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Publisher's Note: This publication receives no financial support through advertising.  Although shaken down, looted, and abused by corrupt government, area businesses remain unwilling to stand up.  Locals are too gutless to donate financially, cowardly fearing retribution.  For this publication to survive, national readers need to contribute.  Liberty In Peril is, has been, and will always remain beholden to NO ONE. -- Precisely why there is no financial assistance.  ... From day of launch and certainly a no-brainer to this very day, firmly resolved to walk away first rather than compromise principle. -- To the chagrin of many and delight of few.    T.C. (5-7-13).

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

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

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

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... Hey, Sheriff?  Reportedly, promote Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 to Sergeant?  If true, yet another classic example of survival of the unfittest in the law enforcement community.  Readers are reminded this is the very same idiot, clueless asshole responsible for thousands of dollars of damage to the Pace Arrow as reported in each edition of this publication.  Far more to Kingsland property owner James Berardi in a property dispute.  -- A dispute engineered by Johnny Greene, apparently financed by a bribe to the former County Attorney, current District Attorney, and Sheriff.  A federal investigation of Llano County government and the aforementioned allegedly corrupt and abusive bastards in this ongoing fiasco is desperately needed.  Tim Chorney.

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

The following email was sent to the District Attorney:

Copyright 2018 Tim Chorney, Publisher, Liberty In Peril

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

Copyright 2018 Tim Chorney, Publisher, Liberty In Peril

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

Copyright 2017 Tim Chorney, Publisher, Liberty In Peril

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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?  Three hundred sixty eight weeks, now.  A goddamned disgrace.  Why are you still sitting on this information?  What are you hiding, Sheriff?  What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise?  Too gutless to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that of your goons?  Reportedly, there were three officers involved in the shooting.

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

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

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?

TC 10-19-18

Uncommon Valor.  As always, when an officer does something heroic and/or of exceptional value to the community, it leads in this publication.  Always.  ABC News(AP) reports:

"An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot and killed early Saturday as she headed home on the city's Southside after her shift. The officer was shot about 1:42 a.m. in the city's Avalon Park neighborhood, police said. She was found wounded by another officer who responded to an alert from the city’s gunshot detection system, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The second officer rushed her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. The slain officer had been with Chicago police about three years. No arrests have been made."

Horrific, senseless, needless loss of life.

"Relatives identified the slain officer to the Chicago Sun-Times as Areanah Preston, 24. “She was trying to make a change on this Earth,” her father, Allen Preston, told the newspaper."

Indeed, Uncommon Valor.  Imagine the pain of this father and other family members at this horrendous loss of a young officer just getting started.  Not to neglect to mention the impact of this loss to the law enforcement community itself.

"Preston, who lives in Los Angeles, described his daughter as a “beautiful soul” who “always saw the best in people.” “This was my baby. Everything I did was for her,” he said. “I don’t know what to do, right now. I’ll be dealing with this for the rest of my life.” Late Saturday morning, more than a dozen family members gathered outside Areanah Preston’s home. “She was a definite role model with a career path that just didn’t stop,” said her aunt, Sonia Rawsk. Areanah Preston earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and law enforcement administration from Illinois State University. Professor Charles Bell told the Sun-Times that she was “very passionate about making a difference and showing young people that policing is a profession that can make a difference in the community.” “She was very aware of a lot of the problems that in her opinion had manifested in the Chicago community,” Bell added. “She was a reformer. She saw a problem and she was dedicated to making a difference.”

Without good law enforcement, a democratic republic cannot survive.  -- One reason of many why when an officer does something heroic and/or of exceptional value to the community it always leads in this publication.  Always.

Uncommon Valor.  As always, when an officer does something heroic and/or of exceptional value to the community, it leads in this publication.  Always.  The Washington Post reports:

"Around 6 a.m. one Friday last year, Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette was jolted awake by a call from his deputy, whose tone was grim: “We have a problem here.” The problem was Aaron Paul Nichols, an officer with 18 years’ service who also had served for two decades as a U.S. military reservist. Anonymous activists had released an online report unmasking Nichols as a white supremacist behind tens of thousands of social media posts seething with hate. Because of the timing — April 1, 2022 — Scarlette wondered for a second whether this was an April Fools’ prank on the new boss. He had been sworn in just six weeks before. But the details in the exposé left no doubt. As Scarlette read one damning revelation after another, it began to sink in that the Officer Nichols he knew as an even-tempered professional had a secret life spreading neo-Nazi beliefs."

Uncommon Valor.  The Chief stood tall:

“We’ve got to handle this right now,” he recalled thinking. Within four hours, Nichols was summoned to a meeting in the chief’s office, where senior officers and police union leaders already had assembled. Scarlette said he had prayed about how to respond and felt certain about his decision when an unrepentant Nichols showed up with “a proud look on his face that made my blood boil.” Officials in the room said Nichols did not deny writing the posts. Scarlette placed Nichols on unpaid administrative leave, effective immediately, and told him that internal affairs was launching an investigation. As a symbolic way to “strip him of his police powers,” the chief said, he ordered Nichols to peel off his department-issued gear. “Remove his badge. Remove his gun belt. Remove his vest. His shirt. All that stuff,” Scarlette said, recounting the moment in a recent interview at his office. “He walked out of here in his pants and his undershirt.”

Uncommon Valor.  The Chief indeed stood tall:

"Scarlette’s no-nonsense response drew attention among analysts tracking the spread of far-right ideologies. Law enforcement leaders seldom act decisively when extremists are uncovered in their ranks, hate monitors say, with cases typically stagnating because of pushback from police unions, fear of expensive First Amendment challenges, or resistance to being seen as caving to anti-police activism."

There is no greater current threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than the rise of nazism in law enforcement.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"It is difficult to measure the creep of far-right beliefs among the more than 650,000 police and sheriff’s patrol officers the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts nationwide, but the issue is of growing concern, with dozens of prominent examples in recent years, including current and former law enforcement officers charged with taking part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Others have been linked to far-right militia groups and white-supremacist factions, or have been identified as contributing racist posts on police message boards. An Oklahoma sheriff made national headlines in recent weeks after he was recorded reportedly talking about killing journalists and lynching Black people."

The following issue has indeed risen to the level of a national security threat:

"The problem is that there are no agreed-on standards in law enforcement about what constitutes extremism, much less there being a manual on how to fight it. There is wide variation in related policies, where they exist at all, on the permissibility of membership in far-right groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, the content of social media posts, or even certain tattoos. And when departments do remove extremist officers, there is often little transparency about closed-door personnel decisions. Against this patchwork, Scarlette’s unequivocal and public response stood out."

Indeed.  It did.  About time.

"The chief ordered a review of every available record of Nichols’s conduct on the job to check for bias in his police work, a mammoth task involving 132 hours of body-camera footage, 12 years of reports, a decade of traffic stops and more than 2,000 chat messages. He added extra screening questions to the hiring protocol. The entire police department underwent specialized training on extremism."

Certainly, a good start.

"Scarlette met regularly with civil rights and faith leaders who were closely following the response. A statement from Black Lives Matter Springfield, co-signed by several other civil rights groups, said “we appreciate the swift action and statement issued by Chief Ken Scarlette,” even as they called for a sweeping review of police conduct. In the year that followed, however, praise for “the Springfield model” has been tempered by the deeply rooted distrust Scarlette hears from a community that has long experienced racial injustices in policing. He also has run into structural barriers that make it hard to deliver on those early promises of accountability. Some nights, the chief said, the tensions press against his chest and make it hard to sleep. He’s a solutions guy, a compulsive list-maker faced with a task that may never be checked off as “done.” Can a police force poisoned by hate ever fully recover?"

Good question.  If this democratic republic is to survive, however, it must.

“It’s important that I hear that this wound has healed,” Scarlette said. “But there’s still a scar there.” Scarlette, who was born and reared in Springfield, is tall, with a military-style haircut, metal-rimmed glasses and a Boy Scout’s earnestness. He married his high school sweetheart, Tracy, whom he met in Bible study, and they have two daughters. Every Sunday, the family goes to the church Scarlette grew up attending. As a boy, Scarlette said, he loved watching his father come home from work each day in an Illinois State Police uniform, squad car parked out front. He never wanted to be anything but a police officer and dropped out of college to accept a spot on the Springfield force at age 21. “I’m a White guy that grew up with a dad as a cop,” he said. “I’m not scared to see a police officer or talk to a police officer, but others have had completely different experiences.”

No shit.  It is a good start, however, the Chief is indeed well aware of this.  Nothing quite like a little enlightenment.

"Days after the news about Nichols broke, Scarlette faced a small crowd of Springfield residents who showed up at a community forum to grill him about the white supremacist who had policed their streets since 2004. “I got officers who wear the same uniform that I wear, and they hate me because of the color of my skin,” said a Black policeman from the parks department. “Can you give us any insight into how the police department failed for so long to see this?” asked a leader of the Jewish Federation of Springfield. “Eighteen years. Eighteen years,” said a Black activist in a baseball cap. “Nobody knew?”

Hard to believe, isn't it?

"Scarlette, in his chief’s uniform, sat stiffly before the audience. He was flanked by other Illinois officials roped in by Teresa Haley, the president of the city and state NAACP chapters. The national civil rights organization traces its origins to Springfield, where White mob violence in 1908 “was the final tipping point that led to the creation of the NAACP,” according to the group’s website. More than a century later, the organization that emerged from Springfield’s deadly riots was navigating the city through another outburst of racist hate. The event, organized with the Jewish Federation, was billed as a “unity forum” to promote healing after the unmasking of Nichols. The audience made sure that older, deeper wounds also were on the agenda. Residents brought up race-related incidents at the Springfield Police Department going back to 2017. Two officers had gotten in trouble for using the n-word; one had been fired by Springfield but then was hired by a neighboring department. Another officer was disciplined for a Facebook post in which he used disparaging expletives against Black city council members. A Black female officer reported finding “the head of a black Barbie doll with her hair cut off” as she was leaving work one day. Police officials confirmed the incidents. “We’ve got to focus on the trauma this does to the community,” said Willie “Shawn” Gregory, an alderman representing a majority-Black ward in Springfield."

