and the same. An insidious, growing cancer, as our formerly great country continues to transition from a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11 to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

Think the Catholic Church hasn't aided and abetted pedophiles? The Washington Post reports:

"Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in church money to powerful Catholic clerics over nearly two decades, according to financial records obtained by The Washington Post, while the Vatican failed to act on claims he had sexually harassed young men. Starting in 2001, McCarrick sent checks totaling more than $600,000 to clerics in Rome and elsewhere, including Vatican bureaucrats, papal advisers and two popes, according to church ledgers and former church officials. Several of the more than 100 recipients were directly involved in assessing misconduct claims against McCarrick, documents and interviews show."

Parishioners and the wealthy unwittingly provided these funds:

"It was not until 2018 that McCarrick was removed from public ministry amid allegations of misconduct decades earlier with a 16-year-old altar boy, and this year he became the first cardinal known to be defrocked for sexual abuse. The checks were drawn from a little-known account at the Archdiocese of Washington, where McCarrick began serving as archbishop in 2001. The “Archbishop’s Special Fund” enabled him to raise money from wealthy Catholic donors and to spend it as he chose, with little oversight, according to the former officials. McCarrick sent Pope John Paul II $90,000 from 2001 to 2005. Pope Benedict XVI received $291,000, most of it a single check for $250,000 in May 2005, a month after he was elevated to succeed the late John Paul."

Think the Head Honcho, that is the Founder, would have approved?

"Representatives of the former popes declined to comment or said they had no information about those specific checks. A former personal secretary to John Paul said donations to the pope were forwarded to the secretary of state, the second most powerful post at the Vatican. Experts cautioned that such gifts may also have been directed to papal charities. A Vatican spokesman declined to comment."

What could he say? How do you justify the unjustifiable? Readers are reminded the current Pope is a Jesuit. That is, has taken a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Equally galling?

"In statements, Vatican clerics who received checks described them as customary gifts among Catholic leaders during the Christmas season or as a gesture of appreciation for their service. They said the gifts from McCarrick were directed to charity or used for other proper purposes. The gifts “never had any effect on the Cardinal’s decision-making as an official of the Holy See,” said a spokesman for Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, a high-ranking cleric who received $6,500 from McCarrick in the 2000s, the ledgers show."

Not credible. Sad, isn't it?

"The checks from McCarrick’s fund add a new dimension to a scandal over how he rose to the highest levels of the U.S. Catholic Church and remained there despite complaints of misconduct that reached the Vatican as early as 2000. A Post investigation earlier this year found that another cleric, a McCarrick ally who was a bishop in West Virginia, also gave cash gifts to influential clergy in the United States and at the Vatican while facing allegations of sexual misconduct and financial abuses. McCarrick, a legendary fundraiser for the church, was defrocked in February after Vatican officials found him guilty of two charges: soliciting sex during confession and committing “sins” with minors and adults “with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

Time for church officials involved in all this to be criminally investigated. Freedom of religion as guarantied by the First Amendment does not grant carte blanche to engage in criminal activity. Last half century or so, government has been most sympathetic to this portion of the First Amendment, while consistently ignoring the Establishment Clause of that very same Amendment, that is, freedom from religion.

"The Vatican plans to release a report about its handling of the allegations against McCarrick in the coming months, church officials have said. The financial records from the Archbishop’s Special Fund are among the documents church officials in Washington sent to Rome for that examination, according to one former archdiocese official. The former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter."

The report goes on and on in great detail. Shawn Boburg, Robert O'Harrow Jr., and Chico Harlan put an enormous amount of time and effort into this. Hat's off.

In another article, The Washington Post reports:

"After Bishop Michael J. Bransfield was banished from his post as head of the Catholic Church in West Virginia, the church-owned residence he had lived in was put up for sale. It was a historic 9,200-square-foot Colonial Revival-style house with five bay windows that was once known as Elmcrest. Bransfield had spent $4.6 million to restore it to his exacting taste. The diocese did not hire a real estate agent, advertise the property’s sale online or hold an open house. Instead, as allegations of sexual and financial misconduct against Bransfield spilled into public view in June, the church sold the property to a wealthy Wheeling, W.Va., resident for $1.2 million. Church officials said the private sale was a way to avoid paying commission to real estate agents, but it also had the effect of keeping the public from taking the full measure of Bransfield’s extravagance and excess. More than just an opulent private retreat for a high-spending bishop, Elmcrest was the site where the heavy-drinking cleric quaffed Cointreau and made unwanted sexual overtures toward younger priests in a basement with a custom-made sunken bar, according to a confidential report by church investigators for the Vatican completed earlier this year. The Washington Post obtained a copy of the report and published a redacted version online on Dec. 23. In his 13 years as bishop, Bransfield spent more than $2.4 million traveling the world, often by private jet, and gave fellow clerics hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash gifts that originated from the diocese’s accounts, church documents show. Nowhere did he spend more church money than on the turn-of-the-century mansion at 52 Elmwood Place in Wheeling, according to investigators. What started as a modest renovation before Bransfield’s arrival in 2005 soon sprawled, at his insistence, into a costly undertaking, according to the construction manager, architect and four others involved in the project. By the time it was finished, the residence would feature a $20,000 dining room table, a master bath with a heated floor and a climate-controlled wine cellar that could store hundreds of bottles, they said. “It was always, ‘this’ or ‘that’ is what the bishop wants,” said Jim Baller, who served as the construction manager during most of the renovation. Baller said Bransfield wanted trees planted to create a buffer between the house and nearby Interstate 70. He also wanted parts of the seven acres surrounding the home landscaped and large areas covered with sod, Baller said. A fish pond and waterfall were built as the centerpiece of the grounds. Reached by phone, Bransfield declined to comment except to say that he did not “know anything about” extravagant spending on the residence. He made a similar claim to the investigators hired by the church to scrutinize his conduct, blaming subordinates and saying he provided little input on the residence, the investigators wrote. Bransfield’s “version of events is inconsistent with a number” of other witness accounts, they wrote."

Report goes on and on. Pitiful, isn't it, a church official would engage in such behavior? Aaron C. Davis clearly put an enormous amount of time and effort into this. Hat's off.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

1-3-20

The following is horrendous. Sadly, a portend of far worse to come as our formerly great country continues to nazify. NBC News reports:

"Prosecutors on Monday filed federal hate crime charges against the 37-year-old man accused of carrying out a knife attack that left five people wounded at a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home in Monsey, New York. Grafton Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, pleaded not guilty Sunday to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. After his arrest, authorities discovered handwritten journals in Thomas’ home that contained anti-Semitic writings. Thomas is accused of attacking the group observing the seventh night of Hanukkah with a machete at about 10 p.m. Saturday. He was arrested about two hours later in Harlem."

ABC News reports:

"Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against the 38-year-old man suspected of stabbing five people with a machete at a Hanukkah celebration in a New York City suburb on Saturday night. At the Greenwood Lake, New York, home of suspect Grafton Thomas, investigators recovered journals which had anti-Semitic sentiments including references to Hitler and "Nazi Culture" "on the same page as drawings of a Star of David and a Swastika," according to the federal complaint. The day of the machete attack, Thomas' phone was allegedly used to access an article titled: "New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here's What To Know." On Thomas' phone were searches including "Why did Hitler hate the Jews," according to the complaint. Thomas' family has denounced the crime and said he has mental health problems and no ties to any hate groups. "Thomas has a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations," the family said in a statement issued Sunday night. "He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime. He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups." There were about 100 people at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's Monsey, New York, home at the time of Saturday's attack. The rabbi's home is attached to the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish congregation's synagogue and he was hosting a ceremony to light the candle on the seventh night of Hanukkah when Thomas allegedly ran in, swinging a knife. Five people were hurt, including one man who is in critical condition with a skull fracture, and one person who suffered a severed finger, officials said."

Horrendous:

"Josef Gluck, manager of the synagogue, said he was sitting in the dining room with 40 to 50 people when the intruder barged in wearing a hoodie and a scarf covering all of his face except for his eyes. Thomas allegedly said to the victims "no one is leaving," took out a machete and started stabbing and slashing people, according to the federal complaint. Thomas was arrested in Harlem after driving away from the scene, according to police. He was covered in blood when he was located by officers, authorities said. A witness had given authorities the suspect's license plate number, so when license plate readers indicated the 2015 gray Nissan Sentra was in Harlem, officers searched block by block until Thomas was located. Thomas was arraigned on Sunday and charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary, police said. He pleaded not guilty and is being held on $5 million bond at the Rockland County Jail. Thomas' family said in its statement, "we believe the actions of which he is accused, if committed by him, tragically reflect profound mental illness." The family also extended sympathies to those injured, saying, "[W]e express our deepest concern and prayers for those injured physically and otherwise deeply affected by the events of Saturday night and our family’s earnest yearning for their well being. We thank those who rendered medical attention to each of those injured." The motive for the attack still remains unclear, though Gov. Andrew Cuomo referred to it as "an act of domestic terrorism." The stabbings, just north of New York City, came at the end of two weeks of increased anti-Semitic attacks in the city. The NYPD was investigating nine attacks against Jewish individuals prior to the stabbings. It is not clear if any are related."

So sad it's come down to this:

"Around-the-clock armed security is being implemented in Rockland County for an undetermined amount of time to give peace of mind to the Jewish community, county officials announced Monday. "We are fighting back as a community," Patrick Brosnan, CEO of Brosnan Risk Consultants, which is leading the armed patrol, told reporters. Brosnan said he raised his family in Rockland County and lives about eight minutes from the scene of the crime, which he called a "disgusting, reprehensible" act. "We cannot sit around and do nothing," he said. "We are taking proactive action."

NPR reports:

"Thomas was arraigned Sunday. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is being held in a local jail on $5 million bail. What may have been the motivation for the attack remains under investigation by local authorities and the FBI. The stabbings come not long after another act of violence directed at Jews on Dec. 10, when a gunman opened fire on a kosher market in Jersey City, N.J., in what investigators are calling a targeted attack. Gov. Cuomo said Saturday's attack was part of a pattern of "hatred exploding" across the country. President Trump also condemned the attack as "horrific," urging national unity in order to eradicate anti-Semitism."

Too little, too late coming from our fuhrer, the Trump nazi. White supremacy has been an exponentially growing problem since the national socialist took office nearly three years ago.

"According to Cuomo, Saturday knife rampage was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since Dec. 8. "The Jewish community is utterly terrified," said Evan Bernstein, the regional director of the New York/New Jersey Anti-Defamation League. "No one should have to live like this. How many more times will it take for people in Orthodox Jewish community to be terrorized with violence before something changes?"

Legacy of Hitler reincarnated.

CBS News reports:

"Monsey, New York – Police say 37-year-old Grafton Thomas wounded five people inside a rabbi's home at a Hanukkah celebration on Saturday. New York's governor called it "domestic terrorism," and the attack is part of a national rise in anti-Semitic incidents and harassment."

... Nazism, a growing problem quite some time. Hard to believe after our country lost hundreds of thousands killed in action in the Second World War European Theater fighting this scourge.

Uncommon Valor:

"Refusing to be silenced by the violence, members of the Jewish community rallied in Brooklyn Sunday night hours after dozens gathered in the afternoon outside Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's home. "We are not going to cower in the face of hate," said Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, executive director of the Oizrim Jewish Council."

Must never be forgotten great evil triumphs when people cower in fear, refuse to stand up, stand tall.

"The knife ambush happened Saturday around 10 p.m. at the home where more than 100 Orthodox Jews were gathered, reports CBS News' Tom Hanson. Witnesses said a man stormed in with a weapon and his face covered. "I saw a guy walking around wielding a knife or a sword back and forth hitting people," Joseph Gluck said. He said he chased down the attacker and threw a table at him. "I started to scream, 'Everybody away! Everybody away!'" Gluck said. Five people were stabbed including a rabbi's son. One elderly man is in critical condition. The suspect allegedly fled in a car but not before Gluck said he got the suspect's license plate number. Thomas was apprehended by police a couple hours later in New York City."

Indeed, Uncommon Valor:

"Shortly after the attack, Rabbi Rottenberg continued the event in a nearby synagogue."

This insane violence arising in our formerly great country is not only directed against the Jewish people. NPR reports:

"A gunman opened fire during a church service Sunday morning in White Settlement, Texas, killing two people before two church members returned fire and killed him, authorities said. "Preliminary reports indicated that the man entered the church and fired a weapon," White Settlement police Chief J.P. Bevering said at a press conference. "A couple of members of the church returned fire, striking the suspect, who died at the scene." "Tragically, the person shot by the suspect died at a local hospital, and a second parishioner has life-threatening injuries," Bevering said. The second victim later died, authorities said at a Sunday evening news conference. Bevering praised the people of West Freeway Church of Christ for their response. "The suspect is deceased and the threat has stopped, thanks to the heroic actions," Bevering said. Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn echoed that sentiment. "Today, evil walked boldly among us," Waybourn said. "Let me remind you, good people raised up and stopped it before it got worse."

"A motive for the shooting is still unclear. Jeoff Williams, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the investigation is ongoing and that they will "turn over every rock" to get to the bottom of why this shooting happened. "Unfortunately, this country has seen so many of these that we've actually gotten used to it to this point." Williams said. "And it's tragic and it's just a terrible situation, especially during the holiday season."

Sadly, the rise of mass violence in our formerly great country remains an unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary portend of far worse to come. Time to wake up. Before too late.

ABC News reports:

"The pistol-packing parishioner captured on livestream gunning down a man who opened fire inside a Texas church on Sunday morning, killing two members of the congregation, says he doesn't consider himself a hero. Jack Wilson, a 71-year-old former reserve deputy sheriff, took out the shotgun-wielding suspect with a single shot to the head during services at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement, police and witnesses said. "I don't see myself as a hero," Wilson told reporters on Monday. "I see myself as doing what needed to be done to take out the evil threat." Not only is Wilson a former law enforcement officer, he also provides firearms training to members of the church who volunteer to help with security of the sanctuary, he said. He also has his own gun range. Wilson was standing at the rear of the church during communion when the suspect, who witnesses said was wearing a fake beard and sunglasses, stood up just before 11 a.m. and confronted a church official. A livestream of the service showed the gunman suddenly pull out a short-barreled shotgun from under a long coat and shoot two parishioners before Wilson killed him. A church deacon, Tony Wallace, 64, was among the two church members fatally shot by the suspect, Wallace's family confirmed to ABC News on Monday. The name of the second church member who was killed has yet to be released. "We lost two great men. And it could have been a lot worse," Britt Farmer, senior minister of the church, said at a news conference Sunday night."

Sad, sad loss of life. Inexplicable.

"The suspect was identified as 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen of River Oaks, Texas, which is about 12 miles southwest of White Settlement, a law enforcement source told ABC News. Kinnunen's criminal history includes an arrest in River Oaks for possession of narcotics in 2009 and an arrest in 2016 for unlawful possession of a weapon in Linden, New Jersey, the source said. Kinnunen's sister, Amy Kinnunen, confirmed to ABC News on Monday that her brother was the gunman. She said he allegedly committed the double slaying at the church on the 10th anniversary of the suicide of their brother, Joel Kinnunen. Amy Kinnunen told ABC News that she believes Keith Kinnunen was on his own suicide mission."

Here's how it went down:

"Wilson said that in the chaos that broke out when the shooting started, he drew his handgun and paused to prevent shooting people standing in his line of fire. "There were people in front of me, between the shooter and myself," Wilson said. "I had to wait for just a second because the whole thing was less than six seconds from start to finish and I had to make sure I didn't hit a member as they were right in front of me." On Sunday, White Settlement Police Chief J.P. Bevering initially said a second church member also opened fire, but Paxton [Texas AG] said on Monday that Wilson was the only one who fired a shot. In the livestream of the incident, other parishioners are seen drawing weapons. "I only fired one round. It was the only shot I had, which was a head shot," Wilson said. "In my classes, I teach not to take head shots, but that was the only shot I had that was a clear shot and I was comfortable with taking the shot because of my training and my practice." He said once he took out the suspect, he walked over to the gunman to make sure he "was not going to get up." "There was no verbal communication out of him whatsoever at that point. He was down, he was bleeding profusely from his head and the only movement was just body twitching, which happens when someone is in that condition where they're about to die," Wilson said. Told he saved countless lives, Wilson added, "I feel confident of that because when an individual is using a 12-gauge, short-barrel shotgun with double-aught buck in it, which is what he had in it, then, you know, it could have been a whole lot worse."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety two weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred ninety two weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred ninety two weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

12-27-19

As always, when law enforcement does something heroic, and/ or of exceptional value to the community, it leads. Always. ABC News reports:

"Police in Michigan helped save a man who was threatening to jump off a bridge after he had been "pushed to the brink." Officers with the Livonia Police Department [Livonia, Mich.] were called to an overpass, located directly over Interstate 96 near the city of Inkster, over reports of a man who was standing on the edge, according to police. When they arrived on Dec. 17, they saw the man, who police described as "distraught and threatening to jump." In body-camera footage of the incident, posted by the Livonia Police Department, the man can be heard saying he had been "pushed to the brink." "Do you wanna tell me what's going on in your life?" an officer can be heard saying. "Can we go get a cup of coffee or something?" he adds. The man, who can be heard crying, eventually comes down and police took him to a local hospital for evaluation. "We got you," one officer says."

Outstanding policing. Law enforcement at its very best.

"Numerous mental health organizations have found that the holidays can provoke feelings of stress, anxiety and depression for some. The American Psychology Association offers tips to help combat any such feelings during the season. For those with preexisting mental illnesses, the holidays can make the things even more difficult. The National Alliance on Mental Illness found that around 24% of people diagnosed with a mental illness believe the holidays make their condition "a lot" worse and 40% “somewhat” worse," according to a 2014 survey, the most recent by the organization. "For many people the holiday season is not always the most wonderful time of the year," the organization's medical director Ken Duckworth said at the time. "What the survey shows is a tremendous need for people to reach out and watch out for each other in keeping with the spirit of the season." If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386."

12-27-19

In follow up to last week's edition, ABC News reports:

"New York City police say it's "all hands on deck" as authorities track a 14-year-old suspected of killing Barnard College first-year Tessa Majors. The 14-year-old -- wanted for allegedly stabbing the college student to death last week -- was on his way to turn himself in Monday night when he bolted from the car while it was stopped at an intersection, according to police sources. NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison is "confident" the teen will be tracked down, he told ABC News Thursday. Police believe the 14-year-old may have signs of a bite mark from the struggle with Majors. Majors, 18, was stabbed to death on Dec. 11 in upper Manhattan's Morningside Park, just off the campus of Columbia University, which sits next to Barnard. A 13-year-old boy was arrested for the murder. He appeared Tuesday in family court, where the judge found reasonable cause to hold him in custody. Police testified Tuesday that the 13-year-old and two others intended to rob Majors. The suspects allegedly had their sights set on another victim, a male, but backed out and grabbed Majors from behind and removed a plastic bag from her pocket, police said. The 13-year-old told detectives that he saw one of his companions stab the college student with a red-handled knife, according to police testimony. The 13-year-old said he heard Majors call for help and refused to give up any property, according to the testimony."

ABC News reports:

"The New York City Law Department and the Legal Aid lawyers for the 13-year-old boy accused in the murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors agreed Monday to limit disclosure of the teen's videotaped statement to the NYPD. The two sides, chided by Judge Carol Goldstein for coming to family court unprepared, briefly huddled in a private room before announcing they had reached agreement. It was not announced in court who the protective order is meant to exclude, but it is likely that the law department, which handles the prosecutions of juveniles, does not want the 13-year-old's statement provided to the families of the two other teenage boy implicated in the murder.

"The 13-year-old suspect allegedly told detectives that he saw one of his companions stab the college student with a red-handled knife, according to police testimony. Police are still searching for one of the suspects -- a 14-year-old boy -- believed to be involved in Majors' killing. The 14-year-old was on his way to turn himself in last week when he bolted from the car while it was stopped at an intersection, according to police sources. The third teenage suspect was questioned and released without charges. In court Monday, the New York City Law Department and the Legal Aid lawyers stipulated that any experts called to testify would be subject to a nondisclosure agreement. The defense will attempt to challenge the admissibility of the 13-year-old's purported confession. The case returns to court on Jan. 2."

CBS News reports:

"The New York City Police Department says it has located a teen they were seeking in connection with the stabbing death of Barnard College student Tessa Majors. The department announced the update Thursday morning on Twitter. The 14-year-old boy is considered a suspect in Majors' murder December 11 in Morningside Park. He bolted from a car in Harlem on the way to meet police last week, a law enforcement source told CBS News' Pat Milton. Police posted photos of the teen and asked for the public's help in finding him. Police say another boy, just 13, has already confessed to being a part of a group who tried to rob Majors in the park near the school's Manhattan campus. CBS New York reported the boy said he watched as his two friends stabbed and choked Majors. The younger boy is in custody, charged as a juvenile. New York City Police Department Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted that police had located the 14-year-old on Thursday, but didn't provide more information." [12-26-19]

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

When will it end? Another murder perpetrated by a criminal jackbooted bastard in blue. ABC News reports:

"A Northern California sheriff announced Friday he is firing a deputy who used a choke hold on a man, who later died, while officers were investigating a suspected carjacking."

Why are choke holds legal? Certainly, not the first time a criminal jackbooted bastard in blue murdered vis a vis a choke hold. When will this unnecessary carnage end?

"Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said in a video that he found footage of the deputy's actions “extremely troubling.” The video released by the department includes the body camera footage of the violent encounter between Deputy Charles Blount and David Glen Ward, who had reported his car stolen. “If you watched the body-worn camera video closely, you may be concerned about what you saw. So was I," Essick said. “The way Deputy Blount handles the entire situation is extremely troubling. As a result, I’ve served Deputy Blount a notice of termination.”

When will the carnage end? When will law enforcement, legislators, and the courts finally smarten up? ... Hear the rumble? Too deaf?

"Ward died the morning of Nov. 27 after two sheriff’s deputies and two Sebastopol police officers mistook him for a stolen car suspect. Ward had reported his green Honda Civic stolen three days earlier by a man who he said pistol-whipped him. He was driving the car when officers tried to pull him over and he refused to stop. When they did eventually pull him over, he did not tell officers he was the vehicle's owner and Essick said it remains a mystery why he fled from officers."

No excuse for committing what effectively turned out to be cold-blooded murder. Where's the professionalism?

"Ward, who has a blackened left eye, can be heard on the video asking officers “why are you (expletive) harassing me all the time?” Moments later Blount can be seen trying to pull Ward out of the car through the window. Ward screams in pain, saying his legs hurt. Blount then tells fellow officers Ward bit him and he can be seen pulling Ward by his hair, then slamming his head repeatedly against the side of the car while another officer deploys a stun gun on him. Blount then puts Ward in a choke hold inside the vehicle for several seconds while other officers break the passenger-side window. When they drag Ward out of the car through, he lies listless on the ground as several officers say he is unconscious. Ward was pronounced dead at a hospital. The coroner is reviewing the case and has not yet determined a cause of death."

From the above, indeed, hard to believe he wasn't suffocated by the choke hold, suffered a brain injury having his head repeatedly slammed up against the side of the car having been violently roughed up during the entire encounter, etc. No matter what, an egregious lack of professionalism by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. Apparently, took great pleasure, got their cookies off violently abusing this victim.

"Essick said in an interview Friday that Blount violated several department policies, including use of force, stopping high-risk vehicles, the hostage and barricade procedure and firearms policy. He said Blount also violated safety rules. “When I watched that video, it was an aberration. It did not meet the expectations of our sheriff's department or my expectations,” he said. Essick said the department will review the conduct of each deputy involved, but its investigation began with Blount because “his actions were the most egregious.” The sheriff said Blount has been on paid administrative leave since the incident. The Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff's Association did not respond to a request to speak on behalf of Blount Friday."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"Ward’s half-sister, Catherine Aguilera, has said her brother used drugs and had health issues that began 20 years ago when a drunken driver hit him while he was riding a motorcycle, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a heart condition. Aguilera said Ward had to carry an oxygen tank and use a walker or a wheelchair."

Unprofessional, out of control, murderous, jackbooted bastards in blue.

NBC News reports:

"Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick released a video Friday in which he shared gruesome bodycam footage from one of his officers in which another deputy, Charles Blount, put David Glen Ward, the victim of a carjacking whom officers thought was a suspect, into a chokehold. Ward, 52, later died at a nearby hospital. "The way Deputy Blount handles the entire situation is extremely troubling," Essick said in the video. "As a result, I have served Deputy Blount with a notice of termination. He has been on administrative leave since this incident occurred and he will remain on leave until the conclusion of this investigation and all potential appeals have taken place."

Clearly, the jackbooted bastard hired an 'attack dog' to defend the indefensible:

"Harry Stern, Blount's attorney, defended the deputy's actions and slammed what he called the sheriff's "hasty" response as a product of "political expediency."

Jesus Christ. Give me a break. A man is dead for no legitimate reason at all.

"Stern also emphasized that the deputy was still employed, despite the notice of termination, because the probe had not yet concluded. "Deputy Blount has not been fired yet," the lawyer said. "If and when that happens, we will absolutely appeal."

Charging the living shit out of the jackbooted bastard for your services, Counselor? ... Or, doing it pro bono because you believe your client was falsely accused?

"The incident occurred on Nov. 27, shortly after Ward reported his car stolen. The Santa Rosa Police Department had seen his vehicle travel past and contacted the sheriff's office to help recover it. Deputies responded and attempted to pull the car's driver over, the sheriff's office said. "What our deputies did not not know at the time was that Mr. Ward was not only the owner of the car, but the victim of the earlier carjacking," Essick said in the video. "The suspect had pistol-whipped him and stolen his car. Mr. Ward had recovered the car, but failed to report it. It remains a mystery as to why he fled from our deputies."

Bottom line remains the same: officers were out of control, failed to act professionally.

"The video shows Ward, who has a black eye, pull over temporarily before suddenly taking off and starting a high-speed chase. Officers then pursue him at speeds as high as 70 miles per hour into the town of Bloomfield, California. The chase eventually comes to a stop when Ward comes to a cul-de-sac and pulls over. Deputies tried to remove Ward from his car, the Sonoma sheriff's office said, but he refused to cooperate and even bit two of the deputies. "Why are you f---ing harassing me all the time?" Ward asks the officers after he struggles to unlock the door and opens the window instead. Deputy Charles Blount then seizes Ward by the arm and attempts to pull him out the window before Ward agrees to comply and get out of the car. The officers then seize him and drag him out, and Ward's leg appears to get pinched under the wheel as he yells, "my legs, my legs" and screams in pain."

You bastards get your cookies off doing so? Cream your pants?

"That is when Ward bites both of the officers. In response, Blount strikes Ward's head against the side of the car and another officer shoots him with a taser twice. As Ward is being tased, Blount pulls him into a chokehold and Ward can be heard gasping for air and sputtering. After breaking the passenger side window, other officers from the Sebastopol Police Department then drag Ward, who at this point appears to be unconscious, out of the vehicle from the other side and cuff him. Officers try to wake Ward up, but stop when they say he appears to still be breathing. "Keep monitoring his breathing and s---," Blount tells the other officers."

Jesus Christ. Should have considered the consequences before choking him. What the f--k could you possibly been thinking? In an out of control blind rage?

"Another sheriff's deputy later in the video identifies Ward as the owner of the car and says he was with Ward two hours earlier looking for his stolen car. "Oh well," Blount says in the video."

Jesus Christ. These pieces of shit are unfit to wear the uniform.

"Seconds later an officer notices that Ward is no longer breathing, and Blount tells the others to begin CPR on Ward and reports the man's state to dispatch. "Start it. Just do it. It can't hurt to do it," Blount tells the other officers."

Big of the jackbooted bastard, isn't it?

"Ward was later declared dead at a nearby hospital."

Killed in action by an out of control jackbooted son of a bitch and his fellow thugs.

"Catherine Aguilera, Ward's half-sister, told NBC News affiliate KCRA that Ward had struggled with drugs and other health issues since he had been hit by a drunk driver while riding a motorcycle. Suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a heart condition, Ward used a walker or a wheelchair and had to carry an oxygen tank."

Considering the above and if indeed true, what legitimate threat could this guy have presented to a gang of jackbooted thugs in blue? What threat?

"The sheriff said, "We release these videos so the community can get as full a picture as possible about critical incidents in our county, regardless of whether it puts us in a good light or bad."

Transparency is critical to justice.

"Please know that this one person does not reflect the culture of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and does not represent the hardworking men and women who work here," the sheriff said."

