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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 seventy four weeks, now.  A goddamned disgrace.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's time the public be fully informed.  -- Know what we're dealing with here and how 'law' 'enforcement' operates in this hell hole County.  If these jackbooted bastards are not reined in, the life lost could be 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.  CBS News reports:

"A man was struck by lightning on a New Jersey soccer field, and officials credited a police officer with saving his life. Eric Baumgartner, 39, wanted to finish painting the lines on the field in Woodbridge Township before it started raining when the bolt of lightning hit him Wednesday afternoon, CBS New York reported. Video footage from a resident's security camera shows the lightning bolt flashing down from a dark sky followed by a crack of thunder. "It was like a bomb," Jay Heday, who lives near the field, told CBS New York. "Then I look out the window. The guy's right in the middle. He went down." Officer R.J. McPartland was leaving his shift at a nearby high school when the lightning struck. "I was in my car, and I did see a very large lightning strike, and, you know, I said to myself, 'Wow, that seemed really close,'" he told reporters during a news conference. He responded to the field and started administering CPR. "We were able to see, you know, some burn marks appeared on his hands, so that's how we were kind of able to determine what happened, and we knew that he just needed to, you know, start compressions to get his heart going again," McPartland said."

Uncommon Valor.  Saved the man's life.

"Baumgartner, a father of two boys who's been working for the town for 18 years, slowly regained consciousness as an ambulance rushed him to a hospital, McPartland said. "We were trying to talk to him the whole time," the officer said. One of Baumgartner's friends told CBS New York the Coast Guard veteran didn't have any memory of being hit by the lightning bolt. "He remembers doing his job and then remembers waking up in the ambulance, had no idea what happened," Ray Deliman, acting commander of American Legion Post 87, told the station. He's heard of people surviving lightning strikes before and hoped Baumgartner recovers from the ordeal. "You never know until it's your turn," Deliman said. "We just hope he pulls through because we need him here ... He's a good guy." About 20 people are killed in lightning strikes across the country each year, while hundreds more are injured, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

Uncommon Valor.  Best in policing.

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 reports:

"A Florida deputy and a resident are both "lucky to be alive" after they were sucked into a drainage pipe by flood water during a torrential downpour, according to Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons. Escambia County Deputy William Hollingsworth was on patrol Friday when he spotted a motorist who was stranded after getting caught in rising water, the sheriff said. "At one point, Deputy Hollingsworth exited his patrol car to approach a citizen who was trapped in these rising waters," the sheriff said. "As he approached, Deputy Hollingsworth witnessed the citizen go underwater and rushed to his aid without regard for his own safety."

Uncommon Valor.

"The motorist and Hollingsworth were "sucked into a drainage pipe" and traveled nearly 100 feet underwater for approximately 30 seconds under Highway 98, which is a four-lane roadway, before emerging on the other side of the road, Simmons said. In the video, Hollingsworth can be seen and heard catching his breath, assisting the motorist and expressing shock about what just happened to them both. "Can you [...] believe what happened to us," Hollingsworth said, using an expletive for emphasis, the video shows. Later in the video, the motorist exclaims "I almost died" as he tries to catch his breath. The deputy and the resident were seen on the body camera footage seemingly unharmed in the wake of the incident. "Thank you, man, for being there when I [came]out," the motorist told Hollingsworth, video shows. "When I came out you were right behind me." The deputy's action "is an example of the exceptional courage displayed by the men and women of law enforcement every day," the sheriff said."

Indeed, Uncommon Valor.  Best in policing.

The following is quite an example of Uncommon Valor.  Seatbelts on.  The Washington Post reports:

"The first sign of distress came 35 minutes into the flight. “Mayday, mayday, mayday!” pilot Hernán Murcia radioed Colombia’s air traffic control system. “My motor’s failing. I’m going to look for a place to land.” The single-propeller six-seater stuttered over a vast, largely unexplored stretch of the Amazon. Inside was Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, 34, and her four young children. Fleeing the violent criminal group that had seized control of their Indigenous community, Mucutuy and the children — Lesly, 13, Soleiny, 9, Tien, 5, and Cristin, 11 months — were preparing for a new life with her husband in Bogotá. But now they were all hurtling toward the forest canopy. “I have a river to my right,” Murcia said, according to a preliminary crash report. “I’m going to touch down on water.” He never made it. The Cessna U206G Stationair hit the trees, broke apart and plunged nose-first to the forest floor. When Colombian special operations soldiers reached the wreckage two weeks later, they found three bodies. Mucutuy, Murcia and a third adult were dead. But there was no sign of the children. The collision had barely damaged their seats — and the discovery of a diaper, a half-eaten piece of fruit and small footprints sparked an unreasonable hope: Could they still be alive?"

Remarkable, isn't it?

"Even in this country of magical realism, it was difficult to imagine. Family members believed the children might have the skills to survive in the jungle. But this was a notoriously dangerous stretch, infested with jaguars and venomous snakes. Finally, after more than five weeks of searching, came the miracle: The children were found alive. Even baby Cristin, who’d turned 1 in the forest. They had survived the seemingly impossible. First, the plane crash that had killed all the adults. Then 40 days in the most inhospitable of environments. But their battles, it would turn out, were far from over. The travelers were midway through their 95-minute flight on May 1 when the plane vanished from tracking systems. The search began immediately, with a days-long walk into the forest. A team of six Indigenous men led by Edwin Paky, 36, swung machetes to hack a path through the virgin forest, making slow progress toward the crash site. They knew the forest well enough to be confident. But also well enough to be wary."

Who better qualified to do the seemingly impossible?

"This was one of the densest, wettest, least explored corners of the Amazon basin, an interlude wedged between the Caquetá and Apaporis rivers in southern Colombia. The air was humid; the terrain, sodden. But the terrain wasn’t merely uncomfortable; it could be dangerous. In the years since the historic 2016 peace deal that ended a half-century of conflict between the paramilitary Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the government, a sense of optimism had given way to apprehension and resentment. The FARC had been largely dismantled. But the government had been slow to make good on its end of the deal: Measures to relieve poverty in conflict-torn rural areas that had long suffered state neglect. Old guerrillas were rearming; new groups were mustering. The result: A region now “complex and extremely insecure,” said Carlos Lasso, a security analyst at the Alexander Von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Bogotá. Days into the search, Paky injured his knee. He was limping behind the others when he heard the shout: “The plane!”

They never gave up.  Uncommon Valor.