The lack of transparency in law enforcement is indeed a problem all across this country:

"For years, local advocacy groups have accused the city of denying their requests for greater transparency, such as blocking the release of internal affairs files for officers with racism or discrimination complaints against them. City officials passed the blame on to the police union for opposing more visible, stringent consequences they say would have signaled that Springfield was serious about enforcing police accountability. The previous chief of police, Kenny Winslow, said he was hired in 2014 as a “change agent” but soon met ingrained attitudes that showed him “you’re not going to change a culture overnight.” Again and again, Winslow clashed with the union over how to discipline officers accused of misconduct. Union officials agreed that they opposed penalties they saw as too harsh but added that their opposition to Winslow went beyond those disputes. Relations between Winslow and the union continued to worsen, ultimately resulting in a no-confidence vote by union members. Winslow stepped down in early 2022 and was succeeded by Scarlette. He now serves as executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, a post that gives him a statewide view of the ad hoc ways departments are dealing with far-right extremism."

Sadly, there is a long, long way to go.

"The 13,000-person Chicago Police Department, for example, is embroiled in a scandal over its continued employment of personnel with ties to extremist groups, the most notable being an officer the FBI had investigated for his alleged association with the Proud Boys. Elsewhere in the state, at least two sheriffs and other public officials have come under scrutiny for alleged links to anti-government movements. Winslow and others monitoring the fallout from the Nichols case said they hope the response sets a standard. Heidi Beirich, a longtime extremism analyst who consulted with Springfield leaders, said Scarlette’s “transparency and honesty will be a help to many others in law enforcement.” Last fall, the chief was invited to speak at a national summit of extremism researchers in Pittsburgh. Even the Anonymous Comrades Collective, the anti-fascist group that exposed Nichols, commended Springfield as an “outlier” for confronting the issue head-on. Still, they all acknowledge that Nichols’s online comments were so extreme that Scarlette was able to act forcefully without riling union officials, who had quickly decided the officer’s actions were indefensible and said they agreed with his ouster. When an officer’s alleged extremism lands in a grayer area, the fights escalate, sometimes all the way to court. Winslow said many police departments lack the money for legal battles if they are sued by officers who were removed for hate speech. He said officials also are fearful of community backlash or of a scandal that would drive away job candidates at a time when police departments across the nation face a recruiting crisis. Winslow listens with empathy, he said, but the advice he gives chiefs is to be brave and “do the right thing,” no matter the risks. “You got to decide: What are you going to stand for?”

Truer words never spoken.

"The Officer Nichols who showed up for his shifts every day was a quiet loner with a burly frame and graying hair that made him look older than his 46 years. He was a reliable patrol officer but no standout, several former colleagues said, recalling him as more likely to be guarding the perimeter than charging into a volatile situation. On occasion, Nichols, a married father of three, showed flashes of right-wing politics but nothing out of the ordinary for his conservative police milieu, officers said. “It was more like conspiracy-theory-type stuff. That was the vibe I got,” said Tami Russell, the president of the Springfield police union and a longtime officer who has worked alongside Nichols."

Time to wake up.  Before too late.

"Off duty, however, there was another version of Nichols. This one thrived online as a racist troll whose user names referred to Nazi ideology. He defended Adolf Hitler in several posts and once wrote: “If I found a genie and I had one wish? The jews would be a distant memory within 72 hours.” That alter ego was equally vicious toward Black people, likening them to animals and frequently dropping the n-word. He spewed hatred for LGBTQ people, fat women, homeless people. At times, the anonymous poster acknowledged his job as a policeman and suggested that he was working from within to collapse the system: “The best place I can possibly be is inside the beast.”

Jesus Christ.  Hard to believe this bastard was able to hide his identity as long as he did.

"Because Nichols hid his name and location, activists had only the tiniest of clues to work with as they pieced together his identity: a defunct Twitter handle, the mention of a stream in his yard, a photo of a $700 wristwatch. “As soon as we read it, we were just like, ‘Man, we should hire these people as investigators,’ because — holy damn — they solved this stuff quick. I mean, it was impressive,” said Russell, the union president. When he was confronted, his supervisors said, Nichols confirmed that he previously used the screen names and did not dispute that he had written the posts. Nichols has not commented publicly. Old phone numbers and email addresses for him are no longer active; no one answered calls or responded to messages on a working number belonging to Nichols’s wife. Police and union officials said they had heard Nichols was working odd jobs around town but had no details of his whereabouts or employment."

Hard to believe.  Lacks credibility.

"With Nichols identified, the mission became reconciling the personas to answer two crucial questions: Did Nichols’s racial hatred spill into his daily work as a police officer? And were any other officers aware or involved? That task fell to Lt. Joe Phillips of internal affairs and another lieutenant, Bob Markovic, who has since retired. The two men split up 132 hours of body-camera videos and watched every moment of Nichols’s mundane duties, searching for instances when the mask might have slipped. “It wasn’t like an episode of ‘Cops,’ I’ll tell you that,” Phillips said. The work was slow and tedious, but he said there was an understanding throughout the department of the stakes. “This might be one of the more important things we do this year, maybe in our whole careers — to make sure there wasn’t a miscarriage of justice,” Phillips said. Yet, after poring over body-camera video, analyzing traffic stops and scanning messages, Phillips and his partner found no indication that Nichols had displayed evidence of his abhorrent beliefs or bias while on duty. His interactions with people of all backgrounds appeared calm and courteous. Apart from some far-right newsletters in his work inbox, Nichols the police officer and Nichols the neo-Nazi lived in separate worlds."

Hard to believe.  Lacks credibility.

“He put on a good face,” Phillips said, shaking his head. “It was amazing that he could look somebody in the eye and talk to them like that and then be writing this stuff about them when he gets home.”

Hard to believe.  Lacks credibility.  Raises the question 'was the fox guarding the chicken coop?'

"Scarlette said he was relieved that the investigation had found that Nichols acted on his own, with no other officers implicated. The posts had violated the department’s code of conduct but had not tainted any cases and did not constitute criminal activity, according to the final report on the inquiry released in November."

Sadly and not surprisingly:

"Instead of being reassured, however, many Black and Brown people in Springfield were incredulous. At the NAACP forum and in local Facebook groups, residents asked variations of, “Seriously? Nobody knew?” Local Black Lives Matter leaders challenged the methodology of the inquiry and criticized the department for running it in-house rather than enlisting a neutral party. Activists were incensed that Nichols was allowed to keep his taxpayer-funded pension. Internally, the fallout was just as devastating, Scarlette said. The questions he got from Springfield’s 30 or so Black officers — about 11 percent of the force — revealed a shattered trust: “Are there others that we need to be aware of? Do I have the support of my fellow officers when I’m going out on calls?” But the options to impose harsher consequences were limited. Nichols could not be charged with a crime: Hate speech is constitutionally protected, and he had not violated any laws. And he was still legally allowed to own guns, a chilling thought for activists who feared that Nichols might be particularly combustible now that he had been exposed. “To a person, the conversations that I have had ended with sort of a mutual frustration with the situation but also understanding that I don’t just get to file charges because someone has expressed views that were reprehensible,” said Dan Wright, the state’s attorney for Sangamon County, which includes Springfield."

No end to it:

"That summer and fall, Scarlette focused on reconciliation with the community, showing up at barbecues and bake sales as he worked to rebuild trust. By winter, he said, the uproar over Nichols had receded and he was looking forward to getting back to other priorities, such as salaries and recruiting. Then, a week before Christmas, Springfield was plunged into another racial crisis. Two paramedics were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Earl Moore Jr., a Black man in medical distress who asphyxiated after being strapped facedown on a stretcher. Moore’s family filed a wrongful-death suit against the paramedics and their employer, the ambulance service Lifestar, with the help of the high-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in landmark cases. The same community leaders with whom Scarlette had consulted about Nichols were soon back in his office to watch body-camera footage of officers on the scene with the paramedics. The video showed that police had tried to intervene on Moore’s behalf. Nevertheless, in the eyes of Springfield’s public, the incident had begun with a 911 call and ended with the death of a restrained, unarmed Black man. Scarlette knew that the road back from Nichols had just grown longer. Maybe it would be endless. Feeling defeated, he turned to God, he said. “Give me the patience, give me the understanding, give me the knowledge,” Scarlette prayed. “Let me be the leader you want me to be.” One afternoon in February, Scarlette strode in from the brisk air for a meeting with a civic group that had requested an update on police responses to the Nichols revelations. “It’s warm in here,” Scarlette said as he entered the toasty conference room. “Somebody turned the heat on.” “No, you’re just in the hot seat,” deadpanned Gail Simpson, a Black community activist and former alderwoman. Scarlette laughed along with everyone else. By now, he rolls with the barbs and nods along to criticism. In tandem with the city’s reckoning, Scarlette said, he has undergone his own introspection, challenging himself to better understand negative perceptions of law enforcement."

The problem is indeed systemic.  The abuse never seems to end:

"In his outreach since the Nichols episode, Scarlette hears stories such as those told by Terrance Jordan, a schools administrator who was part of the chief’s meeting that day with a group of local leaders dedicated to community health. As Black teens growing up in Springfield, Jordan told the chief, he and his friends regularly were profiled by officers who would “roll up” on them as they hung out after school and start patting down their pockets. He recalled the experience as terrifying and urged Scarlette to consider that history as he charted a plan for the future. “I think that’s just as important as what you guys do moving forward,” Jordan said. “But how do you acknowledge the wrong that was done? I don’t know.” Scarlette told him he would ensure that “something like that Nichols incident, something like what has happened historically in the past with policing” would never happen again. As they talked, Jordan’s tone softened, and he assured the chief that he had seen changes. The other members nodded. Jordan said he had been surprised to see officers playing ball with local children on the same street corners where he and his friends were hassled. “It’s not perfect,” Jordan said, “but I’ve seen the difference, and I’ve seen the growth, and I’m appreciative.”