Hopefully, not. Yet, certainly reflected by the gang of jackbooted thugs involved in this death.

The following is proof positive a shyster attorney, acting in the best interests of his client and clearly not justice, is certainly quite capable of turning reality into self-serving bullshit:

"Stern, Blount's lawyer, said in his statement, "Deputy Blount didn't cause David Ward's death. Frankly, Mr. Ward caused his own death by inexplicably taking a number of bizarre actions that confirmed in the deputies' minds that he was an armed carjacker." The lawyer suggested that he believes evidence will show that Ward died of other causes. "Most significantly, there were no indications of trauma to his neck," the statement said."

Nothing quite like blaming the murdered victim for the murder.

CNN News reports:

"Believing they had stopped a stolen car after a miles-long pursuit, two California sheriff's deputies tried to arrest a carjacking victim, who died after the encounter in which one deputy appears to slam the man's skull into a car door and put him in a neck hold as the other deputy twice deployed his Taser. Body camera video from last month's incident begins mid-chase, during which authorities say David Ward, 52, twice stopped for deputies only to flee again. Speeds at one point reach 73 mph before a deputy, trailed by two officers from the Sebastopol Police Department, stop Ward at a dead end in Bloomfield, about a 30-minute drive southwest of Santa Rosa. Deputies Charlie Blount and Jason Little, veterans with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, try to extract Ward from the car, but they struggle because Ward's legs are apparently pinned beneath the steering wheel. Both deputies exclaim that Ward bites them during the arrest attempt, and the body camera footage shows Blount pull Ward's head out of the car window by his hair. Just as Little deploys his Taser for the first time, Blount appears to smash Ward's head into the top of the car door."

Jackbooted motherf--kers. Out of control. Getting their cookies off.

"After deputies and officers remove Ward from the car, Deputy Nick Jax informs his counterparts that Ward had no reason to run because he was a carjacking victim, not a car thief -- to which Blount responds, "Oh well."

Jesus Christ. Unfit to be in law enforcement. Disgrace to the badge and uniform. A callous son of a bitch.

"Seconds later, the body camera video shows police saying "He's not breathing anymore," and Blount orders another law enforcement officer to begin CPR. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick handed Blount a notice of termination, and the deputy will remain on administrative leave until the investigation is complete and all appeals have been exhausted, the sheriff said in a Friday video statement. "What our deputies did not know at the time was that Mr. Ward was not only the owner of the car, but the victim of the earlier carjacking," Essick said. "The suspect had pistol-whipped him and stole his car. Mr. Ward had recovered the car but failed to report it. It remains a mystery as to why he fled from our deputies."

Always stupid to run from the goons in law enforcement. Can and does get innocent people killed. Never, ever, never run.

The following is no excuse for outrageously brutal, unprofessional behavior by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue:

"Harry Stern, who is representing Blount, said Ward is responsible for his own death because he took "bizarre actions" that left deputies thinking he was an armed carjacker rather than a carjacking victim. Stern said that it is his understanding that medical evidence will show Ward had a pre-existing medical condition and methamphetamine in his system. There are no indications of trauma to Ward's neck, the lawyer said. (Police have not said whether Ward was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the Marin County Coroner's Office is investigating the cause of death.)"

There's been no ruling by the Coroner's Office. Where is this shyster getting his information? Who is he desperately trying to influence and why?

"I am extremely disappointed in Sheriff Essick's reaction to this unfortunate incident. I view his hasty decision as a product of panic, political expediency and hindsight," Stern said in a statement that called Blount's actions "entirely reasonable."

Where is your professionalism, Counselor? The department and coroner have not yet ruled. Why are you talking out your ass?

"Reached for comment, Izaak Schwaiger, an attorney for Ward's mother, said, "David was well-loved in his community. When the time for mourning has passed, justice will be done upon those responsible."

We'll see.

"Early November 27, an off-duty Santa Rosa police officer reported seeing a vehicle, which belonged to Ward and had been reported stolen, in unincorporated Sonoma County, police said. A carjacker had pistol-whipped Ward and stolen the vehicle three days earlier, Essick said. Ward, a Petaluma resident, was driving the car just before 6 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) when Little gave chase, police said. With the two Sebastopol officers in their cars behind him, Little attempted to stop Ward between Sebastopol and Bloomfield. "Deputy Little could not see inside of the vehicle and did not know how many or the identity of the occupants inside," a police statement said. "The suspect in the initial theft had been in possession of a firearm, and the vehicle was still reported as stolen." Ward stopped but then fled, police said, and the pursuit continued. Little tried to perform a special maneuver to stop Ward's car, but Ward stopped only momentarily, and the chase resumed, according to police. The body camera video begins before the second stop. In it, Little -- using his driver's door as cover and pointing his gun at Ward's car -- orders Ward to show his hands four times before Ward takes off again. After a seven-minute chase, the deputy and officers box in Ward on a dead end road in Bloomfield, police said. Again, Little uses his car door as cover and aims his weapon at Ward's car, ordering the driver, "Show me your f***ing hands. Show me your hands. Turn off the f***ing car." The body camera's view is occasionally blocked, and it's not possible to see exactly how Ward responds at all times, but on multiple occasions, he lifts his hands in the air and lowers them, leaving them obscured by the car door. The officers positioned off-camera can also be heard demanding to see Ward's hands. Blount arrives and tells Little, "Let me get up there, if you want." Little responds, "Wait, wait, wait," as Blount approaches the car, tells Ward not to move and attempts to open the driver's door, which appears to be locked. He tells Ward to unlock it. It looks as if Ward moves to unlock the door, but Blount indicates that it remains locked. I can't believe this. I'm the injured party," Ward says after rolling down his window. "Don't move your f***ing hands," Little tells him. "Why you f***ing harass me all the time?" Ward asks. Blount orders Ward to give him his hands and tells his fellow officers, "Get him the f*** out of the car," as he tries to pull Ward out of the window, but officers are heard saying Ward's legs are pinned under the steering wheel. Ward cries in pain, saying, "Hey, hey, hey" and "My legs." Little tells Blount that Ward is stuck, but the tussle carries on. As the deputies continue to try to get Ward out of the car, Blount exclaims that Ward bit him. Moments later, Little says Ward bit him, too. A head slam, Taser and 'carotid restraint' Another policeman tells Blount and Little that Ward is stuck, and Blount grabs Ward by his hair in an attempt to pull Ward out of the car through the driver's window. Blount pulls Ward's head away from car before appearing to slam it into the top of the driver's door, just as Little deploys the Taser. Ward yelps in pain, groans and says something inaudible on the body camera footage. Blount then placed "one of his arms around the neck of Ward and attempted to administer a carotid restraint," police said in a statement. A carotid restraint targets the arteries that carry blood to the brain and neck. "The deputies and officers used personal body weapons and struck Ward several times in an attempt to gain compliance and remove him from his vehicle," the police statement says. One of the Sebastopol officers breaks the passenger window with a baton, and Ward is removed from the car, placed on the ground and handcuffed. After removing the Taser prongs, Little utters an expletive and says, "He broke my skin," referencing the alleged bite. Later, Blount says, "He didn't quite break the skin on my arm, but he bit me f***ing hard." "You've got some blood on your pocket," another deputy tells Blount. "That's his," Blount says, motioning to Ward. After Deputy Nick Jax tells his colleagues that the man in cuffs "is the owner of this car. That's David Ward," Little asks why Ward ran from police. "I don't know why he ran," Jax says. "He had no reason to run, but I was out with him earlier, like two hours ago, at his house. ... Obviously, he somehow made contact with the guy (who allegedly stole the car) and got it. But he was here two hours ago, and this is him. "Oh well," Blount says. "There's no reason for him to have done this," Jax says. A policeman off-camera reports Ward is no longer breathing. Blount tells an officer to start CPR. An ambulance arrives about 6:20 a.m. and transports Ward to Petaluma Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, police said. The Santa Rosa Police Department is leading the investigation. The carjacking is the subject of a separate investigation. "If you watched the body-worn camera video closely, you may be concerned by what you saw. So was I," Sheriff Essick said in last week's video statement. "The way Deputy Blount handles the entire situation is extremely troubling. As a result, I've served Deputy Blount a notice of termination." A notice of termination is the first step in a termination process governed by civil service rules, sheriff's office spokeswoman Misti Wood told CNN. Essick did not say whether Little -- who has been with the department for 17 years, 12 as a deputy and five as a correctional deputy -- or any other officers will face discipline. Blount has been with the sheriff's office for more than 19 years and previously served less than two years as a Santa Rosa police officer. "Charlie Blount has served the people of Sonoma County for over 20 years and honorably served in the military for 20 years before that," his lawyer said. "His actions during this arrest were entirely reasonable under the circumstances known, keeping in mind that videos of uses of force, even when justified, are often upsetting and graphic."

No excuse. Excessive force is excessive force. These unprofessional jackbooted bastards were out of control. Getting their cookies off abusing their victim. Unfit to wear the badge and uniform. Needless to say this case will be closely followed.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder after he fatally shot a woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home in a case that drew public outcry for police accountability. The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office confirmed the indictment against the former officer, Aaron Dean, 35, in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old pre-med graduate student. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jefferson's family, tweeted that they are relieved with the indictment, but "remain cautious that a conviction and appropriate sentence is still a long way away." In the week after Jefferson's death, Tarrant County prosecutors said they had enough evidence to ask for the grand jury indictment, and said in a statement "we will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law." The case led to a rare murder charge against a police officer in the United States, when Dean was initially arrested just days after the incident occurred. He resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department prior to his arrest. "Had the officer not resigned, I would have fired him for violations for several policies, including our use of force policy, our de-escalation policy and unprofessional conduct," Police Chief Ed Kraus told reporters."

Shoot first, ask questions later:

"Dean and another officer were responding to an early-morning house call after a neighbor became concerned when they noticed the front door of a home, which belonged to Jefferson's mother, was left ajar and requested a welfare check. Jefferson had been babysitting her 8-year-old nephew inside and playing video games. According to police and body camera footage, Dean failed to identify himself before firing his weapon, striking Jefferson. The bodycam video released publicly shows the perspective of an officer outside the home, peering into a window using a flashlight and spotting someone inside standing near a window and telling her, "Put your hands up — show me your hands." A single shot is fired seconds later. Jefferson's nephew told authorities that she had taken a handgun from her purse when she heard noises outside and pointed it toward the window, according to an arrest warrant. But police have said she was within her rights to protect herself."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

The following is beyond appalling. KERO - Bakersfield, California reports:

"The Bakersfield Police Department has arrested an off-duty officer for public intoxication. BPD responded to a call just after 11 p.m. Thursday about a sleeping man with a gun on his lap at Studio Movie Grill. Officers made contact with the subject, who was identified as off-duty BPD Officer Douglas Barrier. He was found asleep and in possession of a loaded firearm on his lap."

What could he possibly been thinking?

"Investigating officers determined Barrier was under the influence of alcohol. Officer Barrier was arrested and booked into the Kern County Jail. He was also placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Studio Movie Grill was evacuated for approximately 15 minutes during the incident."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

De facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. CBS News reports:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has set up a new information-sharing initiative with the government agency responsible for taking care of unaccompanied migrant minors, sparking fears it will use biometric data to detain and deport immigrant adults who try to sponsor children family members who are in U.S. custody."

Nazi America.

"In recent weeks, ICE started a new joint effort with the Department of Health of Human Services (HHS) to oversee biometric screenings of adults who try to sponsor children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency within HHS that oversees shelters for migrant minors. ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox told CBS News the inter-agency cooperation, which was not publicly announced, is designed to prevent migrant children in U.S. custody from being placed with sponsors who could be dangerous. He said that HHS, unlike ICE, does not have a mechanism to detect fraudulent documents or a government-run system to conduct background checks on potential sponsors. "The intent of the ICE detail was to help decrease these vulnerabilities in HHS screening and vetting procedures, thereby increasing the welfare and safety" of migrant children in custody, Cox said."

More disingenuous bullshit. Believe the ruse?

"The new initiative, which includes increased sharing of fingerprint and criminal history data, was first reported by The Washington Post. Citing HHS officials, The Washington Post reported that the White House recently tried to install a top ICE official at ORR to oversee the increased information-sharing between the two agencies, but the plan was thwarted by HHS leadership. Advocates were quick to denounce the initiative, fearing that ICE could be meddling in the internal affairs of America's refugee agency to continue the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. They noted that ICE has previously tried to use data gathered from undocumented immigrant adults seeking to sponsor children family members with the aim of detaining and deporting them."

Hitler and Mussolini would have been proud. Must be 'high-fiving' on their fiery perches.

"We must stop these renewed efforts to use HHS data to deport relatives and families of migrant children — it will only result in more trauma and pain for vulnerable children," Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas said in a statement to CBS News. In March 2018, HHS signed a memorandum of agreement with ICE and Customs and Border Protection, agreeing to provide sensitive information about children in its custody, as well as from people who request to sponsor the minors. A report by advocacy groups found that fewer sponsors were coming forward as result of the agreement because they feared that any information they provided to HHS could be used by ICE for immigration enforcement actions against them."

To be expected of the jackbooted bastards.

"This February, however, House Democrats worked to restrict this through the Homeland Security appropriations bill that became law. They added language designed to limit ICE's ability to go after potential sponsors of children or members of their household. Castro, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, accused White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, one of the architects of the administration's hardline immigration agenda, of being behind the move, which the Texas Democrat said is an attempt to undermine congressional authority."

To be expected from our impeached, narcissistic, insane, nazi fuhrer currently occupying the Oval Office.

"Congress explicitly included a prohibition to prevent ICE from using HHS information to deport sponsors," Castro said. "Nevertheless, Miller is trying to circumvent Congress and create a new crisis at HHS for the sole purpose of inflicting cruelty on immigrants.

"The appropriations law passed this year, he added, does not protect immigrants whose sponsorship requests are rejected by HHS, suggesting they could be targeted for detention and removal. HHS has been sharing information about rejected sponsors with ICE, according to Cox."

Goddamned nazis. When did we lose ourselves?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

Nothing quite like 'honor' in law enforcement, is there? ABC News reports:

"A former southwest Missouri sheriff's lieutenant has been sentenced to six consecutive life terms for sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl. Greene County Judge David Jones said during sentencing Friday that he hopes 68-year-old David Hastings never leaves prison, the Springfield News-Leader reported. "You should never be released to do this to another child," Jones said. Jurors found Hastings guilty in October of 11 felonies, including statutory rape, statutory sodomy and child molestation. Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Stephanie Wan said Hastings groomed the victim before sexually abusing her for more than a year. Wan said Hastings, who maintains his innocence, has never taken responsibility for his actions."

How did it go on as long as it did? Who was out to lunch?

"He is a complete and utter danger to the community," Wan said. Hastings plans to appeal, according to his attorney, who asked for a 10-year prison sentence. Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott told the News-Leader in 2018 that Hastings did not leave the sheriff's office on "good terms," but that he left before Arnott became sheriff in 2009."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

Egregious abuse of authority and invasion of privacy by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue. NBC News reports:

"State investigators and college police used a controversial tracking technology called "geofencing" to collect personal information from the cellphones of antiracism protestors at the University of North Carolina after being tipped off by the FBI, according to documents obtained by NBC News via a freedom of information request."

Nazi America. De facto goddamned fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Where's the warrant?

"The documents also show that the university signed a three-year, $73,500 contract for the use of geofencing in 2016, a contract that ran through the end of October 2019. "Geofencing" captures the social media posts of people entering a specific area. The technology locates any cellphones that cross into the area by locking onto their geolocation systems, and then records social media posts and sometimes other data from the phones. Versions of geofencing have been used in politics, including by the Trump reelection campaign and the Texas Democratic Party, and by retailers, who send ads touting sales and products to any nearby cellphones."

Outrageous bullshit. Perpetrated by an egregiously out of control corporate management suite. Where's the warrant?

"At UNC, however, internal university emails obtained by NBC News show that officials used the technology at least once to monitor activists who showed up for a protest at a campus Confederate memorial known as "Silent Sam" — a statue of a gun-wielding rebel soldier. On Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017, white supremacists met in Charlottesville, Virginia, for a planned march to protest the proposed removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a city park. A white supremacist drove his car into a counter-protestor, killing her."

Wake up. Where's the warrant? Here's the problem, exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties:

"The incident raised concerns among law enforcement officers in other cities, including Chapel Hill, about potential violence at other protests. At just before 1 p.m. the next day, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017, an FBI agent sent the chief of the UNC campus police an email that said, "I'm sure you're already tracking, but wanted to make sure," and mentioned that anti-racist protestors were expected to gather at Silent Sam at 7 p.m. for a "Charlottesville Solidarity Action." "We have no information of any planned violence at this time," said the FBI agent. "Any intelligence we develop will be pushed your way."

Jesus Christ. Where's the warrant?

"The Silent Sam statue was already the site of regular protests. That afternoon at 3:12 p.m., when a small group of people had gathered at the statue, UNC police intelligence chief Jake Kornegay sent an email to the UNC police chief and three other members of the department. "Geo-fence is being monitored and real-time distribution list established with Orange County LE and ISAAC/JTTF," wrote Kornegay, referencing law enforcement from the surrounding county, the State Bureau of Investigation's Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the local Joint Terrorism Task Force, which combines local and federal law enforcement. He also said he was doing "some link analysis on social media" and that only "a few people" were at the statue."

Where's the warrant? An exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Not from some foreign power or terrorist organization, but from nazi government in our formerly great country. Traitors.

"That evening, during the Charlottesville Solidarity Action, the crowd at the statue had grown to 175 to 200 people, according to minutes of a meeting held five days later by a university group referred to as the High Interest Events Team. "Aggressive in demeanor and approach," said the minutes. "Event was surveilled."

Jesus Christ. Where's the warrant? Perpetrated by traitors in government who egregiously abrogated their falsely sworn oaths of office to uphold the United States Constitution. Goddamned appalling. Pitiful.

"There is no evidence in the materials obtained by NBC News to show whether geofencing was used at protests prior to or after Aug. 13. But according to contract information obtained via the freedom of information request, the university had begun began paying a Vermont-based company called Social Sentinel Inc. $73,500 nearly a year earlier to use software that allowed them to pull social media posts from a geographic area. The purchase order from the company says the data Social Sentinel provided to the school was given to them by "one or more social media services or third party data providers. The documents show the contract extended from Nov. 1, 2016 through Oct. 31, 2019."

Clearly, our government cannot be trusted.

"A university spokesperson confirmed that the campus police continue to use geofencing, but would not say for what."

Why not? The public is entitled to this information. What are you fascist bastards hiding? Where's the warrant?

The following remains an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties:

"The spokesperson declined to comment on how the technology has been used, or when it was used, saying that, "The university coordinates with and relies on assistance from state and federal law enforcement agencies when appropriate in order to ensure campus safety." UNC police, Kornegay and Carol Folt, who was university chancellor in 2017, did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation defended the practice, saying the agency only monitored "publicly available posts … within a certain geographic area" but declined to specify exactly what information was obtained."

Where's the warrant? Lying nazi motherf--kers:

"This information was monitored in an attempt to prevent any potential acts of violence (such as those that have occurred at other public protests around the country, including Charlottesville) and to ensure the safety of all participants," said Anjanette Grube, the SBI spokesperson, in a statement. "No records of the posts are kept after the event has concluded." Grube said the geofence was "not used to monitor any particular individuals."

Where's the warrant? A continuing exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties:

"In her statement, Grube said SBI has also used geofencing to assist local law enforcement agents "at other mass gatherings" in North Carolina like sporting events to prevent violence. She did not say whether geofencing had been used again at Silent Sam protests. Gary Margolis, Social Sentinel's chief executive, declined to discuss how UNC used his product -- or to confirm that UNC was a client. He did say, however, that his company has "been very clear on the record that we don't monitor, we don't surveil, we don't follow, nor will we be part of that kind of activity. Our system technologically isn't built to do that." Margolis also said that geofencing is "kind of old technology" and that these days "most of social media ... is not geotagged."

Unadulterated bullshit promulgated by congenital liars.

"Anti-statue activist Maya Little, a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant at UNC, a frequent protestor at the statue site, was "shocked but not surprised" when shown evidence of the use of geofencing. "I feel sorry for students though, because they're paying for this kind of experience -- to be traumatized and to be surveilled," Little said."

Where's the warrant?

"Geofences, or virtual perimeters, are often used by companies to deliver location-based ads for goods and services. But they have also been used by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency as a form of cell phone monitoring, according to agency and whistleblower reports. Geofences have also been used by local law enforcement agencies in recent years, including in cases against defendants in Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon and Alabama. In those cases, the technology was deployed to capture identities near a crime scene to identify potential suspects, witnesses and victims or collect evidence."

Did the jackbooted bastards, clearly on a fishing expedition, have a warrant? Where's the warrant?

"NBC News was unable to identify any other colleges that have used geofencing to monitor protestors. Eight legal experts contacted by NBC News said using geofencing on protestors, especially in the absence of a crime, may violate federal statutes and infringe on demonstrators' First and Fourth Amendment rights. Aziz Huq, a professor of criminal procedure at the University of Chicago Law School and a graduate of UNC, said the technology could lead to police abusing their power."

Clearly, already have egregiously abused power, falsely in the name of 'security.' All across our formerly great country. Nazi America.

"In several recent court cases, defendants have challenged the law enforcement's warrantless use of geofence technology, though many have been unsuccessful. In 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling which allowed geo-fence evidence to be used in court. UNC police did not answer when asked if they had obtained a warrant to geofence the area. Scott Holmes, a law professor at North Carolina Central University and attorney for many who were later arrested at protests around the statue, said he had seen no such warrants provided to him by the District Attorney and hadn't heard of the geofence until contacted by NBC News. SBI did not respond to follow-up questions about whether the agency obtained a warrant for the use of the technology."

Nazi America. De facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Where did we lose ourselves? ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms. At a time our formerly great country remains hopelessly divided. Time to wake up. Before too late.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

Not only is law enforcement engaging in the above, so are universities. The Washington Post reports:

"When Syracuse University freshmen walk into professor Jeff Rubin’s Introduction to Information Technologies class, seven small Bluetooth beacons hidden around the Grant Auditorium lecture hall connect with an app on their smartphones and boost their “attendance points.” And when they skip class? The SpotterEDU app sees that, too, logging their absence into a campus database that tracks them over time and can sink their grade. It also alerts Rubin, who later contacts students to ask where they’ve been. His 340-person lecture has never been so full. “They want those points,” he said. “They know I’m watching and acting on it. So, behaviorally, they change.” Short-range phone sensors and campuswide WiFi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students’ academic performance, analyze their conduct or assess their mental health."

Brave New World. Welcome to Nazi America.

"But some professors and education advocates argue that the systems represent a new low in intrusive technology, breaching students’ privacy on a massive scale. The tracking systems, they worry, will infantilize students in the very place where they’re expected to grow into adults, further training them to see surveillance as a normal part of living, whether they like it or not. “We’re adults. Do we really need to be tracked?” said Robby Pfeifer, a sophomore at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, which recently began logging the attendance of students connected to the campus’ WiFi network. “Why is this necessary? How does this benefit us? … And is it just going to keep progressing until we’re micromanaged every second of the day?”

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-27-19

In follow up to last week's edition, The Washington Post reports:

"When the Louisville Courier-Journal revealed earlier this month that former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin (R) had pardoned a slew of violent criminals during his final weeks in office, he cited his belief in second chances. But on Thursday, Bevin offered a different explanation for one particularly controversial pardon: He said he didn’t believe that a 9-year-old girl was raped, because her hymen was intact. “There was zero evidence,” Bevin told talk-radio host Terry Meiners of WHAS. Already under fire for handing out pardons to relatives of his supporters, Bevin is now facing an onslaught of criticism from medical and forensic experts. Scientists have debunked the notion that inspecting an alleged victim’s hymen can prove whether they were sexually assaulted, and found that most survivors of child sexual abuse do not have any physical damage. George Nichols, an expert in evaluating child abuse who also served as Kentucky’s chief medical examiner for 20 years, told the Courier-Journal on Thursday that Bevin “clearly doesn’t know medicine and anatomy.” Bevin, who had a reputation for making controversial and unproven claims during his single term as Kentucky’s governor, was narrowly defeated by Democrat Andy Beshear in November. Before leaving office, he issued 428 pardons, a group that includes multiple convicted murderers and sex offenders, the Courier-Journal reported. Asked Thursday by Meiners how he could stomach pardoning a child rapist, Bevin responded, “Which one?”

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety one weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred ninety one weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred ninety one weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

12-20-19

Law enforcement? Held to account? Hardly ever. The following is a rare exception. ABC News reports:

"The state’s attorney for Baltimore announced a 32-count indictment against a veteran police sergeant who allegedly engaged in a "pattern and practice of harassment and intimidation," according to prosecutors. Authorities opened an investigation into Baltimore Police Department Sgt. Ethan Newberg in May when he allegedly assaulted a bystander during an arrest, prosecutors said Thursday. The incidents in question occurred between July 1, 2018 and May 30, 2019, the Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore City said in a statement Thursday. "The indictment alleges that Sergeant Newberg acting beyond the scope of his authority, in a common pattern and practice, did knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully harass, detain and assault citizens who were engaged in lawful conduct for the improper purposes of dominating, intimidating and instilling fear in the citizens, in violation of the common law of Maryland; against the peace, government, and dignity of the state," the statement said."

Stunning, isn't it? This guy was certainly no inexperienced rookie:

"Newberg, who has been with the department for 24 years, could face up to 110 years in prison if convicted on all counts. He now faces 32 counts stemming from nine separate incidents, including the May 30 encounter in which he allegedly arrested a man without legal cause, according to a 17-page indictment handed down by a grand jury. Newberg, 49, was checking on warrant for a suspect when a bystander made a comment about the suspect being forced to sit on the wet concrete. Newberg then pursued the bystander as he was walking away from the scene and forced him into custody, according to the indictment. When the bystander challenged Newberg's authority to make the arrest, Newberg told him to "just go to jail and take your charge like a man," the indictment states. The man then asked again, "What am I going to jail for?" to which Newberg replied "Because you don’t know how to act."

Jesus Christ. Full of himself. Full of shit. A jackbooted piece of crap in blue who Adolf and Benito would have been proud of. Think they're not 'high-fiving' on their fiery perches?

"Prosecutors claimed Newberg had a history of unlawfully detaining citizens who appeared to question his conduct."

If so, how did it go on as long as it did? No ongoing vetting during employment? Why not?

“Several of Newberg’s unlawful detentions and assaults occurred as a direct result of citizens sitting or standing idly nearby [as] Newberg was conducting other police business, causing no disturbance nor creating any threat to Newberg or his colleagues," the indictment states. "Several occurred as citizens openly, from a distance, called into question what Newberg was doing to or with another citizen; others occurred when citizens attempted to video record what Newberg was doing to or with another citizen."

Uncommon Valor on the part of the citizenry. Certainly, could have gotten themselves killed or beaten up by this piece of shit.

"In another incident, Newberg allegedly arrested a man who was standing by while the officer interrogate[s] a suspect. Newberg ordered the man to walk away and he complied. But Newberg began to follow him, saying, "You don't make the rules out here, we do. All I want to hear from you is, 'You're right.'" It wasn't until the individual apologized that Newberg released him from custody. As the man was being released, Newberg added: "Hey, don't play me … You owe me … Don't mess with me."

Jackbooted piece of human excrement. Unfit to wear the uniform.

"In a separate case, Newberg illegally detained a man who was sitting on the steps of a house and accused him of interfering with a traffic stop, according to the indictment. "I don't know what your problem is. Why are you testing me? Do you know me? Have you seen me out here before? Ask around … I'm the sergeant they talk about," Newberg said, according to body camera footage. In all, Newberg faces 11 counts of second-degree assault, 11 counts of false imprisonment, 10 counts of misconduct in office and one count of misconduct in office by way of a common scheme to commit unlawful acts."

ABC News reports:

"Body camera video belonging to a veteran city police sergeant charged with forcibly arresting someone without justification has revealed a pattern of similar abuses, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Thursday. The suspended Sgt. Ethan Newberg, 49, has now been indicted on 32 additional counts of false imprisonment, assault and misconduct in office, she told reporters at a news conference. He surrendered to authorities that afternoon and was held without bond pending a Friday bail review hearing, Newburg's attorney, Joseph Murtha, said.

