Newsletter Text V866

Liberty In Peril

... Formerly

The Llano Ledger

Newsletter Text V866 ©2024 All Rights Reserved
March 22, 2024

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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).

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

No matter what, no matter where, this publication will remain up and running. For it to remain centered here, however, financial and/or material support must be provided. Status quo, unsustainable. Time to step up. Now.

5-25-18

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

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

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

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

February 9, 2018

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

Counselor:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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

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

August 23, 2017

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

Sheriff:

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

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

c. Liberty In Peril

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? Four hundred twelve 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? Four hundred twelve 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. Four hundred twelve 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

Newsletter Text 866
March 22, 2024

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

The following is well beyond appalling. It's indicative of the fact law enforcement seems to have lost itself.

The Washington Post reports:

"A police officer took a teen for a rape kit. Then he assaulted her, too. Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been accused of sexually abusing children over the past two decades, a Post investigation found. A teen who was sexually abused by a New Orleans police officer. The 14-year-old did not want to go to the emergency room. Her mother had begged her. Her therapist had gently prodded. And now there was a police officer in her living room. “You really should think about it,” he said. He introduced himself as Officer Rodney Vicknair. His New Orleans Police Department cruiser was waiting outside, ready to take her to the hospital for a rape kit. Early that morning, the girl said, a 17-year-old friend had forced himself on her. Under the police department’s rules, a case like this was supposed to be handled from the start by a detective trained in sex crimes or child abuse. But on this afternoon in May of 2020, it was Vicknair, a patrol officer with a troubled past, who knocked on the girl’s door."

How could that have happened? How? How could he pass a background check prior to hiring? Doesn't the public deserve better? Isn't law enforcement a professional entity, service? The following is horrendous. Seatbelts on:

"He tried to coax her into changing her mind. “If I’m a young man that has done something wrong to a young lady and she doesn’t follow up and press the issue,” Vicknair said as his body camera recorded the conversation, “then I’m gonna go out and do it to another young lady.” “And it’s gonna be worse, maybe, the next time,” Vicknair said, “because I’m gonna think in my head, ‘Oh, I got the power. I can go further this time.’ ” The girl didn’t want that. She just wanted this to be over. She didn’t know it was only the beginning. Four months later, police would arrest a man for sexually assaulting the girl. But it wouldn’t be her teenage friend. It would be Officer Rodney Vicknair."

A betrayal of trust of the very worst kind perpetrated by an officer sworn to protect and serve:

"The day the 14-year-old met 53-year-old Vicknair was the day the officer began a months-long grooming process, prosecutors would allege. Within hours of meeting the girl, Vicknair wrapped his arm around her while they took a selfie. He let her play with his police baton. He joked with her about “whipping your behind.” He showed her multiple photos of a young woman dressed only in lingerie. The Washington Post blurred the teen’s face to protect her identity. (Obtained by The Washington Post)"

Get this:

"Americans have been forced to reckon with sexual misconduct committed by teachers, clergy, coaches and others with access to and authority over children. But there is little awareness of child sex crimes perpetrated by members of another profession that many children are taught to revere and obey: law enforcement. A Washington Post investigation has found that over the past two decades, hundreds of police officers have preyed on children, while agencies across the country have failed to take steps to prevent these crimes."

How could this happen in what is supposed to be a democratic republic where law and the U.S. Constitution supposedly rule?

"At least 1,800 state and local police officers were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022, The Post found. Abusive officers were rarely related to the children they were accused of raping, fondling and exploiting. They most frequently targeted girls who were 13 to 15 years old — and regularly met their victims through their jobs."

No supervision? No checks and balances? A command structure that has miserably failed?

"The data set of at least 1,800 officers charged with crimes involving the sexual abuse of children was built and analyzed by Washington Post data reporter John D. Harden in collaboration with Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Bowling Green’s Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database tracks officers whose alleged crimes were discovered, who were arrested and whose charges appeared in news reports. But not all allegations of police misconduct become public record."

Need to be. That's the only way there will be substantive change. Identities of victims can be protected. Officers who have nothing to hide should have no opposition to transparency. None. Should consider it part of the job.

"The Post identified these officers through an exclusive analysis of the nation’s most comprehensive database of police arrests at Bowling Green State University, as well as a review of thousands of court documents, police decertification records and news reports. In case after case, officers intentionally earned the trust of parents and guardians, created opportunities to get kids alone and threatened repercussions for broken silence. Unlike teachers and priests, they did it all while wielding the power of their badges and guns."

Outrageous. Unacceptable. Not sustainable in what is supposed to be a democratic republic, not a fascist police-state. Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"Chuck Wexler, who leads the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy and training organization, said the number of officers charged with these crimes is “very troubling.” “Whatever we can do to prevent this and hold those accountable will help restore the trust in the police,” Wexler said. But while many school systems and churches have created practices and policies to root out predators, law enforcement agencies have largely treated child sexual abuse as an isolated problem that goes away when an officer is fired or prosecuted — rather than an always-present risk that requires systemic change."

That's right. No question.

"There is no national tracking system for officers accused of child sexual abuse. At a time when police departments across the country face staffing shortages and are desperate to hire, there are no universal requirements to screen for potential perpetrators. When abuse is suspected, officers are sometimes allowed to remain on the job while investigations of their behavior are left in the hands of their colleagues."

Precisely, why this shit goes on unabated. The public needs to wake up.

"In the New Orleans Police Department, child sexual abuse has been a problem before. The city recently paid $300,000 to settle a lawsuit over its 1980s Police Explorers program led by a lieutenant who was accused of sexually exploiting 10 boys. The case was investigated by the head of NOPD’s juvenile sex crimes unit — who in 1987 was convicted of child sex crimes, too. In more recent years, two officers remained on the force after they were accused of abusing young girls. Then they sexually assaulted other children. They are among six NOPD officers who have been convicted of crimes involving child sexual abuse since 2011."

Think there isn't a problem? A serious problem within the law enforcement community?