Certainly, a step in the right direction.  Here's the problem:

"After the meeting, Scarlette said it was frustrating that he could not yet deliver an ending for the saga. His biggest play was decertification, a formal request for the revocation of Nichols’s ability to work elsewhere as a law enforcement officer, an option that had not been available in Illinois until the governor introduced it as part of recent criminal justice reforms. The process was so new, Scarlette said, that when he sent the request — just four days after learning of Nichols’s online posts — his contact at the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, known as ILETSB, told him there were no personnel to consider the issue and likened the office to “flying a plane in the air that has not been put together.” Twelve months later, ILETSB still had not officially ruled on the matter. Officials there did not respond to a phone message or email seeking comment. The move might not be monumental, Scarlette said, but it would be an answer to the question that still comes up in every meeting, one concrete win in his year-long fight against hate. “You don’t get to just resign and this whole thing goes away,” he said. “Because it’s not going away for me as chief. It’s not going away for this agency. It’s not going away for the city.”

Nor for the rest of this country.

Think you've heard it all?  You haven't.  The following is beyond Uncommon Valor.  Well beyond since it represents the universal very best in humanity and is something any mother would do for her disabled son.  Seatbelts on.  CBS News reports:

"Christian Bowers, now 24, had many friends in high school, but after graduating five years ago, it's been hard to find good friends. Christian has Down syndrome, and his mom, Donna Herter, said his lack of friends was making him feel depressed. "[He was] just constantly asking where his friends are, why doesn't anybody want to come over and spend some time with him," Herter, who lives near Rochester, Minnesota, told CBS News. "We would go to Walmart or the store and he would invite half the store to come home with us and play video games with us. And of course, nobody would. And he just doesn't understand why."

... Especially heartrending at a time when our formerly great country is falling apart.  Violence increasing.  As an unwanted, dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looms.  Despite all this, consider the response:

"Herter didn't know where to turn. So, she posted on Facebook. "I just basically said that I was looking for a young man, between the ages of 20 and 28, local," she said. "I told them that I'd pay them $80 for two hours to basically just hang out and play video games with him. All he really wants is just a guy friend to do guy stuff with." Herter is a nurse, working the overnight shift. She sent the post at 4 a.m. before ending her workday. And when she woke up, it had about 5,000 comments. "I was freaking out. My hands were shaking, I was sweating. I was just looking for some local guys, I didn't want to invite like the entire world into our house," she said. She was overwhelmed and thought about deleting the post – but a friend told her to look at the replies first. She saw parents offering suggestions, others volunteering to help — and some parents of children with special needs asking for advice themselves."

How about that?

"Friendships are important for people born with Down syndrome, but leaving school and becoming an adult may make maintaining those relationships difficult. Some adults with Down syndrome may face barriers, like not being able to drive to see their friends, according to the National Down Syndrome Society, or NDSS. Having social relationships is important for everyone's mental health – including those with Down syndrome. According to a 2018 study in Australia, young adults with Down syndrome with at least three social relationships often showed a significantly better quality of life, according to an assessment by researchers. NDSS says it's "vitally important" for adults with Down syndrome to plan for how they will socialize once they leave school, and clubs, volunteering or further education are good options. There are many organizations that help people with Down syndrome find opportunities to be social and to work."

Consider the following:

"Herter said Christian attends events for people with special needs, but he "craves a friendship with somebody who is neurotypical. He doesn't want to only hang out with somebody with special needs." "And I've never asked him, but I assume because it kind of makes him feel normal, just for an hour or two. 'Hey, somebody who doesn't have Down syndrome wants to hang out with me,'" she said. After interviewing a few local guys in Wentzville, Minnesota, Donna narrowed it down to seven who now visit Christian visit once a week on a rotating schedule. James Hasting was one of the men she chose. He saw the post because a friend tagged him in it. "When I first read the post, I was heartbroken that she felt she needed to pay people to be friends with Christian," Hasting told CBS News."

No kidding.

"Hasting said he works with people with disabilities and it's something he has a passion for. He said he's visited Christian three times so far and they usually play video games or watch a movie. "Christian has taught me to look at the world for more than what we see on the surface," Hasting said. "Because though on the surface we may look different, deep down we all have similarities and getting along should be easy." He said he hopes this story teaches others it's OK to be different. "Just because someone is different than what you are used to, it doesn't mean that they aren't the same at heart." Herter's post also lead to more opportunities for Christian – people around the country send him gifts, he was invited to hang out with local firefighters, was named honorary mayor of nearby Wentzville for the day and went bowling with local marines. "He every night goes to bed with a smile on his face. He tells everybody about his new friends. He gets so excited talking about life now and what he's doing," Herter said. "But I still think the one thing he likes the most is that one-on-one. Just that guy coming over." Herter hopes to inspire others to form friendships — because you never know how much it means to someone. "Everybody needs a friend," she said. "I thought about it one day. I just sat there and I was like, 'What if I have zero friends? What if I had literally not one person to call, to talk to, to hang out, to have lunch with.' And man, it just really hit me thinking about that, how lonely that would be." "Knowing there's so many people out there that are wanting that relationship, or wanting a friend, I really hope people reach out in their community and find out where those people are, how to get ahold of them, how to hang out with them."

No greater love.

Uncommon Valor.  By the late, great Muhammad Ali.  The Washington Post reports:

"The day after Muhammad Ali unanimously won a 15-round championship fight against Jimmy Young at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md., he stunned hundreds of Prince George’s County teens when he walked into their high school prom. It was May 1, 1976, long before such a celebrity appearance might make the rounds on social media. Few people took pictures of Ali, and no newspapers documented the visit at the time. But earlier this year, a spokesperson for the Prince George’s police department happened to see photos from the prom in the house of a former Parkdale High School teacher and began sharing the tale. Now as prom season gets underway at high schools around the D.C. metro area and beyond, attendees at the 1976 Parkdale High prom are remembering the unforgettable visit from the champ. The then-34-year-old Ali had been staying at a hotel in Lanham after the fight when he’d been spotted by Leo Vondas, who had been teaching at Parkdale High School in Riverdale for about two years. Vondas was grabbing items from his car to help set up for prom — not knowing that the event was taking place at the same hotel — when the boxer walked through the front door that morning. Vondas was stunned, he recalled. “At that point, I had to figure out what was going on,” Vondas said Thursday. He asked the front desk and found out Ali’s room number. Vondas, who was the class of 1976 sponsor, realized he had the opportunity to make prom an event the teens would never forget. So, he got in the elevator and prepared to invite Ali to prom. About 10 bodyguards were stationed outside Ali’s hotel room, Vondas said. He walked up to them and asked, “Is there any possibility I could talk to Mr. Ali? I’m the sponsor of the high school class here, and we’ve got a big prom tonight. And boy, he could make a lot of kids happy if he just passed through.” The bodyguards waved him in."

Remarkable, isn't it?  A testament to the stature of this great athlete and his magnanimous heart.

"When Vondas made the pitch to Ali, he only asked for him to pass through and shake some hands. He explained that the surprise appearance “would make some wonderful kids very happy.” Ali asked, “Can I go? Can I go like I am?” “He thought I wanted him to get dressed up and wear his tux and all that,” Vondas, 76, explained. “I said, ‘No, no, you come any way you desire. I’ll come get you at 8:30, we’ll go down and you’re going to blow this place out of here.’” Over the next few hours, Vondas kept Ali’s appearance a secret, even from the school’s administrators. He knew that if word got around that Ali would be there, the event would shift from having hundreds of teens to thousands and become a security problem. About 12,500 people had watched Ali’s bout to retain the world heavyweight championship the night before. A few students, though, knew what was about to happen. Patrick Yohe, the senior class vice president, was part of a group of students recruited by Vondas to ask Ali to the room where the prom was being held. Yohe, now 65, said he remembers being struck by how tall and chiseled the fighter was. “His hands were so big that when he shook my hand, my hand was, like, gone,” Yohe said. “It was unbelievable.” Then, at 8:30 p.m., it was time to get Ali."

Imagine the reaction of the kids.

"When Ali walked into the ballroom, the whole crowd stood up, Vondas said. Students rushed toward the center of the stage, mesmerized. Yohe remembered looking over at his prom date to see the surprised look on her face. Several students looked shocked that Ali walked through the door. “One of my friends gave me a bunch of crap because I didn’t tell him,” Yohe said. Ali went on the stage and spoke to the crowd of teens. He told them that it was wonderful they were graduating from school and about the importance of education, as Vondas recalled. Ali even turned to Vondas during his speech and asked, “Do you box?” At one point, Ali pulled a girl up on the stage, Yohe said. He turned to her date and said, “What are you going to do, sucker?” and the whole crowd laughed. “I was amazed at the charisma that this man had,” Vondas said. Ali went back up to his room shortly after, but his appearance is still talked about during Parkdale High reunions and among the school’s alumni."

Not surprising, is it?

"It wasn’t the only appearance Ali made at a prom. Peter DeBoer, the coach of the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, has previously recounted meeting Ali during his high school prom and receiving a signed copy of the Quran. At Parkdale’s prom, Vondas recalled looking at the boxer and being amazed at his appearance. Ali had gone through 15 rounds and “he didn’t have a scratch on him.” Yohe added: “It didn’t look like Jimmy Young laid a punch on him.”

Ali was indeed a great boxer and quite a remarkable man.

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.

Think the following justice?  In follow-up to a particularly egregious case covered here and elsewhere, ABC News(AP) reports:

"Three fired police officers who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the death of an 8-year-old girl killed when they opened fire outside a high school football game near Philadelphia have been sentenced to five years of probation — the first 11 months of it on house arrest."

How about that?  Nazi justice.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Former Sharon Hill officers Brian Devaney, Devon Smith and Sean Dolan had each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of reckless endangerment. Authorities said they could not determine which officer fired the shot that killed Fanta Bility on Aug. 27, 2021. An investigation found the officers negligently fired 25 shots at a car they mistakenly thought was involved in gunfire that broke out as spectators left the football game in 2021."

An eight-year-old girl is dead courtesy of these jackbooted bastards and this is considered justice?

