Newsletter Text V712

Getting online has gotten increasingly difficult and expensive last four months. Worse, access is outside since most establishments are closed or limited to drive-thru operations. Lap tops are not designed to be used in such an environment. Extremely difficult to see the screen. Time for the readership to step up and provide assistance. TC 7-24-20

In response to the pandemic, government quickly imposed draconian restrictions making access to public wifi exceptionally difficult. Consequently, editions of this publication will be briefer and posted as regularly as possible until circumstances change. TC 3-20-20

Got guts? Tired of being lied to? Like an alternative source of information truly independent and free of government propaganda? Want this publication to continue? Send a donation to P.O. Box 151, Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609.

Brother dearest. ... Been awhile, hasn't it, Bro? A little antsy? Wondering when the next shoe is about to fall, that is, when you'll be fully exposed for the thieving son of a bitch you truly are? Patience. All in good time, good buddy. When I'm damned good and ready. Timing just right. After all, a son of a bitch who's stolen his father's estate needs to be fully exposed publicly for whom and what he is, don't you think? Indeed, a public service for your neighbors, professional associates, family, and friends, etc..

Conveniently, forget? Others need to protect themselves against a fraud who masquerades as both a teacher and a counselor, no? -- How the hell did you ever pass an MMPI some forty years ago to get hired? You're not stable. Have not been. ... Must have really been pissed off at the old man to rip off an estate, no? How much did you steal while he was alive and supposedly under your care?

How much did you bribe law enforcement to ignore a complaint I filed with them years before the old man died? How much did you bribe the prosecutor to ignore a complaint filed with her several years ago? How much? Use the old man's money to bribe the bitch? Her cohorts? Your law enforcement shysters? While there may indeed be no justice from a corrupt system, fortunately, I do have a way to publicly expose you for the goddamned thieving son of a bitch you truly are.

... Unlike our grandmother who scrubbed floors on her hands and knees during the Depression for peanuts, only to have what little she had stolen by her son, our uncle, another goddamned thieving son of a bitch just like you. Remember how, surprise, surprise, there was no life insurance when our grandfather died? Despite the fact our grandmother gave her thieving bastard son premium money year after goddamned year? Only, as the thieving son of a bitch he truly was, to have pocketed it. Again, just like you.

Remember when he booted her out of the house she had bought him when he had had enough of her? -- Despite the fact he had lied and promised she could stay the rest of her life? She had to climb two flights of stairs on an ulcerated leg to get to a bathroom he had never built for her at ground level as falsely promised. Nothing ever happened to the thieving son of a bitch as far as justice was concerned. Worse, he was never exposed publicly for the thieving son of a bitch he truly was.

Will be different for you, Bro. While you've bought off authorities, you will be publicly exposed. In great detail. In good time. When I'm damned good and ready. When exposure will do the maximum figurative damage to your goddamned sordid reputation. -- Just the truth, brother dearest, however. Just the truth.

Irony of ironies? When the thieving son of a bitch died, and our mother was finally informed he had passed, she cried for her brother, -- the bastard thief who stole from her mother. Sad, isn't it? Too bad she's not still alive to see you publicly exposed for the goddamned thieving son of a bitch you, yourself, truly are. As was he. Not in a court of law you've bought off, however. Right here.

In good time. Again, when I'm damned good and ready. Employing the very same tactics used against Amanda Wright of Wells Fargo. -- On steroids, however, since all dirty family laundry will be aired. All of it. No threat. A promise. Emails sent to your neighbors, friends, professional associates, businesses you deal with. Although an enormous amount of work, all doable courtesy of the Internet. Despite being some 1,800 miles away. -- Small world, isn't it, Bro? Enjoy the stolen loot, you son of a bitch. Forget? It's all you have.

Brother dearest. Save all the check stubs from the old man's accounts? Fraudulently sign any of them yourself? Think this material couldn't be obtained from the banks either through discovery or a criminal investigation? Still own the house on Condict Rd.? Any other properties besides this one and the old man's you stole with the help of your shyster bastard? Be interesting to see how far your assets extend and where. Think all that information isn't accessible? That I won't determinedly obtain it?

That not only an extensive Internet search will be conducted that will likely take months to complete? But an extensive background check as well? Think the Catholic high school you attended shouldn't be informed of the thievery of one of its graduates? Think the clerics there would be appalled at their failure to teach you right from wrong? How about both universities? Think neighbors in the old man's neighborhood won't be informed of your deception? Think they don't have a right to know?

Ever follow the advice of Dr. Bert Wiser, psychological statistics professor at MSU? That is, get treatment for your achingly debilitating instability? Is that why you wound up looting the old man? Or, is it simply a convenient excuse you'll use to defend the indefensible? Think this will end any time soon? That is, public exposure of you as a thieving son of a bitch? We're just getting started, Bro. Just getting started.

Don't like it? Tough shit. Sue me you thieving son of a bitch. Would use discovery to learn and post on this website all there is to know about you, your activities, predilections, business 'deals,' as well as all your financial transactions, etc.. All of it. Would certainly avoid the expense of an extensive background check on you, thieving brother dearest.

Even if you were successful in court, there is nothing for you to take, this remains, as well, a homesteading state where minimal assets are protected anyway. This site is hosted in an overseas country that doesn't particularly like government intrusion, remains not prone to cooperate. Besides, can always upload to another webhost in still yet another country. The possibilities are endless, Bro. Just takes willingness, effort, unshakable determination.

Even if I lost it all would be more than worth it to expose you for the goddamned thieving son of a bitch you truly are. Even if you bribed a goddamned nazi 'judge' to remove posted material, would not cooperate and be more than willing to rot in jail. Would certainly keep reposting it all no matter the cost and/or personal consequences every time it was taken down. Forget, you thieving son of a bitch? I never ever give up.

Since all I seek is your exposure for the thief you truly are, would all be worth it. For the sake of principle. All the work, financial cost, as well as the time I am about to dedicate to this effort, you deceptive, unstable, sick, thieving son of a bitch. Unlike you, I live on principle and have absolutely nothing to lose. You do. Will certainly take great pleasure and satisfaction in doing all I can to publicly expose you for whom and what you are.

To say nothing of placing enormous pressure on prosecutors you and your equally corrupt shyster son of a bitch apparently bribed. Don't like it? Again, tough shit. Chew harder. The public needs to know to protect itself. From you and your shyster bastard. People who live and travel in your circles as well. Including his. As a thief, you and he can't be trusted by anyone. You'll determinedly f--k them.

More than willing to provide this truly public service. People certainly need to know whom and what you are. What you have sadly become. You certainly weren't brought up to be a thieving son of a bitch. What happened? Where did you lose yourself, Bro? -- Never mind. ... Truly doesn't matter. Only your exposure.

Hey, Bro? Remember me? How soon they conveniently forget. ... Half asleep? -- Out to lunch? ... In your own perverse little world? That of a criminal? Wake up. Conveniently, gutlessly forget? Insanely believe you're someway, somehow off the hook? Think again. We're not done. You remain a thief who will be exposed for whom and what your are. What you certainly have become. No question about that. Patience, you thieving son of a bitch. Exposure is coming. Promise.

Think I don't have time? Truly believe the ongoing Presidential fiasco ends no matter who wins? The murderous decay in law enforcement gets resolved any time soon? Criminal Wells Fargo employees from local Kingsland bank manager Amanda S. Wright right up to and including CEO John Stumpf get prosecuted in the near future despite egregious criminal activity? Wouldn't hold my breath, would you?

Think I don't have time to handle all this and your public exposure for the estate-stealing criminal son of a bitch you've truly become? How could you steal from the old bastard, you incredibly sad sack of shit? Certainly weren't brought up to be a thief. What happened to you? Where'd you lose yourself?

No question, 2017 will be a most remarkable, defining year for you, Bro. Public exposure for the thieving piece of shit you've sadly become. It's on the way. Promise. Hope you sue. Nothing for you to take. Tough, isn't it? Certainly, makes me judgment proof. Will certainly, as well, take advantage of discovery. Publish every detail I can get my hands on. No matter the consequences. Only consideration? Prime directive? Your exposure for whom and what you are.

Readers? This not-so-brotherly piece of shit stole from our father. Manipulated the old man to line his pockets. Just like our uncle on my mother's side of the family did to my grandmother. Runs in the family. Our family. ... Right, Bro? This game now gets played my way, -- not yours, you son of a bitch. That is, no more U.S. Mail tag.

Anything sent by mail will be refused, returned unopened. Want contact? Email. libertyinperil@riseup.net. Quick. Easy. Better yet? A digital record. Permanent. Easily accessible. Easily uploaded to this site when and if it becomes necessary. The shyster bastard you hired to steal the estate shouldn't expect escape, either, from public exposure as the thieving piece of shit he, like you, truly both are. Unscrupulous thieves.

Sincerely hope that piece of crap sues as well. Nothing to take. Discovery again would be published no matter the personal cost. Nothing quite like public exposure, is there? Especially, when it is nothing but the truth and there is absolutely nothing to lose exposing two pieces of criminal shit for whom and what they are. Two pieces of gutless human excrement who looted an old man. ... Right, Bro?

There is no better disinfectant than sunlight, readers. Glaring sunlight. Dazzling brilliance. Amazing how the roaches run for cover. Equally pointedly, how vermin on two legs manage to so easily prey on the elderly courtesy of the out of control fascist police-state we now live in. While there'll never be any justice vis a vis this theft, there will be exposure to the brilliant light of day for both criminal perpetrators. Count on it, you not-so-brotherly criminal son of a bitch.

Hey, Bro? Hear of Old Sturbridge Village? Haven't? ... Not lying, are you, you thieving son of a bitch? You and your long-term companion EC conspire, bequeath some of the old man's loot to this museum? An achingly stingy gift of $250-$499, -- considering the size of the estate? The CEO and Board have any idea you stole it? Think they'd care? -- Just getting started, dearest, dearest Bro. ... Delusionally believe I haven't more than enough time, resources, determination to expose you for the thieving piece of crap you truly are? ... Under $500 back in 2013? Remarkably parsimonious with stolen money aren't you? What does it feel like to have gutlessly ripped off an incompetent old man? -- Dear old Dad. Certainly, look forward to digging much deeper into how you and your shyster lawyer managed to bamboozle and loot the old bastard. Back in the day, certainly wouldn't have fallen for your bullshit. Would have kicked your worthless, thieving ass out the door. Intend to expose it to the light of day. Indeed, a public service. Seatbelts on, you thieving son of a bitch. Tally ho!

... Brief aside, dear readers, for a most exceptional reason. -- Although infrequent, pressing ongoing personal business must come first on rare occasion. Hope you agree, moreover, find it entertaining, -- as this writer did crafting what follows. Principle trumps all. Remains prime mover, prime directive no matter what.

This pressing issue involves a family thief. A heartless predator preying on the elderly who must be held accountable, exposed to the light of day. Especially, since authorities failed to do their job. The following is part of that continuing effort to expose this piece of shit for whom and what he is:

Hey, Bro? Guess what? Me, again. Most determined pain in the ass. Miss me? An inconvenient, nagging hemorrhoid that simply won't go away no matter what. -- A pile with a smile that takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

... Delusionally think this most persistent nemesis of yours conveniently disappeared to parts unknown, vanished in thin air? To give a turd a break? Wake up. Not a chance, you thieving son of a bitch. ... When you insanely believe this writer's gone and you're finally in the clear, guess what, here I am, right in your face.

Despite what's going on across our formerly great country, always have more than enough time for personal business. That is, exposing you, Bro, to the glaring light of day. A pathetically greedy predator. Your target, who else, the elderly. Most defenseless, vulnerable, an easy fleece. -- Thought you'd steal from the surly old curmudgeon with impunity, no consequences?

Successfully escape accountability? Avoid detection, all responsibility? Blatant theft of an old man's estate? A little help from a bought and paid for hopelessly greedy unprincipled shyster? Supposed cake walk due to 1800 miles separation? No one to hold you accountable? Your feet to the fire? What could you possibly been thinking?

You've read this publication before. Know precisely who and what I am, what I do. Never give up. Never say die. Ignore all obstacles. Know full well Liberty In Peril modus operandi remains as relentlessly ferocious, blindingly intense as ever.

No punches pulled. No slack. No personal consideration. Certainly, not for a gutless son of a bitch, no more than a thieving predator. Looted target, guess who, dear old dad. Pitiful. Delusionally believe you had the booty coming? An entitlement? For having had to put up with his shit all those years? Wake up.

Hear of Historic Deerfield? Of course, you have, you lying son of a bitch. Forget? You're one of their not-so-generous 'benefactors.' ... With all the money stolen from our father's estate, only bequeath them a piss poor $40 bucks?

Unbelievable. An achingly tight, cheap, thieving, worthless piece of duplicitous crap. ... Write-off? Negligible. ... Feather in the cap? How? Delusionally believe your treachery would never see the light of day? What planet do you live on?

Board of Trustees Chair Anne K. Groves know full well you looted the estate? How about President Philip Zea? Think both don't have a right to know? How about Anne Lanning, Vice President For Museum Affairs? To say nothing of Susan Martinelli, Vice President For Business Affairs?

These officials are entitled to know precisely whom they're doing business with. A thief. Gutless phony. Blow-hard fraud. Hoity-toity dandy. Worse? An unprincipled thief who stole from his father. ... Glaring light of day sucks, doesn't it, Bro? No escaping the unvarnished truth, this most bitter reality. Not a chance.

Saddest of all? Back in the day, Hell would have frozen over before anyone would have have been able to rip off the craggy old bastard. Remember quite well how intent, determined he was not to be fleeced late in life by a sick son of a bitch like you.

A leech. Ironic, isn't it? Gutless rip off of an old man who couldn't adequately handle his affairs any longer. How do you sleep nights?

Fraud runs in the family, clearly. History repeating itself. Right in the footsteps of our grandmother's son, who callously ripped off his mother decades ago. Again, another achingly pathetic piece of human excrement. Just like you. Intend to lay it bare. Methodically. Painstakingly. In great detail. Living, breathing color.

For all to see. A public service. Exposure of the criminal piece of human excrement you truly are. For sustained public review. A goddamned thief. Pissed? Chagrined? Nonplused? Tough shit. Sue. Would certainly immediately post all discovery no matter the consequences.

All snail mail will be returned unopened. No phone tag. Got something to say? Email. Say it right here. On this website. In public. For the world to see. Will be posted in its entirety. No editing. Unlike you, this writer doesn't lie, cheat, steal. Honors his word. Intend to expose you precisely for whom and what you are.

Duplicitous predator who preyed on his own father. Blinding exposure to benefit the community. Have nothing to lose providing this public service, but you do. No better disinfectant than sunshine.

.. Think the old bastard not spinning in his grave? -- Old lady not doing the same? One thing for certain. Neither brought you up to be a goddamned thief. Yet, here we are. ... Until next time, Tally Ho!