"The fuselage of the shattered aircraft stuck out of the ground like stalagmite. Approaching, they could smell the bodies. Inside the cabin, they found Murcia on top of Mucutuy, both dead. As was the third adult, the Indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández. But they also noted signs of life: The plane door was open. Several bags had been brought outside. An improvised camp — little more than a bed of twigs — lay near the wreckage. To Paky, it was obvious. The kids were alive. A phone rang in Bogotá. A gaunt black-haired woman received news that filled her with anguish, but also hope. María Fátima Valencia’s missing daughter had been found dead. But her grandchildren were still unaccounted for. Searchers and officials believed they had wandered into the forest. At home in their Indigenous community near Araracuara, Valencia, 63, saw the children nearly every week. She knew they were strong. They had to be — they lived in a region of Colombia almost entirely disconnected from the central government. No cell service. No electricity. No roads. The only means of travel? Walking paths and rivers. Reaching the nearest highway took three hours by boat and three more on foot. “It’s very difficult,” she said. “A place the state has completely forgotten,” said Manuel Miller Ranoque, Mucutuy’s husband and the father of her two younger children."

Survivalists.  No question.  -- The young here in the United States would be most wise to emulate.  Considering the likelihood of a civil war here as our country continues to deteriorate as the nazi element in the Republican Party continues to embrace national socialism.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Lesly, the oldest child, was raised to survive. Like other Huitoto children, she knew from a young age how to walk in the jungle, fish its waters, which fruits to eat and which to avoid. At 13, she lived as an adult. While her parents worked, she cared for her younger siblings and cooked. Her responsibilities left her little time for mischief or mirth. “A very smart girl,” Miller said. “Very serious. Short-tempered. Responsible.” If anyone had the strength and cunning to survive the jungle, her family believed, it was Lesly. Gen. Pedro Sánchez was less sanguine. The head of Colombia’s Special Operations Joint Command, he was admired for his competence and organizational capacity. But he had never taken on a mission like this. It was dubbed Operation Hope. It had taken the first searchers more than two weeks to locate the plane — but that was only the beginning. From there, they calculated how far the children might walk in a day to establish a search perimeter. Its size was stunning: More than 160 square miles, in a forest so dense that visibility was less than 60 feet. And so wet it would rain more than 16 hours per day. Most daunting of all, the children were moving targets. They’d have to comb the same quadrants repeatedly. “This was my most difficult, most complicated mission,” he said. “Supremely complex.”

Who better qualified?  Get this:

"His team needed to invent new methods of search. They strung up lines of construction tape with whistles attached so the kids could signal them. They set up a loudspeaker and a large light to orient the rescuers and save them from getting lost themselves. They determined that sound carried more than 2 miles, so they blasted a message, recorded by Valencia in their Indigenous language, telling them to stay put. And they dropped food they hoped the children would find."

Remarkable, isn't it?

"Within days, nearly 200 responders — a mix of Colombian special operations and Indigenous volunteers — had ventured into the forest. Sánchez was encouraged. They had found evidence of the children. The diaper and the top of a baby bottle were uncovered near the crash site. By May 20, Sánchez was convinced they were close. They’d found footprints. He told his superiors they were hours from finding the kids. Then a massive rain drenched the forest. The footprints were washed away. The trail was lost."

Imagine the terror and pain of incalculable loss:

"Lesly knew her mother was dead. Mucutuy was lying motionless. So were Murcia and Mendoza. But elsewhere in the wrecked cabin, her siblings were stirring. She pulled her baby sister from her mother’s arms and brought her other siblings out of the wreckage, she told her grandparents. She held one of her brother’s diapers to a gash in her head, her grandparents told The Washington Post."

Indeed, Uncommon Valor.

"Outside the plane, Lesly set up a basic camp, stringing a towel and a mosquito net to provide shelter, and settled down to wait. They stayed for a long time — perhaps one day, maybe more. At one point, she told her grandparents, her younger brother asked when their mother was going to wake up. Lesly, uncertain whether he understood their mother was dead, said she didn’t know."

Indeed, Uncommon Valor.

"With no help coming, Lesly said, she decided to leave the wreckage. She had been taught the importance of a water source. So she gathered all the provisions she could find: 11 pounds of the yuca flour called fariña, a pair of scissors, the mosquito net and the baby’s bottle. Then the four children set out in search of a river. For shelter at night, they relied on little more than a webbing of branches strung overhead. The forest didn’t scare Lesly, she told her grandparents. Nor did its animals. But now it was strange. She heard her grandmother’s disembodied voice — the searchers’ broadcast — but didn’t understand. Was Valencia in the helicopter she saw passing overhead? She made out other voices in the forest, but was nervous to go to them. She was afraid she’d be punished for leaving the plane site. To muffle the baby’s cries, she put a hand over her mouth. They didn’t have much food. Lesley rationed baby Cristin’s milk. When it ran out, she dropped the empty bottle onto the forest floor. Her siblings complained of pain in their abdomens. The children found some of the food dropped by the searchers and foraged for seeds and fruits. But it wasn’t enough. A hunger was closing in. The children’s time was running out. The Indigenous scouts prayed to the spirits of the forest. They had taken the hallucinogen yagé, in the hope it would give them the vision to find the children. They had been injured, sickened, depleted. On the 39th day, many were ready for a break. But two men, Dairo Kumariteke and Eliécer Muñoz, felt confident. One of the elders had taken yagé and seen the children in a vision. Then came the faint sound of a baby crying. The searchers stopped and listened. Another wail. “I think those are the children!” Kumariteke said, he later told reporters. They rushed toward the sound. And then there they were — dirty, skeletal, weakened, but alive. Lesly was holding Cristin, now 1. Nine-year-old Soleiny stood beside them. It was June 9. Forty days after the crash. “Tenemos hambre,” Lesly said. We’re hungry. They found the last child, 5-year-old Tien, lying on the ground 50 feet from the others. “My mom died,” he said. “But your grandmother is looking for you,” one of the Indigenous rescuers said. “We’ll take you to her.” Fátima Valencia and Narciso Mucutuy, Magdalena Mucutuy’s parents, caught up with their grandchildren at a military hospital in Bogotá. It was soon mobbed with press and officials. Another battle was already beginning to take shape, this one for control of the narrative — and the children."

Not surprising, is it?

"Two camps had formed. On one side was Magdalena Mucutuy’s husband. Miller had participated in the search. Outside the hospital, he told reporters that an armed group had been trying to recruit the older children and had threatened his life. To escape the threat, he’d wanted to bring the family to the capital. After the crash, he said, his wife had lived for four days. In her dying words, he said, she told the kids to find their father. Miller said his family, not his in-laws, should take care of the children. “They didn’t grow up next to the grandmother,” he told The Post. On the other side were Mucutuy’s parents. Mucutuy and Miller had shared a combustible, unhappy union. Now her parents called their son-in-law an abuser and a liar. Narciso Mucutuy told Colombian media that his daughter had died immediately. He said Miller was a violent person and alleged he’d struck his daughter. At times, Mucutuy said, the children hid in the forest while their parents fought. Miller, asked by Colombian media if he attacked the children’s mother: “Verbally, yes. Physically, very little. We more fought with words.”