"Vicknair is the latest. His case reflects larger problems that police departments confront in conducting background checks, identifying red flags and responding to complaints of inappropriate behavior. To reconstruct what happened in New Orleans, The Post obtained hundreds of internal law enforcement records, hours of video footage and dozens of text messages. Vicknair was hired in 2007 despite a record that included multiple arrests and a conviction for battery on a juvenile. His sexually charged interactions with the girl he drove to the hospital, though witnessed by another officer, went unreported to superiors. He frequently visited the girl’s home in the summer of 2020, telling new cops he was training that they should stay in the car while he went inside alone. And when concerns about Vicknair’s behavior were reported to the department, police officials allowed him to remain on duty for a week. During that week, the girl said, Vicknair sexually assaulted her."

How could this go on with impunity? Is it because a gullible public that leans right wing fascist truly believes the law enforcement community can do no wrong? Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

Not surprisingly:

"Reached by phone last year, Vicknair declined to comment for this story. In November of 2022, he pleaded guilty to violating the girl’s civil rights, admitting that he locked her in his truck and touched her under her clothing. The city of New Orleans and its police department also declined to discuss the case with The Post, citing pending litigation. The victim and her mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and its superintendent of police in 2021. In court filings, the city has repeatedly denied that the police department is responsible for the girl’s abuse, arguing that Vicknair was not on duty at the time of the assault he pleaded guilty to and was not acting on behalf of NOPD “while performing any of the inappropriate actions alleged against him.” Now, the case will go before a jury. A trial over what, if anything, the girl is owed by NOPD is scheduled to begin March 18."

You right wing nazis who have taken over the Republican Party truly believe a corrupt, abusive, criminal law enforcement community is sustainable? Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

"With the permission of the victim and her mother, The Post is identifying the girl only by her middle name, Nicole. At 14, Nicole was barely 100 pounds. She hadn’t yet gotten braces. A large stuffed giraffe still watched over her bedroom. She’d spent her preteen years in custody battles between divorced parents, in a domestic violence shelter with her mom and in a hospital for self-harm. She believed all adults just wanted to tell her what to do. But on the day Vicknair persuaded her to go to the emergency room and then sat with her and her mother for hours, Nicole felt like he actually wanted to listen. “If you ever just want to shoot, talk, text me,” he told her as his body camera continued recording. “You having problems, just need somebody to talk to, if I’m working I’ll come swing by and talk to ya, okay? ... We’ll go get some ice cream in McDonald’s or something.” Nicole saved Vicknair’s number in her phone as “Officer Rodney.” “Now hit call so I know it’s you and I can save you as a contact,” Vicknair said before leaving. He lifted his phone and aimed his camera down at her. Her bare legs were dangling off the hospital bed. “No,” Nicole objected, raising her hand to block his view. Vicknair took the picture anyway. “There we go,” he said. “Perfect.”

No problems with any of the above? None? Wake up.

"Nicole was just a year old when Vicknair applied for the job that would make it possible for him to meet her and other children. “I always wanted to be a police officer in New Orleans,” Vicknair wrote on his NOPD application in 2006. “I truly love helping + serving my community.” He was far from the typical police recruit. He’d worked as an EMT and a hospital security guard, but he was about to turn 40 — an age that would have disqualified him from joining some departments at the time. At 5-foot-11, he weighed 237 pounds. He had lifelong tremors that regularly made his hands shake. A department spokesperson told The Post that, today, NOPD has some of the most stringent hiring requirements in the state of Louisiana. Since entering into a consent decree with the Justice Department in 2012, NOPD has been working to reform its policies and practices. But at the time Vicknair applied, NOPD was in disarray following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Public outcry over officers’ actions had resulted in intense scrutiny from the outside and low morale on the inside. Recruiters needed to find people willing to wear the badge. According to the Justice Department, NOPD began lowering hiring standards and performing less rigorous background checks."

A problem. A big problem. Consider the following criminal activity that went ignored:

"In his application, Vicknair disclosed to the department that he’d previously been charged with disturbing the peace and aggravated assault. Just the year before he applied, deputies from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office were called when Vicknair reportedly brandished a knife at his ex-girlfriend and beat a man she was dating. Citing the “potential for future violence, as well as threats made by Mr. Vicknair in the presence of deputies,” law enforcement seized Vicknair’s knife and his gun before taking him to jail, according to a police report included in his background check."

Here's the problem:

"The charges were eventually dropped. Vicknair’s ex-girlfriend, Denise Trower, told The Post that she asked authorities to stop pursuing the case because she was afraid of what Vicknair might do if she didn’t. During their relationship, she said, Vicknair choked her and held a loaded gun to her head. “He had threatened that he would make sure somebody did something to my son,” Trower said. Without calling Trower to learn more about what happened, the NOPD background investigator wrote that the arrest “should not reflect poorly” on Vicknair’s application."

Stunning, isn't it?

Gets worse. Get this:

"The incident was not the only time Vicknair had been charged with a serious crime. In 1987, he was convicted in Ascension Parish of simple battery on a juvenile — a part of his past he did not disclose to NOPD. He was sentenced to $50 in fines or 10 days in jail. Three of Vicknair’s family members told The Post that he was charged after he had what they described as a sexual relationship with a minor. Vicknair was 20 years old. The girl, whom The Post is not identifying, was a preteen at the time. She did not respond to interview requests. There is no indication that the background investigator looked into the simple battery conviction; he didn’t appear to know it existed. Though The Post obtained a record of Vicknair’s conviction from the court, the background investigator reported in his notes that Vicknair had no criminal record in Ascension Parish."

How is this possible? Think it isn't going on all across this country?

"Records show the NOPD background investigator also did not contact anyone in Vicknair’s family. Vicknair’s sister, Kim Vogel, said that if she had been contacted, she would have told the department not to hire her brother. She described him as loyal, generous and eager to help other people. But she also said his history of anger and violence still gives her nightmares. “I don’t think he should have been a police officer, and I hate even bringing that out there,” Vicknair’s sister said. “But I also blame that on the police department, because I know they do background checks, they do psychological tests and all that. And they missed all of it.”