... 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.

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? Two hundred fifty-five 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?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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? Two hundred fifty-five 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? Two hundred fifty-five 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. Two hundred fifty-five 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 many others 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. This 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 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.

While the business and church communities stood tall during the recent Kingsland flood catastrophe, there was one glaring exception. On 10-17-18, the Antlers Coffee Shop closed due to storm-related failure of the Kingsland water system. Patrons, however, are routinely allowed to get online outside even when the shop is closed.

A long-term coffee shop customer entered the hotel lobby to ask the desk clerk whether wifi was still up and running after the catastrophe. She said it was and told the patron he could get online inside the closed shop. She then asked him to have another regular customer who had just arrived outside to come in and get out of the cold as well.

Antlers co-proprietor Rick apparently quickly got wind of both customers, made quite a jackass of himself emulating the petulant narcissist currently occupying the Oval Office. Aggressive stupidity at a time the Kingsland business community is indeed suffering, can least afford it. Further proof positive of the old adage 'can fix ignorant, can't fix stupid.'

Why would, why should both customers put up with this? Think this hasn't happened to others?

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 and a half 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.

Last three months been getting online at the Kingsland HEB. Met quite a few readers at the picnic table. -- People I didn't personally know, but who came up and introduced themselves. Certainly, grateful for your concern, caring, and moral support. One of the Front End managers, Kevin, had granted permission to plug in and access HEB Customer wifi at the picnic table some three months ago. Someone in County government must have subsequently complained. Three months after the fact. LOL. Finally got the boot 6-27-20 from the achingly gutless Store Manager who couldn't, or wouldn't stand up to pressure from this asshole.

Pathetic, isn't it? LOL. Certainly, knew it was coming. Hard to believe it took three months. LOL. Apparently, the gutless Store Manager, Monty, sent out the second in command, Dan, to deliver the happy news. Spoke to him awhile, but sadly as expected, he had nothing substantive to say. Other than, "leave." LOL. Advised him to send out the clearly reluctant Store Manager who apparently wanted to avoid the encounter. Finally, came out. Imagine that.

Asked the Store Manager, Monty Young, for a business card. Remarkably, he had none. Couldn't be, could it? LOL. An HEB Store Manager with no business card? How is that possible? Unlimited corporate greed? Aryan arrogance of a privately-owned corporation? Or, was he simply lying? Informed him he'd indeed be front and center in this next edition.

Before getting into specific detail vis a vis my conversation with the Store Manager, it must be stated staff at the Kingsland HEB is second to none. Have known many of them for years. Work extremely well together as a team. Certainly, exceptionally customer-friendly. The problem with this store is not staff. Not even the Store Manager and Assistant Manager per se, -- who apparently, despite their denials, had been pressured by someone. It's the HEB corporate management suite at the root of most of the problems at this store.

The following salient issues were discussed with the Store Manager before I left. -- Interestingly, none of which he denied. LOL. Readers, have you noticed cheaper generic products are either continually out of stock or discontinued? Especially, after the store changed its product line weeks before the pandemic. Apparently, in an effort to emulate the Marble Falls store that caters to the Horseshoe Bay elite.

New larger shopping carts were brought in to the Kingsland store so shoppers would supposedly buy more product, increase store sales. Shelves are restocked 24 hrs. Staff was unhappy because aisles are too narrow for the larger carts. Makes it harder to stock shelves when the store is open. Not only that, makes it much more difficult for shoppers to navigate the narrow aisles.

Product pricing has steeply increased. They accomplish this both by directly raising prices, as well as in engaging in deception, that is, downsizing product. One recent glaring example is their generic bleach. For awhile, it was unavailable, out of stock. Then, it was downsized from three quarts to two. Price remained at $1. A 33% increase. Done deceptively. At a time when inflation is supposedly non-existent. What ever happened to the HCF quart and a half ice cream that sold for $1.99? Long since gone. Both aforementioned products had already been downsized once before. LOL. List can go on and on. Unbridled corporate greed.

As I reminded the Store Manager, Kingsland residents, for the most part, are poor, young, elderly, and/or disabled, etc. This store now caters to the rich who live on the lake and Sunrise Beach. Not sustainable. ... Especially, if the shit finally hits the fan vis a vis the Trump nazi, and/or a second shutdown occurs courtesy of the raging, poorly-handled, achingly mismanaged pandemic.

To store employees, all of whom I admire, consider personal friends, courageously provide your ongoing grievances to this publication. I will publish them while protecting your identity. If you won't stand up, nothing changes.

As I informed the Store Manager, the problem in Kingsland is the fact HEB has no substantive competition. What is desperately needed is a Walmart or other major corporation to rattle the cage of local HEB management as well as the corporate management suite. Until that occurs, nothing changes, shit happens. ... Right, Monty? Dan?

In the last two and a half weeks or so, three middle-aged women tripped and fell on the curb by the picnic table. Third time, 6-26-20. Took the Store Manager and Assistant Manager quite some time to exit the store and arrive with ice to quell the swelling of the woman who had fallen hard on her face. I subsequently asked Monty to consider painting the curb iridescent red or orange to avoid injury and a future lawsuit.

Responded couldn't be painted red since it wasn't a fire zone. Could certainly be painted orange or some other bright color. If management doesn't care about a lawsuit, where is its concern for the pain and suffering if a customer trips, falls, and suffers serious injury? ... Couldn't care less, Monty? -- Or, is it, shortsightedly, insurance will indeed take care of it? Wake up. Just a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured and sues the living shit out of HEB. Even if HEB prevails in court, it loses. Consider the cost of bad publicity.

To the credit of management, both the Store Manager and Assistant Manager return carts to the front of the store, sanitize them, and pick up trash. Recently, associates informed me the Store Manager wasn't happy about the performance of the Assistant Store Manager. LOL. Apparently, ole' Dan got too good at hiding in the store, shirking cart and other duties, etc. LOL. That's apparently changed. ... Trouble in paradise, boys? LOL. Itching to retire, Dan? LOL. Give me a break. Never a dull moment, -- at customer and staff expense.

Finally, to the motherf--ker in County government who likely complained, don't flatter yourself. Three months? What took so long you gutless piece of shit? LOL. No matter what, Liberty In Peril will remain up and running. Despite the fact it's been more than 21 years, just the very beginning. Far more to come. Far more County corruption, malfeasance, criminal activity to be followed up, and/or exposed. LOL. ... Bribed by Johnny Greene, Madam County Attorney?

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger

Before getting on with the usual fare, readers may wish to take time to read the following email exchange between Discount Electronics and this writer regarding its highly questionable business practices regarding refurbished lap tops:

Subject:    Re: Re: Your Discount Electronics Order Confirmation (#81644)
From:    libertyinperil@riseup.net
Date:    Wed, August 19, 2020 11:47 am
To:    "DiscountElectronics.com Customer Service" <internet@discountelectronics.com>
Priority:    Normal
Options:    View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file | Add to Address Book

'How long is this machine under warranty? Received the error message yesterday while booting up: "Alert! The AC Power Adapter wattage and type cannot be determined. The battery may not charge. The system will adjust the performance to match the power available."

'Talked to a local tech who told me I needed the original power supply that came with the Dell lap top, not a cheap foreign replacement. Can you provide any help with this? Since both batteries can't be recharged, I can't use this machine off the grid.'

'On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 1:14 PM <libertyinperil@riseup.net> wrote: Thanks for the quick reply. For your information, this machine has been a piece of crap. Not worth the money spent. Intend to fully inform my readership.'

'Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
formerly,
The Llano Ledger
libertyinperil.com'

'This is the first we've heard from you about any issues. You were welcome to contact us during the warranty period.'

'On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 1:34 PM <libertyinperil@riseup.net> wrote: That's bullshit. You replaced the battery forget? Usually, I don't piss and moan. Too busy fighting for your lost civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Been problems with the operating system I dealt personally with. Didn't complain. Dealt with a key that came off the keyboard. Another key that wasn't always making proper contact. The plastic finish on the surface of the lap top has grown sticky, apparently deteriorating. The problem that irritated me the most and is unacceptable is the latest issue with the goddamned power supply. The tech I spoke with told me this is a problem he encounters all the time with cheap Chinese knockoffs of the original. This machine was not cheap. You certainly could have afforded to do far better. Will see what my readers think, -- They're as tired of getting ripped off as I am. Business community lining its pockets by selling shit products. Nazi America. Bottomless greed.

'Beside the point. Discount Electronics knowingly sold a defective product. Knew that it was only a matter of time the power supply would fail. There's a principle involved here. One that I intend to make abundantly clear to my readers. While you can't seem to understand this, they will. Thanks for the additional fodder.'

Readers are advised there is a sticker on the back of the power supply stating: "Please remove this sticker." It cannot be easily removed. Will not peel off. Have hesitated to scrape it off since doing so might obliterate anything underneath it, -- if anything. It is not covering a vent and there is no technical reason that it be removed. Certainly, did not affect operation of the supply for the last year and four months I've had the machine.

Things have to change. Status quo egregiously unsustainable. The Washington Post reports:

"Last month, Officer Shanette Hall told the head of her police department’s brand new wellness unit about a news story: A Black sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana had shot himself in the head while sitting in his patrol car, leaving behind anguished videos. The deputy, Clyde Kerr III, said at one point that he could no longer abide by “this killing that’s going on, especially by the police, which I am.” Wearing his uniform in the videos that quickly spread online, he said he was “not having anything to do with this nonsense anymore.”

As much as this publication figuratively targets corrupt, abusive, murderous law enforcement, the point has been repeatedly made here we can't survive without good policing. Someone has to haul in murderers, thieves, rapists, etc. Society simply can't survive without good law enforcement.

"Whatever Kerr’s reasons for taking his life, Hall — a member of the St. Louis County Police Department — felt she recognized much of the pain in his parting messages. “If I had to describe what it felt like being a Black woman officer, the most appropriate word would be … heavy,” said Hall, a leader in a mostly Black law enforcement association in St. Louis called the Ethical Society of Police. “It feels like you are wearing a wet blanket just on your back every day and you can’t get it off — everywhere you go, it’s on you.” More than six years ago, following her police officer father, Hall said she signed up for a harrowing profession that can take a mental toll on anyone. But wearing a badge while Black has been its own burden. A reckoning over racism in policing and in the country the last year has heightened that burden for some and made it newly visible to others, as Black officers face racist abuse, anguish at the actions of others in law enforcement and intense community backlash. “This has been a time like no other,” said Suwana Kirkland, president of the Minnesota branch of the National Black Police Association, which started connecting its members with chaplains — volunteer preachers and pastors — after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who went limp under the knee of a White Minneapolis officer. Experts say Black officers face a unique pool of factors that can be detrimental to their mental health. They must also navigate their place in a work culture that values toughness and hypermasculinity with a history of being resistant to well-being, former and current officers told The Washington Post."

"The Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol put the pain of policing while Black under another spotlight early this year, as one Capitol officer recounted breaking down in tears at the end of a day where rioters hurled racial slurs — an ugly story broadcast to the nation during impeachment proceedings. “It’s hard for just any officers alone to show vulnerability,” the officer, Harry Dunn, said in an interview, “even more so in the Black community.” White colleagues “can express, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry this happened to you’ and they don’t stand for it,” he said. “But they don’t know what it’s like.”

Racism is a cancer that's ravaged this country. Continues to tear this nation apart.

"Kerr, the deputy in Louisiana, gave only small and cryptic signs of suffering in his last days, friends, colleagues and loved ones told The Post. Wendy Marcantel, his girlfriend, remembers Kerr smiling less. Sometimes he would give a deep sigh. But he was military-trained like her father, she said. “They just put on that stiff chin.”

“Just dealing with people,” Marcantel, 51, remembers Kerr saying, without elaborating, when she asked him what was up. They had been together for less than two years, she said, and there was a lot she still did not know. On Feb. 1, a Monday, Kerr woke up late, Marcantel said. It was 6:30 a.m., and he needed to rush to his job as an elementary and middle school resource officer for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. Marcantel kissed Kerr goodbye as he headed out the door, where she had hung a glittery Mardi Gras wreath, and he left poking fun at her, singing a Disney song about a crab with a bedazzled shell. That morning, officials said, Kerr left his school for sheriff’s office headquarters and shot himself while sitting in his car outside. In his videos apparently filmed over several days and then posted just before his death, Kerr lamented all kinds of darkness in society, denouncing violence and “division.” But the last video was especially focused on the toll of his profession. He urged regular psychological check-ins for officers and recalled a colleague’s death in the line of duty and denounced the police killings of Black Americans — Botham Jean, “Floyd,” “Breonna.” “This is my protest against police brutality and everything else that comes along with it in this broken, wicked, worldly system that does not give a damn about people,” he said."

"His death at 43 was stunning to those who knew him and remembered a lifelong “protector” — proud of his work, utterly dependable, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and always kept his cool. It had no clear explanation, they said, and some family members sent the sheriff’s office a statement saying they wish to mourn privately and accusing the media of “leveraging [Kerr’s] last posts for clickbait.” But his videos also put a spotlight on familiar strains that Kerr shared last year, many said, amid historic scrutiny of how police use force and treat people of color. “It obviously ate at him at a level that no one could see,” Marcantel said. Black officers say they have long dealt with insults, discrimination and being singled out for their work, but the last year brought new pressures. The racism on display at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was not new to Dunn, the Black Capitol Police officer who has spoken publicly. But Dunn cried in frustration at the end of the day, yelling in the Rotunda for all to hear. Rioters called him the n-word more than a dozen times, he said. The Confederate flag was carried into the building. Black officers, he said, “were fighting a different fight.” They were “were getting attacked not just physically but verbally,” he said. “That causes pain — lingering pain.” Dunn, 37, said he turned to his Black colleagues after the riots, coping by talking. With more White officers than Black ones, he argued, it’s just harder to open up — because there are fewer people who can understand. Racism remains the “elephant in the room” in the postmortems of Jan. 6, said a Black Capitol police officer who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity, citing a fear of retaliation at work. The officer said he spoke with a department-provided counselor about the riot and a response that seemed to him rooted in racial bias. The ease with which a mostly White crowd stormed the Capitol, after all-hands-on-deck orders and Black Hawk helicopters following Floyd’s death, has left him more disillusioned than ever with his department. To many Black officers, he said, the reason for the stark contrasts feels obvious: “We can’t shoot White people.” But he said there is still little department discussion of the role that White privilege played in the failures behind the Capitol siege. Some colleagues “laugh about it, but … It’s not funny. It’s a reality and it’s a damn shame.”

"The Capitol Police said in a statement that it is making peer-support and counseling resources available to officers in the wake of the insurrection. The department noted that last year it sponsored its first town hall on race in policing — an opportunity to “further awareness about unconscious bias” — and said its leadership team has undergone unconscious bias training. Law enforcement, dominated by a White culture, may leave Black officers more critical of their role, said Wizdom Powell, director of the UConn Health Disparities Institute and an associate professor of psychiatry. Powell said the clash between expectations, reality and values can be incredibly disheartening for officers who believe in social justice and want their work to be an extension of their principles."