"Newberg repeatedly gave reasons for arrests or detentions, such as the incitement of a crowd, without any supporting evidence, according to the indictment. Mosby says her office still is debating what to do with the arrests and convictions involving Newberg, who remains suspended with pay. He was paid the highest of any city employee for the fiscal year that ended in June, with his salary totaling more than $260,000 when accounting for overtime."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

In follow up to a recent edition of this publication, CBS News reports:

"A Los Angeles police officer has been charged with a felony after footage captured by a body camera allegedly showed him fondling a deceased woman's breasts."

One sick puppy.

"Investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department's Internal Affairs Division arrested 27-year-old David Rojas, a 4-year veteran of the department, on Thursday, reports CBS Los Angeles. Rojas was charged with one count of having sexual contact with human remains without authority, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. He was released from jail on a $20,000 bond, The Associated Press reported, citing a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department inmate locator website. If convicted as charged, Rojas faces a possible maximum sentence of three years in state prison."

Readers will recall:

"The allegation against Rojas was brought to the department's attention last month during an investigation into the fatal overdose of the woman. On October 20, Rojas and his partner, both male, responded to the call and reportedly confirmed the unidentified woman was dead. One left to retrieve paperwork from a patrol car while Rojas stayed with the body inside a room. It was at that point that Rojas was said to have turned off his bodycam and "inappropriately touched the woman's body," LAPD officials confirmed. According to sources, the video showed him fondling the dead woman's breasts."

Pitiful.

Despite turning off the body camera, the son of a bitch didn't get away with it:

"Sources confirmed that even after he deactivated his camera, a two-minute buffer on the device captured the incident. Rojas turned in the body-worn camera at the end of his shift, as per protocol, where it was stored with thousands of others. The officer in charge of looking over video from the cameras was said to have picked one of the shelves at random. Los Angeles Police Department officials originally placed Rojas, who's assigned to downtown's Central Division, on leave with pay after the footage was seen during a random inspection. Police Chief Michel Moore and the police union recently implemented a protocol in which the LAPD could randomly check video footage from body-worn cameras. Moore said, "This incident is extremely disturbing and does not represent the values of the Los Angeles Police Department."

Certainly, hope not.

"The police union, which usually provides legal counsel for its members, said it won't defend Rojas, according to The Associated Press. The union's board said in a statement that, "We hope that District Attorney Jackie Lacey charging Mr. Rojas for his vile alleged crime will bring some solace to the deceased woman's family during their time of grieving. His alleged behavior is abhorrent and an affront to every law enforcement professional working for the LAPD."

Imagine being the family and having had to deal with this.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

In follow up to a mass murder recently covered in this publication and elsewhere, ABC News reports:

"New details have emerged in the deadly shooting at a Florida naval base, including a cryptic message that the suspect wrote just months before the attack, according to a federal report obtained by ABC News. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, a second lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force who authorities say killed three people and injured eight others after opening fire at the Naval Air Base Pensacola last week, wrote the phrase "the countdown has started" on Sept. 11, 2019 with no further explanation, according to a Joint Intelligence Bulletin released Friday. The post was written about four months before the Dec. 6 shooting, according to the report. The bulletin, which was issued by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, National Counterterrorism Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency, also stated that his social media included references to non-Muslims as "infidels" and defended jihad."

Was our national socialist, increasingly fascist government out to lunch, fast asleep?

"Sources previously told ABC News that investigators determined the shooting was likely a "terror" attack inspired by radical Islamic ideology."

Our failing government is certainly absent without leave under the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Get this:

"One post contained writings that were consistent with a 2010 statement from American-born cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in 2011 in a CIA-led drone strike, according to the report. "I'm against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil," the post read, according to the report. "What I see from America is the supporting of Israel which is invasion of Muslim countries, I see invasion of many countries by its troops, I see Guantanamo Bay. I see cruise missiles, cluster bombs and UAV."

Imagine that. This guy slips under the radar? Despite the fact we've lived in a goddamned de facto fascist police-state since 9/11? Forget? Both Democrats and Republicans gutlessly passed the USA 'Patriot' Act, 'Real' ID Act, Homeland 'Security' Act, and other extremely repressive laws effectively decimating all civil and constitutional rights and liberties in response to the catastrophe.

This, after the State Department failed to do full, comprehensive background investigations on the Saudi 9/11 terrorists before allowing them into this country. Worse, ignored warnings from the flight schools these bastards indeed wished to learn only how to fly straight and level, not take off and land. Instead, our formerly great country turned into a de facto fascist police-state, now transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. We've lost our country. Yet, both major political parties egregiously, gutlessly ignore this fact.

"The multi-agency report also detailed new information about what happened inside the classroom where the shooting took place. The attack lasted about 15 minutes, during which time Alshamrani unloaded 180 rounds of his ammo and fired directly at pictures of President Donald Trump and a former president, who was not named, according to the report. Alshamrani purchased a Glock 9 mm pistol legally by taking advantage of a federal gun law exception that allows foreign nationals to purchase weapons -- which is normally prohibited -- for hunting, authorities have said."

Interesting, isn't it?

"A witness told investigators that during the attack, Alshamrani made statements that were critical of U.S. military actions overseas, according to the report. Alshamrani, who was in the United States for flight training, was shot and killed by Escambia County Sheriff's deputies at the scene. The report stresses that federal authorities are not aware of any ongoing specific, credible threats to the public. The FBI-Jacksonville, the lead investigative agency, said the investigation into the shooting remains active and they are working under the presumption "that this was an act of terrorism."

You think?

"Our unified goal remains clear: to determine if the shooter acted alone or if anyone assisted, provided support for, or had knowledge of his attack in advance," according to the FBI's statement."

A bit after the fact, isn't it? Too little, too late.

"The victims in the attack were identified as Ensign Joshua Watson, 23; Airman Mohammed Haitham, 19; and Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, 21. The Navy posthumously advanced Haitham and Walters to Naval Aircrewman Mechanical 3rd Class on Saturday. "These sailors exhibited the finest warrior ethos and quick decision-making that undoubtedly saved many lives,” Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said in a statement. “They took action when it was needed most, with the same skill and professionalism that they’d exhibited throughout their service to our nation." Haitham and Walters had previously been proclaimed naval aircrewmen after they were awarded their Wings of Gold."

Uncommon Valor. Best of the best. Hat's off.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Bribery. A shakedown by a criminal jackbooted bastard in blue. ABC News reports:

"A Miami Beach police officer was arrested after the owner of a valet company told investigators he demanded $1,000 in cash each month in exchange for not issuing parking citations. Dante Zirio, 57, was arrested Saturday during a sting operation involving the owner of APS Parking LLC. Company owner Freddy Diaz gave the officer a $750 payment during a conversation that was captured on video. Zirio has been charged with extortion, bribery, and accepting an unlawful compensation for official behavior."

One reason of many why law enforcement can no longer be trusted.

“It's a sad day when a public official engages in such behavior, but it is good to know that internally we did the right thing to identify and arrest the perpetrator,” Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales said in an email to the city's mayor and commissioners."

The problem in law enforcement runs far deeper and wider.

This thieving f--ker was no inexperienced rookie:

"The Miami Herald reported a pre-disciplinary hearing is scheduled for Monday and Zirio's employment status will be determined after that. He's worked for the city for 20 years. Morales told the newspaper investigators believe Zirio acted alone, but he directed police to start an investigation to make sure. “We will not tolerate any act of bribery or public corruption in the City of Miami Beach,” he said."

Public deserves no less.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

The jackbooted bastards in blue are violently out of control. This piece of shit assaulted a school kid. CBS News reports:

"Surveillance video from a North Carolina middle school shows a school resource officer walking a student down a hallway then suddenly stopping, slamming him to the ground twice, then dragging him, reports CBS Raleigh affiliate WNCN-TV. The officer was put on paid leave after the video surfaced. It was recorded Thursday in Vance County Middle School. The officer is an employee of the Vance County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Curtis Brame says he handed the investigation to the State Bureau of Investigation after reviewing the video, which had no audio. The officer's name wasn't released."

Why not? The public is entitled to know the identity of its jackbooted oppressors in uniform.

"When we first saw the video, we were stunned, we were shocked. We all are parents and grandparents that have children at that same age, so it brought some great concern to us," Brame told WNCN. … (The video) is very graphic. I don't expect my deputy or any deputy or law enforcement in North Carolina to carry out their duties in that way." Vance County District Attorney Mike Waters said the extent of the child's injuries could impact any potential charges. The boy's father said he's recovering at home, but declined to say more. His sister told WNCN he'll be OK."

Sue the living shit out of the bastard, department, and county.

In update, CBS News reports:

"A North Carolina sheriff's deputy is out of a job after surveillance video caught him slamming a middle school student to the ground twice last week, the Vance County Sheriff's Office confirmed to CBS News on Monday. Lieutenant James Goolsby of the sheriff's office said the State Bureau of Investigation was investigating the incident at Vance County Middle School in Henderson."

NBC News reports:

"A North Carolina school resource officer seen on video slamming a middle school student twice on the ground has been fired from the sheriff's department and charged with assault, officials said. Vance County sheriff's deputy Warren Durham faces charges of misdemeanor assault on a child under 12, misdemeanor child abuse and willful failure to discharge duties related to his employment with the sheriff's office, the county's prosecutor said Tuesday. Durham also lost his job after footage surfaced of him picking the 11-year-old up into the air and throwing the student face-first onto the floor at Vance County Middle School, about 45 miles north of downtown Raleigh. The deputy then picked the child up again and slammed him on the ground a second time before he roughly yanked the boy to his feet, video obtained by NBC affiliate WRAL showed."

A jackbooted nazi storm trooper. Adolf and Benito would have been proud.

"The incident happened Thursday, and the school reported it to the school district that day. In a statement Thursday, the sheriff's department said the deputy was placed on administrative leave and it referred the incident to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. On Monday, the department said the deputy was "no longer an employee." Mike Waters, district attorney for Vance County, said Tuesday that a warrant has been issued for Durham's arrest. He said Durham was charged with misdemeanors rather than felonies because the boy did not suffer serious bodily injuries. "As a part of this investigation, we will be seeking to make sure that Mr. Durham does not ever serve as a law enforcement officer here," Waters said."

What about the rest of the state and country, Mr. District Attorney? This son of a bitch will likely wind up employed in law enforcement elsewhere. What will you do to prevent this?

"The boy's grandfather, a pastor, on Monday said, "What happened to my grandson was very bad." Pastor John Miles said at a news conference Tuesday that the family was disappointed in the misdemeanor charges, but he thanked officials. "We wanted them to be felony charges," he said. "But as the D.A. said, they went by the law book and they went by the guidelines."

The law needs to change. The actions by this piece of shit could have killed the kid. Why isn't this attempted murder? Why is it the officer will likely wind up employed elsewhere as a cop?

"Miles said previously that his grandson called his mother after the incident, and that an assistant principal at the school took him home. The boy's mother has said he has a bump on his head from the incident but was not hospitalized. The Vance County school district said the incident was "unacceptable and egregious." "We are disappointed, embarrassed and most of all, want to express our apologies to our community that this occurred," the district said in a statement Monday. "No student should ever experience this anywhere, especially not in our schools. We are better than this."

Are we? Think so? This shit goes on all over the country. This is a case that's effectively no less than attempted murder. Yet, the bastard is charged with a misdemeanor.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Nothing quite like the self-serving hypocrisy of law enforcement. CBS News reports:

"The family of a New York City college student fatally stabbed in a city park last week is blasting a police union head for claiming the young woman was in the park to buy marijuana. Tessa Majors, an 18-year-old freshman at Barnard College, died after being stabbed in Morningside Park Wednesday night. Police on Thursday took into custody a 13-year-old who admitted he was part of a group that went to the park to rob someone, and said he watched as his friend stabbed and choked the young woman, CBS News' Errol Barnett reported. Police said Majors was able to stagger her way up a set of stairs where a school security guard came to her aid and called 911. She later died at a hospital. The New York City medical examiner said Monday she suffered stab wounds to the torso and ruled her death a homicide."

Here's the issue:

"Sunday, Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins drew outrage when he told radio host and businessman John Catsimatidis: "We have an 18-year-old college student at one of the most prestigious universities in the country murdered in a park. What I'm understanding is she was in the park to buy marijuana." In a statement released to the New York Daily News Monday, Majors' family called the comments "deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder." Police have not said why Majors was in the park and have not mentioned any potential drug link. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment from CBS News Monday."

What could they say? Clearly, the bastard responsible for the unfounded comment had an agenda.

"We would ask Mr. Mullins not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation, just as the NYPD asked our family not to comment as it conducts the investigation," the family statement continued."

The above is the hypocrisy. The following is the bastard's agenda:

"Mullins pointed to a "hands-off" enforcement of marijuana laws in New York, where possession of a small amount of the drug is now enforced as a violation rather than a criminal offense. "Think about that -- we don't enforce marijuana laws anymore, we're basically hands off on enforcement of marijuana. Here we have a student murdered by a 13-year-old and the common denominator is marijuana. My question to the people of New York City is -- why is this happening?" Mullins is an outspoken critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has supported the legalization of recreational marijuana. Critics on social media suggested Mullins was using the young woman's murder to further his political agenda."

No question.

Worse? The following is disingenuous bullshit by this craven asshole:

"In response to the family's statement, Mullins told the Daily News his comments were directed at De Blasio, not Majors. "I can't imagine what [the family is] going through," Mullins said."

You're a hopelessly clueless asshole, Mr. Mullins.

"De Blasio on Twitter called Mullins' comments "heartless" and "infuriating." "We don't shame victims in this city," De Blasio said. Majors was a musician and aspiring journalist. The 13-year-old suspect is being charged as a juvenile with felony second degree murder, robbery and possession of a weapon, Barnett reports. Barnett reports another teen was questioned and a third is being sought. The 13-year-old is due back in family court on Tuesday."

In update, CBS News reports:

"A 14-year-old boy considered a second suspect in the stabbing death of Tessa Majors bolted from a car in Harlem on the way to meet with police Monday night, a law enforcement source told CBS News' Pat Milton. A manhunt is now underway for the boy. The teenager was being driven in by a family member for voluntary police questioning when he escaped from the car. Police searched for the boy for hours, but have yet to find him. The 14-year-old is the second suspect in Majors' death last Wednesday in Morningside Park, near Columbia University's campus. A 13-year-old has already confessed to being part of a group who attempted to rob Majors in the park. The younger boy said he watched as his two friends choked and stabbed her to death."

Amazing how young these kids are that were involved in this murder. Where were the parents?

"The 13-year-old was caught trespassing in a building on Thursday wearing clothes that matched the description of the suspect. He later confessed to being involved in the attack. Police arrested him for criminal trespass and during a search found he was carrying a knife. He later confessed that he and two others murdered Majors, CBS New York reports. He is in custody and being held without bail. Majors, 18, a freshman at Barnard College, was stabbed several times in Morningside Park, near West 116th Street, shortly before 7 p.m. local time last Wednesday. She staggered up a staircase onto the street where a school security guard found her and called 911. Five people have reported being robbed at or near the same staircase since June, The New York Times reports."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

The criminal jackbooted bastards in blue are perversely out of control. NBC News reports:

"A Honolulu police officer admitted Monday that he instructed a homeless man to lick a public urinal if he wanted to avoid being arrested. John Rabago was charged earlier this year with conspiring to deprive the man, identified in court documents as S.I., of his civil rights in connection with the Jan. 28, 2018, incident in Honolulu. Rabago originally denied the accusations, but admitted Monday in court that he told the homeless man that he would not be arrested if he licked the urinal, according to NBC affiliate KHNL in Hawaii. The man complied, Rabago said."

-- Clearly, not only an out of control exceptionally perverse asshole, but shameless liar as well.

"Officers were responding to a nuisance complaint when they found the homeless man in a public restroom, according to court documents. Rabago and Officer Reginald Ramones were in the bathroom with the man when Rabago repeatedly instructed him to lick the urinal, then told Ramones to close the door so that a camera would not catch what happened next, court documents said."

Jesus Christ. Needs to be a special place in Hell reserved for assholes like this officer.

"Once defendant Ramones closed the bathroom door, co-defendant Rabago again instructed S.I. to lick the urinal. S.I. then reluctantly knelt down before the urinal and licked the urinal. Co-defendant Rabago then allowed S.I. to gather his possessions and leave the bathroom," court documents said. Rabago followed the homeless man out of the bathroom, and laughed as he told officers outside about what had just happened. He said "the incident was 'just like what happened at Cartwright Field'" when he had told a "man that he would avoid arrest only if he stuck his head in a toilet," according to court documents."

Nothing quite like the 'best' in law enforcement, is there?

"Later, Rabago and Ramones learned that the department and the FBI were investigating what had happened. Rabago told Ramones to delete text messages about the incident and tell investigators that he was joking when he told the homeless man to lick the urinal."

Nothing quite like obstruction and lying, is there?

"Ramones was also charged with conspiring to deprive the man of his civil rights, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges earlier this year after agreeing to cooperate with investigators. He left the department in August. Meanwhile, Rabago has been on restrictive duty, and is expected to be fired. He could be sentenced to 30 months in prison."

That's all?

“Justice has prevailed because John Rabago has admitted that he violated the victim's constitutional rights,” Rabago's attorney Megan Kau said Monday, according to KHNL. “He’s very remorseful, which is why he took responsibility.”

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Especially, considering the nature and circumstances of the offense. To say nothing of the fact he could have prevented the incident from happening in the first place.

"The homeless man, identified by his family as Samuel Ingall, has been in and out of prison and was featured in a documentary about Hawaii's homeless crisis called "No Room in Paradise," according to KHNL. Ingall was shown in the documentary checking into a homeless shelter and vowing to clean up his act, but he quickly ended up hospitalized for a crystal meth overdose. His family told KHNL that he was not familiar with the officers who approached him, and was not sure why they surrounded him in a bathroom he often used because an employee would leave the door unlocked for him. The family alleged that the officers also hit Ingall, "made him sit in pee" and forced his head into a toilet. "He just said that they put him in the water and that he couldn't breathe and that he was choking when they brought him up," his sister, Mary Ingall said."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Law enforcement cannot be trusted. Top-down. Bottom-up. Duplicity? Off the chart. NBC News reports:

"Two police chiefs in Vermont’s largest city were ousted Monday after they anonymously taunted and “engaged” critics of Burlington’s police department, officials said. The first chief to go, Brandon del Pozo, resigned Monday. The departure came after a local newspaper, Seven Days, reported that the former chief had targeted Charles Winkleman, a local political activist and critic of the department, with a series of tweets over the summer under the handle “Winklewatchers.”

Jesus Christ. Don't want criticism? Stop behaving like criminal jackbooted assholes. Worse? Feel obliged to respond to criticism? No problem. Do it publicly. Courageously identify yourselves. Instead of gutlessly hiding behind a false identity.

"In a statement Friday, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said del Pozo told him about the Twitter account on July 28. He also told Weinberger that he’d lied to a reporter when questioned about it."

Gutless piece of shit. ... Right, Sheriff?

“I immediately placed the chief on administrative leave, directed him to turn in his badge, gun, and city phone, and instructed him to cease using social media,” Weinberger said. The mayor tasked city officials to further investigate, Weinberger said, and they learned that del Pozo had an “underlying mental health condition that impacted his actions.” After a six week hiatus, del Pozo was cleared to return to work, Weinberger said. Weinberger formally reprimanded del Pozo, he said, but declined further discipline, saying, among other things, that he had “self-reported” the tweets and that medical professionals had attributed them to his condition."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Since when has an ordinary citizen committed some infraction and been afforded similar treatment? That is, let off the hook.

Gets worse. Get this:

"Three days after Seven Days' story, del Pozo — who apologized to the reporter he'd lied to — submitted his resignation letter to the mayor, Weinberger said. In a news conference announcing del Pozo's departure, the mayor appointed Deputy Chief Jan Wright as his temporary replacement. But within hours, Weinberger had stripped Wright of that title after she disclosed operating an anonymous Facebook account under the pseudonym “Lori Spicer,” Weinberger said. She made “comments about and engaged citizens in discussion of Police Department policy and practice,” Weinberger said."

Think you've heard it all? LOL. You haven't. LOL. Ponder this:

"A screenshot of a message obtained by NBC affiliate WBTS showed that she also appeared to have targeted Winkleman. “Just admit it,” she reportedly wrote to him in a Facebook comment. “You are obsessed with Chief del Pozo. You can’t get enough of him. He definitely lives rent free in your head. Seek help.”

LOL. ... Don't you love it? LOL.

"During a city council meeting after Wright’s demotion, Winkleman called for the resignation of Weinberger and Wright, WBTS reported. Referencing the Facebook message, he said: “Does that sound like a deputy that cares about mental health?” Weinberger said that officials would now review all of Wright’s posts. He added that her disclosure hinted at a deeper problem within the department, and that he would enlist an outside investigator to examine its social media policies and activity."

The problem is not the posting itself. It's the duplicity. To say nothing of the gutlessness displayed using a pseudonym.

"The new acting chief, Jon Murad, “confirmed explicitly” to city officials that he had never used social media anonymously, Weinberger said in a statement."

Hopefully, the new acting chief isn't a gutless liar. LOL.

CNN News reports:

"The controversy has roots dating back to last July, as Mayor Miro Weinberger outlined in a statement last Friday. That month, del Pozo told the mayor that he'd been running a Twitter account anonymously under the handle @WinkleWatchers. Through the account, del Pozo targeted a local man who had been critical of the police department. Tweeting from the anonymous account, del Pozo called local community organizer Charles Winkleman a "cowardly creature hiding behind an electron curtain," according to screen shots confirmed by Burlington city officials."

An officer who hides behind a pseudonym is worse than an achingly hypocritical, gutless coward. He or she is a disgrace.

"The account has since been deleted."

Surprised? LOL.

"The mayor said he put del Pozo on administrative leave but later reinstated him. "When dealing with personnel issues as mayor, I generally believe that people deserve second chances if possible, particularly when they have come forward to admit error," he said in the statement."

Amazing, isn't it, offenders stopped by police don't receive similar treatment?

The Mayor's judgment certainly remains in question:

"At a news conference that day, the mayor announced that Wright would be acting chief. However, that announcement quickly unraveled. Soon after the news press conference, Wright told the mayor she had "occasionally operated a Facebook account under the name 'Lori Spicer' through which she made comments about and engaged citizens in discussion of Police Department policy and practice." As a result, she had to step down as acting chief. "While Deputy Chief Wright's situation may be very different than Chief del Pozo's, given the circumstances the department is facing, I found the failure to raise this issue with me in the lead-up to today to constitute a lapse in judgment," the mayor said."

Why wasn't she immediately fired? Time to wake up, Mr. Mayor. This is but one reason, of an endless list of reasons, law enforcement has no credibility. Cannot be trusted.

"Wright remains a deputy chief on full duty, the city told CNN Tuesday."

Jesus Christ. Incredible. Simply, incredible.

"But the target of del Pozo's ire said he didn't think that was enough. "The entire scandal and coverup is petty, shameful, and a deeply disturbing display of no accountability or oversight in this city," Winkleman, the target of del Pozo's anonymous account, told CNN in an email."

The problem is clearly top-down. Management? Sadly, lacking.

Kicker? Get this:

"The city said it will be seeking an independent investigation to review the police department's social media use and policies."

'Symbolism over substance,' to shamelessly quote the Rush Limbaugh nazi.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

The bullshit never ends. NBC News reports:

"The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups sued Customs and Border Protection Wednesday to release records concerning units they say are deployed at airports to “target, detain and interrogate innocent travelers.” The ACLU filed a lawsuit Wednesday calling for CBP to release records about its Tactical Terrorism Response Teams, which the civil rights group described as “highly secretive units” which operate at airports and U.S. ports of entry to detain, question and deny entry to people “with valid travel documents who present no security risk.” The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, said TTRT officers can target travelers who do not present a security risk “but may hold information or have a connection to individuals of interest to the U.S. government.”

Raw nazism. A de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"The ACLU was joined by CUNY Law School's Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility project and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation in the suit. The lawsuit is asking the court to order CBP to disclose requested records to the civil rights groups. “The tools, methods, and criteria TTRT officers use to determine which travelers to target for detention, search, questioning and/or denial of entry remain secret, as are any policies and guidelines that govern TTRT activities,” the lawsuit said."

What took so long?

"In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the ACLU said the “public has a right to know how these teams operate, how their officers are trained, and whether the guidelines that govern their activities contain civil liberties and privacy safeguards.” “We also want to know just how many individuals are subject to detention, questioning, and/or denial of entry into the United States by these teams, and the basis for these decisions,” the ACLU added."

The public has a right to this information. Forget? A true democratic republic has no secret police.

"The statement said that in November 2018, CBP officers detained Andreas Gal, the former chief technology officer at Mozilla and a current Apple employee, at the San Francisco International Airport upon landing from a business trip to Sweden. Gal was allegedly not given a reason for being detained, except that his receipt from a Global Entry kiosk was marked “TTRT.” The officers then allegedly asked Gal, a U.S. citizen, about his activism, according to the ACLU."

It's none of this goddamned government's business. Where did we lose ourselves? Why are we tolerating this shit? That is, the determined, concerted infringement of all civil and constitutional rights and liberties by our increasingly national socialist, fascist government? Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Gal is “an outspoken proponent of online privacy and has spoken publicly about his opposition to warrantless mass surveillance and views on the current administration’s policies,” the ACLU wrote. The officers also allegedly repeatedly sought to search Gal’s electronic devices, according to the suit. He was eventually allowed to leave, according to the ACLU."

Nazi America. Where did we lose ourselves?

Gets worse:

"Abdikadir Mohamed, an immigrant, was allegedly detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in Dec. 2017, the ACLU wrote. He was approached by CBP officers on his way to board a flight to reunite with his pregnant wife and daughter in Ohio after he had cleared immigration and security screenings, according to the ACLU. He was allegedly taken to a separate room where he was interrogated for 15 hours before CBP deemed he was “inadmissible” and sought to deport him, the ACLU said. Mohamed fought his deportation and sought asylum in the U.S., which he won after 19 months in detention, according to the ACLU."

A de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

“CBP’s treatment of Andreas and Abdi is disturbing, and they are not isolated incidents,” the ACLU wrote. “We now know that the officers that targeted Andreas and Abdi are part of a secretive team CBP has deployed to at least 46 airports and other U.S. ports of entry.”

These jackbooted bastards are traitors. Have treasonously abrogated their oaths of office to protect and defend the United States Constitution.

"According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 1,400 people were denied entry to the U.S. as a result of TTRT efforts and information discovered during secondary inspections during fiscal year 2017."

A cancer. An exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Our formerly great country is under dire threat from within. From our own government.

The following is phony. Unadulterated bullshit. Worse? Abject insanity:

"Kevin McAleenan, the former acting Secretary of Homeland Security and former CBP commissioner, described the role the teams play in an interview last year with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The teams were “a conscious effort” for officers to use their instincts in “encounters that our officers have with travelers to make decisions based on risk for people that might not be known on a watch list, might not be a known security threat, and they’ve been a tremendous success in identifying previously unknown individuals that present a security risk and in denying entry to folks that were not watch listed prior to their travel.” CBP used a variety of metrics in determining the success of the teams, such “both hard data on individuals that were not watchlisted that were determined to be security risks during a border interview or inspection and were denied entry” and “watchlist nominations that devolve from a good interview at the border.” Customs and Border Protection said it was unable to comment on pending litigation."

No greater threat to our formerly great country since the Second World War. The threat is from the treasonous assholes who run and own our government. We remain a democratic republic in name only. Time to wake up.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

This increasingly insidious cancer within our government grows. Carefully, consider the following. NPR reports:

"Doubt about the FBI and Justice Department's practices exploded after Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report finding 17 omissions or other problems with filings connected to Carter Page, who served as a junior foreign policy aide to Donald Trump's campaign for a time in 2016. The secret court that oversees intelligence collection upbraided the FBI and Justice Department on Tuesday with a highly unusual order for them to re-validate their work. The extraordinary order, signed by Judge Rosemary Collyer, presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, requires officials to submit an explanation in writing about how they're remediating the problems identified by the recent inspector general report about the Russia investigation. Federal law enforcement leaders have until Jan. 10 to file a sworn submission about what they have done, or plan to do, "to ensure the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application," she wrote. Collyer also ordered a timetable for reforms and "an explanation of why, in the government's view, the information in FBI applications submitted in the interim should be regarded as reliable." The judge, in short, ordered federal law enforcement officials to explain why the court should trust what they submit when they're requesting warrants to collect the communications of people who figure in investigations."

The problem is not only out of control law enforcement goons. It's the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court itself. A secret court is not compatible with a democratic republic. It enables a fascist police-state.