"Bility had attended the game at Academy Park High School with her mother and an older sister who was grazed by a bullet. In all, four people were hit by police gunfire that sped past the car. The sentencing Friday capped an emotional 90-minute hearing during which the defendants spoke directly to the extended family, who had immigrated to the U.S. to seek safety from war-torn Liberia. Smith, 35, a native of Jamaica, said he had met Fanta and her brother at a playground when they were playing basketball one afternoon, and later spoke with her several times as he patrolled the area. The family said the boy no longer wants to go to the playground in the wake of his sister's death. “She would come up to my vehicle, we would stand there and talk,” Smith told the family as he offered condolences and an apology. “She would express to me that she felt good whenever I’m working,” he continued. “I am a father of three. I can’t imagine the pain and agony you feel every day.”

Not good enough.  Nowhere near.  This is not justice.  Yet, the family stood tall:

"The family said several siblings are dealing with survivors' guilt, and that their still-evolving grief takes many forms. Still, they accepted the officers' apologies and extended forgiveness, staying behind in court for a few moments afterward to hug the three men and wish them well. They said they do not think the case fit the national narrative simmering since 2020 about race and policing. “This isn’t about blue lives or Black lives, this is about Fanta’s life, and that her life in fact mattered,” Deputy District Attorney Doug Rhoads said, speaking for the family. Delaware County Judge Margaret J. Amoroso applauded both sides for not inflaming the rhetoric around the case. “The conduct that placed me before your honor was a split-second decision,” Devaney, 43, who had been a school resource officer at Academy Park since 2013, told the judge. He said he wasn't scheduled to work that night, but wanted to see the students set to return to school that fall after pandemic-related closures. Dolan, 26, had joined the Sharon Hill department just weeks earlier after graduating from the state police academy. He now installs heating and air conditioning systems, his lawyer said. “I was trying the best I could to do the right thing, and came up short. For that I am truly sorry,” said Dolan, who, like Devaney, comes from a family of police officers. Dozens of family and friends were in court to support the officers."

No matter what, they still need to be held accountable for this needless death.  What they did was aggressively stupid.  Stupidity should never, ever, be reinforced.  The following is yet another egregious example of stupidity perpetrated by the District Attorney himself which certainly added insult to injury:

"The handling of the case initially prompted outrage and protests from the Black community and others as District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer had charged two Black teens who engaged in gunfire a block away — which prompted the police response — with the child's death. Those charges were later dropped. After a grand jury investigation, the officers were instead charged with voluntary and involuntary manslaughter along with the endangerment counts."

As well they should have been.

"The reckless endangerment charges carried a maximum term of up to two years in prison on each count in Pennsylvania. Devaney was not wearing a body camera that night, and the other two officers did not turn their cameras on, investigators found. The November plea agreements that dismissed the more serious charges came after consultations with the Bility family. Fanta died in the arms of her mother, Tenneh Kromah. The family said it was important that the officers be held accountable for the girl's death and the trauma they experienced witnessing it. They have a federal lawsuit pending against the defendants and the Sharon Hill police department."

While the family indeed has to be applauded for offering the officers forgiveness, it does not mean the officers should not be held accountable.  Without accountability, this shit will never end.

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.

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.

The injustice, seemingly, has no end.  Seatbelts on.  The Washington Post reports:

"Melissa Johnson sat along the pier at North Beach, Md., when two White sheriff’s deputies walked by. She became anxious as they sauntered down the pier and came back around. “Excuse me,” she called out. “Yes, ma’am?” The grieving Black mother introduced herself to the two Calvert County law enforcement officials — one a woman, the other a man. She told them about her son, Timothy McCree Johnson, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by a Fairfax County police officer outside Tysons Corner Center. That day, officials were scheduled to make public a video of the deadly encounter — which Melissa Johnson hoped would help bring accountability, though it would also inflict pain. The 56-year-old said she told the Maryland deputies about her grief and anxiety over the video’s release and the complicated emotions she felt being thrust into a role as an advocate, repeatedly and publicly decrying police."

Yes, that is a problem.  Quite an issue.  Yet, if corrupt and abusive, murderous law enforcement is not held accountable, there cannot, will not be any desperately needed change.

"She needed somebody, even two strangers who worked in law enforcement, to hear her story and ease the tension she now felt when encountering someone with a gun and a badge. The three of them hugged. More than two months after her son was killed, Johnson has not resolved her complicated feelings over speaking out, she said in an interview with The Washington Post. She had never relished the spotlight or been a part of any social movement. She said she always respected that police had an important job to do."

Indeed, they do.  A democratic republic cannot, will not survive without good law enforcement.  Moreover and complicating matters?  We now live in a de facto fascist police-state, democratic republic in name only.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.  Those two officers, however, must be given great credit for having met with her.

"But now, she said, she is another Black mother who can’t help but feel that her son was killed by law enforcement in part because of the color of his skin, and that if she doesn’t advocate for him, no one will."

That's right.  Sadly, inexplicably so.

“I don’t want to have to be a voice to stand up and fight for my son this way,” she said. “But what other choices do I have? I don’t have another choice.”

You don't.  If you don't stand tall, this shit will never end.  Moreover, it will take far more of us to force desperately needed change.

It is always a mistake to run from law enforcement.  Always.  The jackbooted bastards in blue, perversely, take it as carte blanche to murder on the hob.  How they get their cookies off:

"The Feb. 22 encounter began when officers suspected Timothy Johnson of stealing sunglasses from a Nordstrom store in the mall, authorities have said. Police chased him across Fashion Boulevard to a wooded area, where two officers fired their weapons after authorities say the 37-year-old had stopped running and begun to crouch."

What threat did he present to these goddamned jackbooted bastards?

"Melissa Johnson decried the shooting in real time and said she was particularly upset that Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis highlighted her son’s criminal record at a news conference the night of the incident — something officials concede the officers who fired did not know about. When police released the body-camera video footage the following month, Davis apologized and said Sgt. Wesley Shifflett, who fired the fatal shot, would be dismissed for failing to follow the department’s use-of-force protocols. Officer James Sadler, who also shot at Timothy Johnson, remains with the department."

Why wasn't this son of a bitch fired as well?  The goddamned Chief needs to do the right thing, himself, resign in disgrace.  He's certainly part of the problem.

"When prosecutors sought to indict Shifflett, a grand jury refused to return the true bill needed to bring a criminal case in court. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano has since asked a special grand jury to investigate the matter, though Shifflett’s defense attorney has decried the move as inappropriate and disrespectful of the first panel’s apparent conclusion that there was not enough evidence to move forward."

That's a crock of shit.  Certainly, demonstrative of grand jury support of law enforcement no matter how corrupt, abusive, and murderous.

"Melissa Johnson said she knows it could be months before the special grand jury completes its investigation, prolonging her uncertainty about whether anyone will face charges for her son’s killing. Since the fatal shooting, community members in raincoats and ponchos have gathered at three rallies — sometimes in pouring rain — demanding justice. Activists, faith leaders, students and local NAACP members called on officials to hold police accountable. As they asked the crowd to say Timothy Johnson’s name, they listed the names of other Black people who have been killed by police officers across the nation. But Timothy Johnson is not Tyre Nichols or George Floyd, Melissa Johnson said. The local demonstrations have been attended by dozens, not hundreds or thousands. Vice President Harris did not attend Timothy Johnson’s funeral. Melissa Johnson said she is worried that as time passes, so does her chance to do right by her son. Timothy Johnson always wanted to be remembered, his mother said. He would pray for a glamorous lifestyle, and drew inspiration from the latest fashion trends and rap songs. He wanted to be an artist or a designer. Melissa Johnson loved his ability to dream big. But he struggled with his own demons, she said. Johnson said she had her firstborn soon after high school. By the time he was a teenager himself, she was a single mother struggling to keep him from cutting class and breaking the rules. “I remember telling him one time, ‘You keep being hardheaded, and one day you’re gonna get into trouble that you’re not gonna be able to get out,’” she said."

A portend of far, far worse to come:

"In 2003, Timothy Johnson was convicted of stealing a car with his friends, his mother said. Court records from a later weapons case say while he was attempting to flee with the vehicle, Johnson almost hit its owner, an off-duty agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agent then shot him. In 2016, he caused a car crash in D.C. while driving under the influence, killing a 50-year-old woman who was taking her grandson to a Halloween party. Johnson pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and assault with significant bodily injury, according to court records. Melissa Johnson said she hoped her son would one day develop stability. She wanted him to get his life together for his own children, and she knew it was within his reach. But her son’s struggles with addiction got in his way, she said. Court records show he was arrested in 2022 in connection with misdemeanor charges and spent some time in the D.C. jail. He was released in early February, a spokeswoman said. Johnson said she begged him not to come home and instead to go to transitional housing and an inpatient drug treatment program. About three weeks later, on Feb. 23, she heard a knock on her door. A detective from the Fairfax County Police Department apologized for coming in the middle of the night but said the matter was urgent: Her son had been killed. She soon watched a news broadcast of Davis, the police chief, discussing her son’s criminal history and noting that investigators were still searching the area where he was shot for a weapon. Melissa Johnson said the comments wrongfully villainized him; investigators never recovered a gun and have since confirmed Timothy Johnson was unarmed."

The jackbooted bastards lie like hell to protect and coddle their own.  Wake up.

“I felt like someone had just hauled off and punched me in the gut,” she said. “It knocked the breath out of me.” The body-camera footage later released by officials shows Shifflett entered the dark, wooded area at 6:31 p.m. After the officer yelled “Get on the ground,” a slowed-down version of the footage appears to show Timothy Johnson crouched, turning toward the officer. Shifflett fired twice. A third shot seemed to be fired just over two seconds later, as someone said “Stop reaching.” Melissa Johnson said she recognized her son’s voice on the footage saying, “I’m not reaching for nothing. I don’t have nothing,” as other responders were around him. “Hurry!” he added, when people told him an ambulance was on the way. Timothy Johnson always wanted to catch his big break, his mom said, hoping that someday people would know who he was. “Guess what: Now his name is known,” she said. Melissa Johnson said the county’s victim’s services division, which is run out of the police department, did not offer her any support, and Davis has never once met with her in person. She said she was aware officers typically didn’t get charged by prosecutors in police shootings, though she hoped her son’s case would be an exception. “Why does it have to be this way if someone was wrong?” she asked."