“Can you imagine the disappointment?” she said. “That’s an incredibly conflicting place for Black, Indigenous and other law enforcement officers.” Black officers may also experience “vicarious” trauma, and the accompanying feelings of hopelessness and despair, as images of police violence toward Black people are shared online, experts said. The weight of Black skin and blue uniforms can cause more self-isolation when emotional or professional help is needed most, said David Thomas, a police counseling professional with 20 years of policing under his belt. “They’re afraid that the mental health clinicians will pull their standard or take their gun away from them,” he said. “That’s a huge fear.” For some agency leaders, the last year has brought new knowledge of what their Black members are up against. The White head of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, where Kerr worked, said he spoke one-on-one with about 20 Black deputies, some tearful, after Floyd’s death. He had emailed employees offering to “spend time with anyone who wants to just talk or vent.” The sheriff, Mark Garber, recounted surprise at how often his Black deputies’ were targeted out in the community with slurs and insults like “Uncle Tom.” He said they were criticized by bystanders, victims, suspects and their own families “for being a peace officer.” “It was something that I was aware of, but I wasn’t aware of the extent of it,” Garber said. “I was aware of the possibility of it and just little hints of it here or there.”

This is certainly part of a cancer, a malignancy that's ravaging law enforcement.

"Floyd’s death last May weighed on Kerr, according to his social media posts. So did the backlash toward police that followed, friends said. Two said Kerr talked about resigning. Jermaine Salmon said Kerr confided in him one night at a sports bar last June that he had started changing out of his uniform before driving home. Kerr had stopped to visit his old Army buddy on a cross-country drive to Arizona. “He just told me how difficult it was at the time,” Salmon, who is Black, said. “Not just being a cop but being a Black cop. … He’d be driving home in his uniform and he noticed people give him dirty looks.” Streaming live on Facebook for more than 40 minutes on the last day of May, as protests following Floyd’s death erupted around the country, Kerr said he was losing sleep and struggled to explain the killing to his 13-year-old son. Kerr asked what would happen if his son ran into an officer like the one who knelt on Floyd’s neck. He had spent his life in hard jobs but found himself “more mentally and emotionally drained over the course of this last week than I think I have ever felt,” he said."

"If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741."

"The four small cats trapped on a sinking boat needed a miracle. The abandoned ship, near the Thai island of Koh Adang, was on fire — sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air as the waters of the Andaman sea rose around them. The ship was not just burning: It was sinking. And it would not be long until it disappeared beneath the surface. Wide-eyed and panicked, the felines huddled together. When the help they so desperately needed arrived, it came in the form of a 23-year-old sailor and his team of Thai navy officials. In what can only be described as the purr-fect rescue mission, the sailors said they had approached the capsized vessel in a bid to check for oil spills but soon noticed the animals were on board. “I used my camera to zoom in to the boat, and I saw one or two cats popping their heads out,” explained First-Class Petty Officer Wichit Pukdeelon of the navy’s air and coastal defense division. According to local media, crew members of the capsized boat were rescued by a passing ship on Tuesday, but somehow the four cats had been left behind. Knowing they had to move fast to save the abandoned animals, Thatsaphon Saii jumped into the ocean, battling strong currents. After paddling some 50 feet to reach the boat, Saii was captured on camera swimming the animals to safety — with one of the cats perched delicately upon his back as he returned to his crew, who were on standby with a rope. “I immediately took off my shirt and put on a life jacket so I could jump into the sea. The flames were at the back of the boat, but it was starting to sink, so I knew I had to be quick,” he recalled, adding that he was “so relieved” that the navy had been able to rescue the cats. The group were swiftly branded “heroes” after footage of the incident circulated widely on social media, with the young sailor in particular causing a stir among animal lovers online. Many embraced the pawsitive news amid the bleakness of a the coronavirus pandemic. “This made my week,” wrote one user on Twitter. “Good things can happen,” wrote another. Once back at the navy’s official command post, the cats were wiped down and dried off with towels and fed by their rescuers, who cradled them, played with them and posed for photographs alongside their new furry friends, who now have a very global fan base."

"After David Crawford left his job as the police chief of Laurel, Md., in 2010, he spent the next decade nursing grudges and setting fires to punish others, investigators say. In a stunning turn of events, Crawford, a law enforcement veteran, is now under arrest and facing dozens of charges in connection to at least 12 fires at homes, garages and cars. Crawford was a "serial arsonist," according to the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department. It adds that investigators' suspicions about Crawford were confirmed when a search of his house turned up a " target list" of fire victims on his cellphone. Crawford, 69, was denied bond at a bail review hearing Thursday morning, Howard County Police Chief Lisa Myers said at a news conference. The charges against Crawford include 12 counts of 1st-degree attempted murder – because many of the victims were clearly at home when the fires were lit, officials say. "All of the fires were at night. In six of the arsons, the victim and their families were inside their homes asleep," the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department said. Taken together, the arson victims map out elements of Crawford's personal and professional life. They include another former Laurel police chief and two other former law enforcement officials, along with a former city official in Laurel. Also on the list: a pair of Crawford's relatives, two of his former doctors and someone who lives in his neighborhood. One man was targeted three separate times: a fire hit his townhouse in Clarksburg, Md., on Sept. 5 , 2016, then another struck the same address one year later. After the man and his wife moved to a new home in the same town, a third fire was lit in November of 2020, according to the charging document. The records identify the man as Crawford's stepson, adding that the two had a "strained" relationship that was marked by arguments."

"When investigators in one Maryland county shared a video of an arsonist at work, their peers in other counties recognized similarities to a suspect in their own cases. Their collaboration eventually led to David Crawford, a former police chief. The first arson occurred in 2011; the last was in November of 2020. The fires were set in five different counties, but thanks to a connection between victims that was made last year, investigators were able to link Crawford to 11 fires in which he now faces charges, and a twelfth in which he is suspected. In all of the crimes, "The arsonist exhibited a similar pattern of behavior using gallon jugs filled with gasoline and a stick wrapped in cloth to set the fires," the Prince George's Fire Department said. The very first fire in the case was captured on a home video surveillance system. Investigators said that as they reviewed that and other video recordings, they became increasingly certain that a lone arsonist was at work in several Maryland counties. While community tips and witnesses were credited with helping build a case against Crawford, Prince George's County Battalion Chief Sajahan Jagtiani said a breakthrough came when his county, after running out of leads in a 2019 arson, decided to post surveillance video of the arsonist online. When an investigator in Montgomery County saw the video early last year, alarm bells went off. The investigator told them "this suspect looked strikingly similar to his suspect" in a fire, Prince George's Police Department Detective Thomas Smith said. Soon afterward, the two started to meet and share information, convinced they were chasing the same man. From there, the case kept growing, Smith added. That Montgomery County official was Lt. Christopher Moe, who said the video reminded him of fires he and other colleagues believed were the work of a single arsonist — the attacks on Crawford's stepson. "That surely looks exactly like the person in my video," Moe recalled thinking when he saw the footage from the neighboring county."

"That initial arson in May of 2011 came months after Crawford was asked to resign from his job as chief of police in Laurel, according to court documents. The victim in that attack, the records state, was Martin Flemion, who was then the deputy city administrator. The documents add that Crawford and Flemion "did not have a good working relationship" during Crawford's tenure leading the police department. Surveillance video of the arson at Flemion's home shows the suspect pouring jugs of gasoline on Flemion's city-issued Ford Explorer and another car in his driveway, before igniting them with a makeshift torch. The crime was also witnessed by a neighbor – who said that as he came outside to investigate a commotion, he saw a white male lighting a car on fire. The witness added that as he saw the man, the arsonist accidentally set his own clothes on fire. "The witness advised that he saw the suspect stomping his shoe in the road, in an attempt to extinguish the fire," the charging document against Crawford states. It adds that investigators found a black Nike shoe, size 10, in the road. They also found other items – including "a pair of almost completely consumed (by fire) jeans in the storm drain" nearby. Crawford wears a size 10, and photos on his Facebook page show him wearing what appear to be the same style shoes, the document adds. When Crawford's home and electronic devices were later searched, investigators found that shortly after the incident, he had posted to a medical forum, saying he had recently sustained a burn."

"Another victim was retired City of Laurel Police Chief Richard McLaughlin, who was promoted from his deputy chief post after Crawford resigned. Fire crews were called to McLaughlin's home in March of 2019, "to find a detached garage, two automobiles parked in the driveway and the adjacent occupied dwelling on fire," according to the charging document. That 2019 arson attack was also caught on video, once again showing a man carrying two one-gallon plastic jugs, the charging document states. The arsonist, wearing a hoodie and black gloves, poured a "trailer" of gas down the driveway, which he then lit. "The fire extended from the origin at the garage and then spread to the nearby cars and then the occupied home of the victim where the victim and his family were asleep," the document says. Crawford now faces a raft of criminal charges, including attempted murder, arson, and malicious burning."

Stunning, isn't it? -- A man who once held a position of trust in law enforcement.

"Investigators say they found a trail of digital clues that point to Crawford's role as an arsonist, including data from the Apple Health App on his cellphone that showed he was up and active in the middle of the night on the dates of the fires. They also say he did web research about some of the fire victims, as well as Google Map directions to their neighborhoods. And they say that after the fires, he sought information about how much damage had been done. At least 10 fire and police agencies at the state and local level were involved in developing the case against Crawford, reflecting its complexity and the multiple locations of the arson attacks. Five of the arson fires were in Howard County – which includes Ellicott City, where Crawford lives. At least two fires were set in Prince George's County, which sits along the eastern border of Washington, D.C. Three more struck in Montgomery County, north of Washington. One arson was reported in Frederick County, and another in Charles County."

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. Forfeiture of liberty. At the hands of outrageously corrupt and abusive government.

"New Orleans police officer Rodney Vicknair was in the emergency room last May with a 14-year-old girl he had driven in for a rape kit exam when he began showing her pictures on his cellphone. The images of a teenage girl in bikinis and lingerie, Vicknair allegedly said, were his daughter’s modeling pictures. That’s how Vicknair first started grooming the girl for months of inappropriate calls, texts and meetings that eventually led to him sexually assaulting and raping her, the girl’s family alleges in a lawsuit. Vicknair was arrested in September and charged with sexual battery, indecent behavior with a juvenile and malfeasance in office over his conduct with the girl, and swiftly fired from the police department. Now, her family is alleging the department didn’t do enough to stop Vicknair, who had a history of complaints for predatory behavior toward women. Given that record, the 13-year veteran officer should have never been dispatched to the girl’s reported rape scene last May, her family argues. “Officer Vicknair was a singularly bad choice for this task,” the lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana states. “He was not a member of NOPD’s Special Victims or Child Abuse units, and he had a long list of citizen complaints of unprofessional and illegal conduct.”

"The city, the New Orleans Police Department and the office of the superintendent did not immediately respond to messages from The Washington Post late Wednesday. Vicknair also did not respond to a message."

"Vicknair, who joined the department in 2007, had a history of complaints filed by officers and civilians involving allegations of unauthorized force, verbal intimidation and failure to follow department policy, among other cases, according to the suit. In 2009, he was accused of using a woman’s license plate to retrieve her personal information so he could summon her to his cruiser by name. The woman later filed a complaint with the Public Integrity Bureau and the department found he had acted “inappropriately.” Last Memorial Day weekend, Vicknair was dispatched to a reported rape scene involving the 14-year-old girl. His task that day, the lawsuit states, was to take the girl to the hospital for a forensic medical examination. When the 14-year-old girl was back home with her mother later that night, the lawsuit states, Vicknair called and asked to speak with the girl. Vicknair shared his contact information with her and began asking her personal questions. During the next four months, Vicknair gained the girl’s trust by telling her he was her “mentor” and a police officer whom she could trust, the lawsuit says. “He preyed on a single mother and her young daughter, a rape survivor, by positioning himself as a role model and protective male figure in their lives,” Hope Phelps, the woman’s attorney, told Vice News. “He then used that position to create distrust between them, isolating his target from her mother. He escalated from sexualizing the young girl to sexual assault and rape.”

"On days when he was not calling or texting the girl, according to the suit, Vicknair would ask the girl to meet him inside his patrol vehicle outside her home. Other times, the lawsuit states, another officer would wait for him in the car while he visited her at home. Once inside the girl’s home, Vicknair “would come up with pretexts” so he could be alone with her, the suit states. On one occasion, while the girl’s mother left to get him a glass of water, Vicknair allegedly leered at the girl in a sexually aggressive way. That same day after leaving, he texted the girl to describe the sexual acts he was imagining while her mother was not present, according to the suit. Vicknair, who allegedly had sexually suggestive pictures of the girl as his phone’s lock screen, asked her to send him explicit photos. Twice while video chatting, the suit states, Vicknair exposed his groin area and made sexual comments. Eventually, he began molesting her, the suit says. The 36-page lawsuit describes meetings where Vicknair groped the girl’s buttocks and solicited sexual acts, which the girl refused. “Officer Vicknair repeatedly described sexual acts he would like to engage in with G.H. and suggested the fact that she was a minor would not stop him,” the suit states. Then, twice inside his police vehicle, Vicknair inserted his fingers inside the girl’s vagina, the lawsuit says. He was armed with his gun during both incidents, and after one attack, Vicknair allegedly took the girl’s underwear. Days before the girl was raped a second time, the girl’s mother reported Vicknair to the Office of the Independent Police Monitor for inappropriate behavior. But Vicknair, the suit states, was allowed to remain on the streets and rape again while an investigation was underway. When he was arrested in September at his home in St. Tammany Parish, the suit states, the girl’s underwear was still in his possession. He was charged with sexual battery, indecent behavior with a juvenile and malfeasance in office and placed on emergency suspension, the New Orleans Police Department told WVUE. He was fired in January."

Massive failure of law enforcement. How could this have gone on as long as it did and no one did anything?

"Last week, Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, who is also a defendant in the suit, told WVUE that the agency has contacted the FBI to investigate potential civil rights violations. “As I stated from the moment this was brought to my attention, this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” Ferguson said. “These actions violate the basic trust citizens should never have to worry about with their police department.” The girl, who is now 15, and her mother are still reconstructing their lives months after the attacks, her attorney said. “What has happened to them is so traumatizing,” Phelps told WVUE. “The cost of counseling and piecing your life back together after something like this. You know, your trust in police officers, and medical care providers, and anyone in a position of authority is broken. That’s very damaging, especially at this young age.”

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.