Here's precisely why:

"Other critics observed that Tuesday was only the latest sign of problems with the secret court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that governs it and the activities of the agencies involved. "This was not the first time the government abused its surveillance powers, nor was it the first time the intelligence court was made aware of surveillance abuses," said Neema Singh Guliani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. She cited findings and admissions from an earlier era, in 2001 and 2000, about problems with surveillance applications. (Guliani's initial statement mistakenly referred to 2002, rather than 2000.) "Congress must radically reform the FISA process to increase accountability, and to ensure that there is a meaningful opportunity to challenge the government's allegations in FISA applications," said Guliani. "We can't trust the secret intelligence court alone to police this process."

This nazi court needs to be abolished. Presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

A new low. NBC News reports:

"A Wisconsin deputy sheriff is accused of breaking into and burglarizing the homes of people whom she knew would be at funeral services after she scoured local obituaries. Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Janelle Gericke allegedly carried out her scheme from February 2018 through June 2019, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the Wisconsin Department of Justice."

How did this go on as long as it did?

"In most instances, this occurred while the homeowners were attending the funeral of a family member. In such instances, the deceased person's online obituary listed the homeowners as surviving relatives along with the date and time of funeral services," the complaint said. Gericke, 29, who was fired from the sheriff's department in July, is accused of stealing a checkbook from a home while an 82-year-old man and his family were at his girlfriend's funeral."

Pitiful.

"Whenever Gericke was caught, she would usually make up a story about trying to find an address to complete at Facebook Marketplace transaction. Once, when a fellow deputy asked her what she was doing at a recently-deceased man's house during his funeral, she said she was there to buy a baby swing from Facebook Marketplace, but had gotten the address mixed up. The deputy contacted the owner of the house Gericke said she had meant to go to, but that person said they did not have a baby swing for sale. In another case, she told a family returning from a funeral that she was there to clean the home. Her fellow deputies also began recognizing Gericke, her car and dog from victims' surveillance footage, the criminal complaint said."

Clearly, her fellow officers were not criminals:

"Another colleague, a special agent, had sent an email to coworkers to say she would be out-of-state for two days. While monitoring her home through surveillance footage on her phone, the special agent saw a woman in her yard, appearing to look for a spare key. The woman was identified as Gericke, who was pregnant at the time. In June, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department sent deputies to monitor the homes of the family members of a recently deceased person whose obituary was published. Gericke showed up to two of the family members' homes, with her baby in tow, the complaint said. She entered one, leaving her infant in the car."

Incredibly sad, isn't it?

"The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office turned the investigation of Gericke over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice to maintain neutrality, according to a statement from the office. Sheriff Paul Milbrath apologized in the statement for "the embarrassment and mistrust that this individual may have caused." "Milbrath wants to reassure the public that the values, integrity and standards that the Sheriff’s Office has always represented will continue to be upheld and are as essential to the operations of the Sheriff’s Office today as they have always been," the statement said. "The Sheriff’s Office refuses to let events like this define itself and call into question the goodness of the people who work so hard every day to serve this community with honor and pride." If convicted, Gericke could face up to 12 and a half years in prison and fines of up to $25,000."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Think the following justice? NPR reports:

"Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin departed the governor's mansion three days ago, but the reverberations of some of his final actions are still being felt across the state. Bevin, a Republican who narrowly lost a bid for a second term last month, issued pardons to hundreds of people, including convicted rapists, murderers and drug offenders."

Aren't Republicans law and order hardliners?

"In one case, Bevin pardoned a man convicted of homicide. That man's family raised more than $20,000 at a political fundraiser to help Bevin pay off a debt owed from his 2015 gubernatorial campaign."

Called a bribe, isn't it?

"In all, the former governor signed off on 428 pardons and commutations since his loss to Democrat Andy Beshear, according to The Courier-Journal. The paper notes, "The beneficiaries include one offender convicted of raping a child, another who hired a hit man to kill his business partner and a third who killed his parents."

Nothing quite like justice, is there? Republicans have always been well known for excusing the criminal activity of their corporate masters. This action by Bevin certainly takes matters to an unparalleled new low:

"Bevin's controversial decisions have been greeted with shock and consternation from many across the state. Some residents reacted angrily to a Thursday Twitter post from Bevin's official account of a sunset along with #WeAreKY. "Winter sunset ... ," Bevin wrote, "Phone camera doesn't do it justice...Truly spectacular. #WeAreKY" Twitter user Josh Trosper blasted the governor in a tweet: "I guess you can snap pics when you don't have the time to look families (or voters) in the face and tell them you pardoned murderers and rapists."

No shit. LOL.

"Rob Sanders, the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he had backed Bevin, but that the pardons changed his mind. "I was somebody who supported him and believed in him and I'm disgusted at myself for having done so," Sanders said to the Enquirer about Bevin. One pardon that had Sanders — and many others — particularly outraged was that of Micah Schoettle. He's a 41-year-old convicted of raping a 9-year-old child last year. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison, according to the Courier-Journal. In his pardon order, Bevin wrote, "Micah Schoettle was tried and convicted of a heinous crime based only on testimony that was not supported by any physical evidence." He added: "This case was investigated and prosecuted in a manner that was sloppy at best. I do not believe that the charges against Mr. Schoettle are true." Bevin commuted Schoettle's sentenced to time served and ordered a full and unconditional pardon."

Jesus Christ. This, the new GOP definition of 'justice?'

"Another of Bevin's pardons was of Patrick Brian Baker, who was convicted in 2017 of murdering Donald Mills and tampering with physical evidence, among other charges. As the Courier-Journal also reports, Baker's family "raised $21,500 at a political fundraiser last year to retire debt from Bevin's 2015 gubernatorial campaign." Baker's brother and sister-in-law also donated $4,000 to Bevin campaign, according to a state election finance database, the paper reports."

Nothing quite like a bribe, is there?

"Patrick Baker is a man who has made a series of unwise decisions in his adult life," Bevin wrote in his pardon letter dated Dec. 6, adding that evidence in his conviction was "sketchy at best." "I am not convinced that justice has been served in the death of Donald Mills, nor am I convinced that the evidence has proven the involvement of Patrick Baker as murderer," Bevin wrote. Baker was sentenced to 19 years, but served just two. His sentence was commuted to time served and a pardon only for the charges connected to the conviction."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

While a step in the right direction, nowhere near good enough. CNN News reports:

"The Oregon Supreme Court decided officers in the state are no longer allowed to ask questions that are irrelevant to the reason for a traffic stop. When Mario Arreola-Botello was pulled over, he didn't understand much of what the Oregon police officer was telling him. Botello, a Latino, non-native English speaker, was stopped for failing to signal a turn and a lane change, his attorney, Josh Crowther told CNN. What happened next sparked a years-long court battle that landed at the state's supreme court. In a November ruling, the court decided officers in the state were no longer allowed to ask questions that were irrelevant to the reason of the traffic stop."

What took so long? Been a problem for decades. Predatory law enforcement.

"It's an issue that's often been tackled in courts across the country, but a University of North Carolina professor says there's never been a decision as "wide-reaching" as this one. And that's a problem because he says young black and Latino men are often targeted disproportionally when it comes to random car searches."

Would be a mistake to assume only people of color are targeted by these outrageously abusive assholes. Happens across the board. Generates income. Gives these bastards a chance to get their cookies off abusing authority.

"It really convinces people that they're not full citizens, that police are viewing them as suspects," UNC-Chapel Hill professor Frank Baumgartner says. "And that's a challenge to our democracy."

Again, routinely happens across the board. Drive a clunker? Count on it. Young driver? Nearly guarantied to be harassed by these assholes. ... Right, Sheriff?

"While the ruling addresses a nationwide issue, it only applies to one state. Drivers are being racially profiled but have to depend on their states to expand protections against racial bias and searches, ACLU attorney Carl Takei told CNN. "When the legal regime permits perpetual stops and searches," he says, "It enables widespread practices and harms to the people of color that are involved."

You have the right to remain silent. Take advantage of that. Anything you say to these pieces of shit will be distorted, turned into something it's not, and used against the target to line government coffers, allow these jackbooted bastards to get their cookies off abusing power.

Think this isn't a concerted effort to entrap? Wake up:

"In the ruling, Beaverton Police Department officer Erik Faulkner said he asked Arreola-Botello the same questions he usually asks during his traffic stops. "Do you have anything illegal in the car? Would you consent to a search for guns, drugs, knives, bombs, illegal documents or anything else that you're not allowed to possess?" Faulkner said, according to the ruling."

Immediately turn the tables. Ask the jackbooted bastard precisely what is his or her probable cause to ask these questions.

They do this to intimidate:

"By asking these questions, Baumgartner says, officers are often able to get what are known as "consent searches."

No more than a goddamned ruse. A charade.

"They're allowed to search a resident's car, not because they have probable cause to do so -- if the driver seems under the influence, or the officer can smell alcohol, for example --- but because the driver has agreed to a search."

Crafty, isn't it? Delusionally believe we don't live in a de facto fascist police-state?

"Young minority males are much more likely to have their car searched," he told CNN. But not more likely to have contraband, he says."

Fascinating, isn't it? Certainly, without question, these jackbooted bastards get their cookies off abusing power.

"In North Carolina, black drivers were 115% more likely to be searched if they were stopped, according to a study by Baumgartner, University of Texas at Austin professor Derek Epp and then-UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student Kelsey Shoub. The study looked at 20 million traffic stops across the state. These kinds of random searches targeting a certain profile have been standard police practice for decades, Baumgartner says."

Indeed, they have. Perpetrated on those who don't have the money to sue the living shit out of the criminal jackbooted motherf--kers.

"It's succeeded in one thing and that's alienating the black community. And it's alienated individuals who happen to be young men, who live in communities with very aggressive policing strategies," he said. "It has not succeeded in reducing crime rates because they're not catching very many criminals." But there's no way to track that kind of data nationally because many states don't require a database for routine traffic stops, Baumgartner says. That data is "critically important evidence in deciding whether police are engaging in illegal racial profiling," Takei with the ACLU says."

'Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.'

Sadly, law enforcement, with rare exception, remains hopelessly clueless:

"The ruling, DiPietro says, comes at a challenging time where police are striving for better communication with the community."

Are they? Delusionally, believe so?

The following is simply not credible:

"We want to be able to communicate with people and show them that ... we're just here for one reason, we're here to promote safety," he said."

Simply, not true. Across the board. As reported week after week, month after month, year after year in this publication and elsewhere.

The following is pathetic bullshit:

"But the problem with the ruling, he says, is it doesn't specify what they are and aren't allowed to say. "We haven't gotten complete clarification on that and that's what's frustrating," he said. "We don't want to be robotic."

Problem remains they abuse authority to line government coffers, get their cookies off abusing authority. No indication that will change any time soon.

"One thing is for sure: Officers in Oregon can't use an awkward silence for justification of asking questions -- which a previous United States Supreme Court case hadn't clarified. In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that a "seizure justified only by a police-observed traffic violation ... 'become[s] unlawful if it is prolonged beyond the time reasonably required to complete th[e] mission.'" In Arreola-Botell's case, the Oregon Court of Appeals said an officer was free to question a driver during an "unavoidable lull" in the traffic stop, "such as while awaiting the results of a records check." The state's Supreme Court disagreed. "That's what the importance of this decision is," Crowther says. That "unavoidable lull" is no longer justification for random questions in Oregon, he says."

Parsing of language by the courts is out of hand. Anything can be 'justified,' turned into something it's not, abused by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue.

"Rulings like this one are vital, Takei says. They add on protections that federal courts have stayed away from."

They do this to enhance power of government, encroach on life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Precisely, what the Founders were so afraid of happening.

"In the 1996 Supreme Court case Whren v. United States, the justices unanimously decided officers could detain a driver if they had "probable cause to believe that he has violated the traffic laws." That wouldn't violate the driver's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures, the court said, "even if a reasonable officer would not have stopped the motorist absent some additional law enforcement objective." In other words, police officers can be patrolling a high-drug area -- as was the case in Whren v. US --and stop a car only if they're suspicious it might contain contraband. "The Whren decision has been heavily criticized because of the way it allows widespread racial profiling throughout this mechanism of pretextual traffic stops," Takei said. Or, as Takei said, fishing expeditions."

Continues to happen all over our formerly great country. Especially, here in Nazi Llano County. ... Right, Sheriff?

"But authorities shouldn't be using traffic stops to launch into criminal investigations, Crowther says. And at least in Oregon, they won't be able to. "A decision like this will level the playing field and remove those biases," Crowther said. He hopes it's just the beginning. I'm hoping this is the groundwork or a stepping stone," Crowther said, for more decisions like this across the country."

Highly, unlikely. Certainly, not in the current political atmosphere.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-20-19

Surprising twist from U.S. Supreme Court. The Washington Post reports:

"The Supreme Court will not review a lower court decision that protected those experiencing homelessness from being ticketed for sleeping and camping on city sidewalks and parks if no other shelter is available. Without comment or noted dissent, the court turned down a petition from Boise, Idaho, whose law against camping and sleeping on sidewalks was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit as a violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The 9th Circuit decision applies in nine Western states, including California, where cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have seen the population of those experiencing homelessness explode because of soaring housing prices and income inequality."

Unsustainable, as our formerly great country continues to deteriorate. Greed rules. Forget?

"Do the homeless have a right to sleep on city streets? The 9th Circuit said the Eighth Amendment “prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter.” The decision added that “just as the state may not criminalize the state of being homeless in public places, the state may not criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless — namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the streets.”

Where are they supposed to go when, in fact, there is nowhere to go?

"Boise, joined by other cities covered by the decision, and activists for those experiencing homelessness differed on its ramifications. “The creation of a de facto constitutional right to live on sidewalks and in parks will cripple the ability of more than 1,600 municipalities in the Ninth Circuit to maintain the health and safety of their communities,” Boise argued."

What about the health and safety of the homeless who have nowhere to go and no resources? If you jail them should they most likely fail to pay a ticket, taxpayers pay their lodging, food, healthcare, etc., at highly inflated cost.

“Public encampments, now protected by the Constitution under the Ninth Circuit’s decision, have spawned crime and violence, incubated disease, and created environmental hazards that threaten the lives and well-being both of those living on the streets and the public at large.”

You offer no solution. Just empty rhetoric.

"But activists, including the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, said the city and its advocates had exaggerated the breadth of the 9th Circuit’s decision to try to win Supreme Court review. “It does no more than prohibit the imposition of criminal penalties against homeless individuals who engage in the simple act of sleeping outside when no alternative shelter is available to them — something that already is supposed to be prohibited under Boise’s current law,” the activists said. “That result is limited in scope and reflects the ought-to-be uncontroversial principle that a person may not be charged with a crime for engaging in activity that is simply a universal and unavoidable consequence of being human,” they said."

Disingenuous parsing of language by all in our formerly great country has become a severe impediment to problem solving.

"The Boise case dates back a decade, when Robert Martin and five other individuals experiencing homelessness were given tickets of $25 to $75 for camping on the sidewalks or in parks. The case is Boise v. Martin."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred ninety weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred ninety weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred ninety weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

12-13-19

Uncommon Valor. As always, when law enforcement does something heroic, and/or of exceptional benefit to the community, it leads. Always. The Washington Post reports:

"A Saudi Arabian military pilot training in the United States opened fire Friday morning at Naval Air Station Pensacola, leaving three people dead and several others wounded before Florida sheriff’s deputies shot and killed him. It was the second deadly shooting at U.S. naval base this week. Federal and state officials confirmed that the gunman was participating in aviation training, although they would not disclose details on his status with the Saudi military."

The following rings hollow, lacks credibility:

"President Trump said on Twitter that Saudi King Salman had called him “to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies.” “The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people,” Trump tweeted."

Considering the recent brutal murder of a U.S.-based reporter by Saudi authorities outside this country, the 9/11 catastrophe committed by Saudi nationals, as well as the egregious looting of Americans for Saudi crude last four decades, those condolences ring hollow, seriously lack substance.

"Authorities would not release the name of the shooter and have said little else about the shooting, or their investigation into the deadly attack. It was unclear whether the three deceased victims were service members or civilians, said Lt. Cmdr. Megan Isaac, a Navy spokeswoman. Multiple people were taken to area hospitals, including two Escambia County sheriff’s deputies who are expected to survive. “I can tell you lives were saved because of the response of people both in uniform with the Navy and in uniform with Escambia County Sheriff’s Office,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said. “In one of the darkest days, I think, in the base’s history, you still saw some of that bravery and grit come out.”

Indeed, Uncommon Valor. Under horrendous circumstances.

"Reports of an active shooting inside an air station classroom came in at 6:51 a.m., drawing a major law enforcement response in the Florida Panhandle city. The base was placed on lockdown, the Navy said, with its gates secured. After about an hour, the sheriff’s office announced that the shooter was dead. The incident shook a community whose identity is deeply entwined with the base, with many residents either employed there or tied to the industry that sprawls alongside Pensacola Bay. The number of personnel assigned there is almost half the population of the city itself. As the military facility’s gates remained closed into Friday afternoon, authorities stressed that they are in the beginning stages of their investigation. They said they could release only limited information.

"Baptist Health Care said it had admitted eight patients from the shooting but could not yet report on their conditions. “Our teams are treating patients and we are working with Navy personnel to communicate with family members,” the hospital said in a statement. Naval Air Station Pensacola, which hosts 16,000 military personnel and more than 7,000 civilians, is known as the “cradle of Naval aviation.” It’s home to the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron and is the first stop for training to become Naval pilots or flight officers. The air station schoolhouse also trains pilots from partner militaries around the world."

Better vetting, clearly required. Reconsideration of who our allies truly are, that is, who comes into this country to train and who doesn't.

"Base security and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating, the Navy said in a statement, adding that victims’ names “will not be released until the next of kin have been notified.” DeSantis said the state’s emergency management agency had deployed an official to coordinate mental health resources for those impacted by the shooting. He said he had talked to President Trump about the need for the Saudi Arabian government to help victims, adding that “they’re going to owe a debt here.” “I think there’s obviously going to be a lot of questions about this individual being a foreign national being a part of the Saudi air force and then to be here training on our soil,” he said.

"The shooting in Florida came just two days after a gunman opened fire at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam near Honolulu, killing two and injuring a third before shooting and killing himself. The shooter in that incident was identified as an active-duty U.S. Navy sailor and his three victims as civilian Defense Department employees working on the base’s shipyard."

Low-grade insurrection. Sadly, far worse to come as our formerly great country continues to deteriorate.

CBS News reports:

"Joshua Kaleb Watson was one of three people killed by a gunman Friday at Naval Air Station Pensacola, CBS News has learned. The 23-year-old graduated this year from the United States Naval Academy, CBS News' David Begnaud reports. As a student, the Alabama native made the Dean's List, and he was captain of the rifle team. Watson's brother said in a Facebook post his final act saved countless lives. "After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable," Adam Watson posted. "He died a hero," he said, adding, "we are beyond proud."

Uncommon Valor.

"CBS News has learned the gunman's name was Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Arabian national and a pilot-in-training for the Saudi Air Force. He had been training in the United States since 2017. The FBI is investigating Alshamrani's social media posts and whether he acted alone. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., someone matching Alshamrani's identity had an extensive online footprint. In a Twitter post, the writer says, "O American people, I'm not against you for being American, I don't hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity."

Be interesting to see if this post is indeed that of the killer.

"Investigators are looking for any signs of radicalization going back to Alshamrani's upbringing in Saudi Arabia. Investigators are not saying if the shooting was an act of terror. They have not stated a possible motive. "We are not prepared at this hour to confirm what may have motivated the shooter to commit this horrific act today," Rachel Rojas, special agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, said Friday. The sprawling naval base was locked down on Friday after Alshamrani – one of a few hundred foreign nationals training at the Naval Air Station Pensacola – stormed a classroom and opened fire with a handgun. The FBI is trying to determine how a foreign national obtained a handgun, which is prohibited by law, and brought it onto the base. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday he'll look at the vetting measures that go into accepting foreign nationals to be able to train."

12-13-19

Nothing quite like a little badly needed help from your friends, -- just in the nick of time. LAS VEGAS (KTNV) reports:

"A lucky cat is safe thanks to Nevada Highway Patrol."

Indeed, one extremely lucky cat.

"NHP tweeted photos of the feline on Wednesday, saying the department received calls of a cat in the center median of the Interstate 15 near Spring Mountain Road during rush hour. Troopers responded to the call and said, "the cat was very scared, soaking wet and dirty."

#kittyrescue Troopers received a call of a cat in the center median at I-15/Spring Mtn during rush hour. The cat was located and didn’t put up much of fight when located, the cat was very scared, soaking wet and dirty. Troopers brought the feline to the Animal Foundation. #nhp pic.twitter.com/RQwyqKNCgH
— NHP Southern Command (@NHPSouthernComm) December 5, 2019"

Officers certainly rose to the occasion.

"The agency says the cat is safe and was brought to the Animal Foundation."

Hat's off.

12-13-19

More of the same old abuse, glaring lack of professionalism. ABC News reports:

"Police say the “emergency takedown,” which was caught on cellphone video, happened after the 29-year-old suspect spat in the officer’s face. Two Chicago police officers have now been relieved of their duties as officials investigate an arrest that was caught on camera and showed one of them slamming a man to the ground. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability opened an investigation into the Nov. 28 incident last week and recommended that the officer who was seen throwing the man to the ground be relieved of his police powers until the case is closed. On Wednesday, the agency recommended the second officer at the scene also be relieved, according to a statement."

This is, indeed, a highly-convoluted case. Had thought about including it in last week's edition, but decided to hold off until additional information became available. At that time, only one of the officers had been relieved of his duties. Now, both are relieved, under investigation, an indication civilian oversight itself has a problem with how all this went down. Complicating matters is the issue of the victim's mental illness as well as troubling claims made by the woman who took the video.

"Two officers could be seen in the video, which the city's mayor called "very disturbing," but only one was seen picking up the man and throwing him to the curb. Police say that Bernard Kersh, the 29-year-old man in the video, was under arrest for drinking in public when he became verbally abusive and then spit on, as well as threatened, one of the officers. Kersh has since been charged with aggravated battery of a peace officer, assault and resisting arrest. The young woman who took the now-viral video told ABC News that she did not see Kersh resist arrest. "That gentleman didn’t do anything wrong," Jovonna Jamison told ABC News in a telephone interview last Friday."

Additionally:

"Kersh's attorney told ABC Chicago station WLS that his client has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. "He's suffered from it for the last six years. He needs some serious help and the fact that the officer reacted the way he did was completely out of control," attorney Sami Azhari told the station. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi previously said on Twitter the arrest was under investigation and the "actions depicted on a social media video" are being taken very seriously. Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the video "very disturbing." "While a single video does not depict the entirety of the interactions between the police and the individual, this particular video is very disturbing," she wrote on Twitter last Friday. Kersh was taken to the University of Chicago following the incident and treated."

The perpetrator should have simply been arrested, taken to jail. Not body slammed. Lack of professionalism, stunning.

CBS News reports:

"A Chicago police officer caught on video smashing a mentally ill man's head into the pavement is now facing a probe into whether he used excessive force. A new video is raising questions about the technique he used. In cellphone video taken by a bystander, officer Jerald Williams is seen body-slamming a man he'd been ticketing for drinking in public. It looked less like something he learned in the police academy, and more like something from a mixed martial arts cage match. Video shows him doing the same move. In the ring, Williams is known as Jerald "Bacon and Eggs" Williams. On the Chicago streets, he's assigned to the area south gang enforcement unit."

Jesus Christ.

"The victim's family says he is a man with schizophrenia named Bernard Kersh who was unarmed and accused of threatening the officer and trying to lick him. He was knocked unconscious and hospitalized. His mother, Keshia Johnson, said he's still having headaches. "My son could have been killed. I think more needs to be done," she said. Kersh's attorney called the body slam "excessive force." "We think, based on that martial arts take down, it was potential lethal force," attorney Andrew Stroth said."

Could have killed him. Become judge, jury, and executioner.

"While the body slam incident is under investigation, Williams and his partner have been taken off the street and put on desk duty. CBS News reached out to the police and were told Williams would not be available for an interview."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

Another rogue former trooper. CBS News reports:

"A former Pennsylvania state trooper who served a sentence for sexually abusing women and girls while on duty two decades ago has been sent back to prison after another sex crime involving a teen, reports CBS radio affiliate KYW. Michael K. Evans, 52, reportedly pleaded guilty in 2000 to sex crimes involving three women and three girls in Montgomery County between 1997 and 1999. He was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison and ordered to resign from the force. Evans was released on parole in 2008, but was still under supervised release when he admitted to indecent assault with a 15-year-old girl in Berks County, KYW reports."

Question asked is exceptionally simple. How does a guy like this become an officer in the first place? Where was the vetting? Didn't they do a full background investigation prior to and ongoing during his term of employment? Hard to believe he wasn't a predator well before his initial arrest.

"He was a predator," prosecutor Roderick Fancher said, reports KYW. "He was using a badge as a disguise to prey on women. Twenty years ago, he got a significant state sentence and is out there doing it again now that he's out of prison. He's engaging in the exact same behavior, the exact same thing."

System certainly failed. No question.

"Tuesday, according to the Times Herald, a Montgomery County judge ordered him sentenced to an additional 2-½ to five years in prison for violating the terms of his parole-- the maximum sentence allowable under state sentencing guidelines. The judge reportedly said his latest offense was similar to his previous crimes. "Certainly, he poses a danger to young women, who need protection from the courts from people like this defendant," Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter said, according to the paper. Evans additionally will be sentenced in Berks County for the latest crime, reportedly to 5-10 years in a negotiated plea for indecent assault, corruption of minors and indecent exposure. The paper reports he admitted to fondling a 15-year-old girl at his Mertztown home while engaging in a sex act with a woman, and instructing the teen to pose for suggestive photographs."

This guy has some serious mental issues. The system to date has failed to protect the public.

"At his 2000 sentencing, the Allentown Morning Call reported at the time, prosecutor Risa Ferman called Evans a predator who used his authority as a police officer to prey on vulnerable women. In the 1990s cases, Evans admitted in one instance to having sexual contact with a 15-year-old runaway he was transporting and offering to pay her for sex, the Morning Call reported. In another case, he admitted asking a 16-year-old to pose for suggestive photographs after responding to her home on the report of a burglary. In a third case, he reportedly admitted groping a teen girl he was transporting to a shelter. He also reportedly admitted soliciting sex from a woman accused in a high-speed chase in exchange for leniency, offering to protect a woman in a domestic abuse case in exchange for sex and exposing himself in front of a woman hospitalized after a drug overdose and failed suicide attempt."

How will the following protect the public from this incorrigible predator?

"Evans' attorney sought a sentence of 1½-to-3-years in prison for Evans latest offense, according to the Times Herald, arguing the new crime had nothing to do with his previous role as a state trooper. During questioning in court, Evans said "I'm pretty upset with myself" and said he realizes the latest incident re-opened wounds for his previous victims, according to the paper. "I feel the blame for that and the blame for my new victim," Evans testified."

Rings hollow.

"Francher reportedly said he hopes Evans' sentence in Berks County will be imposed consecutive to the Montgomery County term. "I hope he gets as much time as possible. He needs to be incapacitated," Fancher said."

To protect the public, needs to be institutionalized rest of his life. Laws need to change to allow this.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

No justice. No oversight. Corrupt law enforcement. Out of control. Prosecutors protect these bastards. NPR reports:

"A law enforcement scandal that could impact thousands of criminal cases in Orange County, Calif., is pitting the region's top attorneys and sheriffs against one another. The county's public defender's office on Wednesday suggested that top prosecutors covered for law enforcement, helping to keep widespread lapses in evidence booking out of public view. Now, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders is demanding to know who knew what and when."

Good luck.

"An internal investigation conducted two years ago by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the findings of which were not made public at the time, uncovered systematic mishandling of evidence. Deputies are required to turn in evidence at the end of their shift, but the audit found that more than 70% of them failed to do so. Instead, officers frequently waited days, weeks or even months to submit key evidence, including seized drugs, cash, photos and videos pertaining to criminal cases."

Nazi justice. Adolf and Benito would have been proud.

"According to the report obtained from the Orange County public defender's office by NPR, nearly a third of evidence collected between February 2016 to February 2018, which included more than 98,000 department records, was submitted after the department's mandated end-of-shift deadline. On average, deputies delayed booking evidence for 3 1/2 days. Additionally, 27% of deputies had held on to evidence for 31 days or longer. In some cases, they never submitted any evidence at all, even when they said they had."