Violence is intolerable.  Never, ever acceptable.  Should always be prosecuted.  Otherwise, will never end.

"To The Post, he said: “Yes, we mistreated each other verbally, but I never left her in bed for hours or days because of some beating I had given her.” After the crash, Fátima Valencia filed a police complaint against Miller alleging domestic violence. She blamed him for her daughter’s death. Security in their Indigenous community wasn’t as bad as he claimed, she said. There had been no reason to flee to Bogotá. The kids had been safe at home. Miller cast his in-laws as oblivious. “They’ve never worried about anything,” he told The Post. “How are they going to fight for custody of the children?” The sides set their differences aside for a moment Wednesday morning in the hospital. Fátima Valencia had fallen ill after seeing her grandchildren and was admitted to the hospital. Now she was on the phone, talking to the kids. Her voice was quiet, nurturing. “Don’t be sad, because you’re with me, my girl,” she told Soleiny. “You’re beautiful, my precious.” She asked for Lesly. The girl’s voice was low and flat. “Oh, my girl, don’t be sad,” the grandmother cooed. “Don’t think of anything. Just stay there and eat, sleep, rest. All right?”

No greater love.

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.

Justice Department stands tall.  ... Finally, makes some desperately needed effort.  What took so long?  The Washington Post reports:

"The Minneapolis Police Department engaged in the systemic use of excessive force and discriminated against racial minorities in the years leading up to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in 2020, federal authorities said Friday. In a scathing 89-page report released after a more than two-year federal civil rights investigation, the Justice Department excoriated the Minneapolis police force as an agency that put officers and local residents at unnecessary risk and failed to act upon repeated warnings about biased behavior. Specifically, the report criticizes the Minneapolis police for: using “dangerous tactics and weapons” — including neck restraints and Tasers — against people for petty offense or no crimes; punishing residents who criticized the police; patrolling neighborhoods differently based on their racial makeup; and discriminating against those with behavioral health disabilities. The report called the department’s accountability structures “fundamentally flawed,” with internal misconduct investigations getting lost in an “opaque maze” as senior managers dismissed legitimate complaints without investigation and routinely mischaracterizing the allegations. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the results of the investigation Friday morning, and depicted Floyd’s death not as an isolated episode, but instead as a tragedy enabled by the police department’s entrenched issues. Garland emphasized that many Minneapolis police officers were observed during the investigation acting properly. “But the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible,” he said. Garland said the Justice Department and Minneapolis officials had agreed in principle to negotiate toward a consent decree, a court-enforceable reform agreement that can be used to ensure changes within a local law enforcement agency."

Other than empty, hollow, achingly meaningless rhetoric, when will the Justice Department vigorously prosecute the jackbooted bastards responsible?

"Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, appearing alongside Garland on Friday, said the city had made changes since Floyd’s killing, but he emphasized that more was needed. “To take real action, we first have to acknowledge where we’ve been, the pain we’ve caused and to take a hard look at the specifics that need to be changed,” Frey said."

Not good enough.  Nowhere near.  Without determined prosecution of the jackbooted bastards in blue, there will be no permanent, desperately needed change.  Sadly, just more of the same.

"The report’s release came several weeks after the third anniversary of Floyd’s killing on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officers."

Nothing more than more of the same, -- determined foot dragging.

"The findings echo repeated claims made by residents over the years about the Minneapolis police force, and they also are similar in many ways to a state investigation that concluded last year that the department was riddled with unnecessarily aggressive behavior and lacking oversight."

Precisely, why determined prosecution and lengthy prison sentences are desperately needed.  Permanent removal from law enforcement.  Not just empty, hollow, meaningless rhetoric.

"The federal report carries with it the imprimatur of the Justice Department and the likely promise of a federal court order mandating changes. The step carries significant weight in a city where there have long been tensions between the police force and local residents, particularly Black people in north Minneapolis, that have repeatedly fueled protests and drawn nationwide scrutiny."

Precisely why court orders, without vigorous criminal prosecution of officers and long prison sentences, will simply be ignored.  Sadly, clearly the jackbooted bastards to date do as they please.  With impunity.  This remains a problem throughout the entire country.

"The Justice Department’s report praises the city and department for already moving ahead with reforms. At the same time, it lays out a brutal assessment of how the department has policed Minneapolis, describing wanton, unnecessary acts of violence and then, when residents complain about officers, a complete failure to act."

Only solution is vigorous criminal prosecution of criminal officers and lengthy prison sentences.  Permanent removal from law enforcement.  Not just empty, hollow, meaningless rhetoric.

"Federal authorities said Minneapolis officials cooperated in the probe, and the two sides are expected to negotiate a consent decree that will mandate broad changes within the police department. The plan is likely to include hundreds of specific actions that city and police leaders will be required to pursue in the coming years under the oversight of a federal court-appointed monitor."

Not good enough.  Nowhere near.  The jackbooted bastards in blue abuse authority all across this country.  Enjoy virtual impunity.  Remain protected and coddled courtesy of a failed judicial system that refuses to hold law enforcement to the same standard of justice as the citizenry.  Two distinct standards of justice.  One for law enforcement.  The other for the civilian population.

"In March, the Minneapolis City Council approved a tentative agreement with the city’s human rights department to settle a separate state investigation into the city’s policing that found officers had routinely engaged in racially discriminatory policing for at least a decade. That move was widely seen as a precursor to federal action. City leaders said they will seek to collaborate with federal authorities to streamline the reform efforts."

Without vigorous criminal prosecution of officers and lengthy prison sentences, there cannot, will not be permanent desperately needed change.  Sadly, no more than a figurative Band Aid on an arterial wound.

"Legal experts said Justice officials had a broader mandate than state investigators, and their findings could lay the groundwork for more comprehensive changes for the Minneapolis police and also be used as a guide for other police departments seeking to make improvements."

Hard to believe after witnessing the utter corruption of law enforcement last six decades all across this country.

“It’s really important in a democracy for there to be not only an avenue for this kind of investigation to happen but for the findings of that investigation to be made public so we understand the need for a really onerous [legal] agreement that can make change and empower people,” Christy Lopez, who worked in Justice’s civil rights division during the Obama administration and helped oversee the federal investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., police department, said in an interview."

To date, empty, hollow, meaningless rhetoric.

"Police agencies are desperate to hire. But they say few want the job."

Sadly, for damned good reason.  Law enforcement remains hopelessly corrupt, abusive, and murderous.  Lost itself somewhere along the way.  Precisely why 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.  Without good law enforcement, a democratic republic cannot, will not survive.