This remains a problem all across our formerly great country.

"Caleb Kershner, an attorney for Shifflett, said the grand jury’s decision not to indict his client was a fair one. Carl Crews, the Johnson family’s attorney, called it a setback. “We get this far for them to say no?” Crews said. “I mean something has to happen from here.” More than 1,000 people have been shot and killed by police in the past 12 months."

Mostly with impunity in a de facto fascist police-state, democratic republic in name only.

"Within days of the declination, a judge approved a request from Descano to impanel a special grand jury to probe the case, renewing the possibility that Shifflett could be charged. Johnson said the special grand jury gave her newfound hope. Kershner said he could not describe the sorrow he felt for the Johnson family, but he maintained that Shifflett acted in accordance with the department’s policies and the law."

Called legalized murder, Counselor.

“The truth of the matter is if Mr. Johnson had a gun, we would not be having this conversation,” Kershner said. “Unfortunately, and tragically, he didn’t.”

Time to remove your head from your ass, Counselor.  Had he in fact been armed, it would not have granted the officer carte blanche to execute the man as your assertion implies.

"Johnson said the presumption that her son threatened Shifflett’s life bothered her. He is a victim — not the offender — in this incident, she said. “I wish he got the benefit of the doubt,” she said. “Had he not been Black, would this have played out the same way?”

It already has many, many times.  While unarmed Blacks have indeed been disproportionately murdered by the jackbooted bastards in blue, so have members of other races lost their lives unjustly courtesy of these savages in uniform who get their cookies off engaging in this violence.

"On Tuesday, Johnson sat at a restaurant about four blocks away from the Fairfax County Courthouse. She had a few minutes to scarf down some food before heading to the third rally. She wondered whether it was going to rain again — it always seemed to pour on the days they planned rallies, she said. Her voice was raspy. She said she was exhausted, feeling her grief catch up to her. As she ate, she declared she would not speak at the event this time around. “My son was killed,” she said, as tears swelled in her eyes. “I am being thrust into a fight, and I just don’t know how to fight.” But when Johnson walked up to the grassy patch where community members clustered, her energy shifted. Loved ones and strangers who held signs that said “#Justice4Timothy” greeted her with handshakes and hugs. As people ambled toward the bank of media microphones, Johnson said she would give opening remarks. She walked up in front of the news cameras and reporters. She didn’t write up a speech or prepare notes. “It is a very unusual space for me to be in,” she said. “To want to say: ‘Yes. Justice for my son,’ but know in the core of who I am, I seek resolution, and I seek peace.” Johnson told the crowd that she was a grieving mother who simply wanted accountability. And the case, she added, is bigger than her son. She soon stepped back and listened to other community members speak about her son’s killing, nodding her head toward their commanding voices. Sometimes she would shout “Amen” or “Justice for Timothy” as they spoke. Moments before a reverend walked up to close the rally with a prayer, raindrops began to fall. Johnson closed her eyes as the water washed down her face. A stranger walked up behind her, holding an umbrella above her head."

This is not sustainable.  If there is no change, there will be an unwanted, dreaded second American revolution.

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.

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.

No systemic problem in law enforcement?  Too deaf to hear the rumble?  In follow-up to an horrendous case covered in this publication and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"A South Carolina man who survived being shot nine times by sheriff’s deputies alleges in a newly-filed lawsuit that he was sitting in his pickup truck and talking to his mother when the officers descended on them “like cowboys from a John Wayne movie.”

Sadly, how the jackbooted bastards get their cookies off.

"Trevor Mullinax and his mother said in their lawsuit that the deputies drew their weapons and defaulted “to using deadly force, immediately, without attempting to deescalate the situation.”

Surprised?

"Bodycam footage obtained by NBC News shows the deputies with their guns out converging on the pickup and yelling “Let me see your hands” before opening fire while Mullinax’s mother, Tammy Beason, is still standing beside the truck and talking to her son through the driver's side window. Bodycam video show Tammy Beason standing beside the truck and talking to her son through the driver's side window; Beason diving backward while yelling in horror as bullets from the sheriff’s deputies hit the vehicle. The deputies fired 50 times at close range and when it was over the deafening roar was replaced by Beason’s piercing screams, the video shows. “In utter shock, Plaintiff Beason dove backwards while yelling in horror as bullets from the Sheriff’s deputies hit the vehicle narrowly missing her,” the suit states. Now, two years after the May 7, 2021, confrontation with the York County Sherriff’s Office deputies, the mother and son are suing York County and the department for unspecified damages. "There was a round that hit him smack dab in the middle of the back of his head," Mullinax's lawyer, Justin Bamberg, said Tuesday at a press conference attended by Beason. "Never seen anybody get shot in the back of the head who’s a threat to law enforcement or anybody else." Beason said she's always been supportive of law enforcement, but seeing her son get shot has shaken her faith in the police. "Just because they are a law enforcement, they did not give them the right to do what they did," Beason said. "And, you know, I want to be able to believe in the law enforcement and to get back my belief that they’re not going to hurt you."

Currently, sadly, there is no greater threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than the out of control jackbooted bastards in law enforcement.

"NBC News has reached out to York County officials for comment. So far, they have not responded."

No surprise.  Not easy to effectively defend the indefensible.  Especially, in light of the following which is indicative of the fact circumstances were not quite so simple.  Carefully, consider:

"Mullinax, 29, lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, records show. Those same records also indicate he's been arrested for breaking and entering and burglary and for misdemeanor domestic violence. His mother is 48 and also lives in Rock Hill. In the court papers filed May 5 in the local Court of Common Pleas, Mullinax does not deny he was in a bad way before the deputies arrived and the bullets began flying. He says he was sitting in his pickup truck, which was parked on his family's property, and his mother was trying to console him. "Trevor was just in a really dark place," said Bamberg, who is also a Democratic member of the state's House of Representatives. "And he had been contemplating suicide." Several days before he was shot, Mullinax had "issues with this girlfriend" and kicked in the door of her home, said Bamberg. "It led to him being charged with burglary, didn’t steal anything," Bamberg said. "It wasn’t that that charge actually, in fact got dropped, because it was nonsense. When the deputies arrived, Mullinax had a shotgun in the truck, but "at no point did he point the weapon at himself" or any other person, according to the complaint. In the meantime, a call was placed by either a friend or a family member to the sheriff's department requesting a "wellness check" on Mullinax, the complaint states. The dispatchers were provided with the cellphone numbers for both Mullinax and his mother. Instead of calling the numbers, a team of deputies went to the property and, when they got there, Mullinax's grandfather directed them to the back where his grandson was parked and talking to his mother, the papers state. "Prior to arriving at the location on the property where Plaintiff Mullinax was still sitting inside his pickup truck, Sheriff’s deputies drew their firearms and were prepared to shoot Plaintiff Mullinax and exercise deadly force before they made verbal contact with him," the court papers say. When they got there, the video shows they began firing almost immediately."

This is a problem all across this country, -- 'a shoot first, ask questions later mentality.'

"Mullinax had his arms up and was complying with the deputies' orders, his lawyers insisted. "At no point prior to, during, or after Sheriff’s deputies began shooting did Plaintiff Mullinax raise, point, or otherwise move with a weapon in such a fashion as would authorize Sheriff’s deputies to use deadly force," the complaint states. Despite that, the papers state, "Sheriff’s deputies arrested and charged Plaintiff Mullinax with pointing and presenting a firearm at the deputies, which did not happen and was not true." The charges, the complaint states, were lodged to provide "cover" for "for the utter excessive use of deadly force exhibited by Sheriff’s deputies." Mullinax was hit nine times, including once in the back of the head, his lawyers said. Beason, despite being directly beside the pickup truck, was not struck by the gunfire. There is no evidence Mullinax or his mother "committed a crime or attempted to hinder any officer on scene, interfere, or resist arrest," the complaint states. "To the contrary, all available evidence indicated that Plaintiff was attempting to be compliant during the extremely short window of time immediately following the arrival of officers."

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.

... Hey, Sheriff?  Reportedly, promote Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 to Sergeant?  If true, yet another classic example of survival of the unfittest in the law enforcement community.  Readers are reminded this is the very same idiot, clueless asshole responsible for thousands of dollars of damage to the Pace Arrow as reported in each edition of this publication.  Far more to Kingsland property owner James Berardi in a property dispute.  -- A dispute engineered by Johnny Greene, apparently financed by a bribe to the former County Attorney, current District Attorney, and Sheriff.  A federal investigation of Llano County government and the aforementioned allegedly corrupt and abusive bastards in this ongoing fiasco is desperately needed.  Tim Chorney.

No seeming end to the Justice Clarence Thomas fiasco.  The Washington Post reports:

"Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents show. The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case. Leo, a key figure in a network of nonprofits that has worked to support the nominations of conservative judges, told Conway that he wanted her to “give” Ginni Thomas “another $25K,” the documents show. He emphasized that the paperwork should have “No mention of Ginni, of course.” Conway’s firm, the Polling Company, sent the Judicial Education Project a $25,000 bill that day. Per Leo’s instructions, it listed the purpose as “Supplement for Constitution Polling and Opinion Consulting,” the documents show. In all, according to the documents, the Polling Company paid Thomas’s firm, Liberty Consulting, $80,000 between June 2011 and June 2012, and it expected to pay $20,000 more before the end of 2012. The documents reviewed by The Post do not indicate the precise nature of any work Thomas did for the Judicial Education Project or the Polling Company."

Surprised?

"The arrangement reveals that Leo, a longtime Federalist Society leader and friend of the Thomases, has functioned not only as an ideological ally of Clarence Thomas’s but also has worked to provide financial remuneration to his family. And it shows Leo arranging for the money to be drawn from a nonprofit that soon would have an interest before the court."

Surprised?