Law enforcement cannot be trusted. Every one of these cases could be bogus or negatively impacted in some way or other. Every one of them. Each now in question. How could anyone be sure these cases were not trumped up by corrupt, abusive, lawless, criminal officers?

How can a jury convict when the evidence trail remains in dispute? Questions could go on and on. Certainly don't want the guilty to go free. At the same time, how can there be any certainty the jackbooted bastards aren't lying to cover their sorry asses?

"The alarming results prompted a second, much smaller audit of a sample group about a year later, in February 2019, according to sheriff's officials. That brought even grimmer news. After extensive research, auditors determined that 47% of the reports that were supposed to include evidence did not."

How can a jury reliably convict under such circumstances? Nazi justice.

"The auditors concluded that "cultural idleness" within the sheriff's department had led to inconsistent and inaccurate entries into the property evidence system. They also found insufficient booking software and "no system of accountability."

How can the system be trusted? How did it get to this point? Who is ultimately responsible?

"The findings cast doubt on the authenticity of evidence, raise concerns about chain-of-custody rules and could possibly force a reexamination of adjudicated criminal cases. The ramifications could be immense, potentially reversing sentences for people whose convictions relied on tainted evidence."

The issue is not only those outrageously, falsely, perniciously, unjustly accused that is of great concern, here. How about all those truly guilty who will wind up getting off the hook as a result?

"The implications are massive," Sanders told NPR. "If we take their numbers, take them at their word, then by their own account we're in the zone of 9,000 missing pieces of evidence," he said."

Think for a moment about that. The irreparable damage done.

"Despite the risk to defendants' constitutional rights, the sheriff's department did not share the information with any outside agencies or county departments. It wasn't until Nov. 18, when the Orange County Register was on the brink of publishing a story detailing the audits, that the sheriff's department told county supervisors of their existence. "Of course, they're going to want to minimize the impact, because the truth is they have no idea how many cases this affects," Sanders said. Sanders said he learned of the internal audits while working with a source on a different case. It was his request for the report that tipped off reporters, he said."

Clearly, there is no effective oversight. This happened in a major city. Imagine what happens in other far less-populated areas of the country, including right here in Nazi Llano County. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"District Attorney Todd Spitzer told NPR that his office was also kept in the dark about the scope and disturbing results of the audits until a reporter called with questions on the same day. Since then, he said, the sheriff's department has ignored two requests from his office to share the initial report and all information pertaining to cases where evidence was mishandled."

How could this go on for as long as it did without you knowing, having any suspicions of wrongdoing, Counselor?

"But Sheriff Don Barnes disputes that version of events. He told NPR that Spitzer's office was notified that an audit was in the works as early as 2018. That's when the department identified 15 deputies suspected of wrongdoing and began referring deputies to the district attorney for criminal investigation. Since then, Barnes said, none of those deputies has been charged by Spitzer's office."

If that's the case, Sheriff, why didn't you resign in protest? If you're truly an honest cop, how could you let it go on?

"I did not call the DA, nor would I be obligated to call the DA," about the results of the internal investigations, Barnes said, adding that Spitzer's office should have been aware of the audit because it "was referenced in many" of the criminal submissions."

Not credible. Sounds like self-serving bullshit.

"Spitzer finds the claims outrageous. "There was no indication in any way whatsoever that this was a departmentwide audit and that they were looking at really tens of thousands, almost 100,000, cases," said Spitzer, who was elected to the post in January. The general impression within his office was that the individual cases of wrongdoing, which trickled in over a two-year period, were not part of a larger pattern. "Never with the disclosure that there was a systematic problem or failure within his department that may have implicated ... many more cases," Spitzer said."

You're not stupid, Counselor. Had to have known something was not quite right. -- The problem that massive. Certainly, had the authority to investigate. Credibility of both you and the Sheriff, sadly, remains non-existent.

"Following the publication of the story by the Register, sheriff's department spokeswoman Carrie Braun issued a statement saying, "immediate measures were taken to ensure personnel were educated on policy and procedure for booking evidence." The department had also implemented a new protocol "requiring supervisors to check that all property and evidence has been booked prior to approving any related reports." As a result of the audits, four deputies have been dismissed, seven have been disciplined and four internal affairs investigations are ongoing, the sheriff said. However, on Wednesday, Barnes downplayed the results of the two audits, saying continued investigations into missing evidence show that all but "a few remaining pieces" have "always been in our possession." He insisted that the sheriff's department has had custody of all evidence involved in cases that have already been decided by the courts."

Not credible, Sheriff. Too many unanswered questions, contradictions, etc.

"Barnes called Sanders' estimate that 9,000 pieces of evidence could be missing "completely embellished and inaccurate." He says the practice by deputies of first submitting digital evidence — including photos, video and audio recordings — to a crime lab for processing before submitting it to the property and evidence room created the appearance of a delay. "That gap does not mean that evidence was mishandled or treated outside of the law," Barnes said, adding that deputies will no longer be allowed to do that."

If that's the case, there should be a written record. Where is it?

"Meanwhile, Sanders said it is getting harder to believe that the district attorney's office was oblivious to the internal audits. "They were referred 15 cases for potential prosecution, so it's not really credible that the sheriff's department was hiding the evidence," he said. Sanders noted that under Spitzer's predecessor, Tony Rackauckas, there was a history of ignoring questionable behavior within the sheriff's department."

That right? ... Can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit? LOL. Sounds like they're all covering their sorry asses.

"Rackauckas' office was kicked off the largest mass murder case in the county's history in 2015 after Sanders discovered that the sheriff's department, under Barnes, had failed to disclose it was misusing jail informants in violation of inmates' rights. "They're scrambling like mad right now because in reality they never fixed the problem," Sanders said. Spitzer argues that he and Sanders are both after the same thing: "Our only focus is to determine with certainty how many cases my office may have prosecuted where the evidence was never booked or it was booked in such a fashion that it calls into question the sanctity of that evidence." He said a meeting with the sheriff's office has been scheduled for next week to dive into the results of the internal audits."

At least, they're making an effort. ... Unlike here in Nazi Llano County where shit happens. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

Think our formerly great country isn't nazifying? NBC News reports:

"Officials are investigating a group of West Virginia corrections trainees who were photographed seemingly making a Nazi salute in their uniforms. A blurred copy of the photo was provided to NBC News by the state's Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety on Thursday. The group, Basic Training Class 18, appeared to be graduating based on dates in the picture's caption."

Why blur the image? The public is entitled to know who their jackbooted oppressors are.

"They're seen making the salute under a sign that reads "Hail Byrd." News of the photo was first reported by NBC affiliate WSAZ. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said in a statement that he ordered the termination of any state employees to be found involved in the photo. "This will not be tolerated on my watch — within the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation — or within any agency of state government," Justice said."

The public is entitled to know the identity of these officers. If fired, they'll go on to other jobs in law enforcement, and/or the penal system, making them an exigent threat to the public they clearly don't serve.

"Jeff Sandy, secretary of the West Virginia Dept. of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said in a memo to employees Wednesday that he condemned the photo "in the strongest possible terms." “It is distasteful, hurtful, disturbing, highly insensitive and completely inappropriate," Sandy said. "It undermines the high standards that have been set for our Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation."

That right? If so, what are you specifically doing to ensure they don't move on to other penal institutions, and/or positions in law enforcement?

"A number of employees have been suspended amid the official investigation, according to the memo. The photo has also been taken out of circulation to "keep its harm from spreading." Sandy also said that the department has spoken to faith and community leaders to ask for helping in addressing the incident, including additional training programs."

Training is not the answer. Better vetting is required. More comprehensive background checks. To root out the egregiously unfit, including the nazi element in our formerly great country.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

More of the same. Courtesy of an ICE gulag. Seatbelts on. The following is appalling. Unconscionable. CNN News reports:

"A sick Guatemalan boy who died in government custody was lying on the floor for hours before someone found him dead, a video first obtained by ProPublica shows. The boy, identified by a US Customs and Border Protection official as Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, 16, died on May 20 at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas, days after he crossed into the US and was apprehended by immigration officials, CBP said."

Nazi America.

"Surveillance video of a holding cell at the Weslaco facility first obtained by ProPublica and published on Thursday show the last moments of the boy's life. ProPublica analyzed the video and compared it with police and emergency services records to create a timeline. CNN later obtained a copy of the video. The boy was waiting to be transferred to the custody of the Health and Human Services Department, as is customary for unaccompanied minors, when he was diagnosed with the flu and taken to the Weslaco facility, the CBP official said. In the video, Carlos first appears walking inside a cell in the Weslaco facility, wearing blue jeans, a dark long-sleeve shirt and a disposable white mask. He lays down on a cement bench as another boy, who was not identified, is sleeping under a Mylar blanket on a bench across from him. The teen shifts around on the bench and moves out of the camera's view for some time before he can be seen again as he collapses, face down on the ground."

Jesus Christ. Where were the guards? Where?

"Carlos stays mostly still on the floor for about 10 minutes, based on ProPublica's analysis of the footage. He gets up, walks to the toilet and appears to collapse soon after. He is moving and bending his legs for a few minutes until he stretches them out and stops moving. Only Carlos' legs, an arm and part of his torso are visible in the video. The rest of his body is blocked by a privacy wall on the toilet area. The video abruptly ends and restarts about four hours later, ProPublica's analysis found, and shows Carlos in the same position as his cellmate wakes up, finds him in the toilet area and flags a Border Patrol agent. The Weslaco Police Department, the agency that provided the video to ProPublica and briefly investigated the boy's death, said the footage was turned over to their investigators, split in two parts, according to the media outlet."

Congenital liars:

"CBP had previously said in a statement that agents at the Weslaco station found Carlos unresponsive during a welfare check. But Border Patrol logs obtained by ProPublica indicate that three welfare checks were done on Carlos over the period in which the video suggests the boy laid on the floor. The logs do not indicate how those checks were done or note that anything was amiss. CNN has not independently obtained the Border Patrol logs. When asked about the video, a CBP spokesperson said the investigation into Carlos' death was ongoing. "While we cannot discuss specific information or details of this investigation, we can tell you that the Department of Homeland Security and this agency are looking into all aspects of this case to ensure all procedures were followed," the spokesperson said."

Simply, not credible.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, The Washington Post reports:

"The violent scene unfolded on live television. Dozens of police officers, guns drawn, swarmed a hijacked UPS truck hemmed in by rush-hour traffic at a busy intersection. Inside the vehicle, two men suspected of armed robbery had taken the driver hostage. Outside, the officers took shots with innocent bystanders trapped in the cars in between. It was, experts later said, a nightmare scenario. The Thursday shootout in South Florida left four dead — the two hijackers, the 27-year-old abducted UPS driver and a 70-year-old man who happened to be idling at the light on his way home from work. It also left a mountain of unanswered questions."

No question. Aggressive stupidity at its very worst. Needless loss of life.

"As video of the violence circulated on national news and social media, some, including the UPS driver’s family, criticized police tactics, saying it was irresponsible for officers to exchange fire on a crowded street. Others saw that the first responders had no other option, that they had no choice but to confront a deadly threat. In the weeks to come, investigators will have to address some thorny and complex issues about police use of force, researchers and law enforcement officials said. Who fired the shots that killed UPS driver Frank Ordonez and motorist Richard Cutshaw? How many bullets were fired and from where? Did the officers’ actions put innocent lives in danger? “Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” said David Klinger, a criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. The incident “was really, really bad.” But as chaotic and calamitous as the episode was, it was also “a perfect example” of why police are allowed to use deadly force against dangerous criminals, Klinger said. Authorities said Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill had left a trail of violence behind them that evening. Stopping them by any means — even with bullets — was “absolutely the right thing to do,” Klinger said."

Was it? Truly think so?

“In a situation like this, the police are reactive,” Klinger added. “This is not a situation they want to be in. Their hand was forced.”

Was it? ... Or, are you simply defending the indefensible? Time to wake up. Smell the coffee. End the excuse making.

"The dramatic exchange of gunfire followed a high-speed chase through two counties that thwarted residents’ commutes at rush hour. The men had allegedly tried to rob Regent Jewelers in Coral Gables, triggering a silent alarm about 4:15 p.m., police said. They said a female employee of the store was injured as the robbers and the store owner shot at each other. The gunmen fled north in a truck, then commandeered a UPS truck while the driver was making a delivery, police said. Several police cars pursued the UPS truck, with the UPS driver trapped inside, until the vehicle was boxed in by traffic in Miramar and officers surrounded it."

Here's the problem:

"When Heather Taylor, a homicide sergeant in St. Louis, watched the footage, she saw police who refused to retreat and who put innocent lives in jeopardy because of it. Instead of opening fire in the crowded intersection, she said, officers could have engaged the robbers when they had a clearer shot. “We don’t always have to be the warrior,” said Taylor, who is also president of the Ethical Society of Police in St. Louis. “Sometimes we have to understand that retreating is okay. You don’t always have to get the bad guy.”

Certainly, not when innocent people are at extreme risk of losing their lives. Almost always, the criminal will wind up arrested, anyway. Matters not, if there is a delay due to overwhelming danger present at any given moment.

"She acknowledged that the officers were in a difficult situation but said the video was “one of the most tragic” she has seen. “Yes, the suspects are responsible, absolutely, but we are also responsible for every single round that went toward innocent bystanders,” Taylor said. “Each one of them had the potential to kill someone.”

That's right. Must always be taken into consideration. Also, danger present in high-speed chases in congested traffic. Resultant loss of innocent life.

"On a GoFundMe page that had raised more than $100,000 by Friday evening, Roy Ordonez wrote that his brother, the UPS driver, had been gunned “down like a criminal by the Florida police.” He asked people to share the fundraising page to “make people aware of trigger-happy police officers.” “They could have killed many more people, could have been one of your loved ones,” Roy Ordonez wrote. “Please don’t let my brother’s death be for nothing. Police need to be held accountable.” Joe Merino, who told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he was Frank Ordonez’s stepfather, said his stepson “was murdered.” “The police are here to serve and protect,” Merino said, “but where was the protection for my son?”

Non-existent.

"Autopsies may determine who fired the shots that killed Ordonez and Cutshaw. Tania Rues, a spokesperson for the Miramar Police Department, referred a question about the timeline for the autopsies to the Broward County medical examiner’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shootout, Rues said. “The armed suspects engaged law enforcement in open fire,” said FBI agent George Piro on Thursday. He said the first shot was fired during the chase but declined to provide more details. Piro said it would be “completely inappropriate” to discuss whether the UPS driver or the bystander may have been hit by officers’ gunfire."

Irrelevant whose rounds killed the innocent. What is relevant is the needless danger law enforcement placed innocent bystanders and the hostage in.

"David Harris, a policing expert and a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the police officers' actions should be judged against their departments' policies about pursuits and deadly force. Most professional police associations urge officers to engage only in a chase in very serious situations so as not to unnecessarily endanger officers, the criminals or bystanders, Harris said. He said most police forces, however, would allow officers to chase the vehicle of people connected to a violent felony, like the firing of shots during a jewelry store robbery. “A situation like this with a hijacked truck, a kidnapping and maybe hundreds of civilians in danger is very unusual,” Harris said. “And you won’t find but a handful of police officers in the United States who’ve had an experience like this."

All the more reason these policies should be reconsidered, revised. The lack of experience increases the danger for all involved. Not only that, technology has also increased the chance perpetrators will ultimately be caught, brought to justice even if police are forced to delay capture.

"Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said that other than having a SWAT truck with heavily armed tactical police officers, he did not know of alternative ways that police could have safely ended the pursuit. The gunmen had proved that they were willing to resort to violence to escape and could have endangered other people in the area, such as by hijacking other cars, Alpert said. “This is why the police are trained to do what they do,” he said."

That's short-sighted, aggressive stupidity at its most dangerous, very worst. The chase itself exponentially increased the danger. Could certainly have backed off, remained in pursuit, however. Advised other agencies in the region. Been less aggressive, far more patient. Always, a judgment call. Safety of innocent bystanders should take priority.

CBS News reports:

"The overwhelming use of force is being questioned after a chase in Florida ended in a deadly shootout with police. It started when two men, who the FBI said were already wanted for two similar heists near Miami, robbed a jewelry store and hijacked a UPS van. After a 23-mile chase, the officers opened fire when the gunmen shot at them, leaving drivers in rush-hour traffic panicked and scrambling. The two men who police said robbed the jewelry store were killed. But so was 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw, who was waiting in his car at the intersection. The UPS driver who was taken hostage, Frank Ordonez, was also killed. Ordonez was father of two daughters, ages 3 and 5. Now his stepfather is criticizing the officers' actions. "They disregard the hostage, they disregard the people around the scene. They went out there like the old West," said Joe Merino. Miami-Dade's police director, Juan Perez, explained why officers had to move in on the suspects, saying the suspects weren't just fleeing, they were being violent and "confronting officers shooting at them." But Manny Orosa, who was Miami-Dade's police chief from 2011 to 2015, questions the tactic given the number of civilians and the hostage. "If you're shooting into a truck and you don't have a clear vision of who you're shooting at, you don't just shoot at the truck," Orosa said."

No kidding.

"It's not clear yet who fired the shots that killed the UPS driver and the innocent bystander. A complete investigation could take months, even years. The Miami-Dade officers who opened fire have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard during these types of investigations."

Time to re-think law enforcement tactics and policies.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

In follow up to last week's edition, ABC News reports:

"A female Chicago police officer, allegedly seen drinking with then-police superintendent Eddie Johnson before he was found asleep in his vehicle, has been accused of tampering with evidence linked to an ongoing investigation of the incident. Cynthia Donald is under investigation for allegedly damaging her police-issued mobile phone and removing the SIM card, which stores the cellphone data. The device reportedly had been sought as potential evidence by the city's Office of Inspector General, which is investigating Johnson over the October drinking incident. Authorities discovered the damage Oct. 20, three days after Chicago police officers found Johnson asleep behind the wheel of his SUV. Donald was required to return the device after being transferred out of the then-superintendent's security detail. The city's inspector general is now investigating why the phone was returned damaged, according to the police department. Sources with knowledge of the matter told ABC Chicago station WLS Johnson was seen dropping Donald off at Chicago Police Headquarters around two hours before he was found asleep behind the wheel. The department declined to comment on local media reports that claimed the phone had been sought as evidence by the office of city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson."

What took so long? The damage was discovered 10-20-19, three days after the Superintendent was found asleep at the wheel. Why the foot dragging?

"I can confirm media reports that we opened an investigation to determine why the phone was returned damaged," Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told ABC News in a statement Sunday. "At this point, we are not making any additional statements as we are awaiting the final report from the Inspector General and cooperating fully with his review." Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot fired Johnson on Dec. 2, just weeks before he was scheduled to retire, due to what she called "ethical lapses." Johnson said he pulled over because he was feeling light-headed and later fell asleep, but Lightfoot accused him of intentionally misleading city officials and the public in the aftermath. Lightfoot also said the inspector general's report, which hasn't been released publicly, showed Johnson exhibited "flawed decision-making." "It has become clear that Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of ethical lapses that are intolerable," Lightfoot said in a statement last week. "Mr. Johnson was intentionally dishonest with me and communicated a narrative replete with false statements regarding material aspects of the incident that happened in the early morning hours of October 17." "Had I known all the facts at the time," she added, "I would have relieved him of his duties as superintendent then and there."

Get this:

"An official briefed on the probe into Johnson's conduct told ABC News that during the traffic stop in question, the superintendent showed his police ID when asked to present identification. The officers apparently didn't recognize Johnson immediately. Once the superintendent showed ID, he and the officers exchanged some words, and Johnson said he was OK to drive away. The cops let him, raising questions about why Johnson wasn't given a field sobriety test."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-13-19

Amazing how the very top of the food chain can usually literally buy its way out of a criminal jam. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump has paid $2 million in court-ordered damages for misusing funds in a tax-exempt charity he controlled, the New York attorney general said Tuesday. The payment was ordered last month by a New York state judge in an extraordinary rebuke to a sitting president. Trump had been sued in 2018 by the New York attorney general, who alleged that the president had illegally used funds from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to buy portraits of himself, pay off his businesses’ legal obligations and help his 2016 campaign."

Amazing, isn't it?

"The money was split among eight charities, according to a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). The charities were the Army Emergency Relief, the Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels, Give an Hour, Martha’s Table, the United Negro College Fund, the United Way of National Capital Area, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the statement. In addition, Trump agreed to distribute the remaining $1.8 million left in the Donald J. Trump Foundation to the same eight charities. In all, each charity received $476,140.41."

Why is it Trump's sorry ass isn't sitting in prison? Why no criminal prosecution?

“Funds have finally gone where they deserve — to eight credible charities,” James said in the statement. “My office will continue to fight for accountability because no one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the president of the United States.”

Again, why wasn't he criminally prosecuted?

"The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday."

What could they say? How do you defend the indefensible?

"The payments bring an end to the life of the Trump Foundation, a small charity that Trump started in 1987 to give away proceeds from his book “the Art of the Deal.” It went nearly dormant during Trump’s lean years in the 1990s. Then, in the 2000s, Trump began to use the charity in ways that benefited himself or his businesses, according to the attorney general’s lawsuit. He used the charity’s cash to buy paintings of himself and sports memorabilia and to pay $258,000 in legal settlements for his for-profit clubs. Charity leaders are barred from using their nonprofits’ money for personal benefit. Trump also used the charity to boost political campaigns — first, Pamela Bondi’s Florida attorney general campaign, and then his own 2016 campaign. Trump gave away Trump Foundation checks onstage at rallies, despite strict rules barring nonprofit charities from participating in political campaigns."

Insult to injury? Get this:

"Now, the foundation will be shuttered. But the consequences of this case will linger for Trump. Under the terms of the settlement, he has agreed to special supervision if he ever returns to charity work in New York."

Why the hell isn't his sorry ass in prison?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred eighty nine weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred eighty nine weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred eighty nine weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

12-6-19

When law enforcement does something heroic, and/or of exceptional benefit to the community, it leads in this publication. Always. NBC News reports:

"An off-duty officer was attacked and choked unconscious by several teenagers after he tried to help a woman the group was assaulting, authorities said. The incident happened Friday outside the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville, about 4 miles northwest of Oakland. An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was attacked and rendered unconscious last week by a group of teens after he came to the aid of a woman whose cellphone had been stolen, according to the Emeryville Police Department."

Uncommon Valor. Certainly, rose to the occasion. Fortunately, was not killed by these criminal bastards.

"Emeryville police said a woman returned to the mall and confronted a group of teenagers she believed knew the person who had allegedly stolen her cellphone earlier in the day. The woman asked the teens to give back her phone and the group "became aggressive with the victim and began to assault her," police said in a news release. In a surveillance video of the incident, the woman approaches the group of at least five teens and grabs one wearing a white hoodie by the arm. He shoves the woman as several other teens gather around her. The teen in the white hoodie shoves the woman again before someone runs over to intervene."

Have to admire her courage. Could, however, have gotten herself killed or seriously injured. To say nothing of the off-duty officer who came to her assistance. Would have been better advised to have reported the earlier theft to law enforcement and allowed trained officers to confront the group.

"Some of the teens leave as the individual in the hoodie appears to get angry and starts fighting the man who came over to help. The man runs from the group of teens as mall security officers try to break up the melee. The man is later seen lying on the ground but eventually gets up. Police said the man who intervened was an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer."

Uncommon Valor:

"After he tried to help, the "group of juveniles became aggressive" and "began to violently assault him," Emeryville police said in the release. "The juveniles struck the Off-Duty CHP Officer multiple times and choked him unconscious," police said. The officer regained consciousness and pepper-sprayed a teen who was still assaulting him. Police detained several of the teenagers and arrested two, 14 and 16, for assault."

12-6-19

When law enforcement does something heroic, and/or of exceptional benefit to the community, it leads in this publication. Always. ABC News reports:

"When a surgical transplant team -- carrying a donor heart -- was stranded with a flat tire, two Illinois troopers stepped in to help get the organ to surgery in time. A surgeon, transplant coordinator and medical student were on their way from Chicago's Midway International Airport back to the University of Chicago Medicine's Hyde Park campus when the transplant vehicle got a flat tire, said the Illinois State Police. A heart is viable for surgery for about four to six hours -- and this team had already been traveling for approximately three hours, said Ashley Heher, spokeswoman for UChicago Medicine. Time was "of the essence," Heher said in a statement."

Indeed.

"When the two troopers responded to the stranded motorist call shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday, they found the team and jumped into action, rushing them and the donor heart to the hospital, said the state police. The surgery was completed in time and the transplant recipient is recovering, Heher added. "We're incredibly grateful to ISP – both the troopers and their dispatchers – who helped get our team and the heart they were transporting to the hospital so quickly after the flat tire," Heher said. The two troopers graduated the academy last year. "I am extremely proud of our officers who acted without hesitation in this life saving transport," Illinois State Police Interim Capt. Angelo Mollo added in a statement. They turned "a potentially bad situation into a thankful ending for at least one family this Thanksgiving holiday."

No question. Hat's off.

... If only the above and it's likes were all that had to be reported:

12-6-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"The mother of an Alabama man fatally shot last year by police inside a mall outside of Birmingham is suing the officer who killed him."

What took so long?

"April Pipkins, the mother of Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., filed the suit against the unnamed Hoover Police Department officer and the city saying her son's constitutional rights were violated when he was gunned down at Riverchase Galleria mall. Bradford, who was in the Army and had goals of becoming a combat engineer, was shot and killed on Nov. 22, 2018, following a shooting in the mall involving someone else. The suit was filed in the Northern District of Alabama on Friday — the one-year anniversary of Bradford's death."

Readers will recall:

"The 21-year-old Bradford initially started running, along with other shoppers, after shots rang out at the mall, the suit states. When he saw a teenager had been shot, Bradford drew his weapon and walked toward the location of the shooting to "try to protect people and assist the victim," according to the lawsuit. Alabama is a concealed carry state with a state pistol permit, which Bradford had. Two Hoover officers working as mall security went to investigate the shooting and one of the officers immediately fired "upon observing Bradford, a young black male with a handgun," the suit states. The second officer did not fire his weapon at Bradford."

The latter acted properly. The former did not.

'Shoot first, ask questions later':

"The lawsuit says the officer who shot Bradford was "in violation of standard police procedure and training" when he failed to issue verbal commands and "did not verify whether Bradford posed as a threat. Bradford was shot three times from behind — in the head, neck and lower back. A medical examiner said he died from an injury to the brain caused by a bullet."

Murder. Blatant. Shot from behind. No verbal commands. An execution. Of the wrong man.

Law enforcement cannot be trusted. Murders with virtual impunity. Anything goes in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. No accountability. None.

Egregious negligence:

"He was never provided medical aid by the officers, according to the lawsuit. The suit states that the officer's "primary duty was to eliminate any threat to innocent civilians and first responders, not to kill them."

Imagine that. Couldn't be, could it? Certainly, not in a goddamned de facto fascist police-state where literally nearly anything goes.

"In February, State Attorney General Steve Marshall said his investigation into the shooting found that the officer did not break the law and he would not be charged in Bradford's death."

Legalized murder. Goddamned prosecutor protected one of his own.

"The attorney general's report stated that the officer mistakenly believed Bradford was the shooter when he saw Bradford running toward the scene holding a gun."

'Shoot first, ask questions later.' Nazi justice in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. The criminal jackbooted bastard shot him from behind. Failed to order him to drop his weapon. Summarily executed him. Became judge, jury, and executioner. Nazi justice.

"The Hoover Police Department never identified the involved officer."

Why not? The public is entitled to know who their murderers-in-blue happen to be. The jackbooted bastards in blue fail to understand they work for the public, not themselves.

"They did not return NBC News' request for comment."

What could they say? How do you defend legalized murder?

"The lawsuit also accuses the city of Hoover of falsely claiming Bradford was the shooter. Officers initially classified him as a "threat" but later corrected themselves. The actual shooter, Erron Brown, 20, was later arrested and charged with attempted murder. Pipkins is suing for wrongful death, excessive force and unlawful seizure. She is seeking unspecified damages and fees. "This lawsuit is to bring change so that no other mother or father has to go through this," she said at a news conference Friday. "And it is my God-given duty to stand up and fight for what's right."

It is. Law enforcement and prosecutors protect their own. Someone must hold them accountable.

"Bradford's father, who retired from the Birmingham Police Department, said his son's death is a "hard pill for me to swallow." "I think about my son every day," Emantic Sr. said. "When you are sworn to protect and serve that's what you need to do. You never gave my son a warning. You just assumed and assessed the situation in a bad way."