While the following is indeed a step in the right direction, it is nowhere near sufficient:

"The federal report punctuated a series of Justice Department actions aimed at bringing accountability in several high-profile cases involving Black victims in 2020 that sparked months of social justice protests across the country. In March, Justice officials released similar findings from an investigation into the Louisville Police Department sparked by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor. Federal prosecutors have secured criminal convictions against four former Minneapolis officers involved in Floyd’s death and charged four former Louisville officers with federal crimes related to Taylor’s killing. And prosecutors won federal hate crime convictions against three White men who chased and fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia subdivision. Garland launched the investigation into the Minneapolis police in April 2021, seeking to reinvigorate the use of “pattern or practice” probes that had become a staple of the Justice Department during the Obama administration. In such investigations, federal authorities undertake a sweeping review of a local police department’s use-of-force polices, training, disciplinary measures, data collection and public transparency efforts. The department moved away from those investigations during the Trump administration, which viewed such efforts as federal overreach. The Minneapolis probe took more than two years to complete as federal investigators reviewed thousands of internal documents and thousands of hours of body-camera footage, examined disciplinary records, conducted facility visits, and interviewed officers, residents, community leaders and local officials. The findings buttress long-standing complaints from community leaders and residents of abusive policing from a department that currently has more than 700 police officers."

"Little more than symbolism over substance," to shamelessly quote the late Rush Limbaugh nazi.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"In a scathing report last year, the Minneapolis human rights department found the police had routinely engaged in racially discriminatory policing for at least a decade and had failed to properly train and hold its officers accountable for misconduct. After months of negotiations between city and state officials, the council voted unanimously to approve a 144-page “court-enforceable settlement.” The settlement called for scores of mandated reforms including new rules limiting the use of force. It also brought fresh restrictions on stops, searches and arrests, and a ban on stopping cars for low-level offenses like expired license tabs or failing to signal. The settlement also laid out new requirements on officer wellness and training, such as mandatory instruction on issues of race. Last year, the city selected Brian O’Hara, a veteran police officer who most recently served as deputy mayor of Newark, as the city’s new police chief — the first person hired from outside the department for that role in 16 years. Frey, the mayor, whose office maintains administrative control over the police department, touted O’Hara’s hiring as an effort to bring necessary change to the struggling agency. In addition to navigating a post pandemic uptick in violent crime and widespread distrust across the city, the department had seen more than a third of its officers quit the force, many citing post-traumatic stress disorder from the fiery protests that erupted in parts of the city in the aftermath of Floyd’s killing."

Ironically, law enforcement is directly responsible for this unrest having murdered Floyd.  -- Not that violent protest is acceptable.  It is not.

"Investigators in the federal report said they found low morale among the city’s police force, which in May had 585 sworn officers, down from 892 in 2018. Frey and other city officials have cited O’Hara’s experience in navigating a federal consent decree issued in 2016 in Newark, a majority Black city, where a lengthy Justice Department probe had found numerous constitutional violations, such as excessive use of force that primarily targeted Black residents. Local officials and community leaders have credited the effort with spurring change in Newark’s policing involving a revamp of its use of force policies, tougher sanctions on problem officers and more diverse hiring. In 2020, while still under a federal monitor, Newark officials announced its officers had not fired a single gunshot that entire calendar year. Speaking on Friday alongside Garland, Frey and other officials, O’Hara described the goal of having a department that earned greater faith from local residents. “We acknowledge the pain, anger, frustration, fear and sense of vulnerability that many people in our community have endured,” he said. O’Hara said he was speaking on behalf of the police department “to affirm our commitment to moving forward together.”

While indeed a step in the right direction, without vigorous prosecution of criminal officers and lengthy prison sentences, there cannot, will not be permanent change.

MPR News reports:

"A two-year federal probe of the Minneapolis Police Department finds the police racially discriminate against Black and Native people, use excessive force and “unjustified deadly force” in policing and violate the rights of peaceful protesters. Collectively, the MPD’s culture and practices created the “systemic problems” that made possible the police killing of George Floyd, the newly released U.S. Justice Department report concludes. The report rips the MPD’s accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, “which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law.” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other top Justice Department officials detailed their investigation and laid out next steps during a Friday morning briefing in Minneapolis. “George Floyd should be alive today,” Garland said in his opening remarks. The probe began in April 2021 following the trial and conviction of ex-officer Derek Chauvin for Floyd’s murder. Federal authorities have been examining whether the Minneapolis Police Department routinely used excessive force and violated people’s constitutional rights."

No question.

"Among its findings Friday, the Justice Department wrote: The MPD “used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who committed at most a petty offense and sometimes no offense at all.” Officers punished people who made them angry. Police patrolled neighborhoods differently “based on their racial composition and discriminated based on race when searching, handcuffing or using force against people during stops.” The probe also documents a police culture that made it difficult to discipline officers. It outlines how Minneapolis police leadership wrongly dismissed or misclassified complaints from the public. In cases where serious misconduct occurred, they diverted the officers into nonpublic “coaching” sessions, that may not have happened. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, outlined data showing that MPD stops, arrests and uses force against Black and Native people more often than white people in the same circumstances, adding that MPD officers pulled back significantly on reporting demographic data in stops after Floyd’s killing."

Surprised?

"Marcia Howard, a local teacher and activist, takes notes on a whiteboard during a community morning meeting discussing the findings of a comprehensive investigation into the city's police department. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the findings Friday, calling them "heartbreaking." The Justice Department, she added, found that officers’ use of Tasers is often random and that officers have used them against kids and people with mental illness, “including against people who committed minor offenses or none at all.” Officials say the report’s conclusions of discriminatory and abusive behavior are grounded in hundreds of accounts and interviews of city residents as well as police department data, video, incident reports and ride-alongs with officers. The report acknowledges the challenges of police work and the toll it’s taken on many officers. It recommends that Minneapolis revamp its use-of-force policies, training and reporting. It also recommends the department collect more data about racial disparities in stops, searches and arrests and beef up its accountability systems, including requiring officers to report misconduct and improving the review process for complaints.

"The federal probe has a broader scope than a separate state investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which found Minneapolis officers discriminated against people of color. It led to a court-enforced settlement agreement in March that, among its provisions, bans officers from searching people because they say they smelled marijuana."

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.

Trump presents an exigent threat to a democratic republic.  Time to wake up.  Carefully, consider the following.  The Washington Post reports:

"America’s institutions have been attacked repeatedly over the past half-dozen years, thanks principally to the conduct and actions of Donald Trump. The next 18 months could further undermine confidence in democracy and the rule of law as the former president seeks a return to the White House while defending himself against federal and state criminal charges."

No question.  For a number of reasons to be addressed in this article in considerable depth.