Dallas officer charged with two counts capital murder. The Associated Press reports:

"A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder after a man told investigators that he kidnapped and killed two people at the officer’s instruction in 2017, authorities said. Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the force, was taken into custody Thursday morning and taken to the Dallas County Jail for processing, according to a statement from the police department. A lawyer for him couldn’t immediately be identified. Riser was arrested in the unconnected killings of Liza Saenz, 31, and Albert Douglas, 61, after a man came forward in August 2019 and told police he had kidnapped and killed them at Riser’s direction, police Chief Eddie Garcia said during a news conference. He said investigators don’t know the motives for the killings, but that they were not related to Riser’s police work. Garcia did not explain why Riser was arrested more than a year after the witness came forward, and police did not immediately respond to questions about the timing or whether the person who implicated Riser has also been charged. The chief stressed that his homicide division and the FBI were still investigating."

Where's the transparency? How can law enforcement be trusted when there is virtually no transparency? Excuses such as an ongoing investigation for the lack of transparency ring hollow.

"Saenz’s body was pulled from the Trinity River on March 10, 2017, with several bullet wounds, the chief said. Douglas was reported missing that year and his body hasn’t been found. The murder charges are not the officer’s first alleged crimes. In May 2017, Riser faced a domestic violence charge for allegedly assaulting and injuring an ex-girlfriend. It wasn’t immediately clear how that case was resolved, and Garcia declined to comment on it Thursday."

"Riser joined the department in 2008 and was working as a patrol officer before his arrest. Garcia acknowledged that Riser had been patrolling Dallas while under investigation for murder and said the department is reviewing his arrests."

"Riser has been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. Garcia said “we’re going to expedite our process” toward his firing."

"Riser had not been booked into the jail as of early Thursday afternoon, a sheriff’s spokesman said. A spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office said her office didn’t have information on the case."

"The Dallas Police Department allowed an officer to continue patrolling for more than a year while investigating whether he ordered two people to be killed because it didn’t want to tip him off, the city’s former police chief said."

"U. Renee Hall, who left the department at the end of 2020, said in a statement posted on Twitter late Thursday that police investigators, in collaboration with the FBI, recommended not placing Officer Bryan Riser on administrative leave after he was identified as a person of interest in 2019. “Taking that action could have compromised the investigation. If Riser had known he was a person-of-interest, DPD might not have been able to bring justice to the families,” Hall said."

What about the danger to the public of history repeating itself? Others who might have been killed by or through this officer?

"Hall’s explanation came hours after Riser, 36, was arrested on two counts of capital murder. Riser was being held Friday on $5 million bond after a court appearance Thursday night. Court records don’t list an attorney for Riser, who told the court he would hire one. Hall said that when Riser was first identified as a person of interest, police working alongside the Dallas County district attorney’s office determined there wasn’t yet enough evidence to charge him."

“It took persistence and months of dedication to accomplish, and the people of Dallas are safe because of it,” Hall said."

That right? How did you know whether or not history would repeat itself? Hard to believe you were tailing him 24/7.

"Dallas’ new police chief, Eddie Garcia, said that someone came forward in 2019 and told police he kidnapped and killed two people, 31-year-old Liza Saenz and 61-year-old Albert Douglas, on Riser’s instructions in separate 2017 attacks. Garcia said neither killing was connected to Riser’s police work, but that investigators were still trying to determine the motives. Garcia, who became chief last month, didn’t explain why Riser was arrested nearly 20 months after the witness came forward, and police declined to answer subsequent questions about the timing. Both victims were shot and their bodies were dumped in the Trinity River, according to investigators. Saenz’s body was recovered, but Douglas’ wasn’t."

Lack of transparency, refusal to answer pointed questions is extremely damaging to law enforcement credibility. Usually, fatal.

"Three men were charged with capital murder in the killing of Saenz: Kevin Kidd, 32; Emmanuel Kilpatrick, 34; and Jermon Simmons, 38. Kilpatrick is serving life in prison for the killings of a father and son. Kidd and Simmons are jailed on capital murder charges stemming from the killings of Saenz and the father and son. Simmons is also charged in another death. One of the men charged with Saenz’s killing told police that he and Riser were involved in burglaries when they were young, according to an affidavit for Riser’s arrest that doesn’t identify the man by name. More recently, Riser and the man allegedly hatched a plan to rob drug stash houses, but they didn’t follow through with it, according to the affidavit. Instead, the man told investigators that Riser offered to pay him a total of $9,500 to kidnap and kill Douglas and later Saenz, the affidavit says. The affidavit states that Riser told the hired killer that Saenz was an “informant,” though it doesn’t elaborate and police declined to answer questions about whether Saenz had some connection to the department. Riser is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. Garcia said his department would expedite the process of firing him."

... After apparently protecting and coddling the son of a bitch during the 'investigation?'

"A Dallas police officer who was recently charged in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme was under investigation for longer than authorities have previously acknowledged, sharpening questions about why he continued to patrol the city while under investigation in the 2017 killings. After Bryan Riser was arrested, former Dallas police Chief U. Reneé Hall said he was “first identified as a person-of-interest in 2019” and was kept on the job to avoid tipping him off to the investigation. But in 2017, a Dallas police detective testified in court that Riser was the “subject” of an investigation into the killing of 31-year-old Liza Saenz, according to a transcript of the proceeding."

"Riser was charged last week with two counts of capital murder in the killings of Saenz and 61-year-old Albert Douglas. He is being held on a $5 million bond and his attorney, Toby Shook, said the 36-year-old officer is innocent. During the September 2017 court hearing, the detective also said that Saenz lived with Riser’s father and that before her death she had been a witness in another murder case. The testimony, which was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, came during a detention hearing in a federal drug case against Riser’s dad, Byron Riser. Shook previously said Saenz lived with the elder Riser at one point, but that his client “didn’t have a relationship with” her. Byron Riser pleaded guilty in 2018 to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and was sentenced to five years in prison. He’s currently at a residential re-entry center in Texas on community supervision, Shook said."

"Bryan Riser's arrest was announced Thursday by police Chief Eddie Garcia, who took over the department last month after Hall resigned at the end of 2020. During a news conference, Garcia said Riser became a “suspect” in the case in 2019 and sought to distinguish that from being “a person of interest.” “I think the community should know that this police department wants to be as thorough a possible because we certainly don't want someone slipping through the cracks that has no business wearing this uniform,” Garcia said. He added that the department was moving to fire Riser and reviewing his arrests."

"Spokespersons for the police department did not immediately respond Tuesday to questions about the 2017 testimony."

"Authorities have alleged that Riser said he'd pay three men to kidnap and kill Douglas and Saenz. The men were later charged with capital murder and one of them came forward and implicated Riser in 2019, according to an affidavit for the officer's arrest. Shook said that case against his client has “several red flags,” including being based on the word of someone who has “all the reason in the world to lie and try to gain an advantage by trying to implicate a police officer." On Monday, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson formed a City Council committee to investigate why Riser continued to serve while under investigation. The seven-member committee is empowered to subpoena witnesses and compel city employees to turn over records. “This is an awful situation, and the public deserves answers regarding who knew what, when they knew it, and why the officer remained on active duty,” the mayor said."

"After George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Jamie LaBlanche wanted his 11-year-old son, Tyson, to experience the protests that he hoped would change the world. Tyson LaBlanche wanted to become a police officer. “But then once people started dying around me that had been killed by the police,” he said, “I kind of lost that.” In the days after George Floyd was killed, Tyson LaBlanche watched a national protest movement arise outside his home. Tyson, then 11, lived across the street from the corner where a police officer had knelt on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. As thousands of protesters gathered at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in late May and early June, Tyson rode his scooter among them. He watched as they transformed the entire square into a memorial. He listened as they passed around a megaphone, giving speeches from morning until night. He paused and knelt to touch flowers left on the street, scattered over block letters spelling Floyd’s name, and the names of other people killed by police officers. Often wearing a black cap that a protester gave him, with the words “I Can’t Breathe” written in yellow, Tyson chanted Floyd’s name with the demonstrators. He wrote “Rest In Peace” on a mural. “It’s scary because anything could happen to a Black person in America,” said Tyson, whose father is Black and mother is white. “I truly am afraid that something like what happened to George Floyd might happen to anybody out here, especially my dad.” In those early weeks after Floyd's death, Jamie LaBlanche, Tyson's father, often walked through the crowds at his son's side. Jamie, 34, who also has a Black father and a white mother, wanted Tyson to see a movement that he hoped would change the world. Standing with Tyson in June outside Cup Foods, the corner store where they used to buy Hershey’s bars and chicken tenders, Jamie gestured at the makeshift memorial full of bouquets of flowers, candles and signs. “This is where it was. Right here,” he told his son. “Everybody's out here right now to make sure that this type of stuff never happens again.” Tyson and Jamie bore witness to the mass movement against police brutality and racial inequality as it unfurled in the heart of Minneapolis. Jamie has spent the past nine months grappling with teaching Tyson, the oldest of his three children, the importance of this historic moment while also protecting him. What was the line, he wondered, between educating his son about the trauma of violence and racism, and shielding him from that trauma?"

"So many things I haven't been able to save him from seeing, hearing,” Jamie said. “It has made me question my fatherhood, and whether I'm doing a good job." Jamie, a delivery driver and part-time DJ, has always been transparent with Tyson about the risks of being a person of color. Jamie said he has been routinely harassed by the police since he was a teenager, and is stopped or pulled over at least once or twice a year. Once, officers pulled their guns on him and his friends when all they were doing was smoking weed, he said. He was 18. “What I tell my son about racism and police brutality is he's a person of color and he can't forget that — no matter how light his skin is,” Jamie said. “He's going to have the same troubles that I've had and the same troubles that my father had. Just going to be a little bit different.”

That's right. Not only confined to people of color, however. Police brutality extends across all races and ethnic groups.

"Tyson used to want to become a police officer. When he saw law enforcement officers at the local Dairy Queen, he would give them a fist bump. “But then once people started dying around me that had been killed by the police,” he said, “I kind of lost that.” Floyd’s death wasn’t Tyson’s first experience with losing someone at the hands of police. His father’s friend, Brian Quiñones, was shot and killed by police in September 2019. Tyson and Jamie have been mourning him ever since, attending vigils and memorials with Quiñones’ family. At these gatherings, Jamie plays music created by Quiñones, a 30-year-old aspiring hip-hop artist — a DJ keeping his friend’s memory alive. The final minutes of Quiñones’ life were livestreamed on his Facebook account. He was shot and killed by police after a pursuit in suburban Minneapolis ended with him stepping out of his car with a knife in his hand. His family has said he was suffering from mental health issues and depression. Quiñones had just released his latest album that day. In emergency dispatch audio, officers could be heard yelling “drop the knife” before gunshots rang out. “He was murdered for being mentally unstable and needing help,” Jamie said. “I think about him every day.” The officers, who fired 18 bullets, were not charged; the county prosecutor called their use of force “necessary, proportional, and objectively reasonable.”

Readers will recall this case was covered earlier in this publication and elsewhere.

"Tyson watched his father break down repeatedly in the days and weeks following his friend’s death, and struggled with seeing him suffer. “I just felt bad for my dad that he had to go through such a loss,” Tyson said. “I feel like it’s not fair to him that he had to go through all that." Quiñones’ death moved Jamie to become active in the movement against police brutality. But his activism has driven a wedge between him and his younger sister, a sheriff’s deputy in a neighboring county. When they talk, they often argue. He feels she’s refusing to acknowledge the systemic racism built into policing; she has said the officers who shot Quiñones responded appropriately based on their training. The tension between them has only gotten worse since Floyd was killed, and they haven’t spoken in months, Jamie said. (Jamie’s sister declined to be interviewed.)"

"The deaths have changed how Tyson views the police, too. “I understand you want to go back to your family,” Tyson said, in response to a question from a reporter about the way police justify fatal shootings. “But because of what you did, somebody else can’t go back to their families. George Floyd had two daughters and he never got to say goodbye to them.” Two weeks after Floyd was killed, Tyson and Jamie attended a memorial and balloon release in Powderhorn Park, about a mile from their home, for the family and friends of those who had been killed by police, a grim bond tying them all together. Tyson, wearing his black “I Can’t Breathe” cap and a white T-shirt with the names of people killed by law enforcement, watched as people held multicolored balloons and said the names of their loved ones. Quiñones’ widow, Ashley, stood on a picnic table. “My husband was Brian Quiñones. He was murdered by the police on September 7th of 2019,” she said. Then she brought Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend, up to the table to speak. “Floyd is here with us,” Ross said, struggling to get out the words. “He loves us. Thank you, father God, for giving us Floyd.” Some in the crowd of dozens cried; others held one another."

"Tyson hadn’t planned to say anything, but suddenly he felt moved to speak. He climbed onto the picnic table and faced the crowd.

“I loved somebody that died. His name was Brian Quiñones and they killed him,” Tyson said, his voice breaking. (Ed Ou / NBC News)

“We shouldn't have to see any more innocent Black men on the ground,” he said, raising his voice to be heard.

“We shouldn't see police driving by and just seeing an innocent man and being able to kill them with no justice,” he continued.

“I loved somebody that died. His name was Brian Quiñones and they killed him,” he said, his voice breaking.

“I love every single one of you that had to lose somebody over these years,” he said. “And I'm so sorry.”

The crowd clapped and cheered as he finished. Tyson wiped his face with his T-shirt.

Jamie pulled Tyson into a hug. The two held each other tight as Jamie began to weep.

“I know,” Jamie replied, looking his son in the eyes. “I’m so glad you said that.”

“Your voice is important,” he said. “Not only to me, but to everybody. And you just proved that right now.”

What could this officer possibly been thinking? The Associated Press reports:

"A Rochester police officer has been placed on administrative duty after using pepper spray on a woman suspected of shoplifting who tried to escape with her 3-year-old child in her arms, authorities said Friday. Video of the Feb. 22 incident has been made public at a time when the Rochester Police Department is under intense scrutiny over its interactions with Black residents, including the death last spring of Daniel Prude. Body camera video of the latest encounter shows the woman, who is Black, bolting from a white officer who had stopped her in the street and told her she had been accused of stealing from a convenience store. The officer chased the woman down the sidewalk, then struggled to subdue her while trying not to injure the screaming toddler. Another officer arrived and carried the child several yards away. A statement from the police said the woman was pepper sprayed during the arrest. “The child was not pepper sprayed or injured during the arrest,” the statement said."

That very last sentence in the above paragraph is not credible. Where's the body camera video?

"The woman, whose name was not released, was ultimately charged with trespassing. Police Chief Cynthia Herriot-Sullivan told reporters on Friday the officer appeared to follow protocol, but “some things to me aren’t as simple as whether a policy was followed or not.” “Just because we can do certain things, doesn’t mean we should,” she said at a news conference. “Can we get to the same place by utilizing a different strategy?”

"The city’s Police Accountability Board, an entity created by a 2019 voter referendum to look into allegations of police misconduct, said it saw “troubling parallels” with another emergency call in which officers pepper-sprayed a distraught 9-year-old girl they had handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser during a family dispute."