How is that possible?

"Vicknair did undergo a computerized voice-stress analysis, a type of lie detector test. “Did you intentionally withhold any information from your employment application?” the examiner asked. Vicknair answered no. The NOPD investigator rated his application as “acceptable.” He was hired onto the force in March 2007. During the next 12 years, he was internally investigated for allegations of misconduct a dozen times, according to NOPD records."

Not fired for any of it? This is certainly a problem all across this country. Precisely, why there is so little faith and trust in law enforcement.

"In eight of the cases, which included accusations of unauthorized force, theft of $1,000 and drug possession, the department found no evidence of misconduct, could not determine whether the wrongdoing occurred or deemed his actions justified. Vicknair was not disciplined."

How about that? Think it isn't a problem all across this country?

"Records show he was formally punished twice for reckless driving and twice for acting inappropriately toward women who claimed he had mocked or harassed them while on duty. The most severe consequence he received was a five-day suspension."

Sadly, law enforcement protects and coddles its own. ... Right, Sheriff?

All the above was indication of how likely the grooming would begin:

"In 2016, he was promoted to become a mentor to new officers while he patrolled the neighborhood where he would meet Nicole. After the swabbing was over, after she stopped hyperventilating, after she stayed at the hospital to ensure she didn’t hurt herself, Nicole was discharged. Then she called Officer Vicknair. “Let me know when back home and I’ll come check on you,” Vicknair texted the 14-year-old on May 26, 2020. He’d started messaging her the night he met her, by sending a GIF of a waving puppy. In the weeks that followed, he began showing up at her house in uniform. He’d sip a Dr Pepper while talking about the headlines on Fox News. He’d lecture Nicole about staying out of trouble. Nicole’s mother, Rayne, witnessed it all. Rayne — The Post is identifying her by her first name to protect Nicole’s privacy — had grown up with a sheriff’s deputy for a grandfather. She trusted law enforcement and raised her daughter to feel the same way."

That's a mistake. A big mistake. Especially, currently.

"So Rayne encouraged Vicknair to follow up on his idea to take Nicole out for ice cream. She called him when Nicole was having a breakdown. She invited him to visit Nicole on her 15th birthday. Rayne didn’t worry when she discovered that the 53-year-old officer was talking to her daughter on the phone late at night that summer. She was grateful that Nicole, who had become silent and surly in the weeks following her sexual assault report, was finally opening up to someone. Someone who could be a role model. “She would be like, ‘Oh, I had the best talk with Rodney last night, Mom. He’s so nice,’” Rayne remembered."

Get this:

"The interest Vicknair was taking in her daughter was so different from how NOPD first responded. On the morning in May when Rayne discovered her daughter on the couch with her 17-year-old friend, two other patrol officers were the first to be dispatched to a report of attempted rape at her house. It was 5:21 a.m. The teenage boy had already fled. Records show the officers spent 11 minutes at the house before leaving. They appeared to take no further action. Their response was exactly what the federal government had spent years trying to fix at NOPD. As a part of the 2012 consent decree, the Justice Department’s investigators found that officers were repeatedly mishandling reports of sexual assault. NOPD’s investigations were “seriously deficient, marked by poor victim interviewing skills, missing or inadequate documentation, and minimal efforts to contact witnesses or interrogate suspects.”

No one in command forced change?

"Years later, NOPD’s special victims unit continued to be understaffed and overwhelmed. According to a recent Justice Department report, the unit closed out 3 percent of cases in 2022. Several hours after the first officers left Nicole’s house, her therapist called to report the assault a second time. NOPD sent Vicknair and two other patrol officers to her house. Then a special victims detective, Kimberly Wilson, arrived. Body-camera footage shows she spent a total of four minutes with Nicole before saying she had somewhere else to be. She left Vicknair and another officer to drive and sit with the teen at the hospital. Wilson stopped by later that afternoon, but didn’t interview Nicole until two days later. “I told him to stop,” Nicole said about the 17-year-old. “He said ... ‘No, let me get it over with.’ ” Wilson declined to comment on her investigation. There is no record that Wilson ever interviewed the 17-year-old, and it is unclear from the case file whether Nicole’s rape kit DNA was tested by the crime lab. Instead of progress in her case, Nicole got visits from Vicknair."

Think this isn't a total failure of the law enforcement community?

"The first time Vicknair came over when her mother wasn’t home, Nicole remembered, he asked if she owned any booty shorts. “What was running through my mind at that time was ‘Oh, he’s just a guy,’ ” Nicole said. “You know, that’s how guys think.” The more he came over and called, the more he learned about what Nicole had been through in her life. Rayne told the officer that her daughter was the “textbook poster child for daddy issues.” Nicole told him about sneaking into bars on Bourbon Street while her mom worked nights — and about the older men who bought her drinks there. Vicknair began warning her, Nicole said later, that he could report her mom for child endangerment and get her thrown in jail. He told Nicole he could arrest anyone. He whacked her with his baton."

No problems with any of that?

"She’d been taught to be afraid of strangers who might want to kidnap her, not adults in positions of authority who increasingly tested her boundaries. So she told no one when Vicknair’s texts shifted from “Lion King” GIFs to tongue emojis. Or when he confided in her about his own childhood trauma, then asked her to send nudes. Or when he went from telling her he wanted to touch her to actually doing it. “I passed your house earlier,” Vicknair texted Nicole on Sept. 7, three and a half months after he met her. “Stalker,” she replied. “You like it,” he texted back. Later, she would wish she had told him to leave her alone. “I just kept going along with shit,” Nicole remembered. “He knew where we lived, you know?” Vicknair would admit to investigators after he was arrested that he visited Nicole at her house at least a dozen times."

No one in the Department knew any of this was going on? Or, did they simply ignore it, look the other way?