"Not since the Vietnam War in the 1960s or perhaps the mid-19th century before the Civil War has the country’s governing structure faced such disunity and peril, given the unprecedented nature of a federal criminal indictment of a former president compounded by the fact that Trump has been charged by the Justice Department in the administration of the Democrat who defeated him in 2020 and who is his likeliest general election opponent in 2024, if Trump is nominated again by the Republican Party."

Compounding all this is determined foot dragging by the Justice Department since the January 6th Capitol insurrection.

"Scholars, legal experts and political strategists agree that what lies ahead is ugly and unpredictable. Many fear that the 2024 election will not overcome the distrust of many Americans in their government and its pillars, almost no matter the outcome. “A constitutional democracy stands or falls with the effectiveness and trustworthiness of the systems through which laws are created and enforced,” said William Galston of the Brookings Institution. “If you have fundamental doubts raised about those institutions, then constitutional democracy as a whole is in trouble.” The indictment in the case involving Trump’s retention of classified government documents coming in the midst of a presidential campaign raises legal questions about what might happen if he were to be convicted and elected. Could Trump pardon himself? Could he serve as president after a conviction? Could he run for office from a prison cell? Depending on events, those could become ripe for adjudication."

Compounding all this is the number of ongoing investigations that could lead to additional indictments:

"On top of those legal questions are big issues confronting the country. With other investigations continuing — one into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and in the fake electors scheme, and the other looking at his efforts to overturn the Georgia results of the 2020 presidential election — more damage might be inflicted on these democratic institutions by the battering likely to take place between now and the inauguration in 2025. “It seems obvious and clear that it’s going to be worse and probably much worse, but the form it might take and what that extreme reaction looks like is very hard to predict,” said Jack Goldsmith, who served in the Justice Department and at the Pentagon during the administration of George W. Bush and now is a professor at Harvard Law School. “Convicted or not, nominee or not, we can assume [Trump] is going to inflame this to the maximum and his supporters will inflame this to the maximum.”

No question.  Clearly, sadly, the nazi element in the Republican Party has determinedly placed partisanship ahead of principle.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"For the past three years, Trump has sought to shred long-standing trust in the country’s electoral process, claiming falsely that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. With no supporting evidence to buttress those claims, public opinion surveys suggest that Trump nonetheless has persuaded millions of Republican voters that President Biden was not legitimately elected. Election denialism now infects a large portion of the Republican Party. With the new indictment, Trump is again taking direct aim at the integrity of law enforcement agencies, the judicial system and, ultimately, public faith in the rule of law. He did this as president, and now, in the aftermath of his 37 charges in the documents case — to which he pleaded not guilty — he has escalated those attacks in an effort to discredit the Justice Department and the FBI, claiming he is a victim of a politicized “witch hunt.”

Expect better of an Aryan arrogant autocrat?  Shameless nazi dictator?  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"This is not the first time the political and legal systems have been tested together. But past comparisons are imperfect because the state of the country has changed. As a result, institutions of government are more fragile. That heightens the risks to the country this time. The 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore ended in a virtual tie, leading to a bitter recount in Florida that ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision that effectively awarded the presidency to Bush, who received a narrow electoral college majority, although Gore had narrowly won the national popular vote. This was a stress test by any measure. Gore was gracious in defeat, even though he disagreed with the court’s decision, showing a willingness to put the country and its institutions above his personal ambitions and disappointments."

Indeed, Gore stood tall.

"Benjamin Ginsberg, a Republican lawyer, was working with the Bush team in Florida at the time and pointed to the different conditions then. “Faith in institutions was the only way you would approach that,” he said. “That is clearly no longer the case. Both candidates [in 2000] were going to accept the results no matter how fraught the situation. This is really different and unprecedented.”

Indeed, an exigent threat to a democratic republic.

"Watergate is another example of the system under stress. In that case, then-President Richard M. Nixon chose to resign in August 1974 rather than remain in office and face almost-certain impeachment and conviction. But that was in part because prosecutors enjoyed the trust of the public and Nixon was not prepared to go against that. “It’s so different from the Watergate context, when there was a pretty broad consensus in the legitimacy of what the prosecutors were doing,” Goldsmith said. “That’s not in today’s politics.” Nixon was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, and to this day is the only president to have received one."

That pardon was an egregious mistake.  Remained proof positive the top of the food chain is indeed above the law.  Reinforced the fact there are indeed two systems of justice.  One for the very top of the food chain.  The other for the rest of the citizenry.

Get this.  It's quite striking:

"Early into his term as president, Trump consulted advisers about the reach of his pardon powers, and whether he could pardon himself in connection to then-special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Constitution says the president has the authority “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” No president has ever pardoned himself, and the question of whether a president legitimately holds such power has never been tested in court. Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the text of the Constitution cannot be read to give the president that authority. “When you grant something, you are giving it to someone else,” Gerhardt said. “It can only be sensibly read to convey that the president has the power to give somebody else the pardon, not himself.” Ken Gormley, the president of Duquesne University and an expert on the Constitution, the presidency and the pardon power, agreed. “The idea of a self-pardon runs counter to the entire purpose of a pardon under the Constitution,” he said."

Interestingly:

"Nixon asked the Justice Department for advice on this question during the Watergate scandal. In response, the Office of Legal Counsel said emphatically that the president cannot pardon himself. “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, it would seem that the question should be answered in the negative,” Mary C. Lawton, the acting assistant attorney general, wrote in a brief 1974 memo. Lawton went on to suggest, however, that the president could use the 25th Amendment to declare himself temporarily unable to perform the duties of his office. In that case, the vice president would become acting president and “as such he could pardon the president. Thereafter the president could either resign or resume the duties of his office,” Lawton wrote. Gerhardt pointed to legal scholarship that suggests the 25th Amendment is intended to address disabilities such as physical or mental impairment, and not impairment that is due to a legal problem. But those novel legal questions never have been litigated, and if Trump did attempt to pardon himself — or leave it to his vice president — the issues could end up before the Supreme Court."

-- Sadly, which is clearly in the pocket of the Trump nazi by a 6-3 Republican nazi majority.  Should that happen, would tear this country apart.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Nothing in the Constitution prevents a presidential candidate from campaigning or serving as president while under indictment or post-conviction, although some crimes are disqualifying. In 1920, Eugene V. Debs ran as the Socialist Party candidate while serving time in federal prison for speaking out against the draft during World War I. He received nearly a million votes. Another question that has arisen is what crimes would legally preclude someone from holding office. Among them are: “Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally,” which makes illegal the willful theft or destruction of any government document. Under federal law, committing that crime is punishable by up to three years in prison and disqualifies someone from holding any office in the country. When law enforcement officials searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in August 2022, the warrant listed three crimes that may have been committed to justify the search of the former president’s residence. The law that bars someone from being president, U.S. Code 2071, was one of them. Ultimately, however, federal prosecutors did not accuse Trump of committing this crime in the indictment. None of the crimes that federal prosecutors formally accused Trump of committing would prevent him from being president."