That's right.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

The following is nothing more than blatant entrapment by the Trump regime. CBS News reports:

"Since January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested about 250 foreign students at a fake university in Michigan. It's part of a sting operation by federal agents. The University of Farmington was opened in 2015 as a guise by ICE officials. It was created to entice foreign-born students, mostly from India, who had arrived legally in the U.S. on legitimate student visas. But the government says the phony university was a "pay-to-play" scheme the students used to remain in the U.S. under a student visa. Some of the students were arrested and deported while others await trial in the states."

Blatant abuse of power by national socialist, fascist, nazi government. Founders? Spinning in their graves.

"The Detroit Free Press reported that nearly 80% of those have voluntarily left the country. The Homeland Security Investigations Detroit office told the newspaper that about half of those remaining have received final orders of removal. An ICE spokesperson told CBS News that this type of operation serves as a deterrent because it reminds students to be careful to follow the law while studying in the U.S."

Bullshit. Blatant double talk. Entrapment. Outrageously, unconstitutional. Then again, we now live in a de facto fascist police-state since 9/11, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"But several lawmakers took to social media to express outrage at the operation, including 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren."

Rightfully, so:

"This is cruel and appalling. These students simply dreamed of getting the high-quality higher education America can offer. ICE deceived and entrapped them, just to deport them. https://t.co/t6kQLiV5oh
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 27, 2019"

"Abolish ICE. https://t.co/9uMtKmyEI1
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 27, 2019

"Actress Alyssa Milano also reacted to the sting operation.

"OH MY GOD.

"ICE has arrested about 250 students who were enrolled at a fake university set up by ICE to lure in students.https://t.co/2P8iZtnMGB
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 27, 2019"

Blatant entrapment. Raw nazism:

"The Detroit Free Press reported that seven of eight recruiters charged by the government pleaded guilty and have been sentenced. The eighth person will be sentenced in January. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Helms defended the operation, the newspaper reported. "Their true intent could not be clearer," Helms wrote in a sentencing memo this month for one of the recruiters, the newspaper reported. "While 'enrolled' at the University, one hundred percent of the foreign citizen students never spent a single second in a classroom. If it were truly about obtaining an education, the University would not have been able to attract anyone, because it had no teachers, classes, or educational services."

Entrapment. Blatant. Nazi America. Where did we lose ourselves? Day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet in the de facto fascist police-state we now live in, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was unexpectedly fired Monday just weeks before he was set to retire, ending a rocky, three-year tenure as head of a department marked by controversial police shootings, court-supervised reforms and its handling of high-profile arrests. But in announcing his firing, Mayor Lori Lightfoot suggested it was Johnson's personal failures when he was found asleep behind the wheel of his car on Oct. 17 and for what he told investigators that played into the decision to end his employment."

About time. What took so long?

"Upon a thorough review of the materials of the Inspector General's ongoing investigation, it has become clear that Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of ethical lapses that are intolerable," Lightfoot said in a statement ahead of a news conference in which she rebuked Johnson for his conduct. "Eddie Johnson intentionally lied to me several times even when I challenged him about the narrative that he shared with me," she later said. "He maintained that he was telling the truth. I now know definitively that he was not."

So what else is new? Why did you drag your feet?

"Lightfoot's scathing statements come nearly a month after Johnson, 60, said he planned to retire at the end of the year from the nation's second-largest municipal police force, a department where he began his career as a patrol officer in 1988."

Readers will recall:

"Chicago police said a driver had called 911 to report Johnson slumped behind his steering wheel after midnight in front of a stop sign near his home. A breathalyzer test was not administered at the scene, but according to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lightfoot said Johnson had told her that he had "a couple of drinks with dinner" before the incident. "This job has taken its toll — taken a toll on my health, my family, my friends," Johnson said during a news conference in November to announce his retirement. "But my integrity has remained intact."

Has it?

"Lightfoot also seemed supportive of Johnson at the time, telling reporters, "These stars can sometimes feel like carrying the weight of the world."

Give me a break. You were lied to.

"But at a news conference Monday, the mayor pilloried Johnson, saying he misled the residents of Chicago and let down the 13,400 officers and department staff he was in charge of leading. Lightfoot declined to give specifics about what Johnson supposedly did to make her lose trust in him, adding, "I don't feel like it is appropriate or fair to Mr. Johnson's wife or children to do so at this time."

That's bullshit. The public has a right to this information.

"But she said she reviewed the inspector general's report and videotape evidence, which "makes it clear that the only choice that I had to take was the one that I've taken. There's no gray area here." The inspector general's report has not been released, although Lightfoot said the details in it may eventually become public."

The public is entitled to this information. They paid his salary. He worked for the public. Forget?

"A lie is a lie," the mayor added. "He told me something that happened that night that turned out to be fundamentally different than what he portrayed to me and what he portrayed to the members of the public." Lightfoot added that officers "deserve a leader who they can believe in," and said she has confidence in former Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who she previously announced would take over as interim superintendent following Johnson's retirement."

CBS News reports:

"Mr. Johnson was intentionally dishonest with me and communicated a narrative replete with false statements regarding material aspects of the incident that happened in the early morning hours of October 17," Lightfoot said in a statement. "Had I known all the facts at the time, I would have relieved him of his duties as superintendent then and there." "Perhaps worst of all, Mr. Johnson has misled the people of Chicago," the statement continued.

"It has become clear that Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of actions that are intolerable for any leader in a position of trust," Lightfoot said Monday morning at City Hall, according to CBS Chicago. "The finding of the inspector general's report regarding Mr. Johnson, which I recently reviewed, makes clear that Eddie Johnson engaged in conduct that is not only unbecoming, but demonstrated a series of ethical lapses and flawed decision-making that is inconsistent with having the privilege of leading the Chicago Police Department."

"Mayor Lightfoot has fired CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson, for lying about the incident when he was found passed out behind the wheel of his car in October. "Mr. Johnson engaged in a series of actions that are intolerable for any leader in a position of trust." https://t.co/nwJJNy4qUk
— CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) December 2, 2019"

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

Never ends. NBC News reports:

"More than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were charged Tuesday with using excessive force on prisoners at state-operated jails in a city plagued by decades of institutional corruption, inside and outside jailhouse walls. The 25 indicted officers are accused of assaulting and threatening detainees at correctional facilities, tampering with evidence and falsifying documents, said Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, whose office secured the indictments."

How did it go on as long as it did? Were you and your colleagues out to lunch?

"Maryland corrections secretary Robert Green said all the indicted officers have been on administrative leave since 2018, when the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services began investigating the allegations. Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement that his administration has no tolerance for corruption in the state’s correctional system."

This had to have been going on quite some time, Governor. Were you and others determinedly, concertedly out to lunch? Derelict in your duties?

“Our correctional officers have one of the most difficult jobs in all of public safety, and we will not let the criminal behavior of the few tarnish the great work of the nearly 5,000 dedicated officers who serve with distinction every single day,” he said."

Better oversight is desperately needed, Governor.

"Hogan, a Republican, said the department’s anti-corruption actions have led to the arrests and convictions of more than 200 officers, inmates and “citizen accomplices.”

Clearly, not good enough, Governor. Obviously, this was a massive criminal operation. Others had to have known what was going an and did shit squat. Looked the other way.

"In 2015, Maryland closed the men’s section of a state-run Baltimore jail that was notorious for its decrepit conditions, criminal activity and corruption. In 2013, a federal indictment exposed a sophisticated smuggling ring operating inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, involving dozens of gang members and correctional officers. The investigation also revealed that a jailhouse gang leader had impregnated four female guards."

Massive failure of government. Needs to be an equally massive clean out of government officials and other employees.

"Corruption has infected many corners of Baltimore’s city government."

Gross understatement. Not only in Baltimore, however. All across our formerly great country. Somewhere along the line we've lost ourselves.

"Most recently, disgraced former mayor Catherine Pugh pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from sales of her self-published children’s books. Another former mayor, Sheila Dixon, left office in 2010 as part of a plea deal for misappropriating about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families. The city’s corruption-riddled police department remains under a federal consent following the April 2015 death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, while in police custody. The department also has been rocked by a string of indictments and guilty pleas by task force officers accused of extortion, robbery, falsifying evidence, reselling seized drugs."

Abuse, corruption, criminal activity remain a cancer all across the nation. In Llano County, protected, coddled, ignored. ... Right, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

"The indicted officers face a combined total 236 counts, including charges of assault and participating in a criminal gang," Mosby said."

At least, they were brought to justice. In Llano County, shit happens. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Mosby said 21 of the 25 indicted officers were taken into custody Tuesday. All were members of a tactical unit with a paramilitary command structure operating inside four detention facilities in Baltimore. Mosby said the officers used violence and intimidation to “maintain its dominance and its operational territory” inside the jails. “All 25 of these correctional officers have allegedly abused their power and abused our trust,” she added. The indictment includes alleged offenses against 25 prisoners and incidents that occurred as far back as 2016, authorities said."

Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 still employed, Sheriff? F--king over the citizenry, Bill?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

More of the above. CBS News reports:

"Four Rikers Island guards were suspended after they allegedly failed to stop an inmate from harming himself in a jail cell, according to a New York Times report Tuesday. The Times, relying on four people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, reported that some of the guards involved watched before intervening as an inmate attempted to hang himself."

Pitiful, isn't it?

"The people told the Times the guards took seven minutes to intervene. Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann said three officers and a captain were suspended. "The claims being made here are extremely troubling," Brann said in a statement, adding that an investigation is underway. The inmate, identified by the Times' sources as 18-year-old Nicholas Feliciano, was reportedly placed in a medically induced coma at a hospital Tuesday. Feliciano allegedly attempted to hang himself last week in an area of the notorious New York City lockup that was in view of a guard desk where officers can monitor activity through video feeds. The actions of the officers were recorded by a separate camera, the people told the Times.

"The video, which was described to the Times, reportedly shows an officer going into the jail cell where Feliciano was, opening the door, closing it without going inside and then walking away. Feliciano was in the Elmhurst Hospital Prison Ward on Tuesday, according to city jail records. He was on a respirator with no brain activity, the Times reported. He was arrested on November 19 on a parole violation."

Nazi America.

"New York City lawmakers voted in October to close the Rikers Island jail complex, which has become synonymous with violence and neglect, and replace it with four smaller jails intended to be more modern and humane. The plan has been met with pushback from communities where the new jails would be located, CBS New York reported. Rikers Island has housed jail inmates since the 1930s and has long been known for brutality. In 2016, "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker reported that a lack of adequate training and a rising mentally ill population have made an already bad situation in the jail worse."

A gulag:

"The jail complex saw hundreds of stabbings each year during the 1980s and early 1990s. More recently, a 2014 Associated Press investigation detailed dozens of inmate deaths including that of a homeless ex-Marine who essentially baked to death in a hot cell."

Where, when did we lose ourselves?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

The following is beyond pathetic. It's sick. NBC News reports:

"A Los Angeles Police Department officer was allegedly caught on body-camera footage fondling a dead woman's breast, according to a department spokeswoman. The veteran officer, who has not been identified, has been removed from active duty, and the incident is under investigation, the department spokeswoman confirmed to NBC News. The LAPD officer was assigned to downtown Los Angeles' Central Division when he and his partner responded to a call about a possible dead woman at a residence, according the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the investigation into the alleged incident."

Deranged:

"After the officer and his partner determined the woman was dead, the partner left the room, at which point the officer left with the corpse turned off his body-worn camera. But the camera caught the alleged fondling in the moments before the officer turned it back on because the devices have two-minute buffering periods to capture what happens right before they are activated, a person briefed on the incident who was not authorized to publicly discuss the case told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. That person told the AP that the footage was found during a random inspection of the officer’s body-camera footage. It's unclear when the alleged incident happened or when the video was discovered."

Get this:

"The LAPD started field-testing body cameras in 2014 and has since deployed more than 7,000 of them. The Los Angeles Times reported last month that the LAPD had reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for officers, to randomly review camera recordings even when they do not capture arrests or use of force."

Certainly, a wise precaution.

"The union said in a statement that the veteran officer's alleged behavior with the woman's corpse "has no place in law enforcement.”

That's right. Nor anywhere else.

“If this allegation is true, then the behavior exhibited by this officer is not only wrong, but extremely disturbing, and does not align with the values we, as police officers, hold dear and these values include respect and reverence for the deceased,” the statement said."

No question.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

The following is appalling. Aggressive stupidity at its very worst. CNN News reports:

"The Police Chief of the Kiefer, Oklahoma police department said in a Facebook post that one of his officers was picking up an order at a local Starbucks and there was a derogatory term printed on the label. Police Chief Johnny O'Mara said in his post that one of his on-duty officers was getting drinks for the dispatchers that were working today. O'Mara posted a picture of the label of one of the Starbucks cups -- which had "PIG" printed on it."

Outrageous. Uncalled for. Exacerbates the continuing, ongoing lack of trust between law enforcement and the public. One thing to excoriate law enforcement for some specific action it's taken that's corrupt, abusive, or criminal in nature. Another matter to generically call them a pejorative they're clearly not.

Corrupt, abusive, criminal officers are not pigs. Not at all. Without question, they're corrupt, abusive, murderous criminals. Clearly, notall officers abuse authority. Those that do richly deserve exposure to the glaring light of day.

Those that do their jobs non-abusively, lawfully, constitutionally, non-criminally, heroically, lead each edition of this publication when they come to my attention. As always, the goal is good law enforcement. Not no law enforcement. This country would not survive. No country can.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

12-6-19

The following is beyond appalling. NBC News reports:

"A Florida man was arrested for allegedly abandoning a boy on the side of a highway following an argument over the boy's sexual orientation. Evenaud Julmeus, 30, is charged with three counts of negligent child abuse without bodily harm for leaving the child on Sunday night outside the local police department, which was closed at the time, in Haines City, about 60 miles west of Tampa. A witness saw the incident and contacted authorities to report it. Police said the boy, a preteen, was "very upset and crying" and that he said Julmeus was angry because he thought he was gay, according to an affidavit. The two got into an argument about the matter, and Julmeus told the boy to pack a bag and get in the car, which the boy did. Julmeus told the boy that he was taking him to the police department and officers would find a new home for him, the affidavit states. Julmeus stopped along a highway in front of the police station, made the boy get out and then drove away."

Jesus Christ. What could this sick piece of human excrement possibly been thinking? ... This is a kid.

"The boy did not have food, water, or a cellphone to call someone. He was carrying only a duffel bag with several items of clothing in it. "The defendant willingly failed to care for the victim and left him on the side of the road in front of the Police Department with no means to care for himself and without knowing if anyone was at the Police Department," the affidavit states. "The defendant made no effort to contact law enforcement or anyone to advise them of the situation."

Indefensible. No excuse.

"When the boy's mother learned that Julmeus left her son in front of the police station, she went to try and find him. The boy is now back with his mother, a police spokesman said. Julmeus fled the home before police arrived, leaving two minor children alone and unattended. He was later arrested and booked into jail on Monday. Online jail records show that he has since been released after posting bail."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-29-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-29-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred eighty eight weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred eighty eight weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred eighty eight weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

11-29-19

Leave a car running unattended? Could certainly be legal consequences depending upon the state. Moreover, if a dog gains access, results could be quite unexpected. Get this. CNN News reports:

"Anne Sabol's cul-de-sac in Port St. Lucie, Florida, is fairly quiet. Well, it was, until a dog hopped in its owner's running car, kicked it in reverse, drove in circles for an hour and smashed a neighbor's mailbox before safely exiting the vehicle without so much as a scratch. But Sabol didn't know who was behind the wheel when she first spotted the car, whirling around the block like an inept student driver might. "At first I thought I saw somebody backing up, but then they kept going, and I'm like, 'OK, what're they doing?'" she told CNN affiliate WPBF."

No worse than some of the licensed drivers here in Texas. LOL.

"Who's drivin' that car? A black Labrador Retriever, either terribly frightened or joyfully free. Then the cops came. And then the fire department. Authorities watched from a distance as the driving dog did donuts. Finally, the vehicle hit a mailbox and some garbage cans, then slowed down. Port St. Lucie police opened the door, and Sabol watched as a large black Labrador retriever hop out of the driver's seat. "'OK, this is turning weird,'" she remembered thinking. It turns out, the dog's owner, who asked to remain anonymous, had left his car running in the street when the dog changed gears and didn't stop driving for almost an hour, Port St. Lucie police said. The community escaped injury save for the mailbox, which the dog's owner promised to fix."

Coup de grace?

"As for the pup, it's impossible to know its thoughts behind the wheel. Did it jump at the chance for a joyride and a fleeting taste of freedom? Or was this all a harrowing accident as the dog felt all control slip through its paws? Sabol, for one, was impressed. "They should give that thing a license."

11-29-19

Then, again, there are dogs who are indeed life-saving heroes. WTOC BEAUFORT, S.C. reports:

"A dog in Beaufort got a pretty special honor on Tuesday. Firefighters honored Curly for saving his owner during a fire in October. Curly made it clear he was a special dog when he woke his owner up in the middle of the night to save his life. Now, he’s being honored by the whole town. Curly the dog is being hailed as a hero in Beaufort. “Curly had used his nose to push on Mr. Rand several times. Until he woke up from sleeping, to alert him that something was wrong,” said Chief Reece Bertholf with the Beaufort Fire Department. Dozens of people came to the steps of Town Hall Tuesday afternoon to watch the dog that started his life in a shelter be awarded for knowing what to do in a tragedy. The event was attended by first responders and town officials and Curly’s girlfriend, Maddie. All there to celebrate man’s best friend. “You’re not their owners you are their best friends and they’re your best friends. And that’s all we ask a hero to be. It’s a best friend who does the right thing,” said Bertholf."

Indeed.

"Curly’s dad, Brian Rand, says the heroism is the kind of thing you could expect from such a good boy. “He is the mayor of the area. He roams. Everyone knows him. He knows every house that will give him a cookie,” said Rand. And that love was obvious at the ceremony. Rand lost everything in the fire that Curly saved him from. Despite that loss the Vietnam veteran says it could have been worse. “It made a big difference too, with losing the house, to still have Curly. I mean, that’s, you know, why I’m still more upbeat. I got Curly? I’m good,” said Rand."

No question.

11-29-19

We've got to do better than the following. That is, find a better way. The Washington Post reports:

"At first, the dispatcher sounds bemused. “You called 911 to order a pizza?” Tim Teneyck said. “Uh … yeah,” she said. Teneyck said she had the wrong number, but the caller was persistent. Then he realized this wasn’t just another mistaken dial. The call led police in Oregon, Ohio, to arrest a man on a domestic violence charge earlier this month. Now, they’re praising the quick thinking of the woman who faked a pizza request to discreetly get help as her mother was allegedly punched, pushed into a wall and threatened with more violence."

While it certainly worked this time, we've got to find a far more reliable way:

"Some police departments have pushed back on the pizza tactic, saying they may not identify a food order as a cry for help from someone worried about alerting others. News reports have debunked myths — circulated on social media — that dispatchers are commonly trained to see hidden meaning in a request for pepperoni pizza and then launch into a script of yes-or-no questions."

There has to be a solution to this problem. A way of handling such an emergency far more reliably.

"Teneyck says he was never taught to treat a pizza call with suspicion; he’s fielded actual wrong-number attempts to order the dish and estimates that about half the calls he handles are mistakes. But he was taught to listen to each call carefully. “If it’s your only option, and that abusive person is next to you and listening to everything you say, then by all means — you call and order that pizza,” he told The Washington Post."

Indeed. Whatever it takes. We have to find, however, a far more reliable, more fail-safe way of handling such emergencies.

"Domestic violence prevention groups have promoted the pizza strategy. A PSA aired during the 2015 Super Bowl showed a woman using the same tactic with the tagline, “When it’s hard to talk, it’s up to us to listen.” At times, authorities have cautioned against treating “pizza” as a sort of code word. “This is false. Text to 911 is a much better option,” the Los Angeles Police Department tweeted in response to one post that gained traction last year promoting “pepperoni pizza” as a magic word. “Your exact location & the nature of your emergency is what’s needed to send the right resources.”

A problem that still needs to be reliably solved technologically with a perpetrator in close proximity to the victim.

"The 911 line in Oregon, Ohio, cannot receive texts, though, according to Teneyck. He says anyone worried about being overheard should do whatever they can to keep an open line with emergency responders, so that police can hear what’s going on."

Good advice. Common sense.

"Audio released to local news organizations shows Teneyck caught on quickly to the daughter’s real reason for calling. “I’m getting you now,” he said about 20 seconds in, after she told him, “You’re not understanding.”

Indeed, a highly-gifted, savvy dispatcher.

"Teneyck said he was doing what’s routine to dispatchers: taking every call seriously and following up even on wrong dials. But he worries others might have ended the conversation too soon. “I do believe that in other cases, it’s a very real possibility that another dispatcher in a larger jurisdiction could have handled it differently and lost the call,” he said. Oregon Police Chief Michael Navarre told the Blade that he is “extremely proud” of Teneyck’s work — and plans to use the pizza call in training. “He picked up on a woman who was in distress but was in a position where she couldn’t convey it to him in those words,” Navarre said."

This is a technological issue that cell phone manufacturers, as well as landlines, need to address. For the safety of victims as well as responding officers.

11-29-19

Uncommon Valor. Best in policing. CNN News reports:

"A veteran Detroit police officer killed in the line of duty was hailed as a hero after he and other officers confronted a gunman accused of invading a home on the city's west side. Investigators believe the 28-year-old suspect entered the home Wednesday evening looking for his girlfriend. Rasheen McClain, 46, and his partner, Phillippe Batoum-Bisse, were the first two officers to respond to the domestic situation, police Chief James Craig said. Officers were told that the suspect was armed. McClain, a 16-year veteran, "made a conscious decision that it was time to go in and deal with a very dangerous situation," Craig said. The suspect, who police believed had tactical training, fired a high-powered rifle at officers as they looked for him in the basement of the home, authorities said.

"We mourn the loss of Police Officer, Rasheen McClain, a 16-year veteran who was killed in the line of duty 11-20. "A true leader and a hero," said Police Chief James Craig. #ProtectAndServe #OurCommunity #DetroitPD #DetroitHeroes pic.twitter.com/9zirOH9vXI
— Detroit Police Dept. (@detroitpolice) November 22, 2019"

Uncommon Valor. Best in policing. ... No greater love, dedication.

"McClain, 46, was shot in the neck and died, authorities said. Batoum-Bisse, who'd been with the department 2 1/2 years, was shot in a leg, Craig said. He is expected to recover. "He really is a hero," Craig said of McClain. "He fought a good fight."

Very best in policing. Selfless. Dedicated.

"Mayor Mike Duggan on Thursday said McClain "was an officer that everyone looked up to, was a natural leader in every situation." "And, in fact in this case, first one in the door, first one down the stairs to confront an armed suspect," Duggan said. "His courage resulted in tragedy."

Uncommon Valor. No greater love, dedication. Very best in law enforcement.

"Police had been called to the house around 7:20 p.m., responding to the report that a man with a gun had invaded the home, Craig said. McClain and Batoum-Bisse arrived in the patrol car within eight minutes of getting the call, the police chief said. The home's occupants "began running out, frantic" to meet arriving officers, the chief said. They told officers the suspect was in the home armed with a long rifle. Craig said officers learned that the man was suspected of shooting at the home two weeks ago in a dispute with a girlfriend after her relative wouldn't let him inside. McClain radioed for help and two officers arrived. Using keys from the occupants, four officers opened the front door and cleared the main and upper levels with flashlights, the chief said."

Uncommon Valor:

"As the officers got halfway down the basement stairs, the suspect came out from the left side, and fired quickly, twice, hitting McClain and Batoum-Bisse, the chief said. The two officers in the back retreated for cover. The suspect ran up the stairs, past McClain and Batoum-Bisse. The officers who took cover fired at the suspect as he left the home, hitting him in the arm, Craig said. The wounded gunman ran about a block from the house, where he was apprehended in a backyard and taken to a hospital, Craig said."

Could have executed him on the spot. Did not. Heroically, did the right thing:

"The suspect was receiving medical treatment, Craig said. Information about his condition wasn't immediately released. "It was very clear that this suspect was trying to bait the officers. He had a presence of mind," Craig said. "But also what was clear, he wanted suicide by cop."

Excellent, principled policing. Second to none.

"Craig said the suspect was paroled in March. Investigators believe he was at the home to look for his girlfriend, Craig said. "He was angry," Craig said, adding that he didn't know whether the girlfriend lived there. "That's what we know right now in terms of why he was there and why he was acting in a threatening manner."

Horrendous tragedy, profound loss:

"McClain was married for 10 years and was the father of two stepchildren, Craig said. "We've had far too many of these and each one gets even more painful," the mayor said."

11-29-19

The following is incomprehensible. Seatbelts on. NBC News reports:

"The 18-year-old son of an Alabama sheriff's deputy was arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of the beloved sheriff of a neighboring county, authorities said Sunday."

How does something like that happen? Imagine being the father and mother of that kid. A law enforcement family.

"John Williams Sr., who was the chief deputy sheriff of Lowndes County in south Alabama for a decade before he was elected sheriff in 2010, was shot and killed Saturday night at a gas station in Hayneville, about 25 miles southwest of Montgomery, said Sgt. Steve Jarrett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the state police department. The suspect, William Chase Johnson, surrendered at the gas station after a four-hour manhunt and was being held in a different county, authorities said. Williams was on duty and responding to an incident at the QV gas station, which is across the street from several Lowndes County municipal buildings, when he was shot, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement."

Where along the way did we, as a society, lose ourselves?

"Sheriff Williams devoted his life to law enforcement. He gave more than 40 years to public safety in his home county," Marshall said. "His dedication and experience are irreplaceable." Investigators did not immediately say why Williams was called to the gas station prior to the shooting. But police said Johnson fled from the gas station after the shooting occurred just after 8 p.m. and then reappeared at the scene at about midnight. Officers recovered a handgun from Johnson before taking him into custody. "Details as to how he fled the scene and then reappeared at the scene, all that's going to be investigated," Jarrett said."

Inexplicable:

"The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office told NBC affiliates WSFA of Montgomery and WVTM of Birmingham that Johnson was the son of one of its deputies. Williams, who was known as "Big John" for his towering height, served in local law enforcement for more than 40 years and "was an outstanding sheriff and a great friend," Jarrett said. "If any of you knew Big John Williams, he was a wonderful man. Everybody in law enforcement knew him," Jarrett said. "If you ever met him, you'd never forget him." A statement posted on the Montgomery County Facebook page said officials there were "deeply saddened by the great loss of Lowndes County Sheriff Big John." "He was a wonderful sheriff and an even more incredible man. To know him was to love him. His family, friends, and all of Lowndes County remain in our thoughts and prayers. Big John, you will be greatly missed," the statement said."

With law enforcement increasingly in disarray all across our formerly great country, the public can't afford the loss of a truly great officer.

"Dozens of people, including law enforcement officers in uniform who traveled from surrounding communities, turned out for a vigil on Sunday. "He was always good to our children. They all loved him," Shirley McNamee, a Lowndes County resident, told WSFA. "It's been really hard today," McNamee said. "There wasn't a dry eye at our church today." Tyler Norris, the police chief in Citronelle, in Mobile County, said he had been friends with Williams for many years. "Big John never met a stranger," Norris said in a statement. "Big John had many white brothers and sisters as well as black," Norris said. "He truly believed they were his blood kin. He never saw color as a reason to treat anyone different or love anyone less. "Big John was one of those you hear about in our profession that would work for free," he continued. "He would literally work for no pay at all, if he could have survived financially doing so." Few details of the shooting were made public as authorities continued investigating the scene on Sunday. The State Bureau of Investigation is leading the inquiry."

ABC News reports:

"An 18-year-old suspect is now in custody after an Alabama sheriff was shot and killed in the line of duty while answering a call to a convenience store. Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams was responding to a call at a convenience store in Hayneville, Alabama at about 8:15 p.m. on Saturday night when the shooting happened. Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham confirmed that “Big John” Williams had been killed while Cpl. Jess Thornton confirmed that agents from the State Bureau of Investigations were on their way to Lowndes County even though she did not release the nature of their deployment."

Once a Marine, always a Marine:

"Through his service to our country in the United States Marine Corps and his many years working in law enforcement, he dedicated his life to keeping other people safe," Gov. Kay Ivey said in a release Saturday night. "He will be remembered as a consummate professional and pillar of his community. I offer my prayers and deepest sympathies to his family and to the men and women of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department."