"But it wasn’t anyone within NOPD who raised concerns about Vicknair’s behavior. It was Nicole’s mother, who in September found a photo on her daughter’s phone. In it, Vicknair’s tattooed arms were wrapped around Nicole, pressing the back of her body into the front of his. Nicole told her mom only that Vicknair once followed her in his police cruiser while she was on a run, yelling “Nice ass!” out the window. Rayne consulted with Nicole’s therapist. They both worried there was more going on. How, Nicole’s mother began to wonder, do you report the police to the police? On Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, nearly four months after Vicknair met Nicole, the head of the New Orleans Police Department received a text. “It’s about potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer,” read the message to then-Superintendent Shaun Ferguson. The text was sent by Susan Hutson, then the city’s independent police monitor, a civilian oversight agency created after Hurricane Katrina. Hutson’s job included listening to citizens’ complaints about police and trying to get something done about them. Often, that meant contacting NOPD’s version of internal affairs, known as the Public Integrity Bureau. While some police departments turn to outside agencies to conduct investigations when one of their officers is suspected of committing a serious crime, NOPD investigates its own."

That's a problem. A big problem. Usually, results in no justice. Facilitates protection and coddling of criminal officers.

"Hutson notified Ferguson and then-integrity bureau leader Arlinda Westbrook that same Friday evening. Sgt. Lawrence Jones, a criminal investigator with the public integrity bureau, did not begin looking into Vicknair until the following Monday, Sept. 21. (Jones and Westbrook did not respond to interview requests from The Post. Ferguson, who retired in 2022, declined to comment.) Jones first spoke with Nicole and her mother that Monday. Sitting in on the call was Stella Cziment, the deputy police monitor at the time. Listening to Nicole talk, Cziment later told The Post, she could tell the girl was afraid to speak honestly about Vicknair. She called him her friend, and was clearly trying to protect him. They weren’t certain that sexual abuse had already occurred. But the red flags about the officer’s behavior were obvious, Cziment said. She assumed that NOPD would act to remove Vicknair from duty as quickly as possible. “What we were scared of was the amount of access he had to the child,” Cziment said. But Vicknair was not removed from active duty that day, even after Jones, the investigator, visited Nicole’s house and saw the photo of Vicknair, in uniform, pressing Nicole into his body and texts in which the officer called her sweetie, honey, buttercup, baby girl and boo."

No problem with any of that?

"Vicknair remained on patrol the next day, even after Jones reviewed the body-camera footage from when Vicknair took Nicole to the hospital and showed her photos of a nearly naked woman. The entire week, Vicknair kept his job, his badge, his gun. Not until Friday, Sept. 25, seven days after the text to the head of police, was Nicole interviewed by someone specially trained in child abuse at the New Orleans Child Advocacy Center. “I try to keep him happy,” Nicole told the forensic interviewer, according to a videotaped recording obtained by The Post. “He’s a cop, so it’s not like he’s going to get in trouble for any of this.” The last time she’d seen Vicknair, she said, was just two days earlier. He’d come to her house while on duty, then returned after his shift. She went out to his truck and got inside. “Did something happen?” the interviewer asked. Nicole squirmed in her chair, her Converse high-tops shaking. “I just can’t say it,” she said. “I’m not gonna put words in your mouth,” the interviewer said."

Clearly, the interviewer was very careful in how this was handled.

“Fine,” Nicole said. “He stuck his finger in my, in my — ” She pointed downward. At 15, she was too embarrassed to name her own body parts. The interviewer asked her one more time, and then her story came rushing out. How weird it felt. How scared she was. She tried to hug him goodbye, she said, but then, “He stuck his finger in one more time and was like, ‘Just one more taste.’ ” That night in Vicknair’s truck, Nicole said, he asked her for a favor. He wanted to keep her underwear. He still had them, she said."

Interestingly:

"When the interview was over, investigators did not immediately seek a warrant for Vicknair’s arrest. Instead, they asked Nicole to call the officer who she had just said assaulted her — and ask him if he would do it again. She was deeply uncomfortable. But she did as she was told. She pulled up “Officer Rodney” on her phone.
[Excerpt from call]
Nicole:
"Can we do what we did in your truck again?"
Vicknair:
"Um."
In the background, a girl’s voice can be heard saying, ‘Love you, Dad!’
Nicole:
"Can we?"
Vicknair:
"I don’t know if it’s your phone or my phone, it’s breaking up."
[Vicknair ended the call.]"

Not surprising. He had to have known they were on to him and his sexual abuse of Nicole.

"Vicknair already knew that Nicole was going to the child advocacy center for a forensic interview that day. Nicole told him the interview was about another man, one she’d met on Bourbon Street. Now, Nicole feared, Vicknair knew what was going on. Less than an hour after Vicknair hung up on Nicole, he got into his Toyota Tundra, the same vehicle Nicole said she’d been assaulted in two nights earlier. He was followed by an officer who’d been sitting outside his house, conducting surveillance. The officer quickly lost sight of Vicknair’s truck. When the truck returned, it was gleaming, with fresh gloss on the tires and exterior. The officer wrote in his surveillance report that it appeared Vicknair had gone to get his vehicle detailed. If there was any evidence — or underwear — remaining in the truck, it had just been washed away. By 2 a.m. the next day, Vicknair was inside an interview room, handcuffed to a table."

How about that?

“Rodney, first of all, I want to thank you for sitting down and talking with us,” said Jones, seated across from his colleague. “I didn’t have much choice,” Vicknair balked."

How about that? LOL.

"Sheriff’s deputies had knocked on the door of Vicknair’s home just before 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 26. Vicknair came out in only his boxer briefs and lit a cigarette. He kept smoking as they cinched cuffs behind his back. When he learned during his recorded interview that his arrest was related to Nicole, he laughed."

What a son of a bitch.

“On her?” he said. “Okay.”