Readers will recall that case was covered in this publication and elsewhere.

“Both incidents involved Black mothers. Both involved Black children. Both involved Black people obviously in crisis. Both involved officers using pepper spray on or around a Black child,” PAB Chair Shani Wilson said during a video news conference Friday."

"The Black woman with red hair and pink sneakers grasped her 3-year-old daughter’s hand last month as she wrestled with a Rochester, N.Y., police officer in a strip mall parking lot. “I did not do anything,” she said in an exchange captured on police body-camera footage. “Stop! Stop grabbing your daughter,” one officer said, adding to another officer on the scene, “Oh my god, what is wrong with her?” When the officer finally forced her to turn around, he pulled out his pepper spray and aimed it at her eyes as her daughter stood by sobbing, a separate video of the incident from a surveillance camera shows. Footage of the Feb. 22 incident, which was released Friday, has now led to one officer being placed on administrative duty as the department conducts an internal investigation, police said, as critics and city officials demand changes to police tactics. The Rochester Police Department did not respond to a request for comment late Sunday. The woman and officers involved have not been publicly identified."

Why not? The public is entitled to this information. Whose sorry ass are you desperately trying to protect?

"The Rochester police force has been in turmoil for months, since footage was released in September showing officers putting a hood over the head of Daniel T. Prude, a 41-year-old Black man in mental distress, who later died. Last month, body-camera footage showed another officer pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl in the midst of a mental crisis. Those cases have sparked national protests, as well as local efforts to reassess the department’s treatment of Black residents and its response to mental health crises — a movement that sparked new demonstrations last month when a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved in the Prude case."

“There are troubling parallels between this new incident and the one on Harris Street that occurred just a few weeks earlier,” Rochester Police Accountability Board Chair Shani Wilson said, according to the Rochester City Newspaper, referring to the case involving the 9-year-old girl. “Both incidents involved Black mothers. Both involved Black children. Both involved Black people obviously in crisis. Both involved officers using pepper spray on or around a Black child.” The Feb. 22 incident began around 4:30 p.m., when officers responded to allegations that a woman with a child had shoplifted from a Rite Aid, argued with employees and then refused to leave, police said in a statement provided to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The woman first told an officer she didn’t steal anything, according to the body-camera footage, and then opened her bag to let him inspect it. When the officer turned away, the woman ran off with her daughter. Officers caught up to them outside a nearby restaurant. As one officer wrestled the woman to the ground, another dragged away the toddler, who was screaming. In a video, an officer said, “Can you pull your car over here, because it looks bad that I’m restraining a 3-year-old?”

"After police pepper-sprayed and handcuffed the woman, they put her in the cruiser and eventually drove away after the toddler’s grandmother arrived to take her. In separate footage released from the cruiser, an officer told the woman that he had to “karate-chop” her arm to force her to let go of her daughter. He then told her that by running from the scene, she appeared guilty and said he had no choice but to restrain her. “You ran away from us and caused a big scene,” he said. Another video showed officers talking to a bystander who was recording the police on his phone. Police asked him if he witnessed the incident and if he could recount what he saw. The man, who is Black and has not been identified, called the officer’s actions “inhumane.” “I know they got a job to do. I refute none of that and whatever she did, she has to deal with that. But come on man, she had a baby in her hand,” he said in the video. “What I’m trying to say is when is this s--- going to stop?” “The child was not pepper sprayed or injured during the arrest,” police said in a statement, noting that the woman was later charged with trespassing. The accountability board, though, said the 3-year-old still could have been exposed to the chemicals due to her proximity to her mother. City Council President Loretta Scott on Friday called the incident “unacceptable” and said it probably “severely traumatized” the girl, according to a statement to the Democrat and Chronicle. “After viewing this video, I am even more convinced that the current culture, policies and procedures of RPD must be changed immediately,” Scott said. Mayor Lovely Warren (D) called the incident “disturbing.” “When incidents like this occur, I am relieved that I ensured body-worn cameras are worn by our police, so that we can see what occurs on our streets and hold officers accountable,” Warren said in a statement. But accountability isn’t necessarily enough, Rickey Harvey, a member of the police accountability board, said in the news conference. “We would like to see more empathy involved,” Harvey said. “There was a 3-year-old child present. The officers are there to protect the businesses, yes, but the citizens as well.”

"Curtis Garrett was standing in cell 3C38 on Christmas Day, four months shy of his release date, when the dogs showed up. The inmate had retreated to his cell and closed the door after fighting with another prisoner who attacked him with a broom handle in the mess hall. When Garrett saw two members of the Patrol Canine Unit with two dogs outside his window, he turned around and put his hands behind his back. He expected the officers to cuff him. But they didn’t, at least not immediately, that day in Sussex I State Prison, according to a recently filed lawsuit against Virginia and employees of the state’s Department of Corrections. It lays out the details above and describes a violent scene occurring moments later when “without warning or provocation” the dogs were unleashed and ordered to attack."

“The two canines bit Mr. Garrett’s left arm and right leg while the two Officers punched and kicked Mr. Garrett repeatedly,” the lawsuit reads. “Mr. Garrett collapsed to the ground under the force of the Patrol Canine Unit’s attack.” The officers, it says, then pulled him up, without ordering the dogs to release their hold. “The canines sank their teeth deeper into Mr. Garrett’s arm and leg when he was pulled up into the air, causing them to hang in the air, still attached to Mr. Garrett by their teeth as he was lifted,” it reads. “While the canines’ jaws clenched down on Mr. Garrett’s left arm and right leg, [the officers] slammed Mr. Garrett’s body against the wall of his cell. The Officers proceeded to cuff Mr. Garrett’s hands behind him.”

"Using dogs as weapons against prisoners has been prohibited by many states and even the U.S. military. Revised regulations from 2019 for the Military Working Dog Program state that canines, “will not guard detainees, U.S. military prisoners, or dislocated civilians. Units will not use MWD teams to harass, intimidate, threaten, or coerce detainees for interrogation purposes.”

"And yet, two recently filed lawsuits and numerous letters from inmates sent to a human rights organization describe Virginia’s maximum-security prisons as regularly using “unmuzzled canines to terrify and attack prisoners.” More than that, they depict officers as ordering dogs to bite inmates who were already lying on the ground or alone in cells, and then failing to provide adequate medical treatment for their injuries."

"After reading through the lawsuits and letters, I sent a request for comment to the Virginia Department of Corrections. On Friday, a spokesperson said the department could not comment on the newly pending litigation and had not yet filed a response to the legal complaints. When asked about the letters, she said, “If there are specific, credible allegations I would encourage the advocacy group to let us know so we can look into them.” The urge to dismiss convicted criminals as unreliable sources is understandable, and we should view these claims with skepticism. What we shouldn’t do is ignore them. Even if we give the department the benefit of the doubt and assume that the dogs are used only in extreme circumstances against the unruliest inmates, the lawsuits and letters raise concerning questions about what is happening inside institutions charged with rehabilitating people."

"They also pose important questions for us as a society: Is this who we are? Are we okay with a state’s prison system maintaining a practice that has roots in the most shameful moments of our country’s history and that other places have already determined is not acceptable? The lawsuits, which were filed in amended form in January, come at a time when many prisons have put in place programs that allow inmates to train dogs and have moved away from ones that rely on inmates fearing dogs. In 2019, the Oregon Senate passed legislation banning the use of dogs to remove inmates from their cells after a lawsuit was launched on behalf of a mentally ill man. And 15 years ago, the Human Rights Watch issued a report saying it knew “of no other country in the world that authorizes the use of dogs to attack prisoners who will not voluntarily leave their cells.”

"Kelly Jo Popkin, of Rights Behind Bars, which along with D.C.-based firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer is representing the two men, describes Virginia as an “outlier state” when it comes to using dogs as weapons in prisons. She also points to the historical context that makes the practice especially disturbing when considering the disproportionate rates of Black Americans who are incarcerated. “Dogs have been used by law enforcement to terrorize, threaten, and subordinate African Americans since the birth of this country, and the use of these dogs against incarcerated individuals in Virginia state prisons is just one example of many,” she says. “The symbolism of this is not lost on our clients and their families.” One inmate’s mother, she says, at one point compared her son’s wounds to those caused by whips. Before Rights Behind Bars got involved in his case, Popkin says more than a dozen other legal complaints had been filed in Virginia related to dog attacks against inmates. Inmates were representing themselves in those cases and the challenges of doing so ultimately led those cases to not move forward, she says. “Ultimately, Virginia lawmakers are the ones who need to recognize the use of canine attack dogs as a systemic concern and act accordingly to ban the practice of using attack dogs against prisoners,” Popkin says. “There’s something about these stories that show how the use of dogs against prisoners is so degrading, and completely dehumanizing.”

"A statement provided by a representative of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer reads, “The correct course is clear: The VADOC policies permitting the use of dogs to attack people in custody must be changed.” Gay Gardner, of the Virginia-based organization Interfaith Action for Human Rights, says she has received letters over the last several years from inmates at the state’s maximum-security prisons that describe dog attacks. In many of them, she says, inmates describe the dogs brought in when an altercation or another event alarms the staff — and the attacks occurring after the situation has already calmed down. In one letter I read, a man describes lying face down when a dog bit him on his testicles and buttocks, injuring him. In another letter, an inmate tells of having a six-inch scar on his shoulder where a dog bit him as he was trying to get away from a prisoner who attacked him from behind on the basketball court. “Once I got halfway upon my feet I observed the dog and K-9 officer about 10 feet in front of me,” he writes. “Once I saw them I knew I was probably safe, so I started to go ahead and lay down the rest of the way when the K-9 officer let the dog attack me. It bit me when I was already on the ground. It then let go and he let it bite me again.”

Worthless jackbooted motherf--ker in blue who got his cookies off watching the dog inflict injury.

"He goes on to admit that he has caused trouble and isn’t a model inmate. “Still though,” he writes, “I did not deserve to be attacked by a dog. I have lifetime wounds.” The other lawsuit describes inmate Corey Johnson getting into a fistfight on May 2, 2020 near telephone booths at Red Onion State Prison and being shot five times in his back with gas canisters. Afterward, as he lay on the ground, face down, arms out, an officer gave the orders for a dog to attack him, the lawsuit says. It describes the officer as encouraging “the canine to prolong the attack by patting its back and saying ‘good boy’ as the dog bit Johnson’s arm and dragging him several feet across the floor. “Unlike the uneven, surface-level, or zigzagging wounds a canine might leave on a person who continues an altercation in defiance of official orders, Mr. Johnson’s wounds were deep, clean, and had no jagged patters because he had remained prostrate on the ground during the attack,” the lawsuit reads. It goes on to say he was taken to an emergency room, where he received 21 stitches and was left with nerve damage. Garret, in his lawsuit, is described as being unable to write or clutch anything with his dominant left hand, a “dead leg” that is nearly completely numb and pain that radiates up his leg if he puts weight on his right foot. He was taken to the hospital following the incident on Christmas Day in 2018, the lawsuit says, but when he returned, he was placed in solitary confinement for about five weeks “with almost no medical care.” He only received medical attention, it says, after his wounds grew infected and he pretended to be dead in his cell."

Nazi America. Yet, we gutlessly remain silent. Too cowardly to stand up to this abuse. When, where did we lose ourselves?

"This may seem a distant concern, affecting people locked behind walls, but one part of the lawsuit illustrates too clearly why what happens within prisons affects those outside of them. Many inmates eventually get released, and the hope is they leave prison in a better position to contribute to society than when then entered it."

"Garret’s release date came in May 2019. The lawsuit describes his mental health as substantially deteriorating since that day. “He self-isolates in his room and at times panics because he thinks he hears dogs barking outside his door,” it reads. “Mr. Garrett was institutionalized at Tucker Mental Institution on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 for a mental breakdown caused by trauma associated with the canine attack and its aftermath.”

"Attorneys for the five children of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died after being restrained by police during a mental health episode, announced a federal lawsuit Monday against the city of Rochester, alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations. The family claims in the suit in U.S. District Court that both the actions of the Rochester police and an “attempted cover-up” by the department and city government violated Prude’s constitutional rights, attorneys for the family said in a statement. A grand jury in February declined to bring criminal charges against the officers."

“My father had a hard life, but he was a great dad. He always showed me and my brother and sisters how much he loved us,” Prude’s oldest son, Nathaniel McFarland, said. “Our hearts are broken by his death, but this lawsuit has given us hope for the future.” Prude, 41, died in March 2020, several days after police officers, whom Prude’s brother had called for help, put a spit hood over his head and pressed his naked body against the street until he stopped breathing. Police initially described his death as a drug overdose. The county medical examiner listed the manner of death as homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint” and cited the drug PCP as a contributing factor. The[y] went mostly unpublicized until nearly six months later, when police body camera video was released following pressure from Prude’s family. Prude had been visiting relatives from his home in Chicago, where McFarland and three of his other siblings live. “His family sought help from the Rochester police, and that was a mistake — a fatal mistake. Instead of providing him with care and assistance, officers of the Rochester Police Department cruelly abused him, mocked him, and killed him,” according to the complaint. Attorney Stephen Schwarz cited a culture in Rochester of “deliberate indifference to the rights of Blacks and Latinos who encounter its police officers.” City spokesperson Justin Roj, when asked for comment Monday morning, said he had not been notified of the lawsuit. The complaint replaces legal claims previously brought by Prude’s sister."

"A Michigan State Police trooper has been charged in an incident in which he set his dog on a driver and kept the biting animal on the man for nearly four minutes even though the driver was pleading for help, state police said Friday. The trooper, Parker Surbrook, was charged with a single count of felonious assault in the arrest Nov. 18 in Lansing, in which a driver with a passenger who was believed to be armed fled a traffic stop and crashed into a tree, state police said in a statement. Surbrook "left his canine deployed on the driver for an extended period of time" in violation of policies and ignored the driver's pleas for help, state police said. Surbrook was arraigned Friday, police said. An attorney listed as representing him during an investigation did not immediately return an emailed request for comment Monday night. State police said that Surbrook's actions were uncovered during a routine review in December and that a supervisor who reviewed video "immediately recognized multiple policy violations" and filed a complaint. The dog was kept on the driver for almost four minutes, including nearly two minutes after the passenger had been handcuffed by another officer, a police investigation report said. A gun was recovered during the passenger's arrest, according to the report. The driver, who had suffered a broken hip, had been begging that the dog be called off and did not appear to be resisting, police wrote in the report, which is partly redacted."

Why the redaction? To what end? Who is being protected? Lack of transparency destroys the credibility of law enforcement. Why the prolonged delay in charging this officer? Why special treatment for this piece of human excrement not accorded victims of these jackbooted bastards?