"I’m saddened to hear about Sheriff Big John Williams, who was tragically killed this evening in the line of duty. Through his service to our country in the @USMC and his many years working in law enforcement, he dedicated his life to keeping other people safe. (1/2) #alpolitics
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) November 24, 2019

"He will be remembered as a consummate professional and pillar of his community. I offer my prayers and deepest sympathies to his family and to the men and women of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department. (2/2) #alpolitics
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) November 24, 2019"

The Sheriff had quite a remarkable personal history:

"Williams was born and raised in Lowndes County and graduated from Calhoun High School in 1976. In 1978, he started volunteering as a reserve deputy, and for three years in the 1980s he was in the Hayneville Police Department until full-time work with the sheriff’s office. In 1990, he was appointed to chief deputy and served in this capacity until leaving the department in 2009. In 2010, he ran for sheriff and winning the position and has held onto the role since. The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office website paid tribute to him saying he "always wanted to make a difference in his community and felt there was no better way to help his community than to protect and serve them in law enforcement." "He wasn't just another sheriff, he was a friend. John was a caring person. He loved Lowndes County, " said Cunningham to ABC News' Montgomery, Alabama, affiliate, WNCF. "He knew everybody. Anytime you lose a law enforcement officer that's a major hit. Here we lost a sheriff," Cunningham said and also remarked that Williams' family was "holding up good" and that "we love them just as much as he loved them."

11-29-19

Never ends. ABC News (AP) reports:

"A former Houston police officer has pleaded not guilty to federal charges he provided false information in a January drug raid that left two people dead and several officers injured. Gerald Goines entered his plea during a Friday court hearing. A magistrate judge didn’t immediately rule on Goines’ request for bond. Prosecutors are asking he remain in custody."

Fascinating, isn't it? Should have been a no-brainer.

"The federal charges against Goines and another ex-officer follow state charges filed in August, including two counts of felony murder against Goines. The Jan. 28 raid was investigated after police alleged Goines lied to obtain a search warrant."

How does something like that happen? Don't superiors review all search warrant affidavits?

"At Friday’s hearing, an FBI agent testified authorities found illegal drugs and a stolen gun in Goines’ car and Goines for years had been having a sexual relationship with one of his confidential informants."

Jesus Christ. Hard to believe colleagues in the department, at the very least, didn't know what was going on, at worst, weren't active participants.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-29-19

Nothing quite as damaging to law enforcement as a corrupt, abusive, criminal officer. CNN News reports:

"Five men, including a former San Diego County Sheriff's Department captain, were indicted on charges related to illegal gun trafficking and drug trafficking, the US Attorney's Office for Southern California said Friday. Marco Garmo, 52, served as a sheriff's deputy 27 years and was the captain in charge of the Rancho San Diego Station, according to a news release from the US Attorney's Office. He was charged with engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, making false statements in acquisition of a firearm, obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting the possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and other offenses. Besides making a profit, Garmo sold guns to cultivate future donors for his anticipated campaign for sheriff of San Diego County, the news release said."

That shit go on here in Nazi Llano County, Sheriff?

"This office will not tolerate public servants who abuse their positions of trust for personal gain," Assistant US Attorney Peter Mazza said in the news release. "Law enforcement members who step outside of the law are subject to the same standards as everyone else in our community. No one deserves the fair application of the law more than all of the law-abiding men and women who wear the badge honorably to protect our communities."

Same true here in Nazi Llano County, Sheriff? Madam County Attorney? "Sonny Boy?"

... Hey, Sheriff? Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 still on the force? Abusing authority? F--king over the citizenry? Abrogating his oath of office?

"The 23-count indictment unsealed Friday alleges sheriff's department Lt. Fred Magana, 42; San Diego jeweler Leo Hamel, 62; firearms dealer Giovanni Tilotta, 38; and El Cajon resident Waiel Anton, 35, aided Garmo in operating an illegal gun trafficking business. Hamel and Magana entered guilty pleas Friday to aiding and abetting Garmo's business and will be sentenced in February 2020. Garmo and Anton were arrested Friday morning scheduled to be arraigned in federal court Friday afternoon. Tilotta has not been arrested yet, Mazza said."

At least, some communities elsewhere in our formerly great country are trying to do something about their ongoing problems. In Nazi Llano County, shit happens.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-29-19

Don't quite know what to make of the following. Other than a massive, colossal failure of the system. ABC News reports:

"A Navy veteran found dead inside his apartment had been deceased for three years, and the case has left his grief-stricken family searching for answers as to how exactly this could have gone unnoticed for such a long period of time after they repeatedly reported his absence to the authorities."

How is that possible?

"Ronald Wayne White, who would have been 51 at the time of his death in 2016, worked as a defense contractor and traveled around the world for work. His body was found last week when the DeSoto Town Center Apartment complex were investigating multiple units of where tenants had not been using water. But when they forced the bolted door open to White's apartment during their investigations, they found him dead on the kitchen floor. The medical examiner estimated that he had been dead for three years, according to ABC News’ Dallas affiliate WFAA."

Incredible. Dead three years. Not three weeks. Not three months. How were they collecting rent? Lease money? Even if withdrawing money from a bank account, why no contact with him? No effort to check on whether or not there were any maintenance problems, issues? What about the bank? Had to have noticed activity in the account had changed drastically three years ago. What about his employer? None of this makes sense.

"When the medical examiner told me three years, my knees gave away. Three years? And that's what I can't get past in my brain. I can't get past three years," his mother Doris Stevens said. "My biggest question is, how in the world could my son have been dead in that apartment and nobody knows anything?"

Something's not quite right. To put it mildly.

"Stevens, who lives in Long Island, New York, said that her son had been in touch with her on a regular basis. "My son would call me at least twice a month," his mother told WFAA. "He would call me from Egypt. He would call me from the Philippines. He would call me right from Dallas." The calls suddenly stopped 3 years ago but Stevens became particularly suspicious that something was wrong when she couldn’t get a hold of him for his birthday in April 2017. Stevens allegedly reported White missing to multiple police departments and even considered trying to hire a private investigator but didn’t have enough money to do so. "All them days, holidays, I just suffered. Because nobody wanted to help find him," Stevens said. She said police told her that because her son was an adult and traveled extensively for work, they could not classify him as a missing person and pursue the case."

Fascinating, isn't it?

Equally interesting? Get this:

"Pete Schulte, a detective with the DeSoto Police Department said that White had a month-to-month lease on his apartment and the money was taken from an account linked to his Navy retirement fund. He also confirmed that a neighbor did complain about 2 years ago of some liquid seeping through the ceiling into her apartment but that maintenance inspected it and decided to move on from the issue when the leaking stopped and nobody came to White’s door. "What I can tell you is it is very clear when officers entered that he had been there for a while," Schulte confirmed. "The way he was found, the way the apartment was arranged and so forth, there was zero indication of foul play." White’s apartment was new and was located on the third floor at the very northwest corner of the apartment complex. Police said that it was very well-insulated and all of the windows were sealed and locked tight which also added to how he could have gone undetected for 3 years."

Hard to believe the holder of the lease had no interest in any of this other than collection of rent.

"Detectives found White’s gray Ford F-150 pickup truck parked in the DeSoto Town Center parking garage covered in dust and several advertising flyers under the vehicle’s windshield wipers but confirm that it was never reported as suspicious. In his home, they found medications for diabetes dated back to 2016 which is consistent with his estimated date of death. Funeral arrangements are pending while more tests are being performed to see if the medical examiner can determine the cause of death. But even if his cause of death is determined, his family still remains heartbroken. "I can't hardly cope with it to be honest with you," his mother said. “I can't hardly deal with it."

Massive failure of the system. ... When did we lose ourselves?

11-29-19

We've indeed lost ourselves. NPR reports:

"A Utah woman is facing misdemeanor lewdness charges after being seen topless in her own home by her stepchildren. Her attorneys argued Tuesday in district court in Salt Lake City that the statute is unconstitutional. A Utah woman has been charged with lewdness in her own home after her stepchildren walked into the room and saw her bare chest. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah argued this week that the statute under which Tilli Buchanan, 27, was charged is unconstitutional, and they have asked a judge to drop the charges against her and change the state law."

Freedom? Liberty? What's that?

"Buchanan and her husband had been installing drywall in the garage and had taken off their shirts that were itchy from the fibers, she told The Salt Lake Tribune. When her stepchildren, aged 9, 10 and 13, walked in, she "explained she considers herself a feminist and wanted to make a point that everybody should be fine with walking around their house or elsewhere with skin showing," her lawyers wrote in court documents, The Associated Press reports. Now the state has charged Buchanan with three charges of lewdness involving a child. The charge is a Class A misdemeanor. Though her husband was similarly clad, he was not charged with a crime. The state's lewdness statute criminalizes exposure of "the female breast below the top of the areola" in the presence of a child in a private place "under circumstances the person should know will likely cause affront or alarm."

Jesus Christ. What a crock of shit. Absolute nonsense. 'Affront or alarm' to whom? A sick nazi desperate to force his or her perverse religious views on all in direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion?

Insult to injury? Get this:

"If convicted, Buchanan faces imprisonment, fines and the requirement to register as a sex offender for 10 years."

Jesus Christ. Had absolutely nothing to do with sex. Nothing at all.

"It was in the privacy of my own home. My husband was right next to me in the same exact manner that I was, and he's not being prosecuted," she told reporters after the court hearing."

Goddamned right. Outrageous.

Apparently, the birth mother of the children has an agenda:

"The charges were filed after the children's mother told that authorities she was "alarmed" by the incident, according the AP."

The attack on liberty by the nazi element in our formerly great country clearly knows no bounds:

"Buchanan's case raises a number of constitutional concerns, says Leah Farrell, an attorney at the ACLU of Utah. To begin with, "the criminalizing of behavior that many people don't consider criminal, and is normal." Most people wouldn't consider, for instance, that they "might be brought into court because of their dealing with their dirty clothes within their house. Anything that really extends the criminal justice system into people's homes in this way is something that we're interested in looking at closer," Farrell says. And then there's the gender issue. "Simply because Miss Buchanan is a woman, she is facing this charge," Farrell says. "Therefore, women throughout Utah are at higher risk of facing a criminal charge simply because of their gender. There are different ideas around what morality is or is not. But the state's reach to criminalize morality based on gender and gender stereotyping is incredibly problematic." Farrell notes that the statute's language requiring women to predict whether going topless is likely to cause "affront or alarm" imposes an additional burden that is not required of men."

The assault on liberty by the Nazi Right in our formerly great country is relentless. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of religion. Egregious violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause, church-state separation, that is, freedom from religion.

"In February, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's ruling that an ordinance in Fort Collins, Colo., banning women from being topless in public was unconstitutional. Fort Collins decided not to appeal the court's decision, after spending more than $300,000 to defend its ban. That case concerned women being treated differently in public rather than in private. If anything, Buchanan may have a stronger case, says Farrell: "You wouldn't think you would lose those protections within the private space of your home."

In Nazi America, anything goes.

"The courtroom battles are one front in what's called the "free the nipple" movement. In August, three women who were arrested and convicted for being topless at a New Hampshire beach asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case. They argue that the city ordinance barring women from showing their nipples in public is inherently discriminatory on the basis of gender."

No question.

"Facebook has also been criticized for its ban on images of women with "uncovered female nipples except in the context of breastfeeding, birth giving and after-birth moments, health-related situations (for example, post-mastectomy, breast cancer awareness or gender confirmation surgery) or an act of protest." Instagram's policy on female nipples is similar. More than 100 people lay nude in front of Facebook's New York offices in May, holding aloft images of female nipples in protest of the company's policies."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-29-19

... A word to the wise. The Washington Post reports:

"The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is warning travelers using Los Angeles International Airport of a new scheme targeting people who need a quick boost at public USB charging stations. The USB charging scam, also known as “juice jacking,” involves hackers spoofing charging stations to steal information. Similar to credit-card skimming, fake charging stations are set up via port or cable, and unknowing users who plug into them expose their devices to malware attacks that can lock their devices and export sensitive contents such as passwords and bank account numbers into the hands of waiting information thieves."

Bring your charger with you. Plug into a standard AC outlet. Ask permission before doing so.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred eighty seven weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred eighty seven weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred eighty seven weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

11-22-19

Seatbelts on. CBSN Boston reports:

"A brave little boy battling a brain tumor just became a special member of the Holliston Police Department. Officers held a swearing in ceremony Tuesday afternoon for three-year-old Declan Vail. Declan already had his own uniform, so he came dressed for the occasion and got the chance to meet officers and dispatchers as well as tour the department. Police from Holliston and surrounding towns have rallied around Declan since he started treatment. Last month, Holliston Officer Bryan DiGiorgio helped escort Declan and his parents to his appointment at Boston Children’s Hospital."

11-22-19

No justice. NBC News reports:

"A grand jury found that the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old black man by police in Colorado Springs was a justified act."

Legalized murder. Nazi justice.

"De'Von Bailey was shot and killed Aug. 3 when officers responded to a report of a robbery in Colorado Springs. The case was referred to a grand jury in October amid calls for an independent investigation into Bailey's death, according to NBC affiliate KOAA. The officers who arrived to the scene in August said that that they were speaking to two potential suspects when they asked if either of them were armed. Bailey then allegedly ran from police as they called for him to stop and put his hands up, KOAA reported. The responding officers allege Bailey seemed to reach for a firearm. Video footage from a nearby surveillance camera showed a portion of the encounter, in which Bailey can be seen running away from officers before falling to the ground. Officers can be seen on the video administering first aid to Bailey before additional help arrives."

Shot in the back. Running from officers. Nazi justice. Jackbooted bastards in blue, -- judge, jury, and executioner. Never, ever, never run from a cop. The bastard could kill you with impunity. Legalized murder.

"Bailey died after being transported to a local hospital. An autopsy revealed Bailey had been shot four times and that bullets had perforated several organs including his heart, left lung and spleen, according to KOAA. Bailey's parents held a press conference in August with their attorneys, Darold Kilmer and Mari Newman, to publicly demand an independent investigation into their son's death from the Colorado Attorney General's Office. "This is about what’s right is right and what's wrong is wrong," Greg Bailey, De'Von Bailey's father, said at the August press conference. "And what’s wrong is that my son was shot in the back by law enforcement."

... Hear the rumble?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

More of the same. Legalized murder. The Washington Post reports:

"Two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot unarmed motorist Bijan Ghaisar in 2017 will not be charged with any crimes in connection with the incident, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The decision came just days before the two-year anniversary of the slaying. Officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard pursued Ghaisar down the George Washington Memorial Parkway shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2017, after he left the scene of a fender bender in Alexandria."

Never, ever, never run from law enforcement. Grants the criminal jackbooted bastards carte blanche to murder with impunity.

"Ghaisar, 25, briefly stopped twice and then drove away, video released by Fairfax County police shows. After a third stop, Ghaisar again pulled away as Vinyard and Amaya aimed their guns at him, the video shows, and the officers fired nine times into Ghaisar’s Jeep."

Judge, jury, executioners. Legalized murder.

"In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District, which has been investigating the case, said they “cannot prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the two USPP officers committed willful violations of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute when they shot Mr. Ghaisar.”

Jesus Christ. The jackbooted motherf--kers weren't charged with murder. Clearly, murder has been effectively legalized for the jackbooted bastards in blue.

Insult to injury? Height of nazi Aryan arrogance? Get this:

"The Park Police never explained why the officers shot Ghaisar. Police also did not publicly identify the officers; their names were revealed in a civil lawsuit filed by the Ghaisar family in federal court in Alexandria. In that civil suit, the officers contend they fired in self-defense. Video shows Park Police fired nine shots into Bijan Ghaisar’s Jeep at close range, killing him."

Criminal jackbooted murderers.

"Ghaisar’s family, with the support of Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and others, had repeatedly pressed for details of the investigation in the months and years following the shooting. Family and friends demonstrated outside the Justice Department repeatedly and outside the Interior Department. They are planning a vigil at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of Ghaisar’s death."

... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms all across our formerly great country.

"The shooting also prompted legislation that would require federal officers to wear body cameras."

Why wasn't the above already the law?

"The family was notified of the decision in a letter hand-delivered to their lawyer, Roy Austin, shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, Austin said. The Ghaisars, who appeared earlier in the day with Warner on the Kojo Nnamdi radio show on WAMU-FM, were preparing a statement. Ghaisar was an accountant with no criminal history, born and raised in Northern Virginia. He graduated from Langley High School and Virginia Commonwealth University, lived by himself in an apartment in Tysons Corner and worked for his father’s accounting firm in McLean. He was single with no children. Ghaisar’s family said he was shot four times in the head. The Park Police waited five hours before notifying Ghaisar’s parents he’d been shot, and they did not tell them who was involved, the Ghaisars said. No weapon was found in Ghaisar’s Jeep."

How can there be any faith and trust in law enforcement?

"Ghaisar lived for ten days before he was removed from life support on Nov. 27, 2017, in the same hospital where he was born."

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

The following is beyond appalling. Insane. NBC News reports:

"The Pima County Sheriff's Office in Arizona will conduct an internal investigation after a deputy was caught on cellphone video tackling a 15-year-old boy with no arms or legs, an incident that the local public defender calls "unconscionable and horrific."

Re-read the above quote. Let it sink in.

"The eight-minute video, first reported by local station KOLD, shows the boy yelling as the sheriff's deputy pins him to a kitchen floor inside a Tucson group home, restraining the quadruple amputee. The incident was recorded by another boy at the group home whose head was later pushed into a wall."

Nothing quite like an insane jackbooted motherf--ker, is there?

"These are boys who are already traumatized. That's why they're in a group home. These are children who society has discarded and left behind," said Pima County Public Defender Joel Feinman, who is representing both boys and withholding most information about them to protect their privacy. "For them to be assaulted by an armed deputy with a badge and a gun, the personification of the very organization that is meant to protect and serve them, is absolutely terrible," Feinman said in a phone interview Friday."

It's criminal.

"The incident took place on Sept. 26 after an employee at the group home called law enforcement to report that the 15-year-old, Immanuel, had knocked over a trash can. Feinman said Immanuel, who is in state custody because he was abandoned by his family, was upset over a recent school suspension. The deputy who responded to that call apparently found that Immanuel was disturbing the peace and restrained him, according to Feinman. C.J., a 16-year-old who lives in the home, then started recording the incident from a nearby room while he ate a bowl of cereal, Feinman said."

Nothing quite like a video. A video doesn't lie. Doesn't bullshit. If properly taken, exposes precisely what transpired in all its goddamned 'glory.'

"The video shows the deputy, who is white, crouching on the floor and putting a headlock around a shirtless Immanuel, who is black. The boy becomes agitated, loudly pleading with the officer to let him go. The deputy seems to loosen his grip, and Immanuel tries to get away. That's when the law enforcement officer tackles him, bringing him to the floor by a refrigerator and pressing down with his body weight. The boy can be heard yelling. The deputy eventually allows Immanuel to get up, and he asks the boy if he has a problem."

No question. The deputy. An unfit idiot.

"The boy responds that he does not have a problem. But after a brief back-and-forth, the deputy raises his voice and appears to become angry. The deputy shouts: "I will raise my voice to you whenever the [expletive] I want, you understand?"

A jackbooted motherf--ker.

"C.J. then interjects: "Hey, you asked him a question, and he answered!" The deputy yells back at C.J.: "Shut the hell up!" The officer orders the 16-year-old to go back to his room, but the boy responds that he is finishing his cereal and isn't allowed to eat in his room. The deputy approaches C.J., orders him to stay out of the situation and again tells him to "shut the hell up." The boy tells the officer to "get the [expletive] out of my face." The deputy later says: "You're going to get arrested, too."

For what?

"Later in the video, another person in the room appears to take over the cellphone recording as C.J. is handcuffed and slammed into a wall by the deputy."

No question. An out of control, jackbooted motherf--ker. Disgrace to the badge.

"Feinman said Immanuel and C.J. were arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to juvenile detention. Immanuel was originally charged with disorderly conduct, but that case has since been dismissed, according to Feinman."

For damned good reason. It was the out of control, jackbooted motherf--ker himself that was guilty of disorderly conduct and assault.

"I'd like people to imagine that this is their child," Feinman said."

Anyone. Think this piece of Aryan arrogant shit isn't abusing others across the board?

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

Been doing this quite some time. In this publication alone, over twenty years. Every time thought I'd heard the worst, -- was sadly mistaken. The Washington Post reports:

"A baby died after an officer crashed his Corvette at 94 mph, investigators say. He won’t face charges."

How about that? Gets worse. Seatbelts on:

"Investigators say the officer was driving his orange Corvette 94 miles an hour, nearly twice the speed limit, when he collided off-duty with a family’s SUV. The crash killed a 1-year-old girl who went flying out of the vehicle, according to police. But the Baton Rouge Police Department’s Christopher Manuel will face no criminal charges — not even for speeding, prosecutors said this week."

Nazi justice.

Insult to injury? Get this:

"The news has drawn further scrutiny to the 2017 tragedy that stirred public outrage last year after authorities arrested the dead child’s mother, 21-year-old Brittany Stephens, on suspicion of negligent homicide, saying the baby probably would not have been ejected and killed if Stephens had properly secured the car seat. Authorities have decided not to charge her, East Baton Rouge district attorney Hillar Moore III said."

Both should have been prosecuted.

"The choice to prosecute neither Manuel nor Stephens was an agonizing one, Moore told The Washington Post on Friday. But after two years of discussions, he said, prosecutors felt they couldn’t meet the burden of proof for homicide or even a lesser charge like negligent injury for the officer. At the same time, they were loath to go after a young woman whom Moore said has already “punished herself.”

Jesus Christ. Give me a break. Indeed, prosecutors do have discretion. No question. Certainly, should. The woman has indeed suffered horrendously for the crime. What could possibly be worse than the death of a child? Especially, when that death is at least partially caused by her negligence. Could have been prosecuted on a lesser charge, and/or pardoned upon conviction. Conversely, had the off duty cop not been speeding at approximately twice the speed limit, the baby might have still been alive and well.

“You never want any officer traveling 94 miles an hour,” he said. “It’s just stupid. It’s dangerous. But when we looked at the law and the facts and the circumstances, we just thought that this was the only reasonable decision to make.”

Jesus Christ. Appear to be letting the woman off the hook to protect and coddle a criminal law enforcement officer. No justice. Worse? Perversion of justice to protect one of their own. Forget? They work hand in glove with law enforcement on a daily basis. Precisely, why there is desperate need of a new federal agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, and prosecute criminal officers, judges, and prosecutors in a special court whose sole function would be to adjudicate only such cases. Total independence.

"An attorney for Stephens told The Post he’s troubled by authorities’ handling of the case, though. He has questioned last year’s action against his client, calling it a tactic to muddy responsibility for baby Seyaira’s death. Now, he’s blasting the district attorney for letting the officer off the hook, saying the choice exudes “impropriety” given prosecutors’ close work with police."

Precisely, one of many ongoing problems with the system.

“He turned a highway into a raceway,” said the lawyer, Marcus Allen. “Brittany will never see that child again. And now at the end of the day he literally walks away with nothing.”

Usually, the case with on or off-duty officers. The criminal bastards in uniform literally get away with murder. Let off the hook. Euphemistically, called 'professional courtesy.'

"Hearing the news, he said, Stephens texted him to say she felt hurt and angry. “I told her, ‘You’re justified,’ ” he recalled. Moore said he respects the criticism but is adamant that Manuel’s job as a police officer did not sway his decision."

Jesus Christ. A goddamned liar, -- or worse, achingly clueless. Either way, speaks volumes about the egregious failure of justice in our formerly great country.

"Manuel’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Friday. The attorney told a local paper, the Advocate, that the no-charge decision was appropriate and that the case belonged in civil court."

Spoken like a shyster. ... Bet he isn't best at what he does? LOL.

Insult to injury? The unprosecuted murderous bastard in uniform remains an exigent threat to the public:

"Manuel, whom The Post could not immediately reach for comment, remains on the police force, department spokesman L’Jean McKneely confirmed Friday. With the question of criminal charges resolved, he said, the department can move forward with an internal investigation into Manuel’s actions two years ago on Oct. 12. Arrested after the wreck on suspicion of negligent homicide, Manuel was initially put on paid administrative leave but has since returned to work in a unit that files reports based on phone calls, McKneely said. That option seemed better than Manuel “being at home on taxpayers’ money,” he added."

Jesus Christ. Why the f--k wasn't this piece of crap fired? Does law enforcement truly want someone like this on the force? Delusionally believe he serves the best interests of law enforcement and the public? Sets the proper example not only for the public, but law enforcement as well?

"McKneely referred questions about the crash and investigators’ findings to the district attorney."

Gutless.

"Both Manuel and the SUV driver had green lights when the SUV turned left toward a boulevard as the officer’s Corvette headed along Airline Highway, according to an arrest report obtained by the Advocate. Investigators raised questions about whether the SUV’s driver acted improperly by not yielding. Police also noted safety violations among the SUV’s passengers: Too many people were in the car, and no one was wearing seat belts, they say, as an unlicensed person took the wheel. The district attorney says all those factors complicated decisions around Manuel’s culpability."

Bullshit. Unadulterated. No excuse. This is an officer who knew better. Not only that, his criminal behavior resulted in exceptionally severe consequences:

"Investigators ultimately said Manuel’s speeding made judging the turn impossible, according to the Advocate. The speed limit on Airline Highway is 50 mph. The wreck left many wounded, according to a civil complaint filed for several people in the SUV. Stephens’s mother, Janice Johnson — a passenger along with her daughter — struggled to speak and needed help with basic self-care after spending three months in the hospital for serious injuries such as a crushed lung and broken bones, the lawsuit states. Three children were also hospitalized, the complaint says, including a 15-year-old who now uses a wheelchair and has been unable to return to school because of brain impairment. The teenager had reportedly accumulated $700,000 in medical costs as of last year."

Think these consequences won't be life-long for those who survived? -- All due to an asshole officer unfit to be in law enforcement. A criminal.

"While no charges related to the wreck will proceed in criminal court, Stephens and other family members injured in the crash are still suing Manuel for damages. Manuel, in turn, has filed his own lawsuit against the SUV’s driver. The officer’s complaint says the other driver caused the collision by turning “without warning” into his lane, leaving him in the hospital with unspecified injuries, according to the Advocate."

Jesus Christ. Galling Aryan arrogance by this criminal jackbooted piece of human excrement. Are fellow officers comfortable calling him one of their own?

"Police have pointed to Stephens’s culpability in the death of her daughter, saying she should not have placed a car seat unsecured between two front seats. McKneely told the Advocate last year that the mother “was the person responsible for the buckling of the car seat.” But Allen, the attorney for Stephens, believes a jury would have been more likely to fault Manuel in the child’s death. “He’s an off-duty police officer that should know better,” Allen said."

The criminal jackbooted motherf--ker did know better. After all, he enforces the law. Ferociously pointedly, who the hell should know better than an officer?

"The district attorney should have allowed a court to weigh in, he argued — or at the very least, prosecuted the speeding."

Not good enough. Nowhere near. Considering his status as a law enforcement officer, should have been prosecuted for manslaughter at the very least. Even if the prosecution ultimately failed, prosecutors would have made the point, sent a message.

"Moore, the district attorney, said prosecutors chose not to pursue a speeding charge against the officer because, under Louisiana law at the time, it could have interfered with their ability to eventually bring a more serious charge of negligent homicide. Allen, however, says he’s not aware of any reason the district attorney couldn’t pursue multiple charges at once."

Negligent homicide was a far more appropriate charge. Especially, for an officer who certainly knew better. Let the jury decide whether or not that was, indeed, so.

"The window for prosecuting a speeding violation passed last month. If the district attorney had come to a decision on negligent homicide sooner, Moore acknowledged, they could have pursued the other offense. But he maintained that deliberations simply took too long. “This is a trying decision,” he said. “It weighed on me as a parent with children.” His office chose not to prosecute safety violations for people in the SUV."

This guy is incompetent. Worse, a shill for law enforcement. Has to now live with the consequences of his non-action excuse-making.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-22-19

Racism remains alive and well. NBC News reports:

"A deputy constable in Indiana has been fired after he was seen in a viral video confronting two black men in a store parking lot for "acting suspicious."

No seeming end to the bigoted bullshit.

"In the video posted to YouTube on Nov. 13, the description says the two men first noticed the officer watching them while they were at a Nordstrom Rack store in the Castleton neighborhood of Indianapolis. "He watched us buy everything, and then followed us to the car," the YouTube video description says. According to the description of the 17-minute video posted a day after the incident, which has been viewed more than 300,000 times as of Tuesday morning, the men started filming when they began to exit the parking lot and the officer screamed he was going to run their plates."

For what?