"In response to questions from The Post, Leo issued a statement defending the Thomases. “It is no secret that Ginni Thomas has a long history of working on issues within the conservative movement, and part of that work has involved gauging public attitudes and sentiment. The work she did here did not involve anything connected with either the Court’s business or with other legal issues,” he wrote. “As an advisor to JEP I have long been supportive of its opinion research relating to limited government, and The Polling Company, along with Ginni Thomas’s help, has been an invaluable resource for gauging public attitudes.”

Bet it has.  LOL.

"Of the effort to keep Thomas’s name off paperwork, Leo said: “Knowing how disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people can be, I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni.”

Bet you have.  LOL.

"Leo’s statement did not address questions about whether he had arranged other work for Ginni Thomas or how much money he directed to her in all from the nonprofit."

Surprised?

"Conway, who was a senior adviser in the Trump White House, did not respond to messages seeking comment."

Surprised?

"The Thomases did not respond to messages seeking comment. Ginni Thomas, a political activist and former GOP aide on Capitol Hill, has long maintained that she and her husband keep their careers separate."

Believe it?  LOL.

Get this:

"In December 2012, the Judicial Education Project submitted an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder, a case challenging a landmark civil rights law aimed at protecting minority voters. The court struck down a formula in the Voting Rights Act that determined which states had to obtain federal clearance before changing their voting rules and procedures. Clarence Thomas was part of the 5-to-4 majority. Thomas issued a concurring opinion in the case, arguing that the preclearance requirement itself is unconstitutional. Thomas’s opinion, which was consistent with a previous opinion he wrote, favored the outcome the Judicial Education Project and several other conservative organizations had advocated in their amicus briefs. He did not cite the Judicial Education Project brief. Legal ethics experts disagreed about whether the arrangement outlined by Leo and the payments from Conway should have led Thomas to recuse himself from the Shelby case."

Indeed, most fascinating, isn't it?  LOL.

"Federal law requires justices to recuse if their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” a standard that has not been well-defined as applied to filers of amicus briefs, the experts said. Law professor Kathleen Clark of Washington University said that if the Judicial Education Project paid Ginni Thomas $100,000 in the year and a half before it filed its brief, the size and timing of the payments would have been enough to cast doubt on Clarence Thomas’s impartiality and require his recusal. Law professor Stephen Gillers of New York University, however, said that as the rule is now interpreted, the link appeared too “attenuated” to require recusal. But both experts said the arrangement shows that current ethics rules and disclosure requirements fail to protect public confidence in the independence of the courts. For example, although justices must report the name of companies that pay their spouses, they are not required to report the names of the companies’ clients. In this case, even if there were such a requirement, it is not clear that the Judicial Education Project would have been listed as a client, because the fees intended for Ginni Thomas were to go through Conway."

Most convenient, isn't it?  LOL.

“The idea that Leonard Leo, who has a passionate ideological interest in how the court rules and who has worked hard for years to advance that interest, could pick up the phone and generate substantial compensation to Virginia Thomas, which also benefits Clarence Thomas — that idea is bad for the country, the court and the rule of law,” Gillers said. “It’s not the way the Supreme Court should do its business or allow its business to be done.”

You think?

"The effort to keep Ginni Thomas’s name off paperwork makes the arrangement seem “more egregious,” said Clark."

No question.

"In his statement to The Post, Leo said that Ginni Thomas’s work had no bearing on her husband’s opinions."

Believe it?  LOL.

“I have known Clarence and Ginni Thomas since 1990. They are dear friends and are people of tremendous good will and integrity. Anybody who thinks that Justice Thomas is influenced in his work by what others say or do, including his wife Ginni, is completely ignorant of who this man is and what he stands for. And anybody who thinks Ginni Thomas would seek to influence the Supreme Court’s work is completely ignorant of the respect she has for her husband and the important role that he and his colleagues play in our society.”

Jesus Christ.  What a crock of shit.  Does he really think the public is that stupid?  LOL.

"Leo, 57, has for years been the behind-the-scenes leader of a network of interlocking nonprofits that has raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support conservative judges and causes. Marble Freedom Trust, one of the organizations Leo chairs, received a contribution worth $1.6 billion in 2020 from a Chicago businessman, Barre Seid."

Bought and paid for?  LOL.

"The Judicial Education Project was part of that network, although Leo was not listed on its tax filings or incorporation records. Leo’s allies founded the Judicial Education Project in 2004. Its mission was to “conduct research and educate the public on the role of the judiciary as laid out in the U.S. Constitution,” according to its tax filings. It secured tax-exempt status in 2011 and was not initially well-funded, filing paperwork with the IRS indicating it brought in less than $50,000 annually. In 2012, it received about $1.5 million from donors whose identities were not publicly disclosed, the tax filings show. The Judicial Education Project spent $150,000 on “polling” that year, according to its tax filing. The filing does not identify which firm did the work."

Most convenient, isn't it?  LOL.

"The president of the Judicial Education Project that year was Neil Corkery, a Leo ally and bookkeeper for several of his nonprofit groups. Corkery certified on the group’s 2012 tax filing that no one other than the group’s officers or key employees had control over the nonprofit. Corkery declined to comment."

Surprised?

"Clarence Thomas has been under scrutiny since ProPublica revealed in April that Texas billionaire Harlan Crow took him on lavish vacations and also bought from Thomas and his relatives a Georgia home where Thomas’s mother lived; the transaction was not listed on the justice’s annual disclosure forms. Senate Democrats this week held a hearing focused on Supreme Court ethics. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. declined an invitation to testify, offering instead a statement signed by all the justices in which they reaffirmed their commitment to abide by “foundational ethics principles and practices.”

Not credible.  Not at all.

"During the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) mentioned Leo, who The Post has reported used the nonprofit network during the Trump administration to conduct publicity campaigns in support of nominees he helped select. “This guy doesn’t have business before the court,” Whitehouse said. “His business is the court.”

LOL.

"Leo’s ties to the Thomases go back decades and span their personal and professional lives. Leo advised Clarence Thomas through his contentious confirmation process in the early 1990s and made Thomas the godfather of one of his children. Leo also has hosted the justice at his New England vacation home, according to the New York Times. At a Federalist Society event in 2018, Thomas shared a stage with Leo and jokingly told him, “You’re the Number Three most powerful person in the world.” The year before that, Ginni Thomas called Leo a “mentor to me” and “a hero” when she honored him with one of her Impact awards for conservative activists. “Leonard Leo has single-handedly changed the face of the judiciary,” she said at the awards dinner, held at what was then the Trump International Hotel in Washington. “He has many hats. That isn’t even all he does. He does not really tell all that he does. But I know enough to know the man is a force of nature.”

Bet he is.  LOL.

"In 2009, when Thomas founded a tea party-aligned nonprofit called Liberty Central, Leo served on the board, tax filings show. Corkery was the nonprofit’s accountant, public records show. Thomas stepped away from Liberty Central in late 2010 amid controversy over whether its anonymous funding — including one donation for $500,000 — posed a potential conflict of interest for her husband. (Politico reported the following year that the donation had come from Crow.) She then formed Liberty Consulting, a for-profit firm. On her LinkedIn page, Thomas describes her work as collaborating with “citizen activists, leaders and nonprofits to succeed and have impact in defending the principles that have made America an exceptional nation.” Liberty Consulting began receiving payments from Conway’s firm within months of its creation in 2011, documents reviewed by The Post show. On multiple occasions, Thomas contacted the Polling Company to discuss her payments, the documents show. The documents do not indicate whether Thomas knew of Leo’s role in the arrangement with Conway’s company, or of the Judicial Education Project’s role. (Conway sold the company in 2017 to what is now known as CRC Advisors, another firm that Leo chairs.)"

LOL.

"Since its first amicus brief, in the voting rights case in 2012, the Judicial Education Project has submitted about a dozen amicus briefs to the Supreme Court. It has argued for limiting or rolling back race-based college admissions policies, regulations on greenhouse-gas emissions and gun-control measures. In 2014, the group filed a brief in the Hobby Lobby case, which challenged a mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers make contraception available to workers at no cost to the workers. The court’s ruling struck down part of the requirement in a split decision, with Clarence Thomas again in the narrow majority. Thomas’s votes were aligned with the Judicial Education Project in six of the cases in which it filed briefs, including the Hobby Lobby case and two involving affirmative action at public universities. Thomas, a longtime critic of affirmative action, voted with the majority to uphold Michigan’s prohibition on race-based admissions at its public universities, and he dissented in a ruling that upheld admissions policies at the University of Texas. Thomas’s votes did not align with the group’s position in three other cases, including one that largely upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The court did not take up all the cases in which the Judicial Education Project filed briefs."

Get this:

"The group’s interest in the Supreme Court extended beyond the courtroom. It spent money on campaigns to support President Donald Trump’s nominations of Brett M. Kavanaugh and Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. And it is listed as a funder in the credits of a 2020 documentary that celebrated Thomas. Clarence and Ginni Thomas are featured extensively in the documentary, titled “Created Equal: Justice Thomas In His Own Words,” talking about the justice’s upbringing and his judicial philosophy. As the Judicial Education Project pushed for a conservative court, the group grew into a financial juggernaut and was rebranded as the 85 Fund. Between 2020 and 2021, its revenue nearly doubled from about $66 million to more than $117 million, tax forms show. Even so, the group has never had more than a handful of employees, tax filings show. It has listed its main office address as a UPS Store situated amid rowhouses and retail stores in the Georgetown neighborhood of D.C."

A shamelessly corrupt, abusive U.S. Supreme Court.  NPR reports:

"New reporting from ProPublica has revealed another example of undisclosed expenses that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received from a wealthy Republican donor. That investigation — which involves tuition payments that GOP donor, Harlan Crow, made to cover Thomas' grandnephew's private boarding school costs — is one of a number of recent examples that spotlight some justices' lack of disclosure of high-cost gifts, expenses and deals. This growing list is causing some to question court ethics and credibility. This latest ProPublica report came just two days after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing — spurred by ProPublica's prior reporting — focused on the court's ethics and the need for a Supreme Court code of conduct. Though the court declined to testify at that hearing, it has defended itself, arguing its members voluntarily follow the code of conduct used to supervise lower courts."