"Col. Joe Gasper, director of the Michigan State Police, said in the statement that while force must sometimes be used, "care and concern for human life should always be at the forefront of any police officer's actions." "This makes Trooper Surbrook's disregard of the driver's pleas for help totally unacceptable," Gasper said. A state police canine unit supervisor and trainer told an investigator that the use of the dog in the first part of the arrest appeared to be within police policy, according to the police report. But after the passenger was handcuffed, Surbrook should have worked with the other officer to handcuff the driver, the supervisor said, according to the report. There were other options, as well, but those sections of the report are redacted."

"Instead, Surbrook waited for other officers to arrive and kept the dog on the driver, who pleaded that the dog be removed at least five times in just under two minutes, according to the report. Surbrook has been with state police since 2012 and a canine handler since 2017, state police said. He was placed on leave in December and is on unpaid suspension, according to police."

The lack of transparency destroys whatever little credibility these jackbooted bastards retain.

The First Amendment Freedom of the Press is under direct assault in Nazi America. The Associated Press reports:

"A journalist went on trial Monday on charges stemming from her coverage of a protest against racial injustice in Des Moines last year, after Iowa prosecutors defied international pressure to drop a rare effort to punish a working reporter. Des Moines Register news reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was pepper-sprayed and jailed while reporting on a clash between protesters and police in May, is charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. If convicted on the simple misdemeanor charges, the 25-year-old would be fined hundreds of dollars and have a criminal record. A judge could also sentence her up to 30 days in jail on each count, although that would be unusual."

Nazi justice in a de facto fascist police-state. Democratic republic in name only.

"Advocates for journalism and human rights in the U.S. and abroad have pressed Iowa authorities to drop the charges, arguing that Sahouri was simply doing her job by documenting the event. But prosecutors in the office of Polk County Attorney John Sarcone have pressed forward with the case against Sahouri and her former boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, who faces the same charges. The pair are standing trial in a courtroom at Drake University in Des Moines as part of a program for law students. The university is broadcasting the proceedings, which are expected to last two days. Lawyers selected a six-member jury Monday morning, and prosecutors were expected to begin their case in the afternoon."

"The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has not recorded any other trials of working journalists in the country since 2018. Sahouri was among more than 125 reporters detained or arrested during the civil unrest that unfolded across the U.S. in 2020. Thirteen, including Sahouri, still face prosecution although the majority of those arrested were not charged or their charges were dismissed, the group says. Employees in the Gannett newspaper chain, which owns USA Today, the Register and hundreds of other newspapers, have flooded social media with support for Sahouri in recent days. Columbia Journalism School, where Sahouri graduated in 2019 before joining the Register, expressed solidarity Monday by promoting the hashtags #StandWithAndrea and #JournalismIsNotACrime. Amnesty International launched a campaign to publicize her case and demand the charges be dismissed. Sahouri was assigned to cover a May 31 protest at Merle Hay mall, where activists were demanding better treatment for people of color after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white officer put his knee on his neck for about nine minutes. Some protesters threw water bottles and rocks at police, broke store windows and vandalized a Target store. Police responded by spraying tear gas to disperse a large crowd from an intersection. Sahouri reported the details live on Twitter."

"Sahouri was running from the gas when Robnett was hit in the leg with a projectile — likely a tear gas canister or rubber bullet launched by police. She briefly stopped to check on him before continuing around the corner of a Verizon store. Officer Luke Wilson then arrested her, burning her eyes with a blast of pepper spray and cuffing her hands in zip ties, Sahouri says. Wilson has said he didn’t know Sahouri was a journalist until Robnett intervened during the arrest. Robnett told the officer that Sahouri was a Register journalist and tried to pull Sahouri away from him, Wilson says. Prosecutors say the officer did not activate his body camera during the arrest or use a camera function to retrieve the video after the fact before it was erased."

"Sahouri was not wearing press credentials at the time but repeatedly identified herself as press. A Register colleague who wasn’t arrested also immediately vouched for her employment to police. Nonetheless, Sahouri was loaded into a police van and jailed for a couple of hours. Prosecutors have tried to defend the arrest by arguing that journalists do not have special rights to ignore police dispersal orders, including one that had been given roughly 90 minutes earlier."

Goddamned horse shit. Direct violation of the First Amendment Freedom of the Press.

"An Iowa newspaper reporter arrested as she covered a Black Lives Matter protest last spring goes on trial Monday in a case that has drawn international concern over press freedom. The Des Moines Register reporter, Andrea Sahouri, was arrested on May 31 as protesters clashed with police during a demonstration near a shopping mall in the Iowa capital. Sahouri's then-boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, accompanied her for "safety reasons," the Register says. Despite repeatedly identifying herself as "press," police deliberately pepper sprayed her and then zip-tied her for arrest, she said. Sahouri and Robnett were later charged with failure to disperse and interfering with official acts, misdemeanors that could carry fines and up to 30 days in jail. In video taken by local television station KCCI, a masked Sahouri and another person, presumably Robnett, are shown seated on the pavement in front of a storefront with their hands secured behind their backs. Shortly after her arrest, Sahouri posted a video of her own, posted to Twitter from inside a police vehicle. In it, she recounts the incident, saying she was "just reporting" when she was taken into custody."

A democratic republic in name only. In reality, a de facto fascist police-state.

"In the video, she says Robnett was hit by a teargas canister. "As I was seeing if his leg was O.K., police came closer and we went around the corner and I was saying, 'I'm press. I'm press. I'm press,'" Sahouri said."

"Des Moines police and John Sarcone, the attorney for Polk County, contend that at the time of her arrest, Sahouri wasn't wearing any media credentials and appeared to be participating in an unlawful assembly. Police had issued an order to disperse about 90 minutes before, according to the Register. The Associated Press reports that the newspaper's executive editor, Carol Hunter, has acknowledged that Sahouri was not wearing a press badge, which she said had been left in the reporter's car. Hunter called it a "red herring," saying the police immediately knew Sahouri is a journalist and that carrying press credentials is not necessary to enjoy Constitutional protections."

Goddamned f--king right. The criminal jackbooted bastards in blue are well aware of this fact.

"Freedom of the press rests on newsgathering," Hunter said, according to the AP. "This really is an attack on a fundamental part of being able to bring people the news." On Friday, prosecutor Bradley Kinkade argued at a pretrial hearing that Sahouri being a journalist "is irrelevant to her charges." "This is a standard misdemeanor trial," he told the court, as the Register reported. However, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council said that "All Iowans should be troubled by this abuse of prosecutorial discretion." "The Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment for this very purpose — to allow the media to scrutinize the actions of law officers," the Council said in a statement. Amnesty International has also weighed in on Sahouri's case, saying that "treating media work as a crime is a human rights violation."

No question. Raw nazism in a de facto fascist police-state. Democratic republic in name only.

"In a statement sent to NPR, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said the charges against Sahouri "represent a clear violation of press freedom and fit a disturbing pattern of abuses against journalists by police in the USA." "It's deeply troubling that the prosecutor would push these bogus charges all the way to trial," Guevara-Rosas said."

It's what nazis do. What they've always done. Dating back to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

"The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reports that 127 journalists were arrested in 2020 – the vast majority at protests. That compares to just nine such arrests the previous year. It says Sahouri is among 13 journalists who currently face criminal charges."

... Hear the rumble? An unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms courtesy of the nazis currently running our formerly great country.

"The Register reports that at the start of the trial on Monday, the judge rejected a motion to dismiss the charges against Sahouri and that jury selection was underway. Prosecutors may try to bring up text messages they obtained that were exchanged between Sahouri and a protest leader, Matè Muhammad, about a week after her arrest. Muhammad — who has been charged with shining a laser pointer in the eyes of police during an August BLM protest — says he and Sahouri struck up a professional relationship following her arrest. He was quoted by the AP as saying, "We enjoy working with her not because we view her as an activist or on our side, but because we view her as fair."

A raucous boot clicking, goose stepping, treasonous, treacherous, traitorous Seig Heil!, 'Judge?'

"An Iowa police officer who pepper sprayed and arrested a journalist who was covering an unruly Black Lives Matter protest acknowledged Tuesday that he failed to record the interaction on his body camera and did not notify a supervisor as required by department policy. Officer Luke Wilson said his body camera was on when he arrested Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri on May 31, 2020, and that he believed he had activated its record function. He said he learned later that it failed to record the arrest but that he did not notify a supervisor to see if the video could be recovered after the fact as required by department policy. Wilson’s testimony came on the second day of a trial in which Sahouri and her former boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. The prosecution has drawn widespread criticism from media and human rights advocates, who say Sahouri was doing her job as a journalist and committed no crimes. The pair face fines and potentially even jail time if convicted. The newspaper had assigned Sahouri to cover the protest calling for racial justice at Merle Hay mall in Des Moines, days after the death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who was declared dead after a white officer put his knee on his neck for nine minutes. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the mall, and Sahouri was reporting the details live on Twitter."

She was doing her job. The prosecution of this reporter is a direct violation of the First Amendment Freedom of the Press. Further proof positive we live in a de facto fascist police-state. A democratic republic in name only.

"Wilson, an 18-year veteran of the Des Moines Police Department, said he responded to the protest and found a “riotous mob” that was breaking store windows, throwing rocks and water bottles at officers, and running in different directions. He said his unit was told to clear a commercial parking lot, and he used a device known as a fogger to blanket the area with clouds of pepper spray. He said the chemical irritants worked in forcing most of the crowd to scatter, including Robnett, but that he decided Sahouri needed to be arrested when she did not leave. Wilson said he was unaware that Sahouri, whose eyes were watering and nose was running from the spray, was a journalist."

"Wilson said that he grabbed her with his left hand while his fogger was still in his right hand. Wilson said that Robnett returned and tried to pull Sahouri out of his grasp, and Wilson said deployed more pepper spray that “incapacitated” Robnett. Under cross-examination by defense attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt, Wilson said that he charged Sahouri with interference because she briefly pulled her left arm away while he was arresting her. He acknowledged, however, that he didn't mention that claim in his police report on the arrest."

"Wilson said that he only rarely used his body camera during his normal job at the city airport, wrongly believed it had recorded Sahouri’s arrest and was unfamiliar with the details of the department's body camera policy."

"The cameras are always capturing video when on and can retrieve video of incidents that were not recorded afterward if they have not yet been erased. Officers who fail to record incidents they should have are required to notify supervisors, who can then try to recover video that does not have audio. It was clear immediately that Sahouri's arrest was newsworthy and controversial. Prosecutors say Sahouri and Robnett ignored police orders to leave the area long before their arrests, while the defense argues any such orders weren't clear. Body camera video played in court showed officers yelling at protesters to get out of an intersection and instructing them to be peaceful about 90 minutes before their arrests, and Robnett and Sahouri complied. A separate order to disperse could be heard faintly on the video in the background — so quiet that even an officer testifying for the prosecution seemed to struggle to make it out. But prosecutors argued the message was louder at the scene and broadcast over a public address system. Wilson, however, said that he did not initially charge Robnett with failing to disperse because he left when he was hit with pepper spray."

"An Iowa jury on Wednesday acquitted a journalist who was pepper-sprayed and arrested by police while covering a protest, in a case that critics have derided as an attack on press freedoms and an abuse of prosecutorial discretion. After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury found Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri and her ex-boyfriend Spenser Robnett not guilty on misdemeanor charges of failure to disperse and interference with official acts. The Des Moines verdict is an embarrassing outcome for the office of Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, which pursued the charges despite widespread condemnation from advocates for a free press and human rights. Those advocates, ranging from Sahouri’s bosses at the Register to Amnesty International, argued that Sahouri was wrongly arrested while doing her job covering racial injustice protests in Des Moines last May. More than 100 groups called for the dismissal of charges last summer, but prosecutors aggressively pursued them, arguing that Sahouri and Robnett didn’t comply with police orders to leave the chaotic scene outside of a mall and interfered with the officer who arrested Sahouri. Sahouri, 25, immediately identified herself as a reporter on assignment but was subjected to what she called “extremely painful” pepper spray blasts and jailed. Robnett, 24, said he was sprayed and handcuffed after telling the officer that Sahouri was a Register journalist. Sahouri was the first working U.S. journalist to face a criminal trial since 2018, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Although more than 125 U.S. journalists were arrested or detained last year, the vast majority were not charged or had their charges dismissed."

"Sahouri told reporters she was relieved by the quick acquittal, which she called a victory for press freedom and democracy. She said the case had taken a toll on her personally and professionally, but that she would continue reporting the news."

Stand tall. Continue to do what you were put on this planet to do. That is, report the truth. No matter the personal consequences.

“I have been dealing with a lot of pressure and anxiety and trauma from the assault and continuing to do my job has been difficult,” she said. “But it is important. That is why I am in this field.”

"If convicted on either count, Sahouri and Robnett would have faced hundreds of dollars in fines and up to 30 days in jail. The Register’s parent company, Gannett, funded their defense, and employees of the newspaper chain rallied behind Sahouri on social media. Columbia Journalism School, where Sahouri earned a master’s degree in 2019 before joining the Register, also expressed solidarity by promoting the hashtag #JournalismIsNotACrime. Journalists celebrated the verdict, saying it supports their freedom to document newsworthy events. But they said it was disgraceful that authorities pressed forward with the charges for nine months at taxpayer expense. “Grateful justice was done and @andreamsahouri was fully exonerated,” Gannett news president and USA Today Publisher Maribel Wadsworth tweeted. “But it should never have come to this. She was assaulted, arrested, charged and tried for doing her job. Today’s victory is as much a victory for the 1st Amendment as it is for Andrea.”

The son of a bitch prosecutor needs to resign in disgrace. Egregiously failed to honor the oath he falsely swore to uphold the United States Constitution:

"Prosecutor Bradley Kinkade told jurors during his closing argument that it didn’t matter Sahouri was a working journalist, saying her profession wasn’t a defense against the charges. In fact, he argued that the video and photos she reported live on Twitter of protesters breaking store windows and throwing rocks was “convincing evidence” that she was near an unlawful assembly. Kinkade, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that Sahouri and Robnett were within hearing distance when police gave orders to disperse, but that they stayed with the crowd. He said they didn’t have to actually hear or understand the orders, which were given nearly 90 minutes before their arrests as police tried to unblock an intersection. The orders were barely audible on video played for jurors. Kinkade urged jurors to accept the testimony of arresting officer Luke Wilson, who claimed that Robnett tried to pull Sahouri out of his custody and that Sahouri briefly resisted arrest. Wilson acknowledged that he had failed to record the arrest on his body camera and did not try to recover the video later, in violation of Des Moines Police Department policy."