"The redactions in this video were made by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office to protect the identity of the victim. (Obtained by The Washington Post) Over the next hour and a half, Vicknair switched between denials and explanations for what he couldn’t deny. Yes, he’d gone to Nicole’s house just before midnight two nights earlier — but only because she’d asked him to sniff her to see if she smelled like weed, he said. Yes, he had sexual photos of her on his phone — but he’d only taken screenshots of her Snapchats “in case something ever did happen,” he said. Yes, he told her which of her thongs were his favorite and that she had “a nice ass for your age.” “If that was inappropriate, then so be it. It was inappropriate,” he said. “But there was never nothing sexual.” Vicknair was adamant that he did not penetrate her or take her underwear. “I care about her the same way I cared about several other girls and boys that I’ve given my business cards to and talked to them,” Vicknair said."

Think so? Not clear whether this is true or not.

"He accused Jones of trying to “make a case or something of a disturbed child.” “The issue is that we have a 52-year-old, 15-year, veteran police officer who’s seeing … this 15-year-old girl regularly,” Jones said. “That ain’t nothing,” Vicknair said. “I talk to a lot of younger people four or five times a week.” At no point during the interview did Jones ask for the names of the other young people Vicknair claimed to be talking to, including a runaway girl he mentioned specifically. There is no indication in the internal case records that NOPD ever conducted a review of other children Vicknair had interacted with. “We just hope,” Jones told Vicknair, “none of them come calling here.” Charged with sexual battery, indecent behavior with a juvenile and malfeasance in office, Vicknair spent a week in jail before posting a $55,000 bond. He submitted a letter of resignation to the police department in January 2021."

Surprised?

"His wife of five years filed for divorce. He suffered three heart attacks and a stroke. Vicknair was arrested in September 2020. (Orleans Parish District Attorney) The Justice Department, which took over his prosecution from Orleans Parish, charged him with deprivation of rights under the color of law, the same federal charge often filed against officers who use excessive force. In November 2022, Vicknair agreed to plead guilty. In his plea, he signed a statement admitting that he made sexual comments, requested and received sexually explicit photos and touched Nicole’s genitals under her clothing without her consent inside his locked vehicle. In exchange, prosecutors asked the judge to send him to prison for seven years."

Think that's justice?

"On March 8, 2023, Vicknair shuffled into a federal courthouse for his sentencing hearing using a cane. For the first time since the night in his truck, he was in the same room as Nicole. She was 17 years old. She wouldn’t stick with therapy. She and her mother fought so often that she’d moved with a boyfriend to California. There, she reasoned, she would never have to see an NOPD cruiser again. She spent her days sleeping and watching documentaries about sex crimes and murders, telling herself that what happened to her wasn’t as bad as what happens to other girls. She spent her nights playing “Call of Duty” online with strangers, nearly all of them boys and men. She shot and swore and screamed at them, and reminded herself that none of them knew where she lived."

Think her life isn't in tatters?

“Is there something you would like to say to the court?” the judge, Lance Africk, asked her. Nicole wrote this victim impact statement and read it at Vicknair’s sentencing hearing in March 2023. She stood at a microphone in a stiff white button-down shirt she’d purchased just hours before. She hoped it would make the judge take her seriously. All day, people had been telling her how “strong” she was. She thanked them, saying nothing about her recurring nightmare in which uniformed, tattooed arms were wrapping around her again. Or the knife she kept in her closet in case they ever did. “To her, he appears as a helping hand, but little does she know he had other plans,” Nicole said, reading a poem she’d written as her victim impact statement. Vicknair, coughing behind a mask, was watching her. “He tears her down and makes her suffer, yet she comes out 10 times tougher. Now every night the light stays on, scared he will return. She hopes he has had a change in heart and that he has learned.” The judge told her she was strong. He told her mother not to feel guilty. Then he began to narrate, in graphic detail, everything Vicknair had done to Nicole. “I guess he was thinking: Who is going to believe a 14- or 15-year-old over me, a New Orleans police officer?” the judge said. “He served himself, not this young, trusting child.” But the child he was talking about was no longer there. The moment the judge began describing it all again, Nicole ran out of the courtroom in tears."

Think her life isn't in tatters?

"While she hovered over a bathroom sink, trying not to vomit, the judge announced that he was refusing to accept the plea. He believed seven years was not enough time. He told both sides to come back the next week. When they did, Africk agreed to a new deal. He sentenced Vicknair to prison for 14 years, Nicole’s age when he met her. Two months later, Nicole was scrolling on her phone when she started to shake. She rubbed her eyes, thinking she must be imagining the notification that had just appeared on her screen. A Snapchat account with a familiar name was trying to contact her. A bitmoji of a dark-haired man was waving at her, surrounded in confetti. “Officer Rodney,” the notification said, “added you as a friend.” Vicknair was not yet in prison. The judge had granted him time to seek medical care before he turned himself in. Vicknair’s heart problems had become something more. After he was sentenced, doctors had discovered a fast-growing tumor in his brain. It appeared that Vicknair was trying to contact Nicole from his hospital bed. She did not reply. Vicknair had two brain surgeries before his brother and ex-wife drove him to Massachusetts to report to federal prison. He continued to deny to his family members that he had sexually abused Nicole. He continued to be paid police retirement benefits of more than $2,700 per month, records show. Louisiana has no law that automatically disqualifies police officers convicted of serious crimes from receiving their pensions. Days after Nicole’s 18th birthday, Vicknair was rolled into prison in a wheelchair. Most of his sentence was spent at a federal prison medical facility in North Carolina, where he received chemotherapy and radiation. He served less than six months. Vicknair died on Jan. 1, 2024."

Finally, some semblance of justice. The death of a criminal who did horrendous damage to a young girl.