Pitiful.  Pathetic.  Should that happen, would tear this country apart.

"Still another legal question is whether a former president is immune from criminal liability for actions taken while in office. The federal case involving classified documents did not involve things done when Trump was president. The New York case involving hush money paid to an adult-film actress, in which Trump was charged with falsifying business records to conceal the payment, involved actions taken before and during his presidency. Two pending investigations, special counsel Jack Smith’s probe involving Trump’s role leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol and Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis’s examination of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 results in Georgia, are examining actions carried out while he was president. Nixon was sued for damages in a civil case after firing a civilian employee. The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision in Nixon v. Fitzgerald, ruled in his favor, saying that a president had absolute immunity from liability for civil damages when acting in his official capacity."

A highly questionable ruling.  Should that ultimately be invoked this time around and under these circumstances, would tear this country apart.

“If either of those indictments [in the pending investigations] move forward, there’s going to be this question of whether Nixon v. Fitzgerald extends beyond civil liability to criminal liability,” said Vikram Amar, the dean of the University of Illinois College of Law. Putting aside these future questions, Amar sees an immediate threat in the cases involving Trump, a threat to the role and power of evidence and the public’s belief in evidence. “You can’t have a criminal system unless evidence is going to matter, and you can’t have elections if evidence doesn’t matter,” he said. Amar said he worries about the documents case because, he estimated, “There are 30 to 40 percent of America that would never think Trump’s conviction was fair, no matter what the evidence shows. They’ve made up their minds that this is a witch hunt.” The indictment of Trump in the documents case represented a no-win decision for Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed the special counsel and allowed the charges to go forward. In the estimation of many legal experts, declining to charge Trump, given the preponderance of evidence laid out in the indictment, would have sent a signal that former presidents, or at least this former president, are above the law. But the indictment provided Trump an opening to attack federal law enforcement and to further erode his political supporters’ trust in the institutions of government."

Expect better of an Aryan arrogant autocrat?  Shameless nazi dictator?  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"The possibility of an indictment in the Jan. 6 investigation adds another layer of risk. Goldsmith sees that case as more fraught legally than the documents case and therefore potentially harder for prosecutors to win. It also carries additional political consequences. “Doing two cases at once, will it be seen as piling on?” he said. “Will it be seen as making things worse?” Biden also is under investigation by a special counsel, for having classified documents in his possession. The facts of the case are very different from those of the one involving Trump, including the fact that Biden and his team appear to have cooperated fully with federal officials. So, too, did former vice president Mike Pence, who also had classified documents in his possession after leaving office. The Pence matter was closed without any charges being brought. The investigation involving Biden continues. If Biden is not prosecuted, Trump is likely to claim, and many of his followers probably would accept, that there were two standards of justice at work, despite the differences in the facts."

Certainly, be up to prosecutors to make that abundantly clear.

"One other investigation will affect the political debate. That involves Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and is probing possible violations of tax and gun laws. Federal investigators are said to be nearing a charging decision in that case. Would indicting the current president’s son do anything to convince Trump and his followers that the justice system is fair?"

Certainly, be up to prosecutors to make that abundantly clear.

"Attacks on the legitimacy of government institutions are most virulent on the political right, led by Trump. But many on the left also have doubts, especially about a Supreme Court that now has a solid conservative majority and whose rulings in cases including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the constitutional right to abortion, have inflamed the political debate."

Certainly, be up to prosecutors to make it abundantly clear that the Supreme Court majority is not conservative but Republican nazi.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"These are likely to be the conditions throughout the coming election year. By any measure, this represents a gloomy prospect for restoring a thriving democracy. “At the level of national politics and presidential politics, things do feel quite fragile, and I don’t have much reason to think we’re about to turn the corner in 2024,” said Archon Fung, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government who studies issues of democracy. Some experts see small reasons to be hopeful. The institutions of government proved to be largely resilient in the face of Trump’s attacks during his presidency, although Goldsmith said he worries about what might happen if Trump is elected to another term. Trump has vowed retribution against his adversaries and would be likely to be surrounded in office by aides who would help him execute his wishes."

Raw nazism.  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Others say that at the local level, there are signs that citizens of differing political views are determined to try to prevent attitudes in their communities from becoming inflamed. Ginsberg said he and Bob Bauer, a Democratic lawyer and former White House counsel, are working with local officials to help assure election safeguards and to educate the public about them. Many of Trump’s critics wish that through the legal process, the former president were somehow disqualified from serving again as president. The counterargument to that is that questions about his fate and the country’s future probably would be better answered at the ballot box than in the courtroom."

Under normal conditions, that would certainly be the better alternative.  ... But in a country that is approximately half Republican nazi and continuing to deteriorate?  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"A conviction and a decisive defeat at the ballot box might force Trump from the political scene and cause the Republican Party to move in a different direction, although in an era of close elections, the prospect of 2024 producing a blowout in either direction remains doubtful — and even that would not necessarily cleanse the system. “The country functioned after the Civil War,” Galston added, “but it was a long time before the system was drained of the political poisons of the Civil War.”

Sadly, an ongoing challenge vis-a-vis 'woke' ideology and ongoing resistance to changing the names of military bases named after racist, treasonous Civil War military icons.

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.

Think Trump's former Attorney General is thinking straight?  CBS News reports:

"Former Attorney General Bill Barr has been highly critical of former President Trump's conduct in the classified documents case, but doesn't believe Trump should go to prison for the alleged crimes.  "I don't like the idea of a former president serving time in prison,"  Barr told "Face the Nation" on Sunday when asked whether Trump should serve a prison sentence if he is convicted."

Why is that, Counselor?  Don't you believe in a democratic republic where no one is above the law?  From the bottom of the food chain to the very top?

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.

Think the following isn't truly appalling?  That the Justice Department didn't drag its feet vis-a-vis prosecution of Trump and his henchmen?  The Washington Post reports:

"Hours after he was sworn in as attorney general, Merrick Garland and his deputies gathered in a wood-paneled conference room in the Justice Department for a private briefing on the investigation he had promised to make his highest priority: bringing to justice those responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In the two months since the siege, federal agents had conducted 709 searches, charged 278 rioters and identified 885 likely suspects, said Michael R. Sherwin, then-acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, ticking through a slide presentation. Garland and some of his deputies nodded approvingly at the stats, and the new attorney general called the progress “remarkable,” according to people in the room. Sherwin’s office, with the help of the FBI, was responsible for prosecuting all crimes stemming from the Jan. 6 attack. He had made headlines the day after by refusing to rule out the possibility that President Donald Trump himself could be culpable. “We are looking at all actors, not only the people who went into the building,” Sherwin said in response to a reporter’s question about Trump. “If the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re going to be charged.”