That's simply not true:

"Here's a roundup of the recent reports about the justices' financial entanglements and disclosures. Thomas and vacations: On April 6, ProPublica first reported that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose more than 20 years of luxury vacations and trips paid for him and his wife by his close friend, billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow. Among the highlights of the report: Thomas and his wife, Ginni, took a trip to Indonesia on Crow's private jet in June 2019, where they spent nine days island-hopping on the billionaire's private yacht. The trip is estimated to have cost over $500,000. Summer trips at Crow's private resort in the Adirondacks, where the Thomas' mingled with corporate leaders and conservative activists. Private flights on Crow's private jet to attend events across the country, including the unveiling of a statue of Thomas's eighth grade teacher in New York, paid for by Crow. Thomas and his mother's house. One week later, additional deals between the two men were revealed, again by ProPublica, which found that in 2014, Crow bought a single-story home, along with two adjacent lots, in Savannah, Ga., belonging to Thomas and his family. The report found: Crow bought the home for $133,363, ProPublica reported, which was occupied by Thomas's elderly mother. (The now-94-year-old continued to live in that home through at least 2020, the report says.) Tens of thousands of dollars were put into home improvements, including a carport renovation, roof repairs, new fence and gates and more. A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires disclosure of real estate deals over $1,000, which Thomas appears to have violated, the report says."

No question.

"Thomas and boarding school tuition. On Thursday, ProPublica reported that Crow paid private school tuition for Thomas's grandnephew, whom the justice had legal custody over. Crow also paid for tuition at a second school as well, ProPublica reported. Thomas did not respond to the report, but after it was published, his friend, Mark Paoletta, and lawyer to Thomas' wife, acknowledged the payments on Twitter, saying Crow paid for one year at each. He did not give a total amount but, ProPublica says that based on the tuition rates at the time, the two years would amount to roughly $100,000. In the statement, Paoletta said Thomas did not have to report the payments because the boy was not a "dependent child" as defined in the disclosure law."

Jesus Christ.  That excuses what clearly appears to be a bribe?  LOL.

"Crow's office said in a statement to ProPublica that Crow and his wife have supported children pursuing education. "Harlan Crow has long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth," the statement reads. "It's disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political."

Believe it?  LOL.

Thomas is not the only 'justice' engaging in highly questionable behavior:

"Gorsuch and Colorado property. On April 25, Politico reported that Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a 40-acre property he co-owned in Granby, Colo., to Brian Duffy, the CEO of Greenberg Traurig, one of America's largest law firms, which has since had 22 cases come before the court. Gorsuch reported the transaction but not the buyer's identity. According to the story, Duffy, whom Politico notes has been primarily a Democratic donor, though he's given to both parties, says he is neither a friend nor a confidant of Gorsuch."

Think so?  LOL.

"Justice Roberts' wife made millions as recruiter. When Roberts was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice in 2005, his wife, Jane, stepped down from her work as a lawyer and became a legal recruiter, Business Insider reported last week. She made more than $10 million in commissions from top law firms who practice before the Supreme Court."

How about that?  LOL.

"And on Sunday, The New York Times devoted a two-page spread to an account of how the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University lured four conservative justices — Gorsuch, Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — to teach at the Northern Virginia campus and during summers at European tourist meccas, for which they were all paid."

How about that?  LOL.

"Thomas said in a statement that he didn't disclose his trips with Crow because he was told that type of "personal hospitality" from a close personal friend didn't need to be reported. "I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines," he said in his statement."

Believe it?  LOL.

"In declining an invitation to appear before the Senate Judiciary hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts made clear the justices seek to abide by the code of conduct followed by the lower courts. Justices are supposed to voluntarily disclose, among other things, the justices non-governmental income, investments, gifts, and reimbursements from third parties. "They file the same annual financial disclosure reports as other federal judges," Roberts' letter to Durbin says."

Sadly, Roberts assertion has no credibility.  Ignores an increasing lack of faith and trust in the highest court of the land.  Sadly, for damned good reason.

"Until March, the rules had an exception for private travel and hospitality paid for by a personal friend who had no cases currently pending before the court. Thomas has said he'll comply with those new rules."

Mighty big of him, isn't it?  LOL.

"Roberts said he would not appear at the hearing because such testimony by chief justices "exceedingly rare." "Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by the Chief Justice of the United States is exceedingly rare, as one might expect in light of the separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence," Roberts wrote."

The Chief 'Justice' is disingenuously and gutlessly ducking increasing lack of faith or trust in the U.S. Supreme Court that is more than justified considering the highly questionable behavior of the 'justices' themselves.  LOL.

"Durbin said ethics reform for the court will happen with or without the justices' participation. "The highest court in the land shouldn't have the lowest ethical standards," Durbin argued during Tuesday's hearing."

Indeed.  If not, this supposedly democratic republic will not survive.

"Senate Democrats believe a code of conduct is needed to better outline what behaviors are unacceptable for the court, for Congress and for the people. A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that 62% of those polled have little to no confidence in the Supreme Court, the findings typically aligning with political party. (It's an historic lack of trust — after unpopular decisions in the last couple of years, particularly on abortion rights, according to NPR Senior Political Editor/Correspondent Domenico Montanaro's reporting on the poll.)"

No surprise there.  LOL.  The six Republican national socialists on the Court have clearly imposed their perverse religious views on the rest of us.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"The hearing made clear a code of conduct will not be a bipartisan congressional effort, as a partisan divide drove Tuesday's meeting. Durbin said Roberts has the power to restore some of the damage that has been done by the alleged ethical concerns. "He alone has the authority and the power to change the ethical standards of the court," Durbin told NPR. "This constant drip of articles about the justices and their conduct — and certainly Justice Thomas — should be fair warning to Chief Justice Roberts that the integrity of the court is at stake with this issue."

Too late.  Already gone.

More unadulterated bullshit that has no credibility:

"And Republicans accused Democrats of casting doubt on the court because it hasn't been ruling in their favor."

Crock of shit.  The nazi element in the Republican Party has taken a raucous hard dump on all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said it was "an excuse to sling more mud at an institution that some – not all – some Democrats don't like because they can't control it 100% of the time." He added: "Until they get the outcome they want in every case I fear they are going to continue to slander it in an effort to take control of it. And I pray to God I am wrong."

Isn't that precisely what the nazi element in the Republican Party itself is disingenuously and hypocritically engaging in?  LOL.

"While some at Tuesday's hearing said Congress is powerless to act on a code of ethics, witness Amanda Frost, a University of Virginia law professor, disagreed, invoking the views of the Founders. "For over 230 years, and for as long as the Supreme Court has existed, Congress has regulated vital aspects of its operation, including its ethical obligations," she said. Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served as chairman of the financial disclosure committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference, indicated a need for the court to have some internal mechanism for checking ethical obligations. Ethical questions in the current system, he said, are "kind of a black box."

Expect better of the nazi element in the Republican Party?  LOL.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

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.

Trump liable.  The Associated Press reports:

"A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House. The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of jury deliberations. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexually abusing her.

"Meanwhile, Trump posted a new message on social media, complaining that he is now awaiting the jury’s decision “on a False Accusation.” He said he is “not allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me.” Trump said he will not speak until after the trial, “but will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me ... no matter the outcome!” Trump never attended the trial, which is in its third week, and rejected an invitation to testify, which the judge extended through the weekend even after Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that his client would not testify."

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.

Texas legislator gets the boot.  The Washington Post reports:

"The Texas House of Representatives voted 147-0 on Tuesday to expel state Rep. Bryan Slaton (R) from its ranks after a committee recommended his dismissal over allegations of sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old aide. Slaton resigned from his seat Monday, a day ahead of the vote. Legislative staffers brought a ladder to the House floor Tuesday to remove his name from the voting roll. Calls to Slaton’s campaign office were not answered. The Texas House last expelled a legislator in 1927, for bribery charges. The House’s general investigation committee released a report Saturday that accused Slaton, 45, of engaging in disorderly conduct — including harassment, serving alcohol to someone underage and abusing his position. The investigation was launched in April after a 21-year-old legislative intern and two 19-year-old aides filed complaints accusing Slaton of sexual harassment and retaliation. The five-person bipartisan committee found that Slaton “engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a subordinate,” Rep. Andrew Murr (R), the investigation committee’s chair, said on the floor Saturday."

The bipartisanship is certainly encouraging:

"In the debate preceding the Tuesday vote to expel Slaton, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle condemned his behavior, with Murr saying his former colleague’s conduct does not meet “the minimum standards of conduct expected from a member” of the Texas House. “No one in this chamber disagrees that this conduct was wrong,” Murr said. “We all agree that it cannot and will not be tolerated.” In a resignation letter sent Monday to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Slaton did not mention the allegations made against him, which he has denied. He wrote that he was looking forward to “spending more time with my young family.”

Think so?

"The legislative aides and intern who accused Slaton of wrongdoing said he’d helped them get alcohol multiple times, according to the committee’s report. One aide had been hired by the Republican lawmaker in January, the report states. The other two women worked in a different office. Before midnight on March 31, Slaton invited the aide who worked in his office to his Austin condo, and three friends joined her to offer protection, the report states. Slaton poured the aide rum and coke until her vision was blurred and she felt “really dizzy,” according to the report. The aide stayed at Slaton’s condo when her friends left around 2 a.m., the report says. The aide told investigators that alcohol hindered her judgment, “but now that I look back at it, it was definitely an inappropriate situation,” according to the report. She declined to tell investigators what sexual activity occurred or whether she provided consent, the report states. The aide “could not effectively consent to intercourse and could not indicate whether it was welcome or unwelcome,” the report states. The aide’s friends told investigators that the next morning, the aide took the emergency contraceptive Plan B and was driven to her apartment by Slaton, the report says. She told her friends that she’d had sex with Slaton, according to the report. The next week, Slaton showed an email to the aide that claimed a staffer knew the pair were “sleeping” together and “nothing would happen as long as her and her friends keep quiet,” the report says. The aide and her friends felt threatened, the report says, and one told other members of the House about the events."