"So, we circled back to ask him why he was being invasive and abusing his authority!" the description says. The men repeatedly ask the officer, identified as Lawrence Township Deputy Constable Daryl Jones by NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis, why he approached them in the parking lot and why he wanted to see their driver's licenses. They also request multiple times that he call his supervisor. Jones was off duty and working security for the Nordstrom Rack store. The store told NBC News on Tuesday that he no longer works there."

Surprised?

"I'm not calling the supervisor," Jones says, to which one of the men says: "You're not pulling me over neither." "What do you need my I.D. for, sir?" one of the men asks Jones. "Because you want to run your mouth," he responds."

LOL. This piece of shit is unqualified to be dog catcher.

Gets worse:

"After one of the men tells Jones he didn't have the right to run the vehicle's license plates, Jones shouts: “I got my rights to do anything I want to do, I’m a police officer."

Unbridled Aryan arrogance.

"That doesn't mean anything," one of the men can be heard saying. Jones then threatens to tow their car and arrest them if they do not present their driver's licenses. "I don't mind showing you my driver's license, but what is your reason for asking," one of the men says. "Because you're acting suspicious," the off-duty constable responds."

How? By verbally challenging the actions of an out of control jackbooted bastard?

"The pair said they were clear about their complaint without being angry and were stern during the confrontation because they believed they did nothing wrong and did not act suspiciously. After Jones called for backup, an officer from the Indianapolis Metro Police Department responded and spoke with Jones near the car. Jones then returned to the driver's side of the vehicle and told the men they were free to go and walked off as they again request his name. The responding officer spoke with the two men who questioned why Jones ran their plates without just cause. The officer told the pair: "Not necessarily. We can run plates for any reason or no reason at all. What he does have to have is he has to have what's called reasonable suspicion in order to make a stop. He has to have some sort of reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed."

No kidding.

"Lawrence Township Chief Constable Terry Burns told NBC News on Tuesday he fired the constable in the video within two hours of viewing it."

Had no choice. Especially, in light of the following:

"He also said Jones had been in the role for about 20 years."

Ferociously pointedly, how the f--k could the Chief Constable not have known this guy was a problem? A catastrophe waiting to happen.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

5-25-18

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Some salient quotes occurring later on in this edition vis a vis unfinished business County officials continue to ignore:

... Small sampling of what's to come in this edition. Read on.

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Wiley B. "Sonny" McAfee
District Attorney
33rd and 424th Judicial Districts
Llano, TX 78643

March 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*********************************

Rebecca Lange, Llano County Attorney
Llano County Attorney's Office
Llano, Texas 78643

February 9, 2018

Re: Berardi Property Rights Denial-Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Counselor:

Equally pointedly, why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights to this Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant physical damage done to a motor home on that property.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

*******************

Bill Blackburn, Sheriff
Llano County Sheriff's Office
2001 N. State Hwy. 16 Suite A
Llano, Texas 78643

August 23, 2017

Re: Damage To Pace Arrow-Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764

Sheriff:

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
www.libertyinperil.com
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609

c. Liberty In Peril

8-30-19

Llano County DA "Sonny Boy" is in the news. Received an award. The DailyTrib reports:

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

Wake up, Sheriff. Again, where is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred eighty six weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace. Why are you still sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff? What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

Who are they, Sheriff? Their past history? An ongoing investigation remains a lame bullshit excuse. How can you and your goons be trusted when you refuse to disclose information? One hundred eighty six weeks. Especially, your egregious failure to disclose the identity of the officers who pulled the trigger. To cover your sorry ass, Sheriff? Those of your thugs? The people have a right to know what happened, how it went down. You don't understand that, Sheriff? Sadly, clearly, you answer to no one. Including taxpayers. Especially, taxpayers.

Until you and your goons come clean, doubt will remain this was indeed a good shoot. The longer you drag your feet, the greater the doubt. Think not? Wake up. Your credibility has tanked. Isn't getting any better as this bullshit continues unabated. One hundred eighty six weeks. Still no identification of the officers involved ... Can't get your stories straight? In line? Discrepancy between LCSO and DPS? Wake up, Sheriff. The public no longer buys the bullshit. No longer trusts you. On this and many, many other issues. You have no credibility. Absolutely, none.

11-15-19

Another example of Uncommon Valor. CBS News reports:

"A chaotic and terrifying scene was captured on camera in Carmichael, California. CBS Sacramento reports that footage from an officer-involved shooting was released by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. The video shows the moments before a deadly confrontation. Chanell Brown, 23, was shot and killed by her boyfriend, who was then killed by Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies. The video shows a man kicking in a door while grasping a woman with one hand and his gun with the other, while the woman warns others to lock their door.

"You got the police called on me, I didn't do (expletive)," the man said in the video.

"Lock your door, lock it," the woman said. Within minutes, Sacramento Sheriff's deputies arrive and the suspect shoots and kills the woman before deputies open fire and kill him.

"That video speaks a thousand words," Sacramento County Sheriff Sergeant Tess Deterding said. "If you watch it, everything unfolds in a split second."

"Brown's mother says even her daughter's final moments were angelic. "Everything about her was an angel, she helped you," Veronica Brown said. "She saved lives, the night she died she saved lives, she saved other people, she sacrificed her own life. That's what really happened. She sacrificed herself."

Placed others before herself. Uncommon Valor.

"The family says Brown was in a relationship with the man who killed her. Earnest Easterling was her first boyfriend. The family sensed something was wrong. "She had distanced herself from family," sister Kevonna Brown said. "She moved away." The Browns held a press conference following the Sheriff Department's video release to help prevent other victims of domestic violence from meeting the same fate. "Our goal was to bring awareness to the situation, moving forward, you know, 'cause that's something as a family, that should be our mission to do for her," brother Keith Brown said. Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies say the suspect had been arrested in 2016 in the state of Nevada for possession of a concealed firearm but he was not convicted. An online search found no criminal record in Sacramento. Deputies say he did own the gun he used to kill his girlfriend and he bought it legally."

11-15-19

Another example of Uncommon Valor. NBC News reports:

"A Chicago man was shot to death Thursday night after he rushed to save his teenage niece from an assailant in her home, authorities said. The killer sneaked through a window of the 17-year-old's bedroom at about 9 p.m., and she screamed for help as he sexually assaulted her, according to a police statement. The girl's 66-year-old uncle ran to help her but was shot in the head and back by the attacker, authorities said. He was rushed to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died."

Uncommon Valor.

"A suspect was taken into custody a short time later, but he had not been charged as of Friday morning, a police spokesman said."

11-15-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, NPR reports:

"Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is stepping down as the city's top law enforcement officer after more than three years, a tenure that began when his predecessor was removed in the wake of video footage showing a white police officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald."

This guy was a poor replacement. Left much to be desired. Chicago desperately needed a new leader in the department that would have forced desperately needed change no matter what rank and file officers demanded, wanted, or objected to. Johnson miserably failed to do so despite his best efforts in the attempt. Then, put himself in a bind of his own making he couldn't credibly extricate himself from.

"Johnson led a department of some 13,400 officers, the second-largest force in the country, pushing for use-of-force training, more community policing and a court monitor to oversee department-wide reforms. But Johnson's retirement, effective at the end of the year, also comes after he became embroiled in controversy."

Did he ever:

"Last month, police officers found Johnson asleep in his city-owned SUV at a stop sign. He initially said he had failed to take his blood pressure medication and felt lightheaded, but he reportedly later told the city's mayor he had consumed alcohol earlier that evening. The city's inspector general's office is investigating why the officers allowed Johnson to drive home without having taking a sobriety test, according to NPR member station WBEZ. Johnson did not comment on the investigation during the news conference."

Why not, sir?

CNN News reports:

"Former Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck was named as Chicago's interim police superintendent by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday. He will fill in until a permanent replacement is found for Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who announced on Thursday he would retire at the end of the year.

"Beck said his main objective is "to bring this city together because they trust their cops."

Good luck. Until murderous, corrupt, abusive officers are ubiquitously brought to justice and suffer the same consequences as civilian offenders, snowball's chance.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

In follow up to a case covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere, CBS News reports:

"A white Fort Worth police officer who fatally shot a black woman in her home last month had been critiqued in a 2018 performance review for missing calls for help over the radio and sometimes having "tunnel vision." The new details about Aaron Dean's work history come from records obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Dean's supervisor commended him in his most recent evaluation, in April 2019, for working at the level of more experienced officers, exhorting him to "keep up the good work," the records show. But his supervisor was critical in earlier performance reviews, writing that Dean had poor communication skills and accusing him of being evasive rather than owning up to doing wrong. During his 2017 police department job interview, a video of which was obtained by the paper, Dean said he would have "no problem" using lethal force if necessary."

This piece of shit is, and was, unfit to wear the uniform. A young woman paid with her life.

"The records offer new insight into the 35-year-old who is facing a murder charge for shooting 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson through her back window after responding to a call about an open front door. He resigned from the department in October without answering questions about the shooting, which drew national outrage. During the 2017 job interview, Dean said he wanted to serve the public and liked "the action and adventure" that he believed came with being an officer. Dean said he had aspired to join the military and saw becoming a police officer as a "way to do some of those same things without having to deploy overseas."

Militarization of law enforcement is precisely the problem. The two don't mix. Are not, and should not be, one and the same.

"Dean also disclosed during his interview that he pleaded no-contest in 2004 to a charge of simple assault for touching "a girl I was friends with" inappropriately when he was a college student."

That alone should have disqualified this piece of shit from becoming an officer.

"Dean said the woman reported him to police after he stroked her breast in the library at the University of Texas at Arlington. He said she had been flirtatious and that he "just wanted to respond, see how it would go." Dean told the interviewing officers that he paid a fine and has been more careful since."

Jesus Christ. Give me a break. What could law enforcement possibly been thinking when it hired this piece of human excrement?

"Dean graduated in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in physics and joined the Fort Worth police force in April 2018. The misdemeanor charge from more than a decade earlier wouldn't have prevented Dean from becoming an officer under Fort Worth's civil service regulations."

Appalling.

Readers will recall:

"Jefferson had been up late playing video games with her young nephew. The video shows Dean fired less than a second after yelling for Jefferson to show her hands, and without ever identifying himself as a police officer. Police said Dean drew his gun after "perceiving a threat" but that there was no sign he or the other officer who responded ever knocked on the front door. An arrest warrant says the child told investigators Jefferson heard a noise outside and grabbed her gun from her purse as she went to investigate. The boy said Jefferson had the gun pointed at the window when she was shot from outside, according to the warrant. Interim Fort Worth police chief Ed Kraus last month said there is "no excuse" for the shooting and vowed Dean would be held accountable. He said it made sense that Jefferson, who was licensed to carry, would have had her gun if she thought there was an intruder in her backyard."

The fact she was licensed to carry is irrelevant. She was in her own house, protecting herself and her nephew.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

The following is another example of outrageously abusive policing. ABC News reports:

"A Florida school resource officer has been fired and faces an investigation after a video surfaced on social media showing him yanking a middle school student by her hair."

Why hasn't he been arrested?

"Following outrage, the Orange County Sheriff's Office released body cam footage of the incident Friday. In the video, officers are shown responding to a fight that broke out between students outside Westridge Middle School in Orlando, Florida. It shows one deputy holding a girl against the trunk of a car, with her arms held behind her back. The officer, who is white, then grabs the girl, who is black, by a hair scarf, pulling her head back and saying, "You’re the one who started this s--- at school. ... I’m tired of this s---." He then drags the girl to a police car and puts her in the back seat. The girl was briefly detained before being released to a parent, authorities said. Authorities have not identified the officer involved in the incident."

Why not? The public is entitled to quickly know the identity of its criminal oppressors in blue. ... Right, Mr. Blackburn?

"A school resource officer was fired Friday, Nov. 8, 2019, after he was seen on video grabbing a young student by the hair at Westridge Middle School in Orlando, Fla. In a press conference Friday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina described the officer’s conduct as "out of control.”

Beyond that, criminal. Why wasn't he immediately arrested? Why are you protecting him?

"I am extremely upset, disappointed and outraged by the conduct of our deputy sheriff in this instance," Mina said. "I want the community to know that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office."

If true, why wasn't he immediately arrested?

"Mina told reporters that he had been made aware of the video on Friday morning, and that after reviewing it and footage from the department’s own body cameras, the decision was made to terminate the deputy's employment."

Again, why wasn't he immediately arrested like any ordinary civilian would have been who had engaged in such behavior? Why special treatment?

"Footage from a body camera worn by another deputy responding to the incident showed him addressing the same student moments before the now-fired deputy intervened. The first deputy is heard telling the girl to relax, and saying he is not yelling at her."

Why is it some officers can do the right thing, control themselves, de-escalate, and others behave like criminal jackasses?

"The school resource deputy showed up and actually escalated the situation and made it worse,” Mina said."

Clearly.

"The department’s internal affairs section is conducting its own investigation of the incident, the findings of which will be turned over to the State's Attorney's Office to see if criminal charges are warranted."

Why the delay? Why the special treatment? Should have arrested the son of a bitch. Let prosecutors decide whether to prosecute or protect and coddle the bastard. Why no equal treatment? Precisely, why there is no faith or trust in law enforcement.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

The murderous carnage continues. ABC News reports:

"A surge in violent police clashes has left a trail of bodies across New York City, stoking tensions between officers and critics who say they have been too quick to use deadly force. Since mid-October, New York Police Department officers have shot five people, killing four of them — a torrent that left department veterans struggling to recall another time there were so many on-duty shootings in the city in such a short span."

Mantra of the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue? 'Shoot first, ask questions later.' Raw nazism. Exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Nazi America. A de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"On Oct. 23, police killed a man in Harlem after they say he fired a gunshot that hit an officer's bullet-resistant vest. Two days later, police killed a man in Brooklyn after they say he slammed an officer's head with a chair. That officer was placed in a medically induced coma for several days. Adding to the chasm: bystander video that showed a white police officer punching a black teen during a brawl on a Brooklyn subway platform. Hundreds of people last weekend marched in protest and the family of one teen said it will sue."

Find an attorney. Sue the living shit out of the jackbooted criminal motherf--kers in blue. They're out of control.

"Why the sudden uptick in confrontations between police and the public? It depends on who you ask. In law enforcement circles, there's a growing feeling that people are feeling emboldened to act out against police officers. In a series of attacks over the summer, several officers were soaked with water, others were hit with a milk carton and Chinese food and another had his body camera ripped off."

None of the above is proper or right. None of it is justified. Do something like that? You're no better than the jackbooted pieces of shit oppressing the public they supposedly 'serve.'

"Police unions say frequent criticism of police from city politicians and reform advocates is stoking anti-police sentiment."

Goddamned bullshit. Refusal of the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue to take responsibility for THEIR criminal behavior is the problem. An ongoing issue. That is, the murder of innocent, unarmed civilians who have committed no crime. A 'shoot first, ask questions later' jackbooted policy and mentality. Violent arrests of compliant non-violent civilians by the jackbooted bastards. False ticketing of drivers who have committed no offense to line government coffers. List can go on and on. The criticism is well-deserved and justified. Will increase as the abuse continues. Status quo, unsustainable.

"The city's largest police union, the Police Benevolent Association, says a lack of support from police leaders has left officers feeling isolated and abandoned, exemplified by the decision in August to fire an officer in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner."

Jesus Christ. The killing of Garner by the criminal jackbooted bastard was murder. Yet, the murderer was not held criminally accountable. Deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. Instead, only got fired. Nazi justice. ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms as unjustified, unwarranted violence continues to be promulgated, excused, and embraced by the jackbooted, out of control, criminals in blue.

"And the unions say reluctance by some judges and prosecutors to put suspects in jail, coupled with criminal justice reforms, such as the elimination of bail for most non-violent felonies on Jan. 1, will make it harder for officers to keep the streets and themselves safe."

Ignorant, aggressively stupid horse shit. Simply, not true. The greatest threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties is no foreign power, no terrorist organization, not even the criminal element. It is egregiously out of control, criminal police officers.

"The message is that there are no consequences for your actions," said Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice."

No more than the achingly perverse mantra of the Nazi Right in our formerly great country. Pure hypocrisy since police are the aggressors who suffer no consequences for their criminal activity when egregiously abusing power.

"You're a victim and you're a victim of society and you're a victim of racism."

We've listened to this horse shit for decades. Who the hell is saying that other than the hypocritical national socialist, fascist, nazi bastards on the Extreme Right? It's bullshit. A ruse. An excuse made to continue abusing power. It's how these bastards get their cookies off. Egregiously, abusing power. Worse? Killing innocent, unarmed civilians, -- and getting away with it.

"And the police are the enemy because they are the tool they use to oppress you."

More horse shit. More excuse making for an intolerable, unsustainable status quo. Clearly, police don't wish to clean up their act. Enjoy abusing power way too much to forego abusive tactics and procedures. It is oppression. No question. Called jackbooted control of the masses.

A boot heel on the collective throat of the public they supposedly serve. Legalized murder. A de facto fascist police-state quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. ... Again, hear the rumble? ... An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms as this abuse continues unabated.

Unadulterated bullshit:

"That's basically the message that has been filtered down."

Pure fantasy. Promulgated by the Nazi Right and law enforcement. Precisely, why the worst is yet to come.

Not all in the community, however, buy the phony bullshit promulgated by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue:

"Reform advocates see it differently."

Certainly, do. For damned good reason:

"Joo-Hyun Kang, the director of Communities United for Police Reform, said laws keeping disciplinary files secret and the outsized power of the NYPD and unions are enabling police officers to use deadly force with little or no consequence. "Police violence isn't new, but abusive and violent policing is out of control in New York City," said Kang, the director of the watchdog group, which advocated for the firing of all officers in Garner's death. Police officials noted that some of the people shot by officers had criminal records or prior police interactions, but Kavanagh said those details can work to demonize a person and make it seem like shooting them was justified."

Certainly, a problem. Officers and the brass cover each other's criminal ass. No justice.

"The recent string of officer-involved violence began with an Oct. 15 shooting outside a Brooklyn public housing complex that police reform advocates and the slain man's family say happened under murky circumstances. The police department said 30-year-old Nasheem Prioleau was killed after pointing a gun and possibly firing at a pair of anti-crime officers who saw him shooting at another person and had ordered him to drop the weapon. However, Kavanagh said it was later determined that a 9mm pistol found at the scene was not fired, and the person Prioleau was purportedly shooting at has never been found. "The night Nasheem Prioleau was killed, there was definitely a gun battle, because people including myself heard the gunfire all over Brooklyn," Kavanagh said. "Turns out it was just from one side — the police."

We have a problem in our formerly great country. Police are out of control. Not held criminally accountable for their crimes. Protected and coddled. ... Hear the rumble?

No justice. The American Way. Nazi America. When is this shit finally going to end? All of it. Wake up, Sheriff. Again, whereis dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred eighty six weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

Ankle monitors are abused by law enforcement and prosecutors. NBC News reports:

"Increasingly, American jails are built without bars, razor wire or even guards. Instead, 21st century prisons are built from data. More and more, inmates are confined not by physical buildings but by GPS monitors, radio-frequency trackers and an array of other electronic monitoring.

"Not only are electronic monitoring devices being used more often, but they are also being used for increasingly minor cases."

Cheaper than jails to control and abuse the population. Moreover, defendant pays, gets looted for the monitor. Not only that, there are frequent problems with the equipment, leading police to repeatedly show up to confront the defendant, threatening a return to jail.

"At a moment when jail and prison populations are dropping, falling by 130,000 inmates since a peak in 2009, electronic monitoring is quickly expanding. Sadly, tools that began with the promise of releasing Americans from jail are now shackling many who would otherwise have been set free. And they are doing more than just tracking their movements: They are draining their bank accounts, compromising their health and even spying on them, which is why more safeguards against electronic monitoring abuses are urgently needed."

A growing problem as these devices are used ubiquitously for all kinds of violations including traffic offenses. A growing threat to all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

Certainly, becoming cash cow:

"Electronic monitoring is one of the fastest-expanding sectors in the private prison industry. Take, for example, the Florida-based GEO Group, which reports that it alone is responsible for providing electronic monitoring devices for 100,00 people per year. Without any national guidelines or consensus, most police, probation and parole departments can set their own guidelines and choose their own brands of monitoring device, with various feature options."

Certainly, used to control the population:

"Not only are electronic monitoring devices being used more often, but they are also being used for increasingly minor cases, including misdemeanors and traffic violations. So rather than simply replacing confinement, electronic monitoring is becoming the norm for many defendants who would have previously been released into probation, on bail or even on their own recognizance. This is likely part of why electronic monitoring seems to be growing faster than the reduction in the prison and jail population."

Certainly, a far cheaper way to keep the boot heel of law enforcement on the collective throat of the masses. ... An exigent threat to all civil and constitutional rights and liberties:

"Electronic monitoring compromises users’ privacy in many ways beyond tracking their location. One widely used electronic monitoring anklet has a feature that can record calls and conversations without users’ consent or knowledge. These devices raise profound Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns when activated in this way, as they transform wearers into walking wiretaps — not only for capturing their own statements, but potentially those of friends and family nearby. In Chicago, a jurisdiction that consistently promotes electronic monitoring, these devices are reportedly being used to record children."

Replacement of one extremely costly type of confinement at expense of taxpayers to another that is paid for by looted defendants, some of whom innocent:

"Electronic monitoring inflicts a high price that goes beyond constitutional concerns. Americans are not only being forced to wear government tracking devices in record numbers, they are also often forced to pay for the privilege, on top of their bail. One driver who was arrested after failing to signal reported being forced to pay $300 a month for a device rental fee on top of a $179.50 setup charge. The first month’s costs added up to more than half of his $900-a-month disability check. For many, electronic monitoring can become a debt trap."

Cash cow. A win-win for the corporate management suite and its bought and paid for shills in nazi government. ... Hear the rumble?

Worse? Get this:

"Some firms are now turning to a new type of electronic surveillance device: smartphones. These firms sell apps and software that employ the same sort of location tracking that Silicon Valley has used for years to follow our movements and target us with ads."

This information from anklet monitors will be bought and sold across the globe. Nazi America.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

Privacy of the innocent. NBC News reports:

"Her sister was murdered in 1980. New DNA methods could crack the case, but NY won't allow it."

For the wrong reason. As will become clear shortly.

"It’s not going to bring her back,” Irene Wilkowitz said of using genetic genealogy to search for her sister's killer. “But it will help other people." Irene Wilkowitz's sister, Eve, was murdered almost 40 years ago in New York, and the case remains unsolved."

Tragically, so.

"... on March 25, 1980, a woman had noticed a barefoot figure lying on a neighbor’s lawn a few miles away in Bay Shore. It was Eve Wilkowitz. She’d last been seen boarding a late-night Long Island Rail Road train from Penn Station in Manhattan, where she worked as a secretary at a publishing house. Sometime during her journey home, she’d been kidnapped, bound, raped, strangled and dumped. She was 20."

Horrendous crime. Unspeakable.

"Today, they are no closer to Eve’s killer than they were the morning she was found. Wilkowitz, 57 and Eve’s only living close relative, has pressed investigators to try a new option: investigative genetic genealogy, a revolutionary — and divisive — tool that has been used to crack dozens of cold cases across America in the past 18 months. It would enable police to submit the killer’s DNA, found in semen left on her sister’s body, to consumer DNA databases, which contain DNA profiles of tens of thousands of people who are not in criminal databases. The move could increase the chances of finding a relative of the killer - and, ultimately, the killer himself."

At the cost of privacy of all those who are innocent, had nothing to do with the murder, and have not granted permission to law enforcement to access their data. Reader will recall this issue was covered in a recent edition of this publication. This time, however, there is an interesting twist that has nothing to do with privacy:

"But New York health officials won’t let investigators do so. Because public crime laboratories aren’t equipped to do the advanced DNA analysis required of the newly popular technique, law enforcement authorities must seek help from private laboratories, which are regulated by the New York State Department of Health. Under a decades-old regulation from a time when DNA analysis first became common in criminal cases, private labs are required to obtain permits before they can do such forensics work in New York. No private lab has this permit for investigative genetic genealogy. That has left New York authorities unable to join the national rush of law enforcement agencies using investigative genetic genealogy to reexamine decades-old murders and rapes."

Police should not be granted access to such data without permission of those who have submitted that data. This information can easily be abused. Find its way to employers, be sold to the business community, etc. Abused by police on fishing expeditions. No end to the possibility of abuse.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” said Suffolk County Police Lt. Kevin Beyrer, a homicide investigator who keeps the Eve Wilkowitz murder file - three bankers-boxes stuffed with yellowed typewritten reports, photographs and newspaper clippings - in his office. “The technology’s there. Other states have used it. Other states have been successful in it. This is a case that’s almost screaming for it.”

Wake up. Law enforcement cannot be trusted to do the right thing with such data. That is, use it properly. Moreover, it's not your data, Lt. Beyrer. It belongs to innocent people, guilty of no crime or criminal activity. Privacy matters. ... Unless you're a jackbooted bastard in blue.

"New York appears to be the only state to restrict the use of investigative genetic genealogy by law enforcement. The regulation is just the latest example of the way investigative genetic genealogy’s breakneck growth has unfolded without a consistent set of rules about how it can be used, and without privacy protections to prevent misuse of genetic information."

Impossible to do. Abuse is rampant. Uncontrollable.

The following was covered in a recent edition of this publication:

"Another obstacle to solving cold cases surfaced earlier this year when an online consumer DNA database, called GEDmatch, which was key to identifying unknown suspects, changed its terms of service in response to privacy concerns. The change made it more difficult for law enforcement to search GEDmatch’s database."

They finally did the right thing. Should have done it from the very start.

The article goes on and on. This is a matter that needs to be carefully resolved. While capture of a murderer is extremely important, there is far more at stake.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

11-15-19

Horrendous injustice. No equal treatment. NBC News reports:

"Tondalao Hall was sent to prison for failing to protect her children, while her abusive boyfriend, who pleaded guilty to the child abuse, was put on probation."

Inexplicable. Worse? Many victims of such abuse are so fearful of their abusers they remain incapable, too afraid to report that abuse.

"An Oklahoma mother who had been imprisoned for 15 years for failing to report to authorities that her boyfriend was abusing her children was freed from custody on Friday. Tondalao Hall was sentenced in 2006 to 30 years in prison under Oklahoma's "failure to protect" law after her then-boyfriend, Robert Braxton Jr., abused two of their children so severely, at least one had multiple broken bones, according to Hall's attorney, Megan Lambert of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. Hall had already been in jail for two years when she received her sentence."

Jesus Christ. We've got to do better. Become far more enlightened. Better understand what effect severe abuse has in terms of a victim's ability to properly react and respond to that abuse. Fear becomes overwhelming, paralyzing. -- No excuse, but indeed a reason for the paralysis, that is, the failure to report. There are others not directly involved, who had to have known the abuse was going on. Should have stepped up. Reported it.

"Braxton, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to abusing the children, but was given no additional time behind bars: He received a 10-year suspended sentence and was released on probation after having served his two years in jail, Lambert said."

Makes no sense. Incomprehensible.

"I am relieved that we finally got some justice for her, but at the same time, it’s a little bittersweet because today is coming 15 years too late," Hall said. "And at the same time, she’s still leaving behind countless other women who are still incarcerated on failure to protect charges."

That's a problem. An ongoing problem. As recently covered in this publication and elsewhere:

"Oklahoma's incarceration ranking is one many state officials are eager to shed. On Monday, more than 400 inmates across the state were released from prison in what the governor said was the largest prisoner commutation in U.S. history. The inmates had been sentenced for drug possession or other nonviolent crimes. Hall got her break last month when the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board unanimously voted to commute her sentence. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt granted the request on Thursday, which Hall said came as a surprise to her. "I was shocked, thankful, appreciative that I could be with my family," she told reporters of the governor's decision as she walked out of prison."

Here's the ongoing, unresolved bottom line:

"Lambert said Hall's years-long journey is "representative of an institutional misunderstanding of domestic violence." While every state has laws to protect children, only six have "failure to protect" laws or similar child abuse statutes that carry a possible life sentence for parents who don't report abuse, according to the Associated Press. Oklahoma’s law makes no exception for parents who stay silent out of fear for their own safety — which Lambert said was the case in Hall's situation. In addition to choking and punching their young children, Lambert said, Braxton beat and psychologically abused Hall. "What should have been a mitigating factor, the fear that she was feeling of her abuser, was specifically used to enhance her sentence," Lambert said. Hall was just 19 when she was arrested. While the child abuse charges against her were dropped, she still pleaded guilty to enabling child abuse."

We've got to do better. Far better. The status quo is unsustainable. Counterproductive.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve.

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
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