"Nicole was at a restaurant in California when she heard the news from an attorney in her civil rights lawsuit. She wanted to feel relieved. Instead, she kept thinking about how little time Vicknair served. And how, before he died, he’d given a deposition in her civil case. Under oath, he returned to denying that he’d ever assaulted her. Now, it felt like not a single adult was taking responsibility for what happened to her. If she gave up her lawsuit against the city, no one ever would. She’d already endured a day-long deposition in December, when an attorney representing New Orleans asked her questions such as, “Was there any sexual meaning to him hitting you with the baton?” In January at a settlement conference, she listened to the lawyers debate just how much her trauma was worth. The same city that had once charged Vicknair with sexual battery and malfeasance in office was now claiming his assault was “wholly unrelated” to his job. But a judge disagreed, ruling in February that the city was, in fact, liable for Vicknair’s actions. It would still be up to a jury to decide how much New Orleans owed Nicole — and whether NOPD was at fault for hiring Vicknair in the first place. As the March trial date crept closer, Nicole’s stomach started to ache. The pain kept getting worse, until it was so agonizing that she couldn’t sleep. But for days, she refused to go to the emergency room. When she finally gave in, she reminded herself that this ER was different. That she was no longer 14. That Vicknair was not beside her. She still hyperventilated through every exam. She learned that what could have been a relatively minor issue had become a serious kidney infection. It would take weeks for her to recover."

Sad, isn't it? Most tragic.

"While she waited for the pain to ebb, her attorneys in New Orleans prepared for her trial by deposing the city’s police officials. Why, they asked, had the city hired someone with a history of arrests? Why had no one flagged an officer repeatedly returning to the home of a child who had reported a sexual assault? Why hadn’t Vicknair been pulled from active duty as soon as the photo surfaced of his body pressed against Nicole’s? They wanted to understand what NOPD was doing to ensure that what happened to Nicole didn’t happen to another child. But when the sergeant in charge of all department policies was asked that question, he could not cite a specific policy or training method that had changed because of the case. “You don’t know of anything NOPD has done differently,” the attorney confirmed, “to prevent another Officer Vicknair?” The sergeant’s answer was one word: “Correct.”

The horrendous cost of outrageously corrupt, abusive, criminal law enforcement. This extremely detailed investigation was conducted by The Washington Post in conjunction with Bowling Green State University in Ohio and is quite a public service. Hat's off.

Cowardly fail to financially and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you truly deserve. Forfeiture of liberty. At the hands of outrageously corrupt and abusive government.

More of the same old malfeasance. Think it will ever end? The Washington Post reports:

"The month before an Army reservist killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, law enforcement officers had enough information to take him into custody and remove his firearms but failed to do so, an independent commission investigating the tragedy found. Law enforcement missed several opportunities in the weeks before Card carried out the attack “that, if taken, may have changed the course of events,” the commission wrote in an interim report released Friday. The Oct. 25 massacre was the United States’ deadliest mass killing of 2023. By September, the sheriff’s office in Sagadahoc County had probable cause to believe Robert Card “posed a likelihood of serious harm” and should have taken him into custody under Maine’s “yellow flag” law, the commission found. Officers also had enough information to pursue criminal assault charges against him. Instead, a sergeant responding to a report about Card — including that Card had threatened to carry out a shooting — failed to fully investigate, the commission found, and the sheriff’s office failed to assign the case to someone else after the sergeant went on leave. The report laid out concerns and warning signs about Card, many of which have been previously reported, that accumulated in the months before his attack. His family members had sought help for him, reporting a decline in his mental health to law enforcement, and his behavior had alarmed members of his Army reserve unit. Maine’s yellow flag law allows for firearms to be temporarily removed from someone who is deemed to be a threat, but it has more requirements for use than red-flag laws in other states, requiring police involvement and medical evaluation. Still, the commission found that the sheriff’s office had enough information about Card to meet the bar for seeking a yellow-flag order. The commission also found that the sheriff’s office abdicated its responsibility by making the “decision to turn over the responsibility for removing Mr. Card’s firearms to Mr. Card’s family” rather than pursuing the yellow-flag order. A final report from the commission, which is chaired by a former chief justice of the state supreme court, is expected this year. Card opened fire at a bowling alley in Lewiston on Oct. 25, killing eight people, then drove to a bar and killed 10 more people. Thirteen people were wounded by gunshots, and 14 additional people were injured in the chaos. Card fled, sparking a two-day manhunt involving hundreds of officers in the rural, heavily wooded county. Lewiston and surrounding areas went under lockdown. Card was found dead in a trailer at a recycling company on Oct. 27; law enforcement said he died by suicide."

More to come as it becomes available.

In follow-up to an horrendous case covered earlier here and elsewhere, NBC News(AP) reports:

"A former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy who was part of a self-described "Goon Squad" was sentenced Tuesday to about 20 years in prison for his part in torturing two Black men last year, after a neighbor complained that the men were staying in a home with a white woman. Hunter Elward was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, who handed down a 241-month sentence. Lee is also due to sentence five other former law enforcement officers who admitted to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racist torture. Before sentencing, Lee called Elward’s crimes “egregious and despicable,” and said a “sentence at the top of the guidelines range is justified — is more than justified.” He continued: “It’s what the defendant deserves. It’s what the community and the defendant’s victims deserve.”

Readers are reminded here's what went down:

"In January 2023, the group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects. Elward admitted to shoving a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and firing in a “mock execution” that went awry. The terror began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence. A white person phoned Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.” Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and shocked them with stun guns. After a mock execution went awry when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months."

No surprise and certainly deserved:

"Ahead of sentencing, Jenkins and Parker called for the “stiffest of sentences” at a news conference Monday. “It’s been very hard for me, for us,” Jenkins said. “We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.” Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw. He still has trouble speaking and eating. Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing both men, said the result of the sentencing hearings could have national implications. “Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Shabazz said. “A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”

Readers will recall:

"Months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August 2023, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries. The officers charged include McAlpin, Dedmon, Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Court papers identified Hunter Elward as one of the Goon Squad members. The others identified as part of the squad were Middleton and Opdyke."