Truer words never spoken:

"Ahead of the vote, Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson (D) — who serves as vice chair of the general investigating committee — said it was important for the young adults who “found themselves” in Slaton’s apartment to know that they “never were and are not the problem.” “He is [the problem],” she said. “Our report shows that Bryan Slaton violated various provisions of our House rules and various Texas laws.” Johnson noted in her remarks that Slaton, who took office in January 2021, did not address the allegations in his resignation letter. “He’s not going to play the reformed man who’s atoning for his sins,” she said. Slaton, she said, “is not worthy of the position of trust, much less power.”

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.

A pardon?  Has the Governor lost his mind?  In follow-up to a case covered repeatedly here and elsewhere, NBC News reports:

"A Texas man who killed a protester almost three years ago was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison, although the state’s Republican governor has promised to approve a pardon if given the opportunity. Daniel Perry, 35, an Army sergeant, was convicted last month by a Travis County jury of murder in the fatal shooting of Garrett Foster in downtown Austin in July 2020."

Readers will recall:

"On April 8, the day after the jury returned its verdict, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that he wanted to pardon Perry, and said he asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles to consider the matter. Travis County District Attorney José Garza at the time called Abbott’s intervention in the case “deeply troubling.” “In our legal system, a jury gets to decide whether a defendant is guilty or innocent — not the Governor,” Garza said in an April 9 statement. Abbott said in vowing to pardon Perry that Texas has a strong "stand your ground" self-defense law and he suggested that Garza was a progressive district attorney. Perry fatally shot Foster, 28, who had been legally carrying a rifle, at a demonstration against police brutality and racial injustice in downtown Austin on the evening of July 25, 2020. Perry was in a vehicle and Foster approached the intersection carrying the semi-automatic rifle, police have said. Perry shot Foster from the vehicle with a handgun, and told police that Foster, an Air Force veteran, had pointed the weapon at him and that the shooting was in self-defense, according to police."

Readers are reminded Perry fled the scene.  If legitimate self-defense, why did he run?  Not only that, there was no evidence presented that proved Foster had indeed pointed the weapon at him.

"The protest demonstration in Austin was against police brutality and racial injustice, and it was one of many that took place in cities across the country that summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Perry was found guilty of murder but was found not guilty of the second charge he faced, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Under Texas law, the Board of Pardons and Paroles has to first recommend a pardon before the governor can act on it. Abbott said he was permitted to ask the board to review it, and he said he asked the board to do so and to expedite the matter. Perry faced up to life in prison on the murder conviction. His attorney, Clint Brode, said at the time of the guilty verdict that they planned to appeal. A judge on May 3 rejected a request by Perry's attorney for a new trial in the case. The protest in Austin where Foster was killed occurred as demonstrations were held across the country that summer following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minnesota police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck. Perry is white, and so was Foster. The sentencing hearing began Tuesday. Prosecutors highlighted text messages and social media posts that showed a hostility toward Black Lives Matter movement, NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin reported. Some of Perry's comrades from the Army vouched for his character, the station reported."

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.

In follow-up to a case covered repeatedly here and elsewhere, The Associated Press reports:

"California will pay a $24 million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after screaming “I can’t breathe” as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a blood sample, lawyers said Tuesday. Seven California Highway Patrol officers and a nurse were charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this year in connection with the 2020 death of Edward Bronstein, age 38. Annee Della Donna and Eric Dubin, attorneys for Bronstein’s young children, said it’s the largest civil rights settlement of its kind by the state of California, and the second largest nationally since the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in the George Floyd case. The attorneys scheduled a news conference in Los Angeles for Wednesday to provide details."

Readers will recall:

"The Los Angeles County coroner said Bronstein’s death was caused by “acute methamphetamine intoxication during restraint by law enforcement.” The report lists Bronstein’s race as white. Bronstein was taken into custody following a traffic stop on suspicion of driving under the influence on March 31, 2020. He died at a highway patrol station in Altadena, north of downtown Los Angeles, less than two months before Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota as he, too, repeatedly told officers, “I can’t breathe.” When announcing the criminal charges in March, LA County District Attorney George Gascón said the highway patrol officers failed Bronstein, “and their failure was criminally negligent, causing his death.” A nearly 18-minute video showing the officers’ treatment of Bronstein was released last year following a judge’s order in the family’s federal lawsuit alleging excessive force and a violation of civil rights. Family members have said Bronstein was terrified of needles and they believe that’s why he was reluctant to comply with the CHP initially as they tried to take a blood sample. The video, filmed by the sergeant, shows several officers forcing a handcuffed Bronstein to a mat on the floor as he shouts, “I’ll do it willingly! I’ll do it willingly, I promise!” He continues screaming as six officers hold him face-down — the lawsuit alleged they put their knees on his back — and pleads for help. “It’s too late,” one officer replies. “Stop yelling!” another shouts. “I can’t breathe!” and “I can’t!” Bronstein cries, and an officer responds, “Just relax and stop resisting!” But Bronstein’s voice gets softer and he then falls silent. While he is unresponsive, the nurse continues to draw blood and the officers keep pinning him down. After they realize he may not have a pulse and does not appear to be breathing, they slap his face and say, “Edward, wake up.” More than 11 minutes after his last screams, they begin CPR. Bronstein never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead."

Readers will recall:

"The officers, who were put on administrative leave in March, face one count each of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of assault under the color of authority. If convicted, they could get up to four years in prison. The registered nurse was also charged with involuntary manslaughter."

Think this justice?  ... Or, protection and coddling of the jackbooted bastards in blue.

"Bronstein’s death prompted the CHP to change its policies to prevent officers “from using techniques or transport methods that involve a substantial risk of positional asphyxia,” the agency said. Additional training was also ordered for uniformed officers. In September 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law barring police from using certain face-down holds that have led to multiple unintended deaths. The bill was aimed at expanding on the state’s ban on chokeholds in the wake of Floyd’s murder."

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.

U.S. Rep. George Santos charged.  The Associated Press reports:

"U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, has been indicted on charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve, prosecutors said Wednesday. The indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit that prosecutors say overlapped with Santos’ fantastical public image as a wealthy businessman — a fictional biography that began to unravel after he won election last fall. Santos surrendered on Wednesday and was taken to a federal courthouse on Long Island, where he was expected to make an initial court appearance on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. Among the allegations, prosecutors say Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign. Instead, they say, he used the money for personal expenses, including to buy designer clothes and to pay his credit cards and car payments. Santos also is accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and applying for and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed as regional director of an investment firm that the government shut down in 2021 over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme. The indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”

Readers will recall:

"Santos, 34, was elected to Congress last fall after a campaign built partly on falsehoods. He told people he was a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker with a substantial real estate portfolio who had been a star volleyball player in college, among other things. In reality, Santos didn’t work at the big financial firms he claimed had employed him, didn’t go to college and struggled financially before his run for public office. He claimed he fueled his run largely with self-made riches, earned from brokering deals on expensive toys for wealthy clients, but the indictment alleges those boasts were also exaggerated. In regulatory filings, Santos claimed he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000, but it was unclear how he would have come into that kind of wealth so quickly after years in which he struggled to pay his rent and faced multiple eviction proceedings. In a financial disclosure form, Santos reported making $750,000 a year from a family company, the Devolder Organization, but the charges unsealed Wednesday allege that Santos never received that sum, nor the $1 million and $5 million in dividends he listed as coming from the firm."

Amazing, isn't it?  A congenital liar.

"Santos has described the Devolder Organization as a broker for sales of luxury items like yachts and aircraft. The business was incorporated in Florida shortly after Santos stopped working as a salesman for Harbor City Capital, the company accused by federal authorities of operating an illegal Ponzi scheme. In November 2021, Santos formed Redstone Strategies, a Florida company that federal prosecutors say he used to dupe donors into financing his lifestyle. According to the indictment, Santos told an associate to solicit contributions to the company and gave the person contact information for potential donors. Emails to prospective donors falsely claimed that the company was formed “exclusively” to aid Santos’ election bid and that there would be no limits on how much they could contribute, the indictment said. Santos falsely claimed that the money would be spent on television ads and other campaign expenses, it said. Last October, a month before his election, Santos transferred about $74,000 from company coffers to bank accounts he maintained, the indictment said. He also transferred money to some of his associates, it said."

Interestingly:

"Santos has faced criminal investigations before. When he was 19, he was the subject of a criminal investigation in Brazil over allegations he used stolen checks to buy items at a clothing shop. Brazilian authorities said they have reopened the case. In 2017, Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania after authorities said he used thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks to buy puppies from dog breeders. That case was dismissed after Santos claimed his checkbook had been stolen, and that someone else had taken the dogs. Federal authorities have separately been looking into complaints about Santos’ work raising money for a group that purported to help neglected and abused pets. One New Jersey veteran accused Santos of failing to deliver $3,000 he had raised to help his pet dog get a needed surgery."

How did this guy ever get elected to Congress?  Where was the media?

Aryan arrogance.  The Associated Press reports:

"U.S. Rep. George Santos, infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. Afterward, he said wouldn’t drop his reelection bid and defied calls to resign. Santos’ 13-count federal indictment was a reckoning for a web of fraud and deceit that prosecutors say overlapped with the New York Republican’s fantastical public image as a wealthy businessman — a fictional biography that began to unravel after he won election last fall. Santos, 34, was released on $500,000 bond following his arraignment, about five hours after turning himself in to face charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He surrendered his passport and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. “This is the beginning of the ability for me to address and defend myself,” a cheerfully combative Santos told reporters swarming him outside a Long Island federal courthouse. He said he’s been cooperating with the investigation and vowed to fight the prosecution, which he labeled a “witch hunt.” His lawyer, Joseph Murray, was more circumspect, saying: “Any time the federal government comes after you it’s a serious case. We have to take this serious.”

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.

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.

Tim Chorney

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Tim Chorney, Publisher
libertyinperil@protonmail.com