Think that was the truth at the time?

"But according to a copy of the briefing document, absent from Sherwin’s 11-page presentation to Garland on March 11, 2021, was any reference to Trump or his advisers — those who did not go to the Capitol riot but orchestrated events that led to it."

Most fascinating, isn't it?  Get this:

"A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year would pass before prosecutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of actions directed from the White House to try to steal the election. Even then, the FBI stopped short of identifying the former president as a focus of that investigation. A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace. Garland and the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him, The Post found. In November, after Trump announced he was again running for president, making him a potential 2024 rival to President Biden, Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to take over the investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. On June 8, in a separate investigation that was also turned over to the special counsel, Smith secured a grand jury indictment against the former president for mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump was charged with 31 counts of violating a part of the Espionage Act, as well as six counts arising from alleged efforts to mislead federal investigators. The effort to investigate Trump over classified records has had its own obstacles, including FBI agents who resisted raiding the former president’s home. But the discovery of top-secret documents in Trump’s possession triggered an urgent national security investigation that laid out a well-defined legal path for prosecutors, compared with the unprecedented task of building a case against Trump for trying to steal the election."

Sadly, these officials don't seem to understand in a democratic republic no one is above the law.  -- From the bottom of the food chain to the very top.

"Whether a decision about Trump’s culpability for Jan. 6 could have come any earlier is unclear. The delays in examining that question began before Garland was even confirmed. Sherwin, senior Justice Department officials and Paul Abbate, the top deputy to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the riot, deeming it premature, according to five individuals familiar with the decision. Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach — focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder. The strategy was embraced by Garland, Monaco and Wray. They remained committed to it even as evidence emerged of an organized, weeks-long effort by Trump and his advisers before Jan. 6 to pressure state leaders, Justice officials and Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of Biden’s victory. In the weeks before Jan. 6, Trump supporters boasted publicly that they had submitted fake electors on his behalf, but the Justice Department declined to investigate the matter in February 2021, The Post found. The department did not actively probe the effort for nearly a year, and the FBI did not open an investigation of the electors scheme until April 2022, about 15 months after the attack. The Justice Department’s painstaking approach to investigating Trump can be traced to Garland’s desire to turn the page from missteps, bruising attacks and allegations of partisanship in the department’s recent investigations of both Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Inside Justice, however, some have complained that the attorney general’s determination to steer clear of any claims of political motive has chilled efforts to investigate the former president. “You couldn’t use the T word,” said one former Justice official briefed on prosecutors’ discussions. This account is based on internal documents, court files, congressional records, handwritten contemporaneous notes, and interviews with more than two dozen current and former prosecutors, investigators, and others with knowledge of the probe. Most of the people interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making related to the investigation. Spokespeople at the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment or make Garland, Monaco or Wray available for interviews."

Called stonewalling.  Special treatment for the top of the food chain.  No equal justice.

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.

Think Biden might finally be cutting the bullshit?  NBC News reports:

"President Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” on Tuesday, sparking an angry reaction from Beijing in a sudden flare-up after talks between the two superpowers aimed at easing their geopolitical animosity. Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in California, Biden suggested that Xi was embarrassed because he did not know about the alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States earlier this year, despite his status as China’s all-powerful leader. China quickly hit back at the remarks, branding them "extremely absurd and irresponsible."

Think so?  LOL.  Called the truth.  Quite a turn of events for Biden.  Especially, in light of the following:

"The president's description of Xi came one day after a high-level visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing, an effort to calm tensions between the U.S. and China. Blinken told NBC News after his visit that the spy balloon “chapter should be closed” and both sides pledged to try and stabilize the relationship. Biden, however, revisited the subject before a room of more than 125 attendees that included California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also spoke at the fundraiser. “The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s a great embarrassment for dictators,” he added, “when they didn’t know what happened.” The riposte from Beijing was swift."

Surprised?  LOL.  The dictator certainly was:

"Mao Ning, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Biden's comments were "extremely absurd and irresponsible, seriously contradicting the basic facts." He accused the president of "seriously violating diplomatic protocol and seriously infringing on China’s political dignity, which is an open political provocation."

That right?  LOL.

"China, he told a daily briefing, was "strongly dissatisfied."

Tough shit.  About time Biden cut the bullshit.

"Biden said the Chinese balloon was blown off course without Xi’s knowledge, adding “when it got shot down, he (Xi) was very embarrassed and he denied it was even there.” He did not walk back the comments later on Tuesday at a second fundraiser."

How about that?  About time he cut the shit.

"Biden was referring to an alleged Chinese spy balloon that floated across the United States in February. The balloon, which China maintains was an unmanned civilian airship that was conducting meteorological research, was shot down by the Air Force off the coast of South Carolina after it had hovered above sensitive U.S. military installations. The incident became an intense point of diplomatic conflict between Beijing and Washington. Though Blinken’s visit was considered relatively successful — Biden said at the fundraiser his secretary of state did “a good job” — China and the U.S. have not re-established several military communication channels that were cut after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, a self-ruling island off China’s coast that Beijing claims as its own territory. There were no breakthroughs in the meeting beyond an agreement the two sides needed to stabilize the relationship."

About time Biden cut the bullshit.  Especially, in light of the following:

"The two countries have had tense military brushes in recent weeks in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea that some have found particularly concerning. China said it was defending its national sovereignty in the two most recent instances. The U.S. called Beijing’s acts dangerous and emphasized that American service members were operating in international airspace and waters."

They most certainly were.

"Blinken’s visit was the first by a secretary of state since 2018. He had postponed a planned trip in February after the Chinese spy balloon debacle. Biden said last month that his plan with Xi to keep an ongoing dialogue had been derailed by “this silly balloon.” At Tuesday night's first fundraiser, Biden said Xi had become more concerned with the Quad strategic security group, which is made up of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India. The group has spoken openly about acting as a buffer to Chinese interests, but Biden said he assured Xi that China did not need to be concerned. Biden also told the crowd they should not be concerned about recent friction between Beijing and Washington. “Don’t worry about China. I mean, worry about China but don’t worry about China,” he said as the crowd laughed."

U.S. policy vis-a-vis China has been determinedly f--ked up since the days of Richard Nixon a half-century ago.  Sadly, all these decades, cheap labor and union busting trumped principle.

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.