Clearly not possible to easily, credibly defend the indefensible:

"Most of their lawyers did not respond to emails requesting comment Monday. Jason Kirschberg, representing Opdyke, said: “Daniel has accepted responsibility for his actions, and his failures to act. ... He has admitted he was wrong and feels deep remorse for the pain he caused the victims.” On the federal charges, Elward faced a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines, as does Dedmon. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine. The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences."

Should have run consecutively considering the lasting damage to their victims.

"The majority-white Rankin County is just east of the state capital, Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city. The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say, referencing an area with higher concentrations of Black residents. In the gruesome crimes committed by men tasked with enforcing the law, federal prosecutors saw echoes of Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers after a deputy handed them off to the Ku Klux Klan. For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised to change the department. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation, and they have filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department."

Schumer stands tall. Finally. What took so long, Senator?

NPR reports:

"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history and a top advocate for Israel in Congress, announced that he sees Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace in the country's war with Hamas. He said it was time for the country to hold new elections. "Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel," Schumer said."

Clearly. No question.

"The New York Democrat, who began his remarks by decrying Hamas and calling for the release of hostages, said that, were Netanyahu to remain in power, it would jeopardize global support for Israel at a critical juncture. "Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah," he said."

No question. The truth.

"Schumer said that Israel needs to make "some serious course corrections," including allowing more aid into Gaza, though asserted that the country had shouldered too much of the blame for the civilian death toll, which is now estimated to be more than 30 thousand people. "Hamas has heartlessly hidden behind their fellow Palestinians by turning hospitals into command centers and refugee camps into missile launching sites," Schumer said. Among the other obstacles to peace Schumer identified: radical right-wing Israelis and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. The White House was made aware of Schumer's remarks in advance, according to John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council."

Not surprisingly:

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor after Schumer's remarks to reaffirm his support for Netanyahu. "The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one," McConnell said. At a House GOP retreat in West Virginia, Republican leaders called an impromptu press conference to slam Schumer. House Speaker Mike Johnson said they learned about the remarks during a work session, and found the remarks "shocking." "This is not only highly inappropriate, it's just plain wrong," Johnson told reporters at Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., where Republicans are holding their retreat. "For an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israel politics, while our closest ally in the region is in an extensional battle for its very survival, we need to be standing with Israel."

No matter the extensive war crimes and deliberate murder of over 30,000 Palestinian civilians by the Israelis? Time to wake up.

"Johnson was flanked by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the House Republican Conference. Scalise called Schumer's remarks "disgraceful," and said the Senate majority leader owes the people of Israel an apology. Emmer called Schumer's actions "unprecedented and very dangerous."

Called the truth. -- Something the nazi element in the Republican Party continues to deliberately ignore. Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

A two-state solution is the only way the State of Israel can possibly survive.

Think Trump feels particularly secure at the moment? LOL.

NBC News reports:

"The judge presiding over the federal criminal case involving Donald Trump's handling of classified documents said Thursday that she plans to rule on two of his motions to dismiss the case "promptly." U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made the comment at the end of a daylong hearing on the former president's motions to toss the case, with Trump in attendance. Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, made clear she was skeptical of his attorneys' arguments that the Presidential Records Act bars his prosecution. Trump’s legal team contended the bulk of the charges against him should be thrown out because of the 1978 law that governs the preservation of information during and following a presidency. “It’s difficult to see how this gets you to the dismissal of an indictment,” the judge said at one point. Special counsel Jack Smith has called on the Cannon to reject Trump’s claim that he should be shielded from prosecution because classified presidential records “can be transformed into ‘personal’” records by removing them from the White House. Trump has said that he designated the materials he took to Mar-a-Lago as personal records while still in office. A president's personal records are excluded from the act's requirements. David Harbach, a prosecutor from Smith's office, told the judge, “The documents charged in the indictment are not personal records. Period. They are nowhere close to that.” Smith was in court for the hearing as well, and Trump eyed him during a break in the proceedings and again when they concluded. The former president, who's been animated while attending other court proceedings, appeared to listen intently to the arguments, often with his arms crossed. He focused mainly on the judge, and occasionally whispered and passed notes to one of his attorneys, Todd Blanche. He sat stone-faced at one point when the judge clashed with Blanche over one of his arguments and called it a "red herring."

Egregious failure of judgment. What could she possibly been thinking?

The Washington Post reports:

"The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against former president Donald Trump and his allies ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) may continue with the prosecution but only if Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor she appointed and had a romantic relationship with, exited the case. Hours later, Wade resigned, citing his commitment to “democracy” and making sure the case moves forward “as quickly as possible.” In a 23-page ruling issued Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote that the defendants “failed to meet their burden” in proving that Willis’s relationship with Wade — along with allegations that she was financially enriched through trips the two took together — was enough of a “conflict of interest” to merit her removal from the case. But the judge also found a “significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team” and said either Willis and her office must fully leave the case or Wade must withdraw. “As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” McAfee wrote. “Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”

No time was wasted in response:

"On Friday afternoon, Wade submitted a letter of “immediate” resignation to Willis, pointing to McAfee’s ruling. He described his time leading the prosecution and “seeking justice for the people of Georgia and the United States … the honor of a lifetime.” “I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible,” Wade wrote. Willis responded in a letter, accepting Wade’s resignation and praising his “professionalism and dignity” in enduring threats and “unjustified attacks in the media and in court on your reputation as a lawyer.” “You were the one who had the courage to accept this role, even though you did not seek it,” Willis wrote."

Liz Cheney royally sticks it to Trump. ABC News reports:

"Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney has shrugged off Donald Trump's suggestion on social media that she and other members of the bipartisan House committee that investigated Jan. 6 should be jailed. The former president attacked Cheney and the others on social media this week. He also questioned whether Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in his White House, would be "prosecuted" because part of her testimony to the committee changed over time and been disputed."