"Defense attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt said the case was about a reporter who was doing her job and a boyfriend who accompanied her for safety reasons. He said Sahouri was reporting on the “destruction of property so that the community could see what was going on.” Klinefeldt said the defendants didn’t hear any dispersal orders and that Sahouri was trying to report only from places where she was allowed. He noted that they were running away from a tense location where riot police had deployed tear gas when Wilson arrested them. Klinefeldt said that the officer’s claim that they interfered wasn’t credible. Sahouri testified that she put her hands up and repeatedly identified herself as a reporter but was nonetheless pepper-sprayed and cuffed with zip ties. Another Register reporter, Katie Akin, was near Sahouri and quickly informed police that they were journalists. Akin was told to leave but was not arrested. Video captured by a responding officer showed Sahouri in pain, temporarily blinded by the pepper spray and repeatedly telling officers that she was a journalist doing her job. Nonetheless, authorities put her in a police van and took her to jail."

"In her time as former President Donald Trump's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao repeatedly used her position and agency staff to help family members who run a shipping business with ties to China, in potential violation of federal ethics laws, according to an Office of Inspector General report. The findings were uncovered in the Transportation Department's inspector general report released Wednesday that detailed the office's investigation into Chao's dealings as secretary. The inspector general referred the findings to the Justice Department in December 2020. But with the Trump administration coming to a close, the DOJ declined to open its own investigation, citing "there is not predication" to do so. Chao, who is married to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced her resignation Jan. 7, saying she was deeply troubled by the previous day's mob attack on the Capitol "in a way that I simply cannot set aside." Her term was set to end at President Biden's swearing-in. The Transportation Department watchdog launched the probe into Chao's actions as secretary following news reports that detailed her interactions with family in her post as the agency's head. That included an official trip to China in 2017 in which her father and sister were set to join her and participate in high-level meetings. But as the OIG report details, Chao tasked her staff with far more than travel planning. The internal watchdog cited Chao for four kinds of ethics violations, including requiring DOT's staff to help with personal errands and with marketing her father's biography."

"Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform Carolyn B. Maloney of New York also requested an investigation into Chao following initial media reports. Maloney on Wednesday called Chao's use of her official position and resources to help her family a "flagrant abuse of her office." The congresswoman added that lawmakers should use this report as evidence for further ethics and transparency reforms."

You think? Yet, to the Republican nazi element in our formerly great country day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet. All ass backwards from reality:

"In a statement, a spokesperson for Chao said the report "exonerates the Secretary from baseless accusations and closes the book on an election-year effort to impugn her history-making career as the first Asian American woman appointed to a President's Cabinet and her outstanding record as the longest tenured Cabinet member since World War II."

"The OIG report doesn't offer a formal conclusion that Chao violated federal ethics laws, but it did highlight several instances that deserved further scrutiny, especially in situations tied to the secretary's family, the report said. Federal ethics laws bar employees from using their public office for private gain, which could mean publicity or favors from others. Employees must also act impartially and ensure they don't offer any preferential treatment to any private organization or person. Federal employees cannot use their public office to endorse a product, service or company or for the private gain of friends, family or others. Chao is no novice when it comes to the ethics rules of being a federal agency official. She was previously the labor secretary under former President George W. Bush. Yet during her time at the Department of Transportation, Chao's office handled matters related to her father, James Chao, who founded the shipping company Foremost Group, and her sister, Angela Chao, who runs the company. Secretary Chao made extensive plans to include family members in events during her official trip to China in November 2017. The itinerary included stops at Shanghai Maritime University and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and other locations that had received support from her family's business. Chao also requested, through the State Department, for China's Transport Ministry to arrange for two vehicles for her delegation, which included her sister and father. Officials at the State and Transportation departments raised ethics concerns with the trip and it was ultimately canceled. The former secretary also directed her staffers to send copies of her father's memoir, Fearless Against the Wind, to a well-known, unnamed CEO of a major U.S. company not regulated by her agency. She asked her staff to request that he write the foreword for the book. A third staffer was asked to edit the sample foreword sent to the CEO, emails reviewed by the OIG showed. Similar requests were made to several other prominent individuals, including unnamed heads of "elite" U.S. schools, according to the report. Transportation's public affairs office also lent support to her father to help market his biography, to keep a running list of his awards, and to edit his Wikipedia page, the OIG report said. Chao also tasked political appointees on her staff to contact the Department of Homeland Security regarding the status of a work permit application for a student studying at a U.S. university who was a recipient of her family's philanthropic foundation. Chao also used agency resources and staff for small, personal tasks such as checking on the repairs of an item at a store for her father or sending Christmas ornaments to her family."

"In defense of her actions, Chao's office sent a memo dated Sept. 24, 2020, citing "filial piety." The memo states, "Anyone familiar with Asian culture knows it is a core value in Asian communities to express honor and filial respect toward one's parents, and this ingrained value of love, respect, and filial piety always takes precedence over self-promotion and self-aggrandizement." It went on to say, "As the eldest daughter, she is expected to assume a leadership role in family occasions that honor her father and her late mother."

"The OIG said that over the years no Transportation Department employees questioned by investigators felt "ordered or coerced" to do any of the tasks asked of them by Chao. DeFazio criticized the timing of the OIG report as it was released nearly two months after Chao resigned. He said Wednesday, "I am even more disappointed that the Department of Justice declined to further pursue the matters that the IG's office substantiated in its investigation. Public servants, especially those responsible for leading tens of thousands of other public servants, must know that they serve the public and not their family's private commercial interests."

"North Carolina’s Republican Party acted quickly last month to censure one of its most senior members, Sen. Richard Burr, for voting to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Burr’s vote was “shocking and disappointing,” said Michael Whatley, chairman of the state party. But the state GOP has shown no interest in exploring a similar action against one of its youngest elected leaders, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a pro-Trump freshman who is accused by a number of women of sexual harassment and has a record of making false statements and baseless claims."

No transparency in a de facto fascist police-state. The Associated Press reports:

"Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered her first Supreme Court majority opinion Thursday, ruling against an environmental group that had sought access to government records."

"President Donald Trump’s third nominee wrote for a 7-2 court that certain draft documents do not have to be disclosed under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The case was the first one Barrett heard after joining the court in late October, and it took four months for the 11-page opinion to be released. Two liberal justices, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented. It is something of a tradition for new justices to be assigned a case in which the court is unanimous for their first opinion, but it doesn’t always happen. Both of Trump’s other nominees, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote unanimous first opinions. Sotomayor also got a unanimous opinion for her first assignment, but President Barack Obama’s other nominee, Justice Elena Kagan, was assigned a first opinion where the court divided 8-1. The opinion Barrett wrote involved the environmental group the Sierra Club, which sued seeking access to federal government documents involving certain structures used to cool industrial equipment and their potential harm to endangered wildlife. Barrett began by explaining that FOIA makes “records available to the public upon request, unless those records fall within one of nine exemptions.” Those exemptions include “documents generated during an agency’s deliberations about a policy, as opposed to documents that embody or explain a policy that the agency adopts.” Barrett said the documents the Sierra Club was seeking were draft documents that did not need to be disclosed. And she dismissed concerns the group had raised that ruling against it would encourage officials to “stamp every document ‘draft’” to avoid disclosing them. Barrett said that if “evidence establishes that an agency has hidden a functionally final decision in draft form” then it won’t be protected from disclosure requirements."

"An exhausted Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Saturday as President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies notched a victory they called crucial for hoisting the country out of the pandemic and economic doldrums. After laboring all night on a mountain of amendments — nearly all from Republicans and rejected — bleary-eyed senators approved the sprawling package on a 50-49 party-line vote. That sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can whisk it to Biden for his signature. The huge measure — its total spending is nearly one-tenth the size of the entire U.S. economy — is Biden’s biggest early priority. It stands as his formula for addressing the deadly virus and a limping economy, twin crises that have afflicted the country for a year."

“This nation has suffered too much for much too long,” Biden told reporters at the White House after the vote. “And everything in this package is designed to relieve the suffering and to meet the most urgent needs of the nation, and put us in a better position to prevail.”

"Saturday’s vote was also a crucial political moment for Biden and Democrats, who need nothing short of party unanimity in a 50-50 Senate they run with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote. They have a slim 10-vote House edge. Not a single Republican backed the bill in the Senate or when it initially passed the House, underscoring the barbed partisan environment that’s so far characterizing the early days of Biden’s presidency. A small but pivotal band of moderate Democrats leveraged changes in the legislation that incensed progressives, not making it any easier for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to guide the measure through the House. But rejection of their first, signature bill was not an option for Democrats, who face two years of trying to run Congress with virtually no room for error. “They feel like we do, we have to get this done,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of the House. He said he’d spoken to Pelosi about the Senate’s changes and added, “It’s not going to be everything everyone wants. No bill is.” In a written statement, Pelosi invited Republicans “to join us in recognition of the devastating reality of this vicious virus and economic crisis and of the need for decisive action.”

Meaningless. With zero Republican support, Democrats own this no matter what.

"The bill provides direct payments of up to $1,400 for most Americans and extended emergency unemployment benefits. There are vast piles of spending for COVID-19 vaccines and testing, states and cities, schools and ailing industries, along with tax breaks to help lower-earning people, families with children and consumers buying health insurance. Republicans call the measure a wasteful spending spree for Democrats’ liberal allies that ignores recent indications that the pandemic and economy could be turning the corner. “The Senate has never spent $2 trillion in a more haphazard way,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Of Democrats, he said, “Their top priority wasn’t pandemic relief. It was their Washington wish list.”

Hyperbolic bullshit by ole Mitch "The Bitch." Neither party seems to have any affinity for the truth, however. Sad, isn't it?

"A Congress [d]riven along party lines approved a landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed a triumph on a bill that marshals the government’s spending might against twin pandemic and economic crises that have upended a nation. The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote precisely seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill without a single Republican vote. GOP lawmakers opposed the package as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing."

With virtually no Republican support, Democrats own this bill. For better or worse.

"Most noticeable to many Americans are provisions to provide up to $1,400 direct payments this year to most adults and extend $300 per week emergency unemployment benefits into early September. But the legislation goes far beyond that. The measure addresses Democrats’ campaign promises and Biden’s top initial priority of easing a one-two punch that first hit the country a year ago. Since then, many Americans have been relegated to hermit-like lifestyles in their homes to avoid a disease that’s killed over 525,000 people — about the population of Wichita, Kansas — and plunged the economy to its deepest depths since the Great Depression. “Today we have a decision to make of tremendous consequence,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “a decision that will make a difference for millions of Americans, saving lives and livelihoods.”

"For Biden and Democrats, the bill is essentially a canvas on which they’ve painted their core beliefs — that government programs can be a benefit, not a bane, to millions of people and that spending huge sums on such efforts can be a cure, not a curse. The measure so closely tracks Democrats’ priorities that several rank it with the top achievements of their careers, and despite their slender congressional majorities there was never real suspense over its fate."

"They were also empowered by three dynamics: their unfettered control of the White House and Congress, polls showing robust support for Biden’s approach and a moment when most voters care little that the national debt is soaring toward a stratospheric $22 trillion. Neither party seems much troubled by surging red ink, either, except when the other is using it to finance its priorities, be they Democratic spending or GOP tax cuts."

Precisely, the problem with both parties. Exactly, why neither is worth a shit. For totally different reasons.

"Republicans noted that they’ve overwhelmingly supported five previous relief bills that Congress has approved since the pandemic struck a year ago, when divided government under then-President Donald Trump forced the parties to negotiate. They said this one solely reflected Democratic goals by setting aside money for family planning programs and federal workers who take leave to cope with COVID-19 and failing to require that shuttered schools accepting aid reopen their doors."

Clearly, Republicans don't understand fully opening the schools and businesses during a pandemic that is nowhere in control is aggressively stupid.

“If you’re a member of the swamp, you do pretty well under this bill. But for the American people, it means serious problems immediately on the horizon,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., referring to the added federal borrowing the measure will force."

The Congressman clearly ignores the fact the top of the food chain is indeed the 'swamp.' Has benefited greatly during the pandemic while the bottom and middle class figuratively took the shaft hard up the ass. Continue to be hard-f--ked with an economy that benefits the very top due to the lack of meaningful regulation or no regulation at all. While capitalism is the best economic system to live under, it can be the worst if there is poor or no regulation at all. Forget? Winner-take-all. Clearly, what Democrats were desperately trying to remedy in this bill:

"A dominant feature of the 628-page bill is initiatives making it one of the biggest federal efforts in years to assist lower- and middle-income families. Included are expanded tax credits over the next year for children, child care and family leave — some of them credits that Democrats have signaled they’d like to make permanent — plus spending for renters, feeding programs and people’s utility bills. Besides the direct payments and jobless-benefit extension, the measure has hundreds of billions for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, schools, state and local governments and ailing industries from airlines to concert halls. There is aid for farmers of color, pension systems and student borrowers, and subsidies for consumers buying health insurance and states expanding Medicaid coverage for lower earners. “Who’s going to help? Do we say this is all survival of the fittest? No,” said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky. “We rise to the occasion. We deliver.”

Think so? Who will pay for it? Is there any provision in this bill to tax the living shit out of the top of the food chain? Those who benefit the most from little to no meaningful regulation of the business community? Delusionally believe the following will solve the problem?

"Underscoring the bill’s focus, the independent Tax Policy Center said the measure would give almost 70% of its tax breaks this year to households earning $91,000 or less. In contrast, the Trump-era GOP tax bill gave nearly half its 2018 reductions to the top 5% of households earning around $308,000, said the research center, which is run by the liberal-leaning Urban Institute and Brookings Institution."

The following is indicative that even Republicans are beginning to understand things must change. That the status quo is unsustainable.

Couldn't be Republicans are starting to wake up, could it? NBC News reports:

"The GOP is having a change of heart on economics. It could have implications for policymaking."

"Deep economic hardship — rising income inequality and escalating costs of health care and college tuition — could be driving the shift."

"The Republican Party is showing signs of softening its trademark fiscal conservative brand in favor of a new populist approach, a potentially seminal shift as the party becomes more reliant on blue-collar white voters after Donald Trump’s presidency. The last time Republicans were thrown out of power, in 2009, they embraced an unabashed tax-cutting and spending-cutting vision to find their way out of the wilderness. Now, the party is taking a different path as ambitious figures seek to curry favor with voters by pushing a larger government safety-net that includes cash to families and a minimum wage hike."

"The new approach comes at a time of deep economic hardship — rising income inequality and escalating costs of health care and college tuition — made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. The trend, if it continues, will test the longstanding alliance between the GOP and big business and has the potential to reshape the future of American policymaking. "I hope there's support for getting working people a fair shot. Most Americans — they don't want to be taken care of. They would like a fair shot though — to be able to get a job, be able to raise their family," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. Hawley’s rhetoric echoes progressives who say the government has a larger role in providing equal economic opportunity. He has been a vocal supporter of direct cash payments to Americans, even teaming up with democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently on the issue."

While capitalism is indeed the best financial system to live under, it must be regulated. If not, it's the worst. Winner-take-all.

"But despite his interest in fiscal liberalism, Hawley breaks sharply from Democrats by embracing Trump’s cultural conservatism, skepticism of immigration and even his promoting of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election result — a potential new model for the party."