Think the 6-3 Republican nazi element on the U.S. Supreme Court is not a threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties?  The Washington Post reports:

"Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. took issue with questions raised by the investigative journalism outlet ProPublica about his travel with a politically active billionaire, and on Tuesday evening, he outlined his defense in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal. Yet Alito was responding to a news story that ProPublica hadn’t yet published. Alito’s Journal column, bluntly headlined “ProPublica Misleads Its Readers,” was an unusual public venture by a Supreme Court justice into the highly opinionated realm of a newspaper editorial page. And it drew criticism late Tuesday for effectively leaking elements of ProPublica’s still-in-progress journalism — with the assistance of the Journal’s editorial page editors. An editor’s note at the top of Alito’s column said ProPublica reporters Justin Elliott and Josh Kaplan had sent questions to Alito last week and asked for a response by Tuesday at noon. The editor’s note doesn’t mention that ProPublica hadn’t yet published its story — nor that Alito did not provide his answers directly to ProPublica."

How about that?  Think the Republican nazi remains unbiased?  Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion.  'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"A spokesperson for the Journal, whose editorial page operates independently from its newsroom, did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment late Tuesday."

Surprised?

Get this:

"ProPublica published its story on Alito just before midnight on Tuesday, about five hours after the Journal published Alito’s column. The article details the conservative justice’s relationship with billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer, including their trip to an Alaskan fishing resort in 2008. According to the story, Singer — whose hedge fund subsequently came before the court 10 times in cases involving business disputes — flew Alito to the resort on his private jet, a trip ProPublica reported would have cost Alito more than $100,000 one way if he had chartered the jet on his own. Alito, who wrote the landmark Dobbs decision that struck down federal abortion rights last year, didn’t list the trip on his financial disclosure forms, an omission that some ethics experts say could violate federal law."

How about that?

"The article noted the role of conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo in organizing the Alaska trip, including recruiting Singer to fly Alito to the lodge. The longtime head of the Federalist Society, Leo helped Alito win confirmation to the Supreme Court. Singer and the lodge’s owner were major donors to the Federalist Society. Who is conservative activist Leonard Leo? A friend of Clarence Thomas. The story carried the bylines of Kaplan, Elliott and a third ProPublica reporter, Alex Mierjeski — the same team that reported a blockbuster story in April detailing years of luxury trips taken by Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, and paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow, who also paid for Thomas’s grandnephew’s private school tuition. Those disclosures and others — The Post reported last month that Leo arranged for Ginni 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 — have led some Democrats in Congress to call for Clarence Thomas to resign and others to call for stricter ethics standards specific to the Supreme Court."

Expect better of the nazi element in the Republican Party?

"Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has resisted congressional efforts on that front, but he recently acknowledged the controversy. “I want to assure people that I’m committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment,” Roberts said when accepting an award last month from the American Law Institute."

Empty, hollow, meaningless rhetoric.  No substance.

"But the justices for years have been considering an ethics plan, without being able to come to agreement."

Surprised?

"In his Journal column, Alito accurately anticipated the thrust of ProPublica’s not-yet-published article. He denied he had a conflict in accepting Singer’s “hospitality” or was obligated to disclose the 2008 trip. “Neither charge is valid,” the justice wrote preemptively."

Crock of shit.  Gets worse.  Get this.  Unadulterated bullshit, phony excuse-making:

"He asserted that Singer was merely an acquaintance, with whom he spoke only fleetingly during the fishing trip, and said he was not aware of Singer’s connection to any subsequent court matter. Alito said he accepted the offer of a seat on Singer’s private plane because it would otherwise have been unoccupied. A commercial flight, he wrote, would have imposed costs on taxpayers, who would have had to pay for the deputy U.S. marshals who provide security to Supreme Court justices to fly with him."

The joke is clearly on the taxpayers who tolerate a Supreme Court 'justice' who is bought and paid for.  More bullshit:

"He also disputed ProPublica’s apparent characterization of the fishing resort, calling it “misleading.” “I stayed three nights in a modest one-room unit at the King Salmon Lodge, a comfortable but rustic facility” with “home style meals,” he wrote, adding, “I cannot recall if (we were) served wine, but if there was, it was certainly not wine that costs $1,000.”

That right?  LOL.

"Alito said he didn’t disclose the flight in his annual disclosure form because the rules at the time were vague: “I followed what I understood to be standard practice.”

That right?  LOL.

"His defense was similar to that offered by Thomas when ProPublica first reported on his luxury trip. “Early in my tenure at the Court,” Thomas said in a statement, “I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.” Federal law mandates that top officials from the three branches of government, including the Supreme Court, file annual forms detailing their finances, outside income and spouses’ sources of income, with each branch determining its own reporting standards."

Alito couldn't possibly have a problem with the truth, could he?  LOL.

"Judges are prohibited from accepting gifts from anyone with business before the court. Until recently, however, the judicial branch had not clearly defined an exemption for gifts considered “personal hospitality.” Earlier in the spring, a committee of the Judicial Conference, the courts’ policymaking body, revised those rules to be more specific, stating explicitly that judges must report travel by private jet. Gifts such as an overnight stay at a personal vacation home owned by a friend remain exempt from reporting requirements. But the revised rules require disclosure when judges are treated to stays at commercial properties, such as hotels, ski resorts or other private retreats owned by a company, rather than an individual. The revised rules apply to the justices’ 2022 disclosure forms, which were made public this month. Thomas and Alito requested filing extensions, so their forms are not yet available."

Here's the problem:

"The Journal’s editorial page has veered sharply to the right in recent years and often expresses support of the more-conservative members of the Supreme Court. In April, it blasted “left-leaning” ProPublica’s reporting on Thomas, arguing that the justice did not violate any disclosure rules at the time and that he faced no conflict of interest in his dealings with Crow. And in April, after the justices reported on their unsuccessful effort to identify the leaker of a draft of the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, which affirmed the constitutional right to abortion, Alito gave a rare interview to a Journal editorial page editor and a private lawyer active in conservative causes. The justice, who wrote the Dobbs opinion, told the pair that he had a “pretty good idea” who leaked the document but that neither he nor the court can prove it. In the interview, Alito said the theory that the draft was leaked by someone on the right, in hopes of locking in the five votes necessary to overturn Roe, “is infuriating to me.” “Look, this made us targets of assassination,” Alito told his interviewers. “Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It’s quite implausible.”

What a crock of shit.  Disingenuous bullshit.  You took a raucous hard dump on the U.S. Constitution to force your perverse religious views on the citizenry in direct violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause.

"Elliott, the lead ProPublica reporter on the Alito story, told The Post early Wednesday that he and his colleagues had been informed Tuesday by the Supreme Court’s chief spokeswoman that Alito would not comment for their story. “It was surprising to see the op-ed publish several hours after that,” he said, “but we’re happy to get substantive engagement with our questions in any forum.”

Continue to expose this Republican nazi for the goddamned fascist he clearly is.  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.

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