Readers are reminded:

"Neither Hutchinson nor Cheney or the Jan. 6 committee members have been accused of a specific crime. "She should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee," Trump wrote about Cheney on Sunday on his social media platform, reposting articles making claims that the Jan. 6 committee suppressed evidence during their investigation. Cheney, a former member of Republican House leadership-turned-vocal Trump critic, responded bluntly to his threats. "Lying in all caps doesn't make it true, Donald," she posted on X later on Sunday. "You know you and your lawyers have long had the evidence."

Truer words seldom spoken in such comical language and perilous times. Indeed, a good laugh at Trump's expense.

"The back and forth comes as a Republican-led House committee last week released a report on their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and the previous Jan. 6 committee. The new report claimed that Hutchinson's 2022 testimony about what she was told of then-President Trump's actions on Jan. 6 was contradicted, in part, by Trump's driver that day. In her public committee testimony, Hutchinson recalled a conversation she had at the White House on Jan. 6 with Bobby Engel, part of Trump's security detail, and Trump White House staffer Tony Ornato. Hutchinson said she was told on Jan. 6 that Trump had lunged at a Secret Service agent in anger after he was told he could not go to the Capitol the day."

Amazing how truth (all too often) remains a moving target, isn't it? LOL.

"Trump denies all wrongdoing."

Surprised?

"In a statement last week, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democrat who led the previous Jan. 6 committee, pushed back on the new report's findings and said the work, led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican, was "dishonest." On Monday, Trump took direct aim at Hutchinson, one of the previous committee's central witnesses. In the interview with his former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka, Trump claimed Hutchinson "made up" her story and that the Jan. 6 committee "destroyed" its evidence. "And I say what's gonna happen to her?" he said of Hutchinson. "The whole thing was such a fake story," Trump continued. In the wake of last week's GOP-led report, Hutchinson's attorney referred ABC News to a letter he sent to Loudermilk in January in which he wrote, in part, that Hutchinson "has and will continue to tell the truth." "Ms. Hutchinson will not succumb to a pressure campaign from those who seek to silence her and influence her testimony, even when done in the name of 'oversight,'" her lawyer wrote."

Think Trump isn't increasingly desperate as the election approaches?

"As the 2024 general election ramps up -- some seven months away -- Trump has recently made multiple headlines during his campaign appearances. A Saturday rally in Ohio was kicked off by him praising the people who have been jailed for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, calling them "hostages." Later in his speech, while talking about the need to protect American auto workers, Trump also warned there would be a broader "bloodbath" if he's not reelected -- sparking criticism from Biden. A Biden campaign spokesperson said, in part, "This is who Donald Trump is: a loser who gets beat by over 7 million votes and then instead of appealing to a wider mainstream audience doubles down on his threats of political violence." Posting on his social media platform on Monday, Trump claimed that his "bloodbath" warning was "simply" about the potential challenges for auto workers if he's not back in the White House to impose tariffs on China. Trump's campaign also capitalized on the controversy, with a fundraising email sent on Monday insisting that his political opponents and others had "viciously" misquoted him as part of a broader effort to "keep control." Trump's praise of his supporters -- even those whom prosecutors say participated in Jan. 6 -- has been a central theme of his campaign as he vows to "free" people convicted for their roles that day as one of his first acts as president should he be reelected."

Not fit to be dog catcher. U.S. Constitution and rule of law mean nothing to this autocrat fascist. Fascism, nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

His rhetoric on the trail about his political opponents being "vermin" and migrants who come into the country illegally "poisoning the blood of" America has further alarmed some critics and experts who note it parallels the words of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini."

No question.

"Trump has denied any intentional link."

No surprise. Forget? Remains hopelessly truth challenged to say the least and be the kindest. LOL.

"He has also campaigned, in part, on a message of retribution for his voters, suggesting he will help them get revenge on a federal government that he says targets conservatives like him unfairly."

You're no 'conservative,' Donald. Far from it. You clearly deserve prosecution for the crimes you've been accused of.

"This is the final battle. ... Either they win or we win," he said last year. More recently, he has said, "Our ultimate retribution is success." During his radio interview on Monday with Gorka, Trump defended his "bloodbath" language and made more incendiary statements about Jewish Democrats, contending that they should be "ashamed of themselves" -- echoing comments he has made in the past. "If you vote for a Democrat, you’re being disloyal to Jewish people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel," he said in 2019. Those comments invoked the antisemitic trope of "dual loyalty": that Jews can't be trusted because of their faith and must first have loyalty to something other than their country."

All echoes of Adolf Hitler.

"Elsewhere in the interview with Gorka on Monday, while attacking Biden's policies, Trump argued that the backlash he's been facing over "bloodbath" is a part of his political opponents' efforts to "cheat" in the 2024 election, making unfounded claims that his opponents have used the term more often. "We're getting ripped off with Biden's really dumb auto policy," he said. Trump claimed, too, that any auto workers who vote against him are "not the smartest people."

Clearly, talking about yourself, Donald. Think the public is truly unaware?

"Trump later said Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats -- amid Israel's war against Hamas and other tensions in the Middle East -- "hate" their religion and Israel and that they "should be ashamed of themselves." "I actually think they hate Israel. Yes," he said. "Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion," he said. "They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed." Biden's campaign quickly slammed that statement, saying in their own that "the only person who should be ashamed here is Donald Trump."

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 .

The name of this publication was changed some fifteen years ago from The Llano Ledger to Liberty In Peril. The reason? Simple. Cowardly failure of this community to stand up to tyranny that has only exponentially worsened the last decade and a half. Clearly, demonstrated as well by the cowardly failure of businesses to financially support this publication. Either through advertising or other financial support. Too afraid doing so would enrage the bastards who run and own this hellhole County.

-- 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

Tim Chorney, Publisher
Liberty In Peril
Formerly,
The Llano Ledger
United States Of America

Cannot do it alone. Impossible. Not sustainable. This publication needs your financial and material support. Both. Time to step up.

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

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Tim Chorney, Publisher
libertyinperil@riseup.net