"Republicans need to have a broader conversation about what we're going to do to support working people, working families in the middle of the country, where I'm from, but all across the country," Hawley said. "So I hope that that's the direction that we're headed." The party-line vote Saturday to approve a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill shows there remain economic differences between the two parties. Yet 48 Republicans voted in the process to spend $650 billion on measures including direct cash, jobless aid and child care."

"Perhaps no Republican embodies the change quite like Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. He ran for president in 2012 on a platform of slashing taxes, raising the Social Security retirement age and cutting Medicare spending. He picked as his running mate Paul Ryan, the vanguard of traditional fiscal conservatism. Now, Romney is leading efforts in his party to expand the safety net with a substantial child allowance and a minimum wage hike to $10 per hour, one that's tied to stricter immigration enforcement. And he was an early proponent of direct payments amid the pandemic. "With regards to each of those plans, the effort is to make our safety net more effective," Romney told NBC News, while emphasizing that his plans are paid for. In some ways, Romney is Trump's polar opposite and chief antagonist — the only Republican who voted twice to find him guilty on impeachment charges. But Trump's pro-spending and anti-immigration attitudes created space for the policies Romney is pushing. Case in point, his minimum wage proposal is co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the chamber's most conservative members and someone who is considered a likely presidential candidate. "It's time for the minimum wage to be raised. It hasn't been raised in a long, long, long time," Romney said. "But do so gradually and consistent with the rate of inflation — and marry that with immigration enforcement to make sure that we don't have people coming in illegally, taking away jobs from those at the entry level."

Does nothing to change the fact even in the poorest areas of our formerly great country a livable wage is at least $15 per hour.

Racism is alive and well in both Britain and the United States. This has to change. The Associated Press reports:

"Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive TV interview divided people around the world on Monday, rocking an institution that is struggling to modernize with claims of racism and callousness toward a woman struggling with suicidal thoughts. During the two-hour appearance with Oprah Winfrey, Harry also revealed the problems had ruptured relations with his father, Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William, illuminating the depth of the family divisions that led the couple to step away from royal duties and move to California last year."

Uncommon Valor. Hat's off to both Prince Harry and Meghan for doing the right thing. Standing up to racism.

"The palace has not yet responded to the interview, in which Meghan described feeling so isolated and miserable inside the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts and said a member of the family had “concerns” about the color of her unborn child’s skin."

"The family member was not Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, according to Harry, sparking a flurry of speculation about who it could be."

"Leaders around the world were asked about the interview, and citizens of many countries had an opinion. In Accra, Ghana, Devinia Cudjoe said that hearing that a member of the royal family was worried about the color of the skin of an unborn child was insulting to people of the Commonwealth, the grouping of Britain and its former colonies that is headed by the queen. “That is pure racism,” Cudjoe said. “(The) Commonwealth is supposed to foster unity, oneness amongst black people, amongst white people. But if we are hearing things like this … I think that is below the belt.”

No question. -- Not that we don't have more than our share of racism right here in the United States.

"In Nairobi, Kenya, Rebecca Wangare called Meghan “a 21st- century icon of a strong woman. She has faced racism head-on.”

"Asma Sultan, a journalist in Karachi, Pakistan, said the interview “is going to tarnish the image of the royal family.” “There is so much controversy ever since Diana’s death, so it is new Pandora box which is opened up,” she said."

"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to comment on the interview, praising the queen but saying that “when it comes to matters to do with the royal family the right thing for a prime minister to say is nothing.”

"Asked whether U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill had any reaction to the interview, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Meghan’s decision to speak about her struggles with mental health “takes courage” and “that’s certainly something the president believes in.” But she said she wouldn’t offer additional comment on the situation “given these are private citizens, sharing their own story and their own struggles.”

That's disingenuous since when all this was happening, both the Prince and his wife were officially part of the royal family. Had royal duties to perform.

"The allegations are especially damaging because many observers hoped Harry and Meghan, who is biracial, would help the tradition-bound monarchy relate to an increasingly multicultural nation. In the early days of their marriage, Harry and Meghan joined William and his wife, Catherine, in projecting a glamorous, energetic image for the young royals. That partnership was severed when Harry and Meghan left the country, saying they wanted to earn their own living and escape what they called intrusive, racist coverage by the British media. But the interview brought that criticism into the palace itself, with the couple directing allegations of racism at an unidentified member of the royal family. Meghan said that when she was pregnant with her son, Archie, Harry told her that the royal family had had “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.” Harry confirmed the conversation, saying: “I was a bit shocked.” He said he wouldn’t reveal who made the comment. Winfrey later said Harry told her the comment didn’t come from Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, his grandparents."

"Meghan, 39, acknowledged she was naive at the start of her relationship with Harry and unprepared for the strictures of royal life. A successful actress before her marriage, she said she bridled at the controlling nature of being royal, squirming at the idea that she had to live on terms set by palace staff. This was compounded by the fact that the staff refused to help her when she faced racist attacks from the media and internet trolls, she said."

"The situation became so difficult that at one point, “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” Meghan told Winfrey. But when she sought help through the palace’s human resources department, she was told there was nothing it could do because she wasn’t an employee, Meghan said."

"The implications for the interview — which was broadcast Sunday evening in the United States and will air in Britain on Monday night — are only beginning to be understood. Emily Nash, royal editor at Hello! Magazine, said the revelations had left her and many other viewers “shell-shocked.” “I don’t see how the palace can ignore these allegations, they’re incredibly serious,” she said. “You have the racism allegations. Then you also have the claim that Meghan was not supported, and she sought help even from the HR team within the household and was told that she couldn’t seek help.” The younger royals have made campaigning for support and awareness around mental health one of their priorities. But Harry said the royal family was completely unable to offer that support to its own members. “For the family, they very much have this mentality of ‘This is just how it is, this is how it’s meant to be, you can’t change it, we’ve all been through it,’” Harry said."

Certainly, true. Stunning, though, to hear it coming from a member of the family.

"The couple had faced severe criticism in the United Kingdom before the interview. Prince Philip, 99, is in a London hospital recovering from a heart procedure, and critics saw the decision to go forward as being a burden on the queen — even though CBS, rather than Harry and Meghan, dictated the timing of the broadcast. In the United States, sympathy for the couple poured in. Tennis star Serena Williams, a friend who attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding, said on Twitter that the duchess’s words “illustrate the pain and cruelty she’s experienced.” “The mental health consequences of systemic oppression and victimization are devastating, isolating and all too often lethal,” Williams added. Britain could be less forgiving once the full interview is broadcast, since some see the pair as putting personal happiness ahead of public duty. Meghan — then known as Meghan Markle, who had starred on the American TV legal drama “Suits” — married Harry at Windsor Castle in May 2018. But even that was not what it seemed: The couple revealed in the interview that they exchanged vows in front of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby three days before their spectacular wedding ceremony at the castle. Archie was born the following year and in a rare positive moment in the interview, the couple revealed their second child, due in the summer, would be a girl."

"Harry said he had lived in fear of a repeat of the fate of his mother, Princess Diana, who was covered constantly by the press and died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi. “What I was seeing was history repeating itself, but definitely far more dangerous — because then you add race in, and you add social media in,” Harry said. Both Meghan and Harry praised the support they had received from the monarch. “The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said. But Harry revealed he currently has a poor relationship with William and said things got so bad with his father that at one point Prince Charles stopped taking his calls. “There is a lot to work through there,” Harry said of his father. “I feel really let down. He’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like. And Archie is his grandson. I will always love him, but there is a lot of hurt that has happened.”

Time for the Queen to stand up, stand tall. Do what she can to make this right.

"If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, you can seek help from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the United States on 1-800-273-8255. The Samaritans in the United Kingdom can be reached on 116 123."

"Buckingham Palace issued a statement Tuesday, saying the family was “saddened” to learn of the struggles that Harry and Meghan revealed this week — and that they would be taken very seriously. The statement is the first comment by the palace following Harry and Meghan’s two-hour television interview with Oprah Winfrey in which they alleged that Meghan had experienced racism and callous treatment during her time in the royal family. “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning,” the palace said in a statement issued on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.’’ The statement also said that “Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.” The palace often tries to stay above controversy by remaining silent and riding out the storm, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s charges were so damaging that the family had to respond. Earlier, some observers had said that Buckingham Palace’s silence on the topic has only added to the furor surrounding the TV interview. The interview, which aired Sunday night in the U.S. and a day later in Britain, has rocked the royal family and divided people around the world. While many say the allegations demonstrate the need for change inside a palace that hasn’t kept pace with the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, others have criticized Harry and Meghan for dropping their bombshell while Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, Prince Philip, remains hospitalized in London after a heart procedure."

In the previous article by the Associated Press, it was reported Harry and Meghan had no control over when the interview was to be aired.

"During the two-hour interview, Meghan described feeling so isolated and miserable inside the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts, yet when she asked for mental health help from the palace’s human resources staff she was told she was not a paid employee. She also said a member of the royal family had expressed “concerns” to Harry about the color of her unborn child’s skin. Winfrey later said Harry told her off camera that the family member wasn’t Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, sparking a flurry of speculation about who it could be. Harry also revealed the stresses the couple endured had ruptured relations with his father, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his brother, Prince William, illuminating the depth of the family divisions that led the couple to step away from royal duties and move to California last year."

A terribly sad story. The Queen is the one to make this right. She needs to step up. Think that'll happen?

"Prince Charles didn’t comment on the interview Tuesday during a visit to a vaccine clinic in London. Harry’s father visited a church to see a temporary vaccine clinic in action and met with health care workers, church staff and people due to receive their vaccine jab. The visit was his first public appearance since the interview aired in the U.S. on Sunday night. Maziya Marzook, a patient at the event, said “private matters didn’t come up at all” during Charles’ visit. “He didn’t bring up anything, Marzook said. “He was more interested in how the vaccine was and how we feel.”

The effort to expose Wells Fargo egregious deceptive trade practices continues. Several years ago to determinedly apply renewed pressure on our truly worthless, egregiously self-serving Texas Attorney General, now Governor, an excoriating email was sent to the bastard. Copies of which were also passed on to both offending Wells Fargo officers. A copy was also sent to the Davis campaign and others at the time.

Voters did have a right to know as Attorney General, the GOP candidate for Governor apparently selectively investigated, or not, bona fide complaints filed by citizens against banks too big to fail. Possibly, Wells Fargo could have lined his pockets in some fashion. That has yet to be determined.

The bastard and his office, no matter what, failed to respond to the complaint originally snail mailed several years ago. This material, figuratively targeting Wells Fargo and the governor 'wannabe' now Governor, had been posted and can be found by scrolling all the way down and clicking on the links well below. ... Governor? Wells Fargo bribe you to look the other way?

Will continue to do all I can to publicly expose this to all, both in this publication and elsewhere. Have done precisely that with the following email sent to Matt Turner, Matt Turner Video Services, Marble Falls, TX. A copy of it was also sent to Wells Fargo officer Amanda Wright. She has, indeed, been promoted branch manager. Reverse Darwinism. Survival of the unfittest.

This young woman has indeed been rewarded by the Wells Fargo corporate management suite for engaging in criminal deceptive trade practices and her undying loyalty to her corporate masters. The process to update those already informed of this fiasco has finally been completed. This latest material can be found by clicking onWells Fargo Deceptive Trade Practices Salvo 240, 2-8-19 .

-- Despite the fact these businesses were, and are, being egregiously f--ked by these very same bastards. Tough, isn't it? Impossible to entertain any sympathy for cowardice, however. Especially in view of the fact this writer has placed himself in great jeopardy taking on these corrupt, abusive, inept criminal bastards. Alone.

Exactly, why you see no investigative material highly critical of these sons of bitches in other local rags. Sadly, cowardly, all advertising income immediately dries up. Consequently, the bastards continue their criminal chicanery with impunity. On a rampage. Thus, you get what you truly deserve. Always. Precisely, why this earlier name change to Liberty In Peril remains appropriate. -- Despite the fact this writer has not yet left the area. Ten years after originally intending to do so. Thirty years in this goddamned godforsaken hellhole.

This writer, then and now, remains primarily interested in state, federal, and international issues. Another reason for this publication name change. Despite the fact I stupidly cluelessly remain here, local issues must be addressed. Can't be ignored. That's where you come in dear readers. Have the courage to inform this writer of local abuse, corruption, ineptness you are aware of, have personally experienced.

... Information these criminal bastards do all they can to conceal, cover up. Otherwise, how can they effectively sustain the charade and intended result? Loot confiscation through a boot heel on the throat of the citizenry.

The only way, short of an unwanted dreaded second American revolution, to force badly-needed change is to expose all this to the light of day. These bastards are beginning to understand they have a problem. No question, the growing rage of those they've abused, looted, egregiously f--ked. It's time to stand up. Expose this corruption to glaring sunlight. Otherwise, as fools, cowards, you will remain under their thumb. From the loftiest business owner to those on the bottom of the food chain. Wake up. Grow a pair.

Still don't think that likely to happen. After all, you're bought and paid for. Owned. Not only by your government masters, but their masters. The corporate management suite. Your employers. Think not? Wake up. You're human chattel. Corporate-owned, bought and paid for. Precisely, why you cowardly, compliantly, literally bare your asses for corporate inspection by the company doctor. Willingly, compliantly, cowardly piss in a cup under employer supervision. To sit in front of a keyboard or stock shelves all day. You have no control of your lives. You're owned. Forget? For a measly salary, no job security, reduced to no benefits. At a time of record corporate profits and cash reserves.

Then, you gallingly complain about the oppression as you tolerate egregious theft of your labor. Not only by your corporate masters, but their bought and paid for government lackeys. Too cowardly to stand up, allow disclosure of your identity when you rightfully complain to this publication of being mercilessly f--ked. Some of you falsely arrested, criminally assaulted, bogusly fined for 'offenses' you did not commit. To line County coffers. Keep the peasants in line and under control. A fascist police-state. Nazi America.

Again, yet another reason why this publication is called Liberty In Peril. Most galling? Nothing changes if you fail to step up and challenge corrupt, abusive, inept authority. Too afraid, cowardly compliant to let the bastards know who you are. Did it ever occur to the cowards out there if the identity of the accuser is kept under wraps the bastards will falsely claim it's all made up by this publication? Thus, conveniently killing all credibility. Wake up.

Cowardice is unbecoming, unworthy of our formerly great country. Insult to injury? There are the hopelessly deranged who believe the chicanery reported here to be manufactured anyway. No matter the effort. No matter the research. No matter the proof. Wake up. This writer cannot do it alone. Snowball's chance in hell. Then again, cowardice, delusion is always amply, justly rewarded. Always. You continue to 'enjoy' the very best government money can buy. Literally.

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Tim Chorney, Publisher
P.O. Box 151
Buchanan Dam, Tx. 78609
libertyinperil@protonmail.com

Liberty In Peril

... Formerly

The Llano